Tag Archives: waterfalls

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.

Hiking With a Single Lens

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.