FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000)
Most manmade things or places can’t match nature but there are exceptions. The simply gorgeous Red Square in Moscow is one example and this place is another one: The Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. This place is just wonderful. How did I get there?
It was Friday 3pm. I was lying in my hotel room in Singapore, exhausted after a week of exhibition and because of a massive jet lag caused by a 15 hours time difference. But I still had a couple of hours to kill before my flight back home. Why 15 hours? We just returned from a 3 weeks vacation in the South West of the USA less than a week ago. We arrived on Saturday and I left for Singapore on Sunday. Around the world in a Day. Well almost.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO3200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2500)
Last time I had dinner at the platform at the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and watched the sunset there. This time I decided to go there again but to visit the Gardens at the Bay. I walked there from my hotel. I was very tired but after a week in a small booth at the exhibition is was a good thing to run around. When I finally got there the light started to fade but I had to wait for some time on the OCBC skywalk till it got dark and the lights on the trees went on. This is a special place.
The skywalk is just 22 meters above the ground but it feels much higher. Its very narrow and it swings that’s the reason for the 1/100s. Just in case you asked yourself why the fast shutter speed when shooting with a 14mm lens. As a consequence ISO went up like crazy but its fantastic how these little Fuji cameras deal with it. Take a look at the shot below. It is ISO 5.000. ISO 5.000! That’s almost unbelievable.
There is a lot of discussion on camera forums regarding the way the X Trans sensor renders leafs if the RAW images are processed in Lightroom or about that Fuji is cheating with the ISO values and that their ISO 4.000 is ISO 3.200 on other cameras. I would not say it is all rubbish but Lightroom has improved its RAW converter for Fuji files and even if Fuji cheats a little by overstating the ISO value it is still impressive and there is no APS-C sensor camera that I know that offers better high ISO performance than Fuji. And I’m not talking about noise only. The impressive thing is that the color saturation stays high at very high ISO settings.
These images were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. I just used the Astia setting in the camera calibration module and increased saturation a little bit. No other post processing, no noise reduction.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO5000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO2000)
If you follow my blog you may have realized the new camera in the EXIF info. Yes I got a Fuji X-T1 just before my trip to the USA. For the first time since I changed to full frame in 2007 I left my big gear at home for an oversea vacation and was traveling just with my Fuji X-T1 and Fuji X Pro-1. My wife was using her Fuji XM-1. So an all Fuji trip.
Why did I do it? How did it feel? What did I miss? Well that’s a different story and I will tell it here soon.
No Guru, no method, no teacher…
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO1250)