Stowe Gardens in Infra-Red

On the way to an RPS meeting in Bath earlier in the month, I decided to take a day off work and visit Stowe Gardens near Buckingham.  Given the weather (intermittent sunshine and fluffy white clouds) I decided to leave the colour camera in the car and shoot entirely in Infra Red.  It was half term, so there were lots of families walking around and having picnics in the grounds.  Despite the number of people there, however, the gardens didn't feel in the slightest bit crowded.  A lovely place, and I'm sure I'll visit again while en route to either Bath or Bristol.  Any excuse for a day off work...

All pictures taken on an IR-converted Fuji X-E2 with 23/1.4 and 50-140/2.8 lenses, processed in Lightroom.

Anglesey Abbey Interiors

It's a very long time since I went inside the house at Anglesey Abbey, and certainly before the National Trust allowed photography in their properties.  Having played with the Infra Red camera outside, this seemed like a good time to shoot colour.  All pictures are taken with a Fuji X-T2 with 10-24/4 lens, hand held, with the ISO ranging from 1250 to 3200.  The image stabilisation on this particular lens is astonishing, and a couple of these images were shot as low as 1/7s.

The grand rooms are all very well, but I've always been more interested in life "below stairs".  Many of these rooms have been opened up since I visited before, and I had great fun exploring the wardrobe, bathroom, kitchen and butler's pantry.

Now, that's what I call a proper radio!

Good old "Vim" - and with 4d off too.  What a bargain.

The red tray, bottom right in the picture below, brought back waves of nostalgia, as we used to have exactly the same item in the house where I grew up.

Anglesey Abbey in Infra Red

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that I decided to take my Infra-Red camera (a newly converted Fuji X-E2) to Anglesey Abbey.  It's quite a while since I did any IR photography, but the X-E2 produced some lovely results.  Not all the Fuji lenses are IR-friendly, unfortunately, but these pictures were taken with a mixture of the 23/1.4 and 50-140/2.8, both of which work a treat.  The images are processed in Lightroom only at the moment, but I'm looking forward to taking the files into Silver Efex at some point.

Crunch Time

I bought my first Fuji camera, an X-T1, in March 2015; and, since that time, I've run the Fuji system in parallel with my Canon gear.  Initially I was worried that the quality might not be "up to snuff", but my trip to Iceland during the summer of 2015 soon put my worries to rest.  It's true that Adobe have still not added good support for the X-Trans sensor within Lightroom and Camera Raw, but there are other solutions out there - notably Iridient and Capture One - which do an excellent job.

Since 2015, Fuji has gradually become my system of choice, and I gradually added more lenses and a backup body (the amazing X-E2, which has since been converted for Infra Red).  Just before Christmas last year I decided to rationalise my setup and sell the Canon lenses for which I had a Fuji equivalent in order to fund the purchase of an X-T2.  Effectively this meant using Canon for long lens and close-up work (300/2.8L IS plus 1.4x and 2x converters plus the 100/2.8L IS macro), and Fuji for everything else.  In the past 12 months I have only used the Canon system three times, most recently when I went bittern-spotting at Lakenheath Fen last weekend.  Cutting a long story short, I ended up with neck and back ache from carrying the long lens and carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand from gripping my 5DmkIII all day.  The camera felt like a house brick compared to the Fuji bodies, and I found it frustrating having to press buttons and dive into menus in order to change the camera settings.  In short, I realised that I had become completely "Fujified", expecting proper controls (like a shutter speed dial and an aperture ring) as well as a live preview of what was being captured.  Clearly I needed to decide whether to to make the final move to Fuji after 37 years with Canon.  Crunch time, in other words.

The spanner in the ointment was that I don't possess a long lens for the Fuji system (the 50-140, although a stellar performer, simply doesn't have enough reach for nature and sports work).  I was aware of Fuji's 100-400, but wasn't confident that this could come close to replacing Canon's amazing 300/2.8.  As with many things photographic, Ann Miles came to the rescue by very kindly lending me her 100-400 to try.  Ann and I went to a small nature reserve in Kingston, not far from her home, and I played with the 100-400 while she went off photographing bugs.  First impressions were really encouraging - particularly the size/weight compromise and the image stabilisation.  It was only when I got home and downloaded the files onto a computer that I realised quite how good this lens really is.  Granted, this is a slow lens and we were in bright sunshine; but, even so, the performance is highly impressive.  Even with the 1.4x converter attached (560mm, or 840mm in full-frame terms) the images were sharp, and I was able to hand-hold without any problems.  The pictures here were all taken with the X-T2 and 100-400, some with the 1.4x converter, processed in a combination of Lightroom and Iridient X-Transformer.

The conclusion?  Well, it has to be "bye-bye Canon and hello Fuji".  I know we're all supposed to suffer for our art, but for me this doesn't extend to back ache plus pins and needles in my right hand.  Even without the size and weight issues, I simply prefer the ergonomics of the Fuji system: these are cameras, designed to be used as such, and not computers with lenses attached.  As a result, my whole Canon system will be going up for sale, as there are plenty of other people around who don't feel the same and might was well get the benefit of this superb, and well looked after, equipment.  It's the end of an era for me, though.