"Thank you very much Seth You sparked my interest now and I have to try the TCL converters
The XT2 is a superb camera. The AF is fast, very accurate and I love the Fuji ergonomics. That said I have D810 and D750 as my FF system and the dynamic AF is still in another league compared to the XT2 and also compared to the Sony A7rII. The other aspect is the Nikon creative lighting system is truly excellent and I would imagine this would be very important for your theatre shots.
I feel for theatre work the D810/D600 as a system are still the best work horses. This is no way takes away from the XT2 or the X100F".
Hi Charles - it's taken me a while. And I'm thinking what a dummy I've been.
My wife Annie has the lead role of “Ida” in Kander & Webb's "70, Girls, 70" which opens at GCLT on the Coast tomorrow night. I've taken all the portraits and rehearsal shots to date with the D810 and D600. Finally, at the Preview night on Wednesday this week, I forced myself to throw away my security blanket, and I took only the X100s with the TCL.
I set if for RAF only, with auto ISO up to 6400. Made sure that the TCL was activated. Set WB on Auto, aperture fixed at f2.8 - and I varied the shutter from 1/200 to 1/250 (it's a stage musical - movement blur is the bane of my life). Metering? I set it to Spot. I always use spot in theatre. Maybe other people prefer centre or matrix. I wouldn't argue the point. The light determines the issue.
Only used the EVF. And it was a Godsend; with the Nikons I usually spot meter and set the focus point (with a bit of quick finger work) on the forehead or cheek; with the X100s I could sometimes see in advance - via the EVF - that if I moved the focus/metering point to the chest or throat the exposure would be better. The reason I use Spot metering is to avoid blown highlights. The EVF saved my bacon in that respect. With the D810 I have found that the ‘highlight protection’ Spot metering cuts the exposure down too much - I rarely use it.
After some chimping with the X100s I was gobsmacked. We had production lights running. The exposures were coming in at ISOs in the hundreds, and maybe up to 1600, but not often beyond that.
I think it’s to do with the Spot metering allied with the EVF. I could adjust on the fly, simply by moving the point of focus/spot metering.
Depth of field problems with that? No. At f2.8 the X100s crop sensor is giving me ample DOF. Chest or throat focus gives good eyes and a lot more for neighbouring actors. I reckon that with the Nikons I had to use at least f4.0 or f5.0 to get an equivalent zone of sharpness. Yeah, I know what the tables say about comparative DOF with crop sensor or FX. I’m talking about what I see.
Once in Lightroom, I was again taken aback. Using camera calibration on the RAF files was a doddle - in association with WB adjustment I was at a satisfactory colour balance/tonality in a jiffy.
And here’s the rub: my wife looked at the pics on Facebook today and said “Gee, the colours are lovely”. It was as if she saw something different about them. I did too. That indefinable Fuji magic.
Downsides? well, it was the X100s - not the XT2 - I had to anticipate focus points and peak action (I was set to AF with AFS - AFC on the X100s is useless in this kind of work). It reminded me of shooting with my film cameras. It was a cultural shock not being able to use back-button focus as on the Nikons. But, once into the swing of it, I enjoyed the challenge.
The future: I am convinced that the Fuji sensor is superb for this type of work (most of the shots I’ve posted below are substantially cropped - sometimes to a 100mm Field of View, or more! - and this is not the latest sensor!). For reasons I haven’t had time to work out yet, the results are more satisfying overall than the Nikons. And if I can get this sort of focus and exposure under such tricky conditions with a mere X100s … I can see myself switching … if, and it’s a big if, the AF in Continuous is up to it when the chips are down. I might even be prepared to renege on that statement … the results impressed me, technically, so much.
regards
Dan
p.s. just looked at these - they have come up via Photobucket - don't know if you will see them as I do - on my Mac retina display they are cracking clear.
Jun 30, 2017 at 04:06 AM
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You sparked my interest now and I have to try the TCL converters 
