Have You Ever Seen the Rain

DSCF0642FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO640)

I just returned from India. I have been there a couple of times but this was the first time I experienced the monsoon. At least for a couple of minutes.

The only day in New Delhi where I returned to the hotel before sunset. So I quickly changed clothes and set off to take some images but I did not get the chance to leave the car much though. When we reached the India gate the sky was already almost black. I took a couple of shots before it started to pour down. I jumped back into the car and we drove up towards the palace of the president.

DSCF0586FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/3.2, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
DSCF0614FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO320)

On the way there are two impressive buildings. The ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of home affairs. And because of the celebrations of the Indian Independence Day on the 15th of August both buildings were decorated with fairy lights. The dark sky created a beautiful contrast to the warm light of the bulbs. It reminded me of the GUM in Moscow.

The rain was getting harder and since the Fuji XF 27mm is not weather resistant I stopped holding the camera out of the window and shot through the windscreen of the car instead.

DSCF0630FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO500)
DSCF0637FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO640)

Because the X Pro-2 has almost no shutter lag it was simple to time the shots right in between the wiper strokes. Autofocus was also very quick but sometimes focused on water on the windscreen. When I saw the nice result I took a couple of shots where I focused on the windscreen instead of the scene outside. At the end those “out of focus” shots became my favorites as they show the power of the rain.

I loved to shoot with the Fuji X Pro-1 but missed a lot of shots because of slow AF and shutter lag. With the X Pro-2 Fuji has addressed both. Compared to the X Pro-1 the X Pro-2 is crazy fast. It’s almost like a pro-DSLR or maybe I shot with slower cameras for too long. Fact is that I changed the way I shoot with the 14mm lens. With the X Pro-1 and partly also with the X-T1 I switched to zone focusing to avoid out of focus shots or to simple avoid to miss shots. The X Pro-2 focuses fast and accurate so I started to rely on AF even in low light or low contrast situations. It may look like an old rangefinder camera but it shoots like a modern DSLR.

DSCF0641FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO640)
DSCF0648FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO500)
DSCF0649FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO500)

For this short trip to India I brought nothing but the 14mm and the 27mm lens. This setup has become my standard for my business trips to Asia. Extremely small but capable. Of course I miss a longer lens now and then. Sometimes it would be great to pick out a detail or to compress a scene with a longer focal length but on my business trips I mostly shoot in low light so the 55-200 is not an option. The 90/2 looks tempting but I hesitate to buy this lens because of its weight. It’s hard to justify if you are not a portrait shooter and it’s even harder to justify to bring it with me when it will sit in the camera bag of even worse in the hotel room most of the time.

If you shoot with a shorter focal length you need a foreground subject to avoid “empty” shots. Luckily the lady with the umbrella was there right on time. I managed to frame three shots before she passed our car. The heavy rain changed to normal rain but I got an impression what would be possible if it would rain like that for a couple of hours or even days.

DSCF0652FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (27mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO400)