God’s Away on Business

R0005002RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO400)

Back from my 4th trip to Asia. This time I was in India ( the south part of it ), Singapore and Malaysia. A trip of big contrasts. From the Fishermen of Marina Beach in Chennai, India to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. A contrast so huge that it’s hard to believe that both is on the same planet. “We have just one world but we live in different ones.” from the Dire Straits comes to mind or Tom Waits “God’s away on business”.

But India is not just a big, poor country. There is so much more. It’s full of history and culture and most important full of very friendly people. It’s powerful, colorful and full of pictures. A photographers dream.

DSCF3020FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/7.1, 1/1100 sec, ISO200)
R0005455RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO100)

But of course on a business trip business comes first and photography is mostly restricted to out of the car snaps, evenings and weekends. That’s why I took more images with the Ricoh GR than I took with the Fuji X Pro-1 plus the 14mm lens. It’s better for out of car shooting with its snap focus feature and its TAV mode. A camera made for “out of car” shots. I also took it on the day trip to Singapore because I didn’t like to bring my camera bag. The fantastic image quality of the GR means that there is no compromise in image quality. A true high end compact with a big sensor.

But the Fuji XP1 is still my favorite camera because of handling and because of the outstanding Fuji XF14mm lens. The quality of this lens is almost unreal. A true game changer. Never before there was such a quality at this size and price point. When you consider its performance the lens is cheap. I think it is still THE lens in the Fuji X line. It is the main reason to get a Fuji X. It was with me on all four trips to South East Asia. I replaced the 18mm with the GR and I hardly use the 35mm beside portraits. So on those trips I took the majority of all shots with the 14mm.

The Fuji XP1 with the 14mm lens and the Ricoh GR have become my setup for my business trips to Asia. I only wished that this quality would have been available when I started to travel many, many years ago.

R0005504RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO800)
DSCF3168FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/480 sec, ISO200)