Live Music Photography with the FujiFilm XT-1 - Can it survive the mosh?

Metal - It's a huge part of my life and has been with me for the majority of it. It's been there during the good times, the bad times, the crazy times, and through many travels around the world.
The concept of jumping into a mosh pit (or whatever the kids call it now) let alone with a couple of grand's worth of camera gear isn't everyone's idea of a good time. For me though, in my limited live shooting experience, it's a place for capturing raw rhythmic energy, played by some of the most hard-working, talented, and genuine people on this planet.
What better place to run another Fuji XT-1 test?

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO3200 F1.2 1/125sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO3200 F1.2 1/125sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO3200 F1.2 1/180sec

A little background to these handsome figures that grace your screen. These are two top-notch metal/tech/death/thrash bands - Psycroptic and Goatwhore. Tip top names. I've not had the chance to hang out with the guys from Goatwhore, but the boys from Psycroptic are some of the nicest Aussies you'll ever meet and I'm lucky to call them friends. These guys put on a hell of a show and they're certainly not slugs on the stage. They move quickly and often unpredictably, thus giving you a heck of a set of circumstances for your camera and skills to be tested to the EXTREME!

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO3200 F1.2 1/125sec

Let's talk kit!

Most of my shots were done with the ever awesome XF56 1.2 strapped to my XT-1, with the occasional use of the XF18 F2, which I'm yet to return to the ever lovely Luis Ascui of www.mediaculture.com.au. I shot primarily at ISO 3200, F1.2, 1/180 sec for the higher production gig at HiFi Melbourne, and ISO priority at the smaller venue. I'll make sure you know what's what. All photos were shot as JPEGs with the Classic Chrome setting and exported in Lightroom using my usual tweaks and output at 55 quality.

I feel like I'm repeating what I've said in other blog posts about the XT-1 but here it goes.
Yet again, the XT-1 met my expectations and provided me with great image quality in some pretty unforgiving circumstances - low light, fast movement, and some less than desirable colours from the lighting rigs. That said, the same ugly issues reared their head - battery life and continuous focusing.

I'm consistently impressed by how well the XT-1 and XF56 focus in low light. They're a responsive combo that react quickly enough and make the mark at a rate I'm more than happy with. At times it will hunt, just like my Canon gear does and that can be worse than the XT-1, but after shooting a full wedding on it (blog to come soon), a number of live shows, a fair few low-light settings, and some fast acting Aussie fauna, it's a system I can rely on in most ways. 

There's no denying the JPEGs that the XT-1 produces are great, particularly in high ISO settings. I love the Classic Chrome setting and I'm considering selling my X100S just to get it on the X100T, as well as Wi-Fi! There's an undeniable unique sharpness to the XT-1 and XF56 combo and I have received a lot of compliments from people since converting to it. I love what I've been able to produce in terms of colour tones from these live shots. There's none of that awful colour bleeding like on my Canon system at high ISOs and the noise is simply different on the Fuji's; far more pleasing to the eye.

About that battery life...
Well, there's no arguing it, the batteries for these cameras are somewhat frustrating to deal with. They don't last particularly long  (~500-600 shots on a full charge) and I had one die suddenly on me at a peak point at a wedding (spare in pocket!) and was also a little too shutter happy on the way into this gig, which meant I didn't quite get the number of shots of the headline band that I wanted. I made the rookie mistake of not checking my spare on the way out and learned the hard way to always check. That said, these batteries are much smaller than traditional DSLR batteries and they're constantly powering an EVF. OH THAT GLORIOUS XT-1 EVF!

Edit 4 April, 2015: I have had a much better experience recently using the 18mm F2 and Continuous Focusing. Will post about it soon.
Typically when I'd shoot fast paced stuff on my Canon I would use continuous focusing mode, which works reliably and can handle sports and action stuff extremely well. I simply can't get along with continuous focusing mode on the XT-1, despite using all the tips and tricks out there. Single focus mode is pretty darn good though and I used this mode solely for these shots after getting immediately frustrated with it when I first tried using at this show.

Below are some shots of Psycroptic at a gig I found myself attending unexpectedly last minute. It was a tight space and featured very minimal lighting; certainly not to the same standard of the gig the week before. The XT-1 did struggle a bit more in this situation with focusing, simple as that. I had a lower keeper ratio than usual, which I attribute to there not being much fill-light on the guys as they played. I came mainly for the music this time around though and only had about 25 minutes to shoot, so keep that in mind when compared to 90 minutes from the prior show.

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO2500 F1.2 1/250sec

XT-1 + XF18 - ISO6400 F2 1/250sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO3200 F1.2 1/250sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO800 F1.2 1/180sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO6400 F1.2 1/250sec

XT-1 + XF18 - ISO6400 F2 1/250sec

XT-1 + XF56 - ISO2500 F1.2 1/180sec

Minor apologies for this post being somewhat relaxed in its approach and relatively uninformative for the photography purists out there. I hope it serves as an example to others though of what this camera system can do and do exceptionally well.

-Mat