The Heat Is On

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DSCF2820FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO800)

When I left the airport in Chennai it was a real shock. I never ever experienced such a heat. It was about 37 degrees Celsius and very humid in the middle of the night. I started to worry about the next day.

And I was right. The next day was like hell. 40 degrees Celsius combined with the typical high humidity makes you feel like you are in a sauna. I decided to leave out the tie.

DSCF2823FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO320)
 DSCF2824FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
 DSCF2826FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/340 sec, ISO200)

The day started with “out of car” shots again. On the way to our meeting and back from lunch. I love the first shot of the rider with the big bicycle even though my reflexion is clearly visible in the car window. That’s because of my white shirt. If you are here for business you have to wear a white shirt in this climate, that’s the only color that makes any sense. You don’t want to wear a blue shirt – trust me.

But if you are here to take pictures you should wear a black T-shirt to avoid reflections. That’s also the reason why real cameras are black.

DSCF2832FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec, ISO200)
 R0004939RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO1100)

After work was done we went to the hotel to change clothes. I wanted to see the ocean and the a temple close by the sea I found with Google pictures. I had no idea how long it would take to get there and back.

We started close to sunset to avoid the heat. I started to shoot with the Ricoh GR instead of the XP1. I’m still undecided which camera gives me the better images when shooting out of a car. The XP1 with the 14mm lens can be a little wide sometimes and as a consequence there is a risk that the main subject becomes too small. The GR on the other hand can be too narrow when it gets close. I think the biggest obvious difference is that with the 14mm you can include parts of the car like the rear mirror or the window frame to give the image context compared to the GR where it is not so obvious that the image has been taken from the passengers seat.

R0004957RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO400)
 R0004962RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO6400)

The best feature of the GR is its KAV mode. I can choose aperture and shutter speed and the camera selects the ISO value. I can do the same with the Fuji XP1 but the big difference is that I can also use exposure compensation. This is what makes this mode so useful.

Now after the firmware update for my XP1 I can choose 1/250s in the Auto-ISO menu to avoid blurred images but sometimes 1/250s is not fast enough i.e. when shooting out of the car a faster shutter speed can be necessary to get sharp images. The GR gives me that. Combined with snap focus there is almost no delay because the camera doesn’t need to focus. The only drawback is that when the light level drops, the combination of fast shutter speeds and a f4.5 aperture results in very high ISO values. Something I need to watch more carefully next time because I prefer to stay at ISO 3.200 or below on both cameras.

After a long ride we reached the temple area. It was easy to detect because of all the small souvenir shops. Temple pictures in the next post.

R0004981RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO5000)
 R0004992RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. GR (18.3mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1600)