A fast telephoto zoom is an essential piece of gear in any serious photographer’s camera bag. A lens like this opens up your shooting possibilities in a big way, especially when it comes to capturing fast moving subjects or photograing in low light conditions.
If you like to shoot action, adventure, wildlife, nature, outdoor portraits, or if you just love the creative compression a longer lens give you in your compositions, then a fast telephoto zoom is highly useful, and in my book, it’s well worth the investment.
Problem is, they’re not cheap, and they’re not very light. Especially the f/2.8 versions. That’s where the f/4 versions come in- they offer great performance and reduced weight at a great price, and with the VR image stabilization, that extra stop hardly makes a difference.
Enter the Tokina AT-X 70-200mm f/4 PRO FX lens for Nikon. It’s a very high quality telephoto zoom lens that offers great optics, excellent stabilization and a much easier price tag then its Nikon equivalent.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the Nikon 70-200mm f/4 ED VR is an excellent lens- it’s the last Nikon lens I bought before I went mirrorless, and I got a lot of use out of it. I often referred to is “The Adventure Photographer’s Dream Lens.(You can read my full review here.)
This lens will work with any Nikon body. With a full frame camera, you’ve got the standard 70-200mm viewpoint. Use it on a Nikon DX body and you’ve got the equivalent of a 105-300mm f/4 lens.
Either way, with this lens, you’ll get a wonderful level of bokeh and compression that will make your subjects stand out from the background and give them a high level of prominence in the frame.
At the short end of the zoom range, you’ve got a highly capable portrait-style focal length that works great for shooting people outside and capturing details in nature, or whatever type of scene you’re working.
At the long end, you’re able to zoom in and bring those distant subjects up close and isolate them against a nice, blurry background. This kind of technique is highly effective for creating simple, powerful imagery that tells at story without cluttering the frame.
Lens Construction and Quality
I’ve used Tokina lenses in the past and I’ve always found them to be great glass. I had an old 17mm AT-X back in the 90s and early 2000s, and it saw an awful lot of abuse over the years. It was one of my most-used lenses and I shot many of my favorite (and most published images) with it.
I even had a photo used by Nikon one time that was shot with my old Tokina 17mm. (Shhhhhh… that was back in the era of slide film before the days of EXIF info and metadata.) I never told them.
The Tokina AT-X 70-200mm f/4 PRO is built with 19 elements in 14 groups, and it features three Super-Low dispersion elements, which minimize chromatic aberration and improve clarity and contrast throughout the entire focal length.
The VCM (Vibration Correction Module) allows up to three stops of image stabilization and helps negate any limitations you might find from losing that one stop of light in the aperture.
The autofocus is driven by an ultrasonic motor that operates an internal focusing mechanism, so the lens doesn’t change size as you change your point of focus or zoom to a different focal length.
Overall
For price, quality and weight, the Tokina AT-X 70-200mm f/4 PRO is an excellent lens that gets high marks from other people who’ve used it. If you don’t want to shell out over $2,000 for a f/2.8 Nikon telephoto zoom, and even $1399 is a little too far out of your budget, then I’d highly recommend checking out this option.
Overall, it will perform better and greatly expand the kinds of subject matter you can capture than most kit lenses and it will save you save you $500 over the Nikon version. ($600 savings right now with the current rebate.)
The only downside I see is that it doesn’t come with a tripod collar. It’s extra, but with the stabilization, it’s quite easy to hand hold this lens. (I rarely use the tripod collar on my Fuji 50-140 2.8 zoom lens, in fact most of the time, the collar just sits in the drawer.) So, I don’t see this as any kind of deal breaker, unless you plan to use it on the tripod a lot.
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With the development and introduction of the X-T2 last year, Fujifilm brought mirrorless cameras into the realm of performance previously ruled by DSLRs.
One of the main advancements of the camera was a fast, highly predictive 325-point autofocus system that’s able to track moving subjects with a high level of speed and accuracy.
This is further enhanced by the new AF-C Custom Settings menu, which gives you 5 autofocus presets, as well as the ability to adjust three AF parameters, and even save a custom configuration as the 6th preset.
As an action and sports photographer, I find this to be incredibly useful tool, and one that clearly demonstrates Fujifilm’s dedication to make very high performance cameras that are suitable for handling the fastest action and sports shooting tasks. (You get the very same controls on the new X-H1.)
(Note: The AF-C Custom Settings also appear on the new X-T3, X-H1, and have now been ported over to the X-Pro 2 with the new v.3.00 firmware update. This menu item is also used in the X-T30, X-T20 and the X-E3 although you’ll be limited to the 5 standard presets. You won’t be able to customize and save your own configuration.)
I’ve experimented with the new AF-C Custom Settings quite a bit, and so I’d like to share my insight about how the system works. In this post, I detail all the different settings and parameters, let you know which are my favorite AF-C custom settings and show you how to configure the system to best match the subject matter you like to shoot.
First a primer on how the system works. It can be a little bit confusing at first, so I’ll try to explain it in straightforward terms. And just so you know, even though I’ve experimented with these settings, writing it all down here helps me understand it a little more thoroughly as well. 🙂
AF-C Custom Parameters
The new Fuji AF system allows you to fine tune how the camera sees and reacts to your scene by adjusting three separate parameters.
Tracking Sensitivity
Tracking Sensitivity determines how quickly the camera should switch to a different AF zone if the subject disappears for a brief period of time. For example, if the subject passes behind a tree, if something else passes in front of your main subject, or if it momentary leaves the frame.
A setting of 0 tells the camera to immediately switch to a different zone to try and reacquire the subject. Settings 1-4 progressively lengthen the time the system will remain locked on the current zone.
You might use setting 0 when the subject is moving extremely fast around the frame, and one of the higher settings when your subject disappears behind another object, but you know it will soon reappear.
Speed Tracking Sensitivity
Speed Tracking Sensitivity sets the camera’s tracking characteristics based on whether the subject is moving at a constant speed or if it’s changing speeds.
This is an important parameter, because the X-T2’s AF tracking system weigh heavily on predictive algorithms that tell the camera where the subject is likely to appear.
In addition, there’s a slight lag between when the subject is locked in focus and when you actually press the shutter, so the camera has to compensate for this.
Setting 0 is for subjects that move at a steady speed, while setting 2 is for subjects that have more erratic speeds, or are accelerating or decelerating. Setting 1 offers a balance for subjects that move with a combination of speeds. 0 might be good when shooting things like road biking and birds flying, while 2 might be useful when shooting sports like soccer, or when photographing toddlers.
Zone Area Switching
Zone Area Switching is only available if you’re using Zone AF and it lets you control which part of your selected focus zone should be given focusing priority.
CENTER keeps your point of focus in the middle of the zone, where FRONT tells the camera to focus on a subject inside the zone that’s closest to the camera during times when you main subject disappears from the frame.
AUTO continues to track the subject, or part of the subject you first focused on.
In shooting situations, using CENTER would be great for tracking a moving subject that temporarily passes behind other things in the frame, like another bike rider or an animal that passes behind a tree. FRONT is ideal for subject that appear suddenly, or when you don’t know exactly where they will enter the frame. AUTO is the default mode for a variety of subjects and action.
AF-C Custom Presets
To make the system much easier to use in real life situations, Fuji has included 5 AF-C Custom Presets on the X-T2 that cover a wide array of subjects and different types of motion. Each type shows you the specific parameter settings used. You can also modify these parameters, or create your own custom setting and store it in Bank 6.
1. Multi-Purpose
Multi-Purpose is the default AF-C setting. With Tracking Sensitivity set in the middle, Speed Tracking at 0, and Zone Area Switching at AUTO, this is great for a wide variety of action, especially when you’re subjects are moving at a constant speed.
As shown in the example photo, you might use this for shooting races, animals that are moving at a regular rate of speed, or if there’s a chance your subject might temporarily disappear.
When I first got the X-T2, I just kept it on this setting for awhile until I started learning more about how the system works. It does have limitations with certain types of action, and if you find that you’re having trouble tracking subjects or getting sharp focus, switch to a different mode and see if that helps.
2. Ignoring Obstacles
Ignoring Obstacles preset is ideal when your subjects are temporarily going outside of the frame (or your selected focus zone), or when they’re moving behind things like trees and other subject matter.
With a slightly higher Tracking Sensitivity, it will wait a little bit longer before switching to a different zone. With Zone Area Switching set to CENTER, it will keep the focus set to the middle of the zone and it won’t grab a stray object at the edge of the zone.
If I’m finding that I’m not getting sharp focus on my subjects, I’ll often switch to this mode. For the types of subjects I usually photograph, I find this setting to be one of my two favorites.
It keeps tracking and doesn’t hand of focus too quickly to another zone, which allows you some pretty tight tolerances and creativity when it comes to retaining a good lock on your main subject, even when it’s fighting for space in the frame or looking through a field of subject matter that you want to be out of focus.
I often like place my sharp subject pretty far back in the frame behind other subject elements, and this mode helps you maintain your lock in this type of situation.
Examples might be a cyclist who’s coming up behind another racer, or keeping the lock when they’re in a large pack, shooting action in a tight forest, or photographing wildlife out in busy, wilderness settings. Like cheetahs. 😉
3. Accelerating / Decelerating Subjects
With Speed Tracking Sensitivity set to 2 and Zone Area Switching set to AUTO, this is an ideal mode when photographing subjects with erratic motion and a high degree of change in their speed.
It will keep the point of focus on the front of the frame (closest to the camera) and use predictive algorithms that are geared towards irregular motion.
This makes it an ideal choice for shooting certain types of sports and wildlife where your suggest is speeding up and slowing down on a regular basis.
I haven’t used this setting much. That’s not to say that it ins’t a great mode for shooting certain types of subjects, I just haven’t found the right subjects to test it on. Fuji specifies that this setting his highly effective when using high-speed tracking with their LM lenses that use the Linear AF Motor, like the 90mm,50-140, 100-400, 16-55, 55-200, 18-55 and 18-135.
4. Suddenly Appearing Subjects
This is my other favorite AF-C Custom Preset. With Tracking Sensitivity at the lowest setting and Zone Area Switching to FRONT, this sets the camera up so that it can focus instantly on subject matter that enters the frame.
Focus priority is set to the closest object in the frame and the low Tracking Sensitivity allows it to immediately switch to the right zone.
This is an extremely useful and highly effective setting for a variety of action, sports and wildlife photography. It allows you to compose your desired scene and then quickly acquire subjects as they appear inside the frame.
If you’re having a hard time acquiring and achieving a good lock on your subject matter, and it’s not an “obstacle issue,” try this mode, For best results, you’ll want to select the AF Zone that’s closest to where you think the subject will enter your frame.
5. Erratically Moving Subjects
With increased Tracking Sensitivity, this keeps the camera locked onto your subject, while a Speed Tracking Sensitivity of 2 causes the AF system to use predictive algorithms that are suited for irregularly moving subjects.
Zone Area Switching to AUTO means that it will acquire and hold your lock right where you set it, even if it’s not the closest thing to the camera, or even if it goes in and out of the focus zone.
This is obviously the best mode for shooting highly erratic motion and sports with quickly changing speeds and directions, like soccer, lacrosse, football. And toddlers, children and grandchildren.
I imagine this would be a good setting to use for photographing birds that fly with quick, darting motions or other wildlife that has “skittish” or hyperactive movement tendencies.
6. Custom
The Custom Bank allows you to tweak a setting or manually adjust the three AF parameters and save them as a custom preset.
In other words, you can optimize your AF-C Custom Settings for the for the type of movement your subject displays and have it ready recall at a moment’s notice.
Let’s say you like to shoot a sport or subject that’s passing behind some obstacles, and you want a slightly higher Tracking Sensitivity so that it holds focus for as long as possible.
Or maybe you’re shooting a wide variety of action, but you want the camera to grab subjects a little more quickly. You could decrease the Tracking Sensitivity.
How about quickly appearing subjects that have highly irregular motion? You might want to se the Speed Tracking Sensitivity to 2, or set the Zone Area Switching to AUTO.
Perhaps you find yourself shooting a specific type of subject quite often. You can play around with the settings until you find the optimum combination and then save it for future use.
Either way, the AF-C Custom Settings menu is a very powerful tool that can help you increase the performance of your X-T2 & X-T20 and tweak the camera to fit your shooting style.
Bottom line, the X-T2 has an amazingly powerful AF system, but if you’re having trouble with our autofocus or are having a hard time getting perfectly sharp photos, this is the first place you should go. You may find that switching to a different preset will make a huge difference.
Even though I’ve been a Lightroom user for many years, I’ve really been excited about Luminar lately. In fact, I’ve used Luminar far more often than LR or PS during the past two months to process my photos. I like that I can totally customize the user workspace and add whatever tools I need. This way, it doesn’t get cluttered up with a ton of tool palettes that overwhelm.
Also, I love the presets. I’m not usually a preset guy, but the ones in Luminar are really fun and they offer a diverse array of options to expand your creativity, whether you’re trying to tweak just a little bit to make you shot pop, or if you want to take it off in a totally new direction and give it a unique look.
If you’re inclined to dig deeper with more advanced processing, Luminar has over 300 professional-grade tools and features, including layers, batch processing, blend modes, custom brushes, PSD support, masking, social sharing, MacPro Touch Bar support, and full RAW support for most cameras systems, including the Fujifilm X-Trans RAW files, which haven’t always played very well with Lightroom.
I feel as if I’ve barely scratched the surface with Luminar, and to me, that’s one of the things I like so much about the program. It doesn’t cost very much (only $69), so if you only use it “lightly”, you don’t have to fret that you’re not getting your money’s worth. If you make use of the more advanced features, you’re getting a real bargain when you compare the price against Adobe.
Although I’ve been using the program as a standalone to process brand new images before they go into Lightoom, Luminar also functions as a Lightroom Plugin. This offers even more flexibly for how you can use the software.
In this post, I’d like to share with you some of the ways I use Luminar to process my photos.
Winter Landscape
In this first example, I just wanted to add a little vibrance and clarity to make the image pop. Here, it was a simple matter of choosing the Image Enhancer Preset and than dialing it down to about 20 or 30%. That’s the really nice thing about the presets, and it’s what makes Luminar so easy and fast. You choose a look, and then you can dial it anywhere from 0-100%. Then you can add in whatever slider tools you want, and if you have a similar style of processing you can save your tool setup as a custom workspace.
So, for this one, after I applied and dialed in the preset, I used the Exposure Filter to bump the Exposure and Vibrance levels up just a little bit. That’s all. From start to finish, it probably took about two minutes.
Snow Biking
In this example, I used the Detailed Preset and dialed it down to 67%. Then I brought the Highlights down and increased the Shadows to open up the mid tones. It’s a very dramatic shift, and it only took a minute or two. I wouldn’t normally crank an image up so much, but for this shot, I wanted to really bring out the drama of the scene by enhancing the texture in the clouds.
Winter Landscape 2
For this image, which is a straight JPEG, I wanted to get even more creative and go for a totally different look. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do here, I just started picking presets and seeing what they looked like.
I settled on the preset called Film Noir and dialed it down to about 50%. This preset gives a very dramatic look, and it varies quite a bit at each of the different percentage settings. At the higher levels, it added even more film grain and produced a very monochromatic look. Dialed down, it brought some color back, but keep the grain and a certain level of “grayness.” All the way down it reduces contrast and brings back the color.
Again, this adjustment took all of about 30 seconds from start to finish after the image file loaded into Luminar.
There are many 3rd party photo processing programs out there, but Luminar appears to be firmly planting itself in the game. Macphun did an amazing job with Luminar. It’s no surprise, even though Luminar is relatively new Macphun has a 10 year track record of producing award winning software, and they’ve won “Best Of Apple Store” awards for five straight years.
If you haven’t checked out Luminar, you can download the demo here, and as one of my readers, you can use this special link and the coupon code DANBAILEY to save $10 on the program. Windows users, fret not, apparently MacPhun is planning on bringing out a PC version of the program later this year. Even if you use Lightroom, Luminar is definitely worth a look.
If you haven’t seen the INSTAX printers, they’re really cool gadgets.
Using a built-in Wi-Fi connection, the handheld printer lets you print wirelessly from either a Fujifilm X Series camera, or right from your mobile phone or tablet using the dedicated app.
The latest version has highly improved print quality and much better detail and tonality. And now Fujifilm has even come out with the new Monochrome film packs.
There’s a reason the INSTAX cameras and printers are so popular, the appeal is that it’s just so much fun to give the prints away to friends, both new and old.
They’re great for travel photographers, because they solve the long-sanding problem of trying to get an address and promising to mail a print back to whatever country or village you were visiting.
Being able to shoot and instantly share a great portrait adds a very satisfying component to your photography, no matter what you’re shooting.
For the same reason, they’re ideal for portrait and wedding shooters, and they’re great for things like events and parties as well. In fact, one of the most awesome things about INSTAX prints is coming up with creative ways to use and share them in your photography, whether for personal or professional use.
I’ve had a ton of fun with my INSTAX cameras and printers, shooting and giving away prints at cyclocross races, social gatherings, important events, etc.. In fact, out of all the INSTAX prints I’ve made, I’ve given every single one of them away, except for this one below- my Romanian Shepherd portrait.
It was the first INSTAX print I ever made, created from a photo I’d shot with my X-T1 and saved to my iPhone. And keep in mind, this is from the first generation printer.
It’s hanging in my office now right above my computer. (I got my SP-1 printer a few months after the trip, so I wasn’t able to share the photo with him).
At one point, I gave my X-T1 to one of the kids so he could shoot some photos. He took the picture of that girl in the glasses and red jacket below. Give a boy a camera and what does he do with it? He takes a photo of cute girl on a bike. Yea. Why does that sound familiar…?
The other two collection are from a recent 100-mile snow bike race where I was a volunteer, and this year’s New Year’s Eve party. For that one, I just put my INSTAX Mini 70 instant camera on the table and let people do their thing. It was a huge hit. I think most the photos were taken my friend’s two kids.
Anyway, the INSTAX Printers are a blast, and they can actually be very useful devices in your photography, no matter what style of photos you like to shoot. And they’re quite small- they’ll fit in any camera, travel or bike bag, as well as most jacket pockets.
I highly recommend checking out the new INSTAX SP-2 printer. No matter what camera system you use, or even if you just shoot photos with your phone, I guarantee, you’ll get a lot of use of this thing and have loads of fun giving all the pictures away.
Right now, the SP-2 is on sale at Amazon and costs even less than the first generation S-P1.
Ok gang, it’s time to see how smart you are. Or at least see how much you know about legendary adventure photographers, their gear, outdoor photography history and famous images.
Think you know a lot about photography? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test with these 10 carefully crafted questions that are designed to challenge your memory, as well as teach you a few things about this amazingly wonderful craft we all love so much.
So crank up your brain and take the Adventure Photography Quiz!
Sometimes you have those days when it all works out perfectly.
After a January that was filled with ice fog and lots of cloudy skies and fresh snow, the weather finally broke and brought clear skies to the Anchorage area. In other words, good flying weather.
I invited my friend Laura to go up with me, partially because I needed help shoveling out my little Cessna from the two-feet of snow that had filled my parking space, and partially because she’s a very enthusiastic photographer who loves flying. For the record, she’s a very good shoveler.
Plus, it thought it would be fun to shoot aerials with another photographer. With the exception of two photo flights with my friend and fellow pro Carl Battreal, I’ve flown most of my aerial missions alone. I was excited about sharing this amazing scenery with a friend.
Polar Bear Peak
After a solid hour of shoveling and preheating the plane, we finally took off about an hour before sunset and climbed towards the Chugach. I followed a path I often like to take up Eagle River Valley, which puts me right in front of some of the most impressive peaks in the Chugach Front Range, including Polar Bear Peak above.
I did a pretty close approach so that Laura could get some photos, then I banked around, opened my window, and shot a few of my own. After a couple of circles, we closed our windows and headed out past Mt. Beelzebub and Peril Peak. It was cool to watch Laura’s excitement as the mountains got bigger and the light got better.
Then we flew over Whiteout Glacier and headed out towards one of my favorite spots to shoot aerials, the high plateau right between Lake George Glacier and Surprise Glacier. There’s an amazing concentration of snowy peaks and massive ice fields here, and many of my favorite mountain photos have been made in this general area.
We could see the light becoming even more dramatic as we crossed the Lake George Glacier and our hearts raced as it turned from gold to rich pink.
Again, I gave Laura first dibs at the scene ahead of us, a stunning view of Peak 7460 and the long ridge that leads up to its south flank. By now, she was definitley getting the hang of it. After she got a few frames, I banked and grabbed a few of my own, then pointed my X-T2 and XF56mm f/1.2 lens straight down at a crevasse field below me that was practically glowing.
I got some incredible shots, including this vertical image below, which is by far one of my favorite aerials I’ve ever shot. It’s the new lock screen on my phone.
Keep in mind, these are all straight JPEGS with no processing, just the Velvia film simulation on the X-T2. That’s how I shoot all of my aerials.
We kept circling and shooting frame after frame until the pink light faded, in total awe of the amazing display we’d just witnessed. It’s not like this every single time I go up, and in fact, I did another flight later in the week and although the light was good, it wasn’t quite as brilliant was it was on this day.
Before heading back to Anchorage, we turned and flew alongside the Turnagain Arm, which was completely clouded over with low fog. I shot this last photo in “Miniature Mode,” to give it a more dreamlike quality.
The western sky was still orange when we landed back at Merrill Field. Two weeks later, we’re still talking about our amazing flight. Sometimes everything works out perfectly. Sometime it’s magic. That’s the adventure of outdoor photography.
Oh, and by the way, Laura’s photos are awesome. She’s pretty psyched.
In 1993, a French-born Vietnamese scientist, photographer and mountain climber/guide named Tuan (QT) Luong came to the United States and enrolled at the University of Berkeley, largely because of its proximity to Yosemite, where he liked to rock climb.
He had originally planned to stay in California for a short time during his research project, but as it often happens with young, adventurous souls, something happened that totally derailed his itinerary. Inspired by the beauty of Yosemite and the rich tradition of American landscape photography, QT fell in love with the National Parks and began a 20-year quest to photograph all of America’s National Parks with a large format 5×7 view camera.
This was a truly monumental idea, as noone had ever photographed every single Park in the country before. He spent many days alone each year, hiking, padding and exploring the wild, and often times rugged terrain of numerous Parks all over the country with a 75 lbs backpack.
This massive 456 page, 7.4 lb coffee-table tome is easily the most amazing, most magnificent, most beautiful book I’ve ever seen. With over 500 photographs, 60 maps and 130,000+ words, Treasured Lands is a gorgeous visual journey through the diverse beauty of America’s greatest natural treasures.
Stunning Photographs
Treasured Lands is essentially one giant photo essay that will draw you into every single page. QT is an incredibly talented photographer and he has filled the book with such a beautiful collection of images that draw you into each page.
He uses such a great diversity of light, vantage point and framing in his imagery, that you never get tired of looking at his work. And it’s not just super colorful eye candy, QT has such an engaging and honest style that he pulls you into each scene with equal amounts of comfort and awe.
I love the variation of image collections he presents; some full page, some double page spread, and many collages of two and three images that go together so nicely. I can’t even imagine how much time it took him to compile and select which images to use in the book and which shots to arrange with others.
Every set tells a story, and that’s the point of his book- to tell the unique story of the individual beauty that each National Park holds within its boundaries.
Information and Maps
Treasured Lands isn’t just a giant photo book, though. It contains a wealth of information about the history, geography, and many other important aspects of each Park, as well as maps that show you where he shot each image.
This format actually makes Treasured Lands incredible manageable. It would be easy to get lost, and even intimidated inside a book of this magnitude. However, with this layout, you can dive into Treasured Lands and explore one or two parks in a sitting if you have limited time.
I love going back and forth between the gorgeous full page images, reading the captions for each shot, and then looking at the maps (I’m a huge sucker for maps!) As I said, you could get lost for days in this book, but with the straightforward format, you can always find your way in and out with a great deal of ease.
One thing I really like is that instead of using regular captions for each photo, QT includes an entire “caption page” for each Park, with thumbnails and detailed writeup about each image and location.
Whereas some photographers like to keep their locations “secret,” QT shows you the exact place where he shot each image. This is great for landscape photographers who are inspired to visit these parks and capture their own images of these wondrous places.
In that way, Treasured Lands can become a valuable resource for photographers. It can sometimes be a little overwhelming to try and plan a photography trip, given the vast size of many of the National Parks. This book can provide you with information that can help you in the planning process. And even though you may not want to go to all of the same places, QT’s book at least gives you a place to start.
Timeless and Timely
How fitting that Treasured Lands comes to us at the 100th anniversary of the National Parks. In fact, I cannot think of a better, more important and relevant time for this book to come out. Our National Parks are the greatest treasures we have in this nation, and they continually inspire people- artists, authors, explorers, photographers, hikers, climbers, adventurers, wanderers, lost souls, who come from all over the world to marvel at the magnificent beauty they offer.
Anyone who has visited a National Park knows the magic they have and the powerful impact they impart on you when you stand in and gaze at the grader of these unique landscapes.
You simply cannot help but be moved when you watch the sun set over the stacked ridges of the Great Smoky Mountains, gaze out over the endless tundra and river bars of Denali, stare with awe at the massive granite walls of Yosemite or hike beneath the unique and sometimes funky sandstone bridges and arches of southern Utah.
Spending time in a National Park shifts your priorities. It makes you think and consider the real importance of things, as well as the real meaningless of other things. It cleanses your mind, body and soul and reinvigorates you with ideas and fills you with an appreciation for the things that were not made by man.
This is why I think every single Senator and U.S. Representative, as well as every other person who holds a position of great power in this country should be forced to take a mandatory week-long field trip to Denali. It’s obvious that some of them just don’t get it.
It’s unfortunate, and frankly unfathamable, that here in 2017, we find ourselves still having to fight for these precious places against ideas that would compromise the beauty and quiet stillness of our National Parks. And is there not at least a little bit of irony that it was the creative vision of a man born far outside of our country’s borders who was moved with so much passion by our own natural beauty to produce such a brilliant and important book for us?
Treasured Lands reminds us exactly what we’re fighting for, and what we will probably always have to fight for, since the conservation movement remains extremely relevant and necessary across all generations if we are to preserve the true beauty of our nation.
QT’s book beautifully documents the entire National Park System better and more comprehensively than probably any other book, video or compilation ever created. There is no more definitive photography collection of these parks in a single volume anywhere. For that, I feel we own him our gratitude.
QT has inspired many photographers during the past 20 years, including me, and I can honestly say that after flipping through this book, I am excited to visit even more National Park in the coming years.
Treasured Lands is a truly magnificent volume and I know that it will inspire you as well. For the sheer size, content and artistic beauty of this book, it’s actually a remarkable value. Price aside, though, if you love landscape photography and appreciate the beauty of America’s National Parks, Treasured Lands is a book you will definitely want in your collection.
Note, if you buy it through QT’s website, you have the option of getting a personally signed copy, a special limited edition with slipcase, individually numbered and signed, or a PDF eBook which allows you to view the book and all the photography notes on your mobile device.
One of the biggest advancements in the latest generation of the X Series cameras like the X-T2 and X-Pro2 is how well they perform at higher ISO settings. I’m not talking that middle range of 800 and 1600, I mean up the nosebleed section- you know, at the far end of the dial where you’d normally be afraid to venture unless you’re shooting in dark.
Due largely to the increased computing power of the upgraded X Processor Pro image processing chip, which is 4x faster than the chip in the X-T1, high ISO performance on the newest Fuji cameras is simply amazing.
The highest native speed on the these cameras is ISO 12800, and having shot my X-T2 at this setting quite a bit, I’ve been blown away by how much detail the images hold. Sure, they’re pretty grainy, but that’s the thing- they’re not noisy, they’re grainy. You know… like real photographs used to be. (You can see examples in my full X-T2 High ISO Review here.)
Whatever secret ingredients the Fuji engineers slipped under the ISO dial, they’ve figured out how to turn the effects of heat-caused distortion (that’s really what high ISO noise is) into appealing film grain that actually looks nice. It’s not offensive, and in fact, it’s gives your photos a very stylized look without taking over.
My favorite high ISO setting on the Fujifilm X-T2 is ISO 3200. It’s simply magic, especially when shooting in the new ACROS mode. Here’s an example below.
This is my friend Josh. He’s a good looking guy, isn’t he? He’s also a great photographer. Anyway, I shot the first photo of him at ISO 200 using the ACROS film simulation with my X-T2 and the XF 35mm f/2 lens. The second photo was shot a few seconds later at ISO 3200.
The both look great, and at this small resolution, you can’t even tell a difference. But what happens when we zoom in? Now we’ll look at a section of each image zoomed into 100% to check the detail, first at ISO 200, and below that, ISO 3200. Now you can really see the difference, and it’s striking.
The ISO 3200 version holds an incredible amount of detail with minimal grain. It’s totally usable. If you’re like me, you wouldn’t even think about using that setting, even in broad daylight.
If you want to pixel peel the entire image, you can you click on each photo below to see the original photo at full resolution.
So, what do you think? Pretty awesome, huh? I have to say, this is one of my favorite things about the newest X Series cameras, and now that the rest of the line has been upgraded with the new 24MP sensor and X Processor Pro chip, you’ll be able to get this kind of performance not only in the X-T2 and X-Pro 2, but also in the new X100F and even in the X-T20, both of which you can preorder now.
Winter has been awesome in Alaska this year. We’ve had lots of snow and many days of clear, cold weather, which has blessed us with some truly amazing sunsets.
One particular afternoon, right after New Years, I hit the local trails for an afternoon of exploring and photography. Just me, my fat tire bike, my photo pack and a head full of creative ideas and dreams.
During most of my four-hour ride, I just kept my X-T2 slung over my shoulder. Every once in awhile, I stopped to shoot some photos and marvel at the low winter sun that never quite gets above the tree tops during the shortest days of the year. In fact, most of the times when I actually saw the sun, it was through the trees.
At 3:30PM, I crossed a bridge across a small stream and was greeted with a rather appealing landscape scene, so I stopped to capture a few frames with my wide angle lens.
It was pretty good at first. However, less than a minute after I started shooting, this rich, magical, pink/orange light hit the tree tops and suddenly changed everything.
I tromped around in the snow and watched it only get better during the next few minutes. In fact, it only lasted about 7 or 8 minutes total, and then it was gone.
The wide angle shots were ok, but I wanted to zoom in and accentuate that amazing light as much as possible, so I switched to my Fuji 50-140mm f/2.8 zoom lens, which is the APS-C equivalent of the classic 70-200mm. This allowed me to make the most of that dramatic pink-ish light, which contested so nicely agains the blue.
I shot until it was gone, and one of the things that made it so special is that I was the only one there to see it.
There’s something truly wonderful about being treated to your own personal light show, and the only way that happens is if you head out the door with your camera near the end of the day.
You never know what magical light will befall you when you travel out in the wilderness on any given day. It doesn’t matter where you end up, and in the end, it really doesn’t matter if the good light hits. You’re still outside with your camera breathing fresh air and feeling the wind on your face.
Just as the X-T10 was the little brother (or sister) to the X-T1, the X-T20 is the younger sibling to the top of the line X-T2, which has been called the best mirrorless camera on the market.
Featuring the 24MP X-Trans III CMOS sensor and X Processor Pro image processor, the X-T20 delivers the same stunning, high resolution image quality, color rendition and expanded high ISO performance as the X-T2 and X-Pro 2, in a lighter, smaller body with an affordable price.
In addition, the X-T20 has a new touch screen tilting LCD screen, similar to the screen on the X70, which gives you “tap to focus”, “tap to shoot” and “browse” functions. It also has a 91-point autofocus system with updated AF algorithms. The AF areas can be broken up into 325 AF detection points in single mode, just like the X-T2, and it has the same singe/zone/wide tracking AF modes.
The autofocus system on the X-T2 was groundbreaking, and I can attest, it’s amazingly fast and accurate, and now they’ve brought the same capabilities to the new X-T20.
That’s not all. Since the X-T20 uses the new X Processor Pro image processing chip, which is 4x faster than the chip in the previous models, the X-T20 will feature improved and more accurate color rendition in all the film simulations.
It will also include the beautiful ACROS black and white film simulation. Requiring the faster processor, ACROS delivers stunning tonality with a high level of tonal gradation and a complex grain structure that looks great, even when you crank ISO dial into the upper regions.
And it shoots 4K and Full HD video with HDMI output.
Having used the original X-T10 extensively for a wide variety of outdoor, action and travel scenes, I can vouch for the performance of these “younger sibling” models. Inside, they contain the same sensors, image processors and autofocus algorithms found in the higher end models, with the only real limitations being the lack of weather sealing, a slightly less crash-proof body and a smaller buffer.
In other words, the X-T20 will give you a tremendous amount of quality and performance in a much more budget friendly body. And even though they’re not weather sealed, they’re built well- I’ve used the X-T10 a lot during the past couple of years and not only has it held up well, I’ve shot a number of my favorite image with it. You can read my review of the X-T2 and see most of what you’ll be gaining with the X-T20.
For the price and performance, this will be a hard camera to beat. It will be released later this winter, but you can preorder the camera now. If preorders were anything like the X-T2, which are still being filled over six months later, you should probably get yours in now if you think you want an X-T20.
X100F
The X100 was the camera that kicked off the whole X Series revolution six years ago, and it’s still a very relevant and powerful camera. Just ask anyone who has one and they’ll tell you how much they love it.
Being the flagship fixed-lens X Series camera, the X100F also features the new 24MP X-Trans III sensor, X Processor Pro chip and the new 91-point, 325-area autofocus system, which includes 49 phase-detection points.
Essentially, this brings the X100 into the same image quality and performance category as the X-Pro2 and X-T2. And yes, this means the new X100 also has the new ACROS film simulation included.
With it’s hybrid optical and electronic viewfinder, awesome, classic vibe and built-in 23mm f/2 lens, the X100 gives a classic 35mm photojournalism-type lens, which is wonderful for street photography, travel and environmental portraits. It’s been an instant classic since the day it was first announced in 2011. You can read a review of the new X100F by Canadian X Photographer Ian MacDonald.
Fujifilm also introduced a brand new 50mm f/2 WR lens. It’s the third lens in the new f/2 weather sealed series, following the XF 35mm f/2 and the XF 23mm f/2.
With classic, compact designs and great optics, these excellent primes offer superb sharpness and clarity, bright, fast maximum apertures, fast autofocus motors and weather resistance. (Read why I love the 32mm f/2 lens.)
Fuji’s new XF 50mm f/2 lens offers an effective 76mm view angle and a shallow depth of field, which makes this lens ideal for portraits, still live and travel.
These new f/2 primes are also the smallest and least expensive models in the Fujifilm lens lineup, so they’re great for budget minded photographers and shooters who are looking to build a compact camera kit for travel or street photography.
As with the X-T20 and X100F, the new XF 50mm f/2 WR lens will be released later this winter. You can preorder the lens here.
