My Little Fuji Story… and weekend trip
After a year in business of selling, my little was born and my photography passion raised up. In that days I purchased my first digital slr Canon 400D with kit lens.
Before that Canon, in my college days, I saved some money for my first SLR. Not digital, but an SLR! Minolta X300 with the 50mm 1.7 MC Rokkor. A lot of years later, that beauty is stil with me and never thought to sell it.
So where is the Fuji story? Actually, its started with Fujifilm’s actual films. İn my coutry – Turkey – before the digital age, there was a lot of local Photo shops (not Photoshop, but actual real photo shop like grocery stores or butchers 🙂 and they were selling almost only Fujifilm. I can easily remember that all of our local studios had ‘Fujifilm’ tables. That films usually had 36 frames and we were have to wait 5-6 days for see them on paper.
Long story short, after many Canon bodies, I was realy looking for something special for me, for my taste, lens selection, portability and weight. For me, Fujifilm is an ideal combination for all my specs. Not for just weight, or looks, or image quality.
So, my Fujifilm ‘digital’ story was started with the XA1 and XC16-60 kit lens. I tought it was good balance between price and feature. After that, I wanted to go deeper in Fujifilm digital era and I bought a X-E2 with XF 18-55mm 2.8-4.
In this point, I would like to say something about the 18-55mm. This lens is a gem, its great for price, lightweight, sharp, and has very cool max. aperture like f/2.8-4… plus, has OIS! Actually, that lens convinced me that Fujifilm has really great optics and I have to forward in that system.
That was the number one reason for purchasing the XF 90mm for me. Number two, is I am a ‘telephoto’ guy. Means that I love that creamy bokeh, silky soft backgrounds and separated objects.
Oh god, that lens is shining, that is a beauty. Crazy sharp even in f2 – which I think if you buy an f2 lens, or f1.2 lens, you have to use boldly in that f stops. Looking sexy, not so heavy and weather resistant. That means you can use this lens in many conditions, of course if you have enough space ☺
I am a family guy, did I mention before… I love my little family and constantly taking their photos is a real joy for me. We are taking some weekend trips and, that photos you are looking in that article, come from one of this trips. Last month, we decided to go to Abant Lake. This is one that our beautiful lakes and a lot of people goes to there enjoy their life.
That trip was a great opportunity to make full use of the Fujifilm setup. I had the 18-55mm (wide to mid) and 90mm (mid telephoto) and, off course, plenty of space to use 90mm. As you know, because of 135mm focal length, in term of 35mm format, you have to have some space between you and your objects. That means that you may have some rough times when using this lens in small rooms. But that weekend I had plenty of space, cause we were in warm hands of mother nature and there is more than enough space for all of us.
You can see all images in this post taken with 18-55 and 90mm. Both were great performers especially in terms of image quality. I love Fujifilm’s image quality and colors.
In the mean time, I normally shoot full RAW but, this time, I give a shot for Fujifilm jpeg engine and shoot raw+jpeg. All of images in this post were edited from only jpeg images (in Lightroom). So, yes that is true, many people are talking about Fujifilm’s great jpeg’s, and they are right. In combination of great sensor and excellent lenses, the results really make the difference.
That is my long story’s short part. Hope you enjoyed. Any comments and questions are welcome.
Manuel Stolte
May 16, 2016 @ 7:43 am
great, moody pictures! Excellent light and atmosphere…just asking and wondering about your settings (in camera) and afterediting in Lightroom?! I am playing around with some VSCO Plugins, but still playing…i would love to read a post with some reliable afterediting tips! Thank you!
Yavuz Erdönmez
May 16, 2016 @ 2:48 pm
Thank you kind words 🙂 My in camera settings is almost like this; Aperture Pri. Mod, -2/3 Exp. Comp, Auto ISO (Max 1600 or 3200).
Im playing around VSCO Plugins too but its kind of too much for me. The hard part is doing color correction -moody pictures , in your words- there is no wrong or right way so we have to find some ‘right paths’ for our own way. But if you check out some ‘Color Theory’ articles on Google it may help.
Thank you…