Fuji X-T1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2: 25sec, f/2, ISO 3200, in-camera RAW conversion, very lightly edited in Camera Raw
Agency Lake, Oregon
Follow Your Heart
This is Ross.
Ross. Downtown Eugene, Oregon. Fuji X70.
He's a self-proclaimed crappy guitarist, an HVAC worker, and a soul-searcher. His girlfriend recently broke up with him and he wasn't getting rich, so he hit the road and is trying to find himself. He & his buddy & buddy's dog were gonna hitch-hike out today, but it's pouring and no one is gonna wanna pick up two wet dudes and wet dog. Plus, his buddy's fancy banjo was just stolen. We talked for almost a half hour about society, hardship, and good souls. He's a good guy and not looking for handouts or to take anything without a fair trade, human to human. He's going after something in himself and the world. He's on his way to Ohio to see family and then Atlanta to see his mom, with plans to come back, after seeing the world and finding deeper meaning of life.
At the end, he asked me why I stopped. I said he had a different aura about him. He was approachable and a genuine soul. What I forgot to say is that just like Shawn Biessel & I were talking about recently, I was walking around the street guided by my heart, not my mind or my eyes. When I came around the corner, I immediately knew I had to talk to him. First thing I said was to ask if he wanted a donut, which he replied, yes please. He likes custard filled lemon donuts. I got us each one for while we talked.
Thanks for the photo and conversation, Ross. Safe travels, my friend.
Whatever we all do with our lives, may we follow our hearts. He is and I'm glad I did, too.
Get your own Fuji X70 through this link, at no extra cost, & help support Stay Sane, Sleep Outside.
Thinking Like a Mountain on the Street
As part of my ongoing Project 365+1, I thought I'd share a story from yesterday, the 99th day.
InFormation. Downtown Eugene, Oregon. (c) 2016 Josh Spice
Standing just down the sidewalk to the right of the frame, I had been replying to a friend's deep comments on Facebook for a handful of minutes, while watching the world go by. People were walking all around, and some quite interesting ones at that, but I wasn't real drawn to trying to capture any of them. And I was in no rush. Being almost 6 pm, the light was low angle and there were large areas in shadow. Something wasn't right and I just felt out of place. I hadn't been downtown shooting street in quite a while; maybe that's why.
I decided I'd cross the street and go to the other end of the block and shoot at the bus depot, which was more open to the sky and better lit. When I crossed, right through the image frame above, something told me to stop, so I did, still in the street. I saw this guy coming down the block and somehow immediately knew I had to have it.
The framing and his placement was already in my head. I turned on the X70 and held it up, just to verify my placement, and it was perfect - distant to capture the whole spread, but close enough to get the detail. As he walked, to my surprise, he kept his head glued to his cell phone. It was actually all coming together and I felt a rush of excitement through me - kind of like a hunter gets buck fever when they see a big rack on a deer.
I snapped when he was centered and a mirror image of the silhouette behind him. When I chimped, only then did I notice the contrasting angled light to center of frame and his white shirt on the black silhouette. It was perfect in my eye and I knew right then I had gotten my shot. The funny thing to me is, as you recall, I had been doing exactly what he is pictured doing - staring at my phone, just ahead of him, out of the frame, leaning up against the wall. I went from making a scene to making the scene. I stepped 'out of the picture' to capture, in essence, what I had been doing, just with better framing and environment.
Walking around after taking this, I was very sedated in shooting. I only saw two shots after this, one I took (my wife & I - almost doesn't count in a street shooting sense) and one I didn't - across the street and headed the other way when we were heading home. I chalked it up as seeing was just as important as capturing.
I don't often stop shooting after I get what I feel is a solid keeper when everything comes together, but for some reason today, I had that feeling strongly. With a background and schooling in ecology, conservation, and hunting, I was again the hunter, but this time it was not the excitement of the big rack, but about Thinking Like A Mountain. When the street provides to me, I feel the need to not push it and take too much away from it on any one day. When it gives me a good scene, I make it, thank it, and move on, leaving it's grit and flare, while only taking but a fleeting moment.
How do you feel when you shoot street?
Get your own Fuji X70 through this link, at no extra cost, & help support Stay Sane, Sleep Outside.
Fuji X70: Beyond the Specs
You can find reviews of the Fuji X70 all over the place, mostly talking about it's user-friendliness and incredible image quality in such a small, pocketable size. With over a month almost exclusively shooting the X70 for my Project 365, I'd like to touch on some of the more experienced based things I've learned about this camera that make me love it so much. And, a couple things I wish were more like the X-T1 & X-E2 I also shoot with.
Fuji X Photographer Dan Bailey shooting the X70 in a brutal Oregon coast rain storm
1. It's not WR, but it's TINY
This means I can put it in any pocket or space to protect it from weather or damage. For the beach storm above, I had it in my rain jacket's chest pocket, which is really small. When biking, I put it in a Revelate Designs Feedbag with a cuben fiber stuff sack for when it's raining. The X70 is so small, I actually am concerned it might bounce out of the Feedbag, which fits bike water bottles. In all actuality, I'm still trying to figure out how to best carry this little tank. It's too heavy for a shirt or pants cargo pocket and a little too big for a front pants pocket...
2. The tilting LCD acts as a 'tripod'
The shot of my bike and I above was taken with the camera sitting on the ground, angled up. Pull out the multi-angle tilting LCD screen and it is strong and stiff enough to act as its own tripod, of sorts. Pretty sweet feature. Probably not the only camera that can do this, but the X70 certainly does it really well.
3. USB charging
In the car or from a USB battery pack, solar panel, or even the wall plug-in, power can go straight into the camera with no battery adapter or charger needed. Uses micro-USB, same as my Samsung phone, for convenience of only needing one charging cord for both devices.
4. Fast AF
Standing only 18 inches away from the rufous hummingbirds, the X70 had no problem zone focusing on the quick-moving birds, seemingly despite their best efforts to move as much as possible. I've found the X70 only hunts if the scene is quite dark and low contrast. Auto-macro mode isn't as 'auto' as I'd like to experience, so for stationary close ups like flowers, I usually switch to manual focus, set it to it's minimum focusing distance, and move the camera accordingly. It tends to want to focus farther away than it is able to. 'Tis but a minor complaint.
5. It's Discrete
I got the X70 in black, as I didn't want it to be a flashy device. It's small enough that people either don't notice it when you're shooting or they pass it off as nothing to get flustered about, unlike a bigger camera & lens. Multiple times, I've been bold in public with it and no one notices or cares. I don't like upsetting people with taking a photo, so I like that. I still ask for photos, but not as much as when I carry my X-T1 & X-E2.
6. I have to mention its sharpness
Dare I say it out-resolves the X-T1 & X-E2? I'm no pixel-peeper, but all I'm saying is there are no worries about image quality with the X70. No need to say any more.
I shot this photo upside down and then flipped it in editing.
7. The grip
For such a small camera, it sure has a really confident grip to it. The thumb knob is perfect size, without hardly sticking out from the body, and the front piece is shaped and textured perfectly. I have a wrist strap on mine, but have no worries about quickly grabbing the camera and doing a no-look shot behind me while riding. Nice job, Fuji!
8. The Left Side Button that's not
On the left side of the body, from the photographer's perspective, there is a rubber, flush with the body surface button that takes (easy) intention to depress. I have it set as the self-timer, which seems perfect to me. What a great idea, Fuji. Kudos.
My personal button layout is as follows:
Movie: Focus Mode
Delete: ISO select
D-Pad: L/R/U/D Focus point
Fn: Wifi (might change, as I do wifi in image playback almost 100% of time)
Left side button: Self-timer
9. Digital Teleconverter
Like having three cameras in one (kind of), the built-in digital teleconverter is pretty darn good. It's more than just digital zoom, as some extra processing happens to the 35/50mm images, but quality is still high. I don't really use it, but the thing I like most about it is that when I do, the camera resets to 28mm on shutdown/startup. No need to worry about accidentally bumping the easy to move lens ring and taking a bunch of photos in digital teleconverter mode before realizing it. Another great idea, Fuji.
Do you see the Devil?
The things I don't like so much
1. Always +1/3
It seems like no matter what the scene & lighting, the X70 likes to expose 'properly' at +1/3 exposure compensation. I've shot in RAW & JPEG and it doesn't seem to matter... hmm.
2. Left D-Pad Button
The left button on the up/down/left/right pad around the Menu/OK button is hard to press, as it's so close to the LCD. Now, in all honesty, it's proximity to the LCD is actually not the problem, but the fact that the LCD sticks outward from the body just a little bit, creating a tight 'corner' to get your finger into in order to press the left button. I actually wish Fuji made the X70 just a tad thicker so the tilting LCD would sit IN the body, not just barely stick out from it. Minor gripe.
3. Movie Button
The movie button is in a good spot, just in front of the exposure compensation dial, but because it is squeezed into that tiny space on the top plate and it does not stick up from the top plate (ie, flush with surface), it is incredibly hard to press the button. This is a situation where it IS too close to a 'corner' and hard to press because of it... or the button needs to stick up like the buttons on the back of the camera do. Also a minor gripe... just frustrating when you try to use that movie button assigned to a different shooting function, like focus mode. It's in a perfectly fine spot if it just was a bigger button.
Final word
Before I got the X70, I was using the X-M1 with the 18mm f/2 & 27mm f/2.8. I had come from SLRs and the X-T1 & X-E2 and was worried about losing the creative vision I feel I have looking through a viewfinder. After about two weeks using the X70, I forgot about this completely and I think I'm doing just fine without one. I still love using a VF when I have one, but with the X70, I'm more compelled to move the camera to where it needs to be to get an engaging shot. It's not as good as or worse than having a VF, just different. Go take photos and let the camera become an extension of your hand, which I feel the X70 has already. It helps, I'm sure, that I had previously felt this way about my 18mm f/2 lens.
With only three minor (very picky) complaints, I'd say the X70 is my most favorite camera I've ever used (and it's not even an interchangeable lens body!). Home run, Fuji. I can't recommend this camera enough. I just really wish Fuji made an 85mm focal length version! THAT would be the ultimate adventure camera kit.
Thanks for reading!
Stay sane. Sleep Outside... with a camera!
View the X70 photos on Instagram
Interested in purchasing the X70?
Follow the link below and help me Stay Sane, Sleep Outside.
It doesn't cost you any extra, but it supports me and this site.
Dan Bailey Visit
Dan Bailey and his wife Amy were in need of getting out of the poor Alaskan winter Anchorage was having and made a shout out on Facebook, "Who should we come visit during our anniversary trip downstates?" I was the first to respond, so they came to Oregon and stopped by for a couple nights, before flying back to Alaska. I hadn't seen them since last year's Knik Glacier bikepacking trip. Dan is also a Fuji X Photographer and the main conspirator of my switch to and love for Fuji X cameras.
Dan Bailey on the Oregon beach with the Fuji X70, shot with my X70.
Dan brought me a Fuji X hat!
We of course had to go shooting, at least for a little bit, the first night. A potential aurora show helped to get us out, admittedly.
Double Superstars: Dan Bailey shooting the stars reflecting off water with his Fuji X-T1. Shot with my X-T1.
With temps in the sunny 70s in Eugene, we thought a camping trip on the Oregon coast beach sounded like a good idea. Halfway there, clouds overtook the sky and at the beach, it was under 50 and blowing rain. Alas, a day at the beach is a day at the beach, especially at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
We walked and ran barefoot for a mile up the beach, with the wind and rain at our backs before I said we should turn around, as the storm turned into a real gale and driving rain. We were completely soaked, but warm enough from running.
While not water resistant like the Fuji X-T1 or X-Pro2, I was thankful for my X70, as it's pocketable, including the tiny chest pockets on rain jackets. Pull it out for a photo and quickly stash away, no real need for WR. I wish Fuji made a 50 or 85mm version.
Retreating on our beach walk, back to the car.
Frostbite enjoyed the day out, running in the sand and chasing beach birds (on a long leash).
Thanks to Dan & Amy for the visit and getting us out despite the conditions.
Check out Dan's work at DanBaileyPhoto.com
Jen braving the gale.
All images taken with the Fuji X70 unless noted