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p.3 #20 · p.3 #20 · What do you guys use for your 'personal party cams' | |
Larate wrote:
@gdanmitchell : hello Dan, I'm always happy to read you. Do you think we can operate discreetly with a Fuji X-E1 ? Meaning others can't see you're taking pictures of their precious (their cars, their pets, but seldom their wives !).
By comparison to shooting a DSLR, the X-E1 lets me work much more discretely. I recall the first time I shot with it in a public place (Balboa Park in San Diego) - in a situation where people would often take notice of my larger DSLR gear, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most people simply ignored me. I think they mostly regarded my as just another tourists with a camera.
(There is one funny sort of exception though, among folks who know a bit about photography. I was wandering a back-street in Heidelberg, Germany last summer with the X-E1 and, as usual, attracting little attention. A young man, probably a university student, was walking toward me when his eyes suddenly opened wide and he stopped and excitedly asked, "Is that a Leica?!" ;-)
Mostly I use it for street photography and travel photography, though recently I've also used it (alongside a DSLR) on a project that I'm working on that has me photographing classical musicians backstage, a subject that often requires some subtlety and steps to avoid drawing attention to myself. (I'm not a paparazzi nor a stalker!)
The small size of the camera is a real advantage, as is its quiet operation. There is shutter sound from the curtain shutter, but it is very quiet and there is no mirror to flap up and down. I can often quickly raise the camera to my eye with one hand and make the shot without a lot of fuss.
Low light performance is surprisingly good - at least as good as my 5DII and perhaps better when it comes to noise. Last week I set it to 3200 for my backstage work and the results were excellent. (I hesitate to shoot the 5DII above 1600 for my purposes.) By default the camera activates a focus-assist light in low light situations, and that is a distraction when shooting in low light situations where I don't want to draw attention - so I turned it off, and it still works fine.
The AF is usually fine, though not as fast as that of a DSLR. The effectiveness of the AF depends on several things. First, as long as there is some contrast in the scene the camera will AF in very low light. However, in a few situations with very low contrast (which I've only encountered a handful of times) the AF can become ineffective and/or extremely slow, with a lot of hunting. It is a rare problem, but when it happens it is annoying and manual focus may be better. Second, the effectiveness of the AF system varies depending upon the lens. The excellent little 35mm f/1.4 generally AFs quickly and accurately. The 14mm f/2.8, another wonderful lens, also works quite well. The 55-200mm variable aperture zoom is better at shorter focal lengths, but it may hunt in poor light when shooting at the longest focal lengths. (But that isn't really a lens to use if you are trying to be unobtrusive, since it is quite large when fully extended.)
I've probably written too much here already, so anyone who wants to know more might want to read the review.
Take care,
Dan
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