Eat, Pray, Dance – Kuala Lumpur

DSCF4472FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2500)

The title is stolen. There was the book ( later film ): Eat, Pray, Love. I didn’t read the book and I didn’t watch the film. Javier Bardem, the killer from “No  Country For Old Men” in a love movie beside Julia Roberts. Unthinkable!

But I liked the title and Eat, Pray, Dance is a good summary of the first days in Malaysia. I ate exotic food, visited a lot of temples and on the first night I experienced a dance group in colorful dresses.

I loved the first image most even though the composition isn’t good but I love the expression of the dancer. At that moment she really seem to enjoy the dance.

DSCF4391FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250)
 DSCF4410FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2500)
DSCF4425FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2000)

Even though we had a seat in the first row I shot mostly with the 35mm lens as I needed the fast f1.4 to keep ISO as low as possible. I shot in S-Mode and set shutter speed to 1/250s to freeze the action. ISO was in between ISO 2000 and ISO 6400. ISO values unthinkable when I converted to digital in 2002. And I’m talking about big Pro DSLRs here. Now I’m taking images at such levels with a relatively compact camera and the quality is still very good. Great modern times.

DSCF4429FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO6400)
DSCF4479FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2500)
DSCF4490FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO4000)

All images are right out of the camera JPEGs using the Fuji Velvia setting. I know that it is a little over the top in these pictures but I still like it. For me the Velvia setting was just perfect most of the time as it gives stronger colors and higher contrast. It is my standard setting because normally I use the RAW version of the images but sometimes I take the Velvia JPEG.

DSCF4495FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO1600)
DSCF4497FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2000)
DSCF4514FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2000)

I always thought that high ISO performance is overrated. Well – it is not. Excellent high ISO performance plus a very fast lens enabled the images I took. A slower lens like a f2.8 ( not a slow lens by zoom standards but already 2 stops slower ) and these images would not be possible. The short shutter speed is necessary to freeze motion. No images stabilization can help here. What you need is a fast lens. That means that even today with in body or in lens IS and ultra high ISO a fast lens is still a big advantage. Not to speak of the shallow depth of field to create special images.

DSCF4531FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO3200)
DSCF4540FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO3200)
DSCF4541FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/250 sec, ISO2500)
DSCF4554FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO6400)
DSCF4559FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO4000)

Above is the only RAW image. The original image was slightly overexposed with the yellows burnt. I took the RAW and corrected the file. The image show my colleague and me among the dancers. I didn’t dance.

Beside all the great music and dance performances this is a very good buffet restaurant. I tried lot’s of different food. I ate very spicy things and prayed that I would not regret it the next day. I didn’t. Despite the jet lag I slept like a death person till the alarm clock rang at 7am or at midnight CET.

The food image is not sharp. I learned and changed to the 18mm lens for the food images. It became my food lens in this trip. I will not show any food images in my next posts but will do a dedicated food post. The Asian cuisine deserves it.

DSCF4561FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, ISO2500)
DSCF4393FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2000)