I recently purchased a Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 lens to give me a little bit more light gathering and wanted to test it out by taking it on a short hike. Since the weather was so chilly, I figured I’d take nothing else to prevent changing lenses. It was nice not having to think about what focal length to choose and just focus on composition.
With the craziness that 2020 was behind us, I’m trying to find time to get back into my photography hobby. While I never let the camera sit too long on the shelf, the majority of reaching for it has been for family shots only. The times I have managed to get out have been fewer, but still needed.
Now that 2021 is here, I thought I’d start off the year right with the return of an old friend. A few years ago, I made the mistake of selling off my Fuji X kit to move to Sony. Exactly 1 year later, I swiftly moved back to Fuji because the Sony just didn’t feel right. Last week, I finally came full circle by picking up an X-Pro3 to replace my beloved X-Pro2.
The color is the Dura Silver finish and I love it. This camera just makes me want to get out and shoot. Everything about it is so intuitive and simple. The new optical and electronic viewfinder is better than the X-Pro2 model in both resolution and overall size. It does not have the dual magnification like the X-Pro2, but I haven’t found myself missing that yet as my main lenses, the 23mm, 35mm and a 56mm all work quite well with it. I went out for my first short hike with it this afternoon in below freezing temperatures and couldn’t have been happier with it.
It took me 2 years of mistakes and learning, but I finally came back to where I should have been all along.
Normally when I go out to combine my hobbies of hiking and photography, I load up a backpack full of gear, a tripod a Clif bar, a water bottle and head off somewhere. In that bag is my usual landscape kit consisting of a Sony A7iii with multiple lenses such as a 15mm and 50mm primes, 28-75mm f/2.8, and even a big 100-400mm just in case I see some wildlife. Add to this bag batteries, remote shutter, cleaning supplies, various ND filters and all of the other random stuff and that bag gets rather heavy. Not this time however.
After a day in the office, I stopped on the commute home at Laurel Mountain State Park and then Linn Run State Park. These are great places for hiking, mountain biking and even swimming in the creeks. Knowing I was coming from my day job, I brought along only a single camera and lens on a strap. No bag, no tripod, no filters and no accessories. I brought along a Sony a7iii with an attached 7Artisans 35mm f/2 manual lens in a Leica M mount adapted with a Haoge LM-NEX close focus adapter. Simple.
Having only a single focal length was great. It really helped me compose my images with care, made the process of shooting a joy and my back was happy not to be lugging around all that gear.
As I woke up today, the sun was nicely diffused by a blanket of clouds and only a few beams of sunlight were able to pierce through. Combining that with a free afternoon caused me to pack a camera bag, throw on a bunch of layers and venture out. As usual, my close to home hiking spot is Ohiopyle State Park and even though I knew there would be no snow on the ground, no leaves on the trees and probably not much in the way of grand scenery, I had an urge to be out in the woods.
Once I arrived and to begin my hike, the clouds parted and the sun shone bright. It was right around noon and the light was harsh. This kept my camera pointed at the details rather than the majestic landscapes, not that I minded. I shot mostly with the Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 and had some generic macro extension tubes on hand to assist with the close in shots. Walking around and finding interesting details in such harsh light was a fun challenge and I hope to be out again soon doing it all over again.