Janurary Monochrome

I always struggle shooting in January and February. It is always so cold and dark and drab. This year I decided to embrace it a little bit and shoot a ton of monochrome…in fact I only shot monochrome on my X-pro3. It was a really fun exercise and it made me really appreciate shooting in black and white. For everyday family and around the house snapshots (like most of these are) it really works great. It feels timeless and makes it easier to shoot in weird lighting situations.

On another note I am actually going to sell my X-Pro3. I REALLY love the combo of it and the Voigtlander 23mm, but I am having a werid issue with my right eye and manual focusing on the rangefinder style body is really only doable with my right eye. I am sad to see it go but I ordered a Nikon ZF to replace it and I am really excited to give it a go. This month of black and white turned out to be a fun send-off for this camera.

Voigtlander Primes for Fujifilm: First Impressions

I recently picked up a couple of Voigtlander lenses for my X-Pro3, the 23mm f1.2 and 50mm f1.2, and honestly they are so freaking good. Technically they aren’t perfect by any means but these are exactly what Fujifilm needed and honestly I think Fuji should have made them.

I will definitely do more detailed posts about each lens as I use it and get to know them, but I do want to share some quick first-impressions and thoughts.

• I don’t think these lenses are made for the “SLR” style Fuji bodies. I mean they would work fine on the XH, XT, and XS line of cameras but where I think these really shine is on the X-Pro and XE line.

• Build, size ,and weight are perfect. Seriously. These things are the perfect size for the rangefinder style Fuji bodies. They are small but all metal and feel dense. The aperture ring clicks beautifully and the focus ring has just the perfect amount of tension. Really these lenses feel so freaking good and match the X-Pro3 perfectly.

• The optics are not perfect...but beautiful. I have used several Voigtlander Nokton lenses in the past so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into with these. From f2 and up they are sharp and beautiful. Faster than f2 should be considered a “boost mode”. You get a bunch of light but add some softness and blooming (which I think looks pretty cool).

• Fuji should have made these lenses. They fit the body so perfectly that I seriously think Fuji is missing the mark by not making small, fast, manual focus lenses for their rangefinder style bodies. Who knows, maybe they will.

I will definitely post more about these lenses later, but I wanted to get my initial thoughts out. I have only had them for less than a week, but below is some of the first images I made with these lenses.

Voigtlander 23mm f1.2 Nokton

Voigtlander 50mm f1.2 Nokton

First Two Weeks BACK With the X-Pro3 and 35mm f1.4

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Two weeks ago I traded my Leica Q and got myself back into a Fuji X-Pro3, which is a camera I have missed ever since I sold it a little over a year ago. I shoot it essentially like a film camera. I only use the OVF, I never open the screen, and I only dump my cards and edit the photos every week or so. It is a really fun and freeing experience.

The main reason I was excited to have an X-Pro3 again was that I get to use my beloved 35mm f1.4. I made a video about that lens that kinda blew up on YouTube. It is my favorite lens of all time and I am so happy to be using it again. It has even more imperfections and flaws than I remembered but in the best way possible.

It can’t be my only setup. I need better autofocus and speed, not only for work but even for just capturing my crazy kids. But when I want to go out into the world and and try to make art this is the perfect setup right now for me.

Estes Park Colorado

Just a single photo today. I am very much inspired by Stephen Shore and have been for years. I think this photo is somewhat in the vein of his Uncommon Places work and I am really proud of this one.