God Bless Me

DSCF6404FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/9, 1/100 sec, ISO200)

When I landed in Manila the first time it was late night. On the way to the hotel I passed a lot of strange buses that I never saw before. I asked the cabdriver and he just said “Jeepney”.

In the hotel I checked it out on the internet. The Jeepney originally was made from US military Jeeps left over after World War II. It became a popular mass transport device in the Philippines and I can see why. They are everywhere, they are cheap and the look fantastic.

DSCF6408FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
DSCF6409FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/9, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
DSCF6424FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

The first day there was no chance to take any pictures because I had meetings all day. On the second day I had a meeting before I went to the airport but before that I had half an hour to take some pictures. Time enough for me because it was really hot and also because I looked like an idiot, standing beside the road and taking pictures of the Jeepneys.

DSCF6426FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
DSCF6429FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/10, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

There were no other tourist. I was the only one standing there. On a kind of main road close to my hotel in an area that had no other thing to offer than shopping centers. A big chain of them. Glorietta 1 to 5. I have no idea why there are so many shopping malls but I can see why the are popular. The simple fact that they are air conditioned means a lot in tropical climate. And the air is cleaner too.

A substantial part of the air pollution is caused by the Jeepney’s and that’s the reason why the might disappear someday. I saw that comment somewhere and I think it could happen. In front of the clean, wide roads and the shopping malls they already look out of place. They are like dinosaurs: They are big, they are thirsty, they are a thing of the past.

DSCF6434FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/10, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
DSCF6449FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/13, 1/60 sec, ISO200)
 DSCF6379FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO1000)

 

But the are also a landmark of the Philippines. And as such they must not disappear!

A couple of years ago Nissan won the tender for the next generation taxis of New York. With an absolutely ugly device called NV200. I’m sure that those horrible looking things are more eco friendly, far more practicable and that they look better in any other aspect but the just look good on paper. In real life the are just ugly but not in a picturesque kind of English Bulldog way. They are just bland and boring.

When the last yellow Ford Crown Victoria will be gone New York will be without one of it’s most important landmarks. I don’t understand why they not simply put a modern engine in the old cars. This way they would at least look good in the millions of pictures taken in New York every day. American cars always were a part of the sensation of an american movie. When they are all gone and replaced by Japanese Hybrids and minivans it will be too late.

I understand that we have to save the planet. I understand that we all can’t go around in the guzzlers of the 70s but we must understand that if we wipe away all the little things that make a country or city special we will have a problem. The Jeepney, the New York or the London Taxis are something that separates these places from the rest in the world. They let you know where you are.

And that is something to behold in a world where cities start to look so similar in their centers that you can’t tell anymore whether you are in Paris, Vienna or Budapest.

DSCF6452FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/11, 1/60 sec, ISO200)
DSCF6457FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/13, 1/60 sec, ISO200)

Enough rant! Some technical things regarding the pictures. They are not sharp because I wanted to blur the background by panning the shots with a longer shutter speed. But with such a short focal length it is more tricky than with i.e. a tele lens. But with a longer lens you can’t capture the surroundings that put the whole thing into context.

While panning is more tricky AF speed isn’t an issue here. There is no reason to use AF at all. At f9 or even more stopped down almost everything is sharp. From 1 meter to infinity. That’s where the focus clutch of the 14mm lens is really handy. You just disengage AF by pushing the ring backwards and use hyper focal focussing. The new 10-24 zoom doesn’t have that option. It also has no marked aperture ring. It’s constant aperture so there is no reason not to have aperture numbers on the ring. I don’t get it.

These two points plus the fact that it is a fat and heavy lens are the main reasons that I will not get this lens. And the most important reason is that I have the 14mm which is among the best lenses I ever owned.

I love the X-system also because of the lenses but I’m less impressed with the new lens roadmap. I don’t understand why Fuji now brings out massive and heavy zoom lenses. If I want that I use my DSLR. The Fuji system was meant to be a lightweight camera system for travel photography. I hope they will not forget about what made the system great: small, lightweight and high quality primes. Oh well. Another rant. I better stop now.

DSCF6461FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO200)