My wife and I recently returned from a trip to a resort just outside of Panama City, Panama. While most of the trip was dedicated to relaxation, we did get out and take a boat ride on the canal to see the rainforest around Gamboa and some of the canal. It was a beautiful country and we hope to be able to return and explore more.
Once a year or so, I get to tag along with my wife and travel to her work conferences. This time we were at the Greenbrier for a few days in West Virginia. It’s much more high class than I’m used too and the only thing I owned that fit in were my Billingham Hadley bags. The new lens is a Rokinon 12mm f/2 prime. I’ve been wanting an ultra wide angle for awhile, but couldn’t justify the price of the Fuji 10-24mm f/4. Every review I could on the Rokinon/Samyang 12mm was overwhelming positive and the price can’t be beat. In my first outing, it performed remarkably well.
During the day when I was on my own, I ventured out and took a hike around Sandstone Falls in the New River Gorge National Park. I managed to arrive before the sun cleared away the fog and low lying cloud cover, which added some darker atmosphere to the pictures.
Since I was working on a tripod for all of these shots, I decided to test out the new Panorama Merge feature in Lightroom 6. This panorama is from 5 shots that it stitched together.
Once back at the Greenbrier I still had some time to walk around and enjoy the old world charm of the buildings.
Having just returned from San Diego, I’m realizing just how much my new 23mm lens is my sweet spot. My travel bag contained the 23mm, 35mm and the 55-200mm. The Fuji XF 23mm f/1.4 R lens performed amazingly well. At first, I was a bit worried about the single focal length and if I would miss any opportunities because of it. After shooting with it primarily for a few days, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It felt great to be focused on a single focal length and walk around without a bag full of glass. Here are some of shots while walking around.
The 55-200mm only came into play when I ventured over to the San Diego Zoo. As much as I’m loving the 23mm, it really isn’t suited to the job.
On my last day in San Diego, I explored the USS Midway. This is a decommissioned aircraft carrier that is now a floating museum and educates the public about life on a carrier. For this, the 23mm was back on the X-T1 and never came off.
The interesting part of this trip was that the 35mm only was on the camera for a few shots inside of the reptile house. The 55-200mm wasn’t bright enough, so the f/1.4 35mm lens came out of the bag for a few shots. I love the lens, but the focal length may not be my favorite anymore.
In order to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, my wife and I decided to take a short trip by ourselves. Our stops included Natural Bridge, Linville Falls and viaduct, the Biltmore Estate and then some hiking in the Smoky Mountains. We were only gone 4 and a half days, but it was so great to get out and take a break from everything.
