Photoshop Time Travel and New Fuji Camera!

 "1982+2005, Paris, France" by Chino Otsuka

Chino Otsuka, a London-based photographer, is working on an interesting series of self-portraits, which pairs the present day photographer with herself from the past. She takes old family photographs of herself and inserts new self-portraits of herself into the old pictures, using Photoshop to age the new images to match the old. This is done seamlessly and the images play with the notions of self and the passing of time. Otsuka wrote this passage about this series:

If,

again

I have a chance to meet,

there is so much I want to ask,

and so much I want to tell.

"1980+2009, Nagayama, Japan" by Chino Otsuka

You can see her images at her own website and at the blog, My Modern Met. Otsuka has also published a book of these images, titled Photo Album. Check them out.

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Also, in a bit of unrelated news, Fuji will officially announce a new camera in their X-series of cameras, the X-T1. They released a teaser photo of it and it looks like Fuji is aiming for some of Olympus' territory. The X-T1 is styled after SLR's of the past with a faux-pentaprism in the middle of the top and plenty of dials to complete that nostaglia-ridden aesthetic. They will formally announce the camera on January 28th and we will discover what it can do then. I'm not sure this camera is really needed, since Fuji already has the excellent and well-regarded X-E2, but what do I know? Camera companies seem to be spending a lot of time looking backwards for inspiration these days.

A Closer Look at the Fuji X-M1

I mentioned this new camera, the Fuji X-M1, the other day, but I didn't really look at it all that carefully. Seemed at first glance to be just another boring camera, but maybe I was still reacting to Leica's X Vario/ Mini-M debut. So now after reading up on it a bit more, it turns out to be more interesting than it first appeared. The X-M1 continues the updated retro look of the other X-series cameras, like the X-Pro1, X-E1, and the X100S. While it is true that it doesn't feature an optical or LCD viewfinder or manual-oriented dials and switches, it manages to fit in with the rest of the X family quite nicely.

I like the new selection of colors it will be offered in and I really like the smaller size. That's a direct benefit of leaving off the viewfinder; you can cut down on the size of the body. People are now used to using the rear LCD screen for composing anyway. And I like that it uses the same 16 MP sensor as the two models above it in the line-up. So people can approach the X-M1 in at least two ways. You can see as the entry-level camera that it can be used like; its controls are intended for easy full-auto and point-and-shoot use. Or you can see it as a back-up body or stroll-around camera that will deliver images nearly identical to those produced by its higher-priced and bigger siblings. Plus, it has built-in WiFi for connecting and downloading images to your phone. And the prices is pretty good. The X-M1 body goes for $699 and the kit with the new 16-50mm zoom lens goes for $799. This is a smart, well-considered camera offered at an attractive price point. Fuji continues to follows its own lead in matters of camera design and execution, and I think they deserve a lot of praise for that. I wonder what they have planned for next?

Zeiss Launches New Lenses

Zeiss is launching a new line of lenses for Sony E-mount and Fuji X-mount cameras. Called the Touit series, named after a small Central American parrot, the first lenses are a 12mm f/2.8 and a 32mm f/1.8. Known for their image quality and their impeccable construction quality, Zeiss is making a smart move in making lenses for these two camera formats. Both Sony, with its NEX 7 and NEX 6, and Fuji, with its X-Pro 1 and EX-1, are making serious in-roads into professionals' camera arsenals, much to the chagrin of Canon and Nikon, so having top quality lenses for Zeiss for these cameras is just going to make them even more desirable. I'm sure they won't be cheap, but serious A-level equipment seldom is cheap.

New Sony Cameras Announced, plus a couple of other cameras!

Just before Photokina, the world's largest photographic trade-show, opens, Sony has announced several new cameras. The most interesting of the bunch is the RX-1, a full-frame (35mm sensor) compact camera with a fixed 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T lens. It views through the LCD screen on the back, but there will be optional optical finders and clip-on LCD monitors that you'll be able to attach to it. It has a 24 MP sensor and the ISO can be set anywhere from 50 to 102,400 and will be able to shoot at 5 frames per second. Like the Fuji X-100, this camera is aimed at the Henri Cartier-Bresson crowd or at least those photographers who tend toward street shooting and spontaneous snapshooting. And I don't mean to denigrate that term. I imagine RX-1 will be small, discrete, and produce very fine images, though the asking price around $2800 will put this camera out of the reach of a lot of photographers. Seems kind of high for basically a point-and-shoot pocket digicam, but I'm looking forward to checking it out. It is beautiful.

The next camera from Sony shares the same 24 MP full-frame sensor and that is the SLT-A99. Like the recent SLR offerings from Sony, this will not have an optical viewfinder, but will use an internal, electronic, high-resolution XGA OLED Tru-Finder with 100% coverage. Most folks are highly satisfied with the new Sony viewing systems. It will also use the Translucent Mirror System, where the mirror stays locked in the down position and you shoot through the semi-transparent mirror when photographing. The SLT-A99 will sell around $2700 for the body by itself.

Up next is the NEX-6, which is placed in the NEX line of cameras between the top of the line NEX-7 and the amateur-oriented NEX-5R. So it has an built-in EVF viewfinder in addition to the rear-screen LCD and uses a 16 MP sensor, and it will be priced somewhere between the two cameras, as well. It should sell for less than a $1000 for the body and the basic 16-50mm zoom lens.

And last, but not least, is the NEX-VG900 interchangeable lens video camera with a 24 MP full-frame 35mm CMOS APS-C sensor. It will use the standard Sony A-mount lenses from its SLR line and the body will sell for around $3,300. I think this is the first dedicated video camera with this large a sensor, though I could be wrong about that. This should be of interest to filmmakers. They are also announcing another video camera, the NEX-VG30, which uses the smaller APS-C 16 MP sensor and their E-mount lenses. The VG30 body will sell for about $1800.

And wrapping up the good news today, Hasselblad has a new camera to announce, the H5D. You'll be able to get it in 40, 50, and 60 MP single-shot versions, or even up to a 200 MP multi-shot version. And the price will be too high. Also Fuji is announcing the X-E1, another interchangeable lens camera which uses the same lenses as the X-Pro1, but only has the internal electronic viewfinder and not the hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder of the X-Pro1. But the X-E1 is sleek and beautiful and should be a picture-taking machine for around $1000 for the body and $1400 with the new 18-55mm f/2.8 lens. Fuji is definitely on a roll these days.

First Impressions: Fuji X-Pro1

Last night I had the opportunity to see and handle the new Fuji X-Pro1 camera with its 3 lenses. When this camera was first announced, it seemed to have the answers for most of what ails digital cameras these days. Well, after taking a closer look at it, that was probably an overly optimistic view of this camera. Honestly, I don't think any camera, whether film or digital, can be the perfect answer for any and all situations. Some just are better fits for some specific problems, not all of them. So let's break down what I saw and experienced. Bear in mind that I didn't get a chance to shoot any images. I was looking at images taken and supplied by Fuji, so these can be assumed to be best-case examples of what the camera can do. What it actually does may be quite different in the real world.

The X-Pro1 is a bit of a mixed bag. My first impression on looking at it is that it's kind of big for what it is. I'm talking about the camera body itself. Keeping in mind that it uses an APS-C size sensor, it's nearly the same size as a Leica M9 and not that far from a full-sized DSLR, minus the penta-prism hump, of course. I was surprised. When I picked it up, though, it was surprisingly light. Almost suspiciously light. I know the body is made of mostly magnesium, but it felt very light as if it was made of plastic. The larger-than-expected size coupled with the feather-like weight created a strange disconnect for me. I'm used to pro-oriented cameras having a certain amount of heft, a substantial quality to them and the X-Pro1 doesn't have this. Of course, who am I to complain about a light weight camera? Anyway, moving on.

On the other hand, the lenses are surprisingly substantial and well-made. Aside from Leica and Zeiss lenses, I haven't picked up a lens like these in years. Even the focusing is smooth and well-damped like a well-made manual focus lens. But, that's where the similarities end. The operation of manual focusing these lenses is frustrating and unresponsive. Seems like you turn the focusing ring forever without getting anywhere. I was told they were an improvement over the focusing in the earlier model, the X100. If this is so, wow. Really?

So enough complaining, what was good about the camera and lenses? Well, the images for sure. The 35mm f/1.4 was clearly the best of the three lenses, with the 60mm f/2.4 coming close to it. These two lenses have the ideal combination of fine detail and sharp images with creamy, smooth out of focus characteristics that manage to provide enough hints of detail for the out of focus areas to hang together and not fall apart. The out of focus backgrounds and foregrounds don't turn to mush or have weird, distracting highlights, they still have a lot of character. Not every lens can do this. Images from the 35mm lens were especially three-dimensional. However, the images from the 18mm f/2 lens seemed kind of flat in comparison. It wasn't nearly as sharp.

A lot of the image quality probably is due to two things, the X-Pro1's sensor and processor. I leafed through a large stack of images printed to 8x12 and most had enough similarities to draw some conclusions. Overall, I'd say the images from the X-Pro1 were more immediately film-like than most digital cameras produce. There was a smoothness in the tonal gradations without losing sharpness in the detail that I used to associate with medium and large format color images. The image quality is first-rate, as good or better than anything out there.

The operation of the camera is simple, direct, and refreshingly old school with a shutter speed dial on top of the camera and each lens having their own aperture rings. Both have "A" or automatic settings, too. Add the exposure compensation dial next to the shutter speed dial and the shutter release and you have all you need to control the shooting. The hybrid viewfinder is pretty nice, too. A bit of visual drag with the LCD option, but it's not bad at all. Very livable. Using the camera proved to be intuitive and fast.

Despite my concerns and complaints, I enjoyed the X-Pro1 quite a bit. Before seeing and handling the X-Pro1, I was even toying  with the idea of selling my Canon equipment and just jumping into the Fuji X-system, but now that I have seen it up close and got a chance to see how it works, I'm probably going to stay put. But I will keep my eyes open to see where Fuji takes this new camera system. I have the feeling that the X-Pro2 will be something really special.