Showing posts with label Hochzeit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hochzeit. Show all posts

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Wedding of Kristina & Per

Kristina and Per are a really nice couple and I was more than happy to shoot their wedding 2 weeks ago in Hamburg. All pictures were taken with Fuji X-Pro 1s. Enjoy...


 





 



all pictures coypright 2012 thomas marek

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Wedding picture of the week

This is from wedding this weekend in Hamburg. Shot with the X-Pro 1. After the firmware upgrade to version 2.0 I enjoy these cameras even more. But more on this topic in another post....


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Full wedding documentary shot with Fuji X-Pro 1 and X-100

Final thoughts on the Fuji X-Pro 1 and X-100 for wedding documentaries.
Yesterday I photographed a whole wedding documentary only using the two Fuji cameras. I only used the X100 (35mm), the 18mm(27mm) and 35mm(50mm) on the X-Pro1.  For backup, I had a second shooter on my side with Nikon gear, so I knew I would be covered or could easily switch system if things don't work out well.
But it did work out very well, so I wanted to share some of my experiences:
One of the best things about the X-Pro 1 to me is the combined use of OVF, EVF and Liveview which just works seamlessly together. The camera is set with the eye sensor turned on, hanging around my neck. This way, the screen is off when hanging down at my body. As soon as I raise the cam I can either take it to my eye and work with the OVF or EVF or use the back screen. This is super convienient and allows me to use the camera any way I want to instantly.
I love using the back screen for taking quick snapshots from angles were it is inconvinient to look through the finder. It also gives me a more casual street shooter style of working. Almost like using my GRD for street work. The OVF is my favorite because I can compose and frame pictures that way best. The clear view and abstraction from the actual photograph gives me more creative power. The downside of it is, that for example with a fast lens like the 35mm f1,4 stopped down open wide it can be crucial to get accurate focus on something like the eye when doing a portrait. That's when I change to the EVF and I can precisely see how the picture will turn out and if focus is where I want it to be.
So all three modes have advantages and disadvanteges but I really like to make use of all of them. In a way it enhances my creative workflow while shooting.
Battery life. That is a big thing because obviously you don't want to run out of juice during a long shooting day. I came with three full batteries but only used one and a half, which surprised me. i thought they would drain faster. I shot exactly 745 frames on the X-Pro 1 and that is not too bad at all. Of course I wish it would have a battery like the Nikon D3 where you don't really worry about changing batteries too much. On assignment the power off function is turned off so I won't miss any shots by waiting for the camera to wake up. In between use I just switch it off and I make use of the fast power on feature even if it consumes more battery power that way. And yes, start up time is another thing that could be improved.
Image quality. Like I said in earlier posts, I really love the way the X-Pro 1 renders photos. I use it only in Jpeg mode and love the outcome. I have played around with a few of the color settings but for this shoot I went back to the Standard setting. Skin tones look great, color and contrast is perfect for my use. I only use auto white balance and I am very happy with the results. It seems the most accurate camera I have ever used regarding WB. I still process my color photos with Color Efex though to get the specific look that I want for my wedding jobs.
For a few shots yesterday I also used standard black and white mode. The outcome is pretty good for a digital file. Great tonality, rich blacks and well controlled highlights. And after using the BW jpeg with NIK Silver Efex Pro they got the right look, less digital and more film like. I also noticed that Silver Efex Pro works great with monochrom files. Sometimes better than with color files. Yes, you lose the ability to apply color filters in post production but grain, contrast and brightness look perfect. So the combination of the in camera bw jpeg engine and later developement in Silver Efex seems to deliver great results. Maybe Leica had a point when bundling the Monochrom M9 together with Silver Efex.
 So all in all I am more than happy with my X-Pro 1 and X100 setup for professional wedding assignments. Next week I will have another gig and use this combo again. Will I ditch my Nikons? By no means. They are powerful tools I know i can always rely on. But I try to leave them in the bag as much as possible.
Enjoy the pictures and thanks for looking, Thomas

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Monday, July 16, 2012

A Fuji X-Pro 1 review from a documentary wedding photographer | Part 1

Last weekend I had the pleasure to shoot the wedding of Svenja and Tommy in Hamburg. It was a great day and for the first time I was able to use my new Fuji X1 Pro in a real world shooting experience. I was already quite familiar with how it works because I used a X100 for the last couple of month.
What I like most about the new Fuji cams is the fact that they are small, silent and yet offer amazing image quality. What makes the XPro 1 so interesting for me is the fact that you can now change lenses.
For this shooting I only used the 35mm 1,4 though. So here are my thoughts:

- The jpeg files ooc are just superb. Nice colors and even more important pretty accurate white balance. In fact the X1Pro and X100 are the only cameras I only shot in jpeg mode. Just because they are so good.

- AF performance is good if you are able to anticipate the shot and don't chase the subjects. But coming from old school manual focusing in the film days I don't worry too much about that. I feel that the AF is still fast enough for almost anything I shoot.
The AF is also very accurate BUT you need to know about parallax correction with the optical viewfinder otherwise you might end up with the AF on the wrong spot. This is especially important when shooting the 35mm wide open at f1,4 where depths of field is very little.
- One thing I really love with the optical viewfinder is the ability to see outside the frame. This really helps me composing better pictures and I don't have to wave the camera around to see what is outside the "tunnel".

- I love the handling of this camera. Everything you need is at the right place: aperture ring, exposure comp., shutter speed. Just perfect. I love this "old school" layout better than the new cameras.

- The 35mm lens is simply amazing! It is super sharp and great colors. I love how it renders the picture.

- High iso is great. I feel I can use this camera under any lighting conditions.

Well, so far I am super happy with the camera. This week I will travel to Sweden to teach tap dance at the famous Herräng Dance Camp. There I will get a chance to test the camera a bit more. I will update this review as I gain more experience with it.

 So here are a few shots take with the XPro 1. Enjoy....

UPDATE! I just published a new blog post regarding shooting a wedding with the Fuji X100 and X-Pro 1












Wedding of Sabine and Anand

This was a wonderful wedding at a beautiful palace on the river Elbe in Storkau. The photos were taken with a Nikon D3 and D700 as well as the amazing Fuji X100. I love this little camera so much, that I recently got me the XPro 1. In a couple of days I will post my experiences with the new camera. But so far I am more than happy with it.
So here are a few shots from a lovely couple at a beautiful location and nice weather. Who could ask for more....











Sunday, July 15, 2012