Tag Archives: nature

A Wintry Hike with a Single Prime

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.

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Not Enough Posting

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.

Hiking in the Cold With a New Camera

This time last year I was posting about how I switched from the Fuji X series of cameras to a Sony Alpha full frame.  Needless to say, I’m now fully back into the Fuji ecosystem.  The short story is simply that while the Sony can deliver stunning  images, I just never got along with it.  So out with the A7iii and in with an X-E3.  My first hike with the new camera was chilly, but wonderful to be out in nature as always.

The locale was my usual Ohiopyle State Park and the surrounding area.  This offers many waterfalls, rivers, streams and as much hiking as you want.  I packed light this hike, an X-E3, Fuji 16-80mm f/4, Laowa 9mm f/2.8, a Freewell 6-stop ND/PL and a small tripod.  Everything but the tripod was packed into a small Domke F-5xb.  I didn’t hike very far, but the trip was more about just getting out and away and in nature.  With a camera of course.  I stopped by Cucumber Falls, the Natural Waterslides and followed that stream up for a little bit until I lost good light.

A new piece of gear that I very much enjoyed was the Freewell 6-stop ND/PL filter.  It’s a 72mm circular filter, but it attaches via magnets.  This is great for quickly swapping the filter on and off.  The glass quality seems to be quite good as well as I noticed only a very slight color cast when using it.

Using the Fuji X-E3 was like reconnecting with an old friend.  The controls and settings almost mirrored my old X-Pro2.  Picking it up was intuitive and gratifying, as if I never even left the system.