From Boardwalk to Broadway

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (16mm, f/6.4, 1/280 sec, ISO200)

From boardwalk to broadway. In Santa Monica that’s just a question of minutes.

But compared to the boardwalk and the beach the downtown of Santa Monica was almost abandoned. I guess that shopping is not that attractive at all if the alternative is a sunny day on the beach.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (16mm, f/8, 1/480 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (16mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (18.2mm, f/8, 1/420 sec, ISO200)

This is my first big trip with the XF 16-55/2.8 WR and that’s why of course I used it for the little walk through Santa Monicas shopping area. Because of the jet lag we were up early and even though we already walked on the pier for some time we were still too early for opening hours of most shops like the Apple store below. As always there were already people waiting outside for the store to open.

Back to the lens. Of course the 16-55/2.8 is massive compared to the kit lens or the primes that I usually shoot with when walking around with my shoulder bag but it is also very versatile and capable. Compared to the kit lens it offers a much better image quality but for me the biggest difference is that it starts at 16mm. And as you can see on the EXIF data I used to shoot a lot at it’s wide end. If Fuji would ask me which lens I would like to have the answer would be simple: I would love to have a 14-40/2.8 or even a 14-35/2.8-4 in order to keep it compact. I don’t care too much about the tele end of such a lens but would love to have a real wide angle option in a “standard” zoom.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (16mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO500)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (18.7mm, f/9, 1/320 sec, ISO200)

The image below is nothing special except for two things. 1. it shows the great colours and contrast of the 16-55 and 2. because of it’s cloudless, blue skies. If the second point means nothing to you, well then you most likely live somewhere in the South West where this is a normal thing. Great for you!

For me this is still something special and one of the many reasons why I keep coming back.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23.4mm, f/6.4, 1/500 sec, ISO200)