FUJIFILM X-T1 (181.9mm, f/6.4, 1/500 sec, ISO1250)
There was one animal in the Sonora Desert Museum that didn’t seem to care too much about the heat.
I simply love hummingbirds. They are tiny but brave and curious. Sometimes they really check you out. Like this little fellow. In the image above he was almost too close for the minimum focus distance of the lens.
Of course I never managed to take an image of the hummingbird in flight when he was hovering in front of me. The Fuji XC 50-230 OIS is just too slow for that. It’s AF is really the weak point of this lens. Originally I kept the kit lens on my Fuji X-T1 and the XC 50-230 OIS on my Fuji X Pro-1 but this combination was extremely slow to achieve focus. It was better on the Fuji X-T1 but still far from good. This is truly a landscape lens and I was surprised that I managed to get some useful shots thanks to the very cooperative model.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (192.9mm, f/6.4, 1/500 sec, ISO1600)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35.8mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (192.9mm, f/6.4, 1/500 sec, ISO2000)
The sharpness is fine but of course the background is rather busy. There is no way to deny that this is a slow lens. An Aperture of f6.4 is slow by any standard. In combination of a shutter speed of 1/500s to freeze motion of the bird the camera was forced to very high ISO values. The image above was shot at ISO 2.000! Not a big deal for the Fuji especially if it is not dark but it still feels strange to use such ISO values during the day. I guess I’m spoiled by the fast lenses I have used in the past. Of course those faster lenses come with a serious weight and size penalty and I don’t think I like to carry these monsters anymore especially in the heat of an Arizona summer.
I would love if Fuji would make a high quality 70-300 OIS. I would be fine with f5.6 on the long end because I really like the reach and to compress a landscape with a long lens. I think the upcoming Fuji 100-400 OIS is not an option for me because of size and weight.
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (18mm, f/8, 1/1100 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (18mm, f/8, 1/950 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-M1 (35.5mm, f/10, 1/350 sec, ISO200)
When we left the desert museum it looked like it would rain any minute. We drove through a fantastic landscape but I was too afraid to stop because I was already short on gas. I forgot to fill her up and needed to rush to the next petrol station without additional stops.
I was really mad about my mistake because the light was fantastic but all I have now are those two shots taken through the windscreen. Lesson learned.
FUJIFILM X-M1 (16mm, f/10, 1/400 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-M1 (16mm, f/10, 1/420 sec, ISO400)