Proof Of The Pudding

You'll recall that the last blog posting mentioned a new wide-angle converter for the Fujifilm X-100 series of cameras. It converts the 23mm lens that is fixed on the X-100 and X-100s to 19mm. You might think that 4 mm wider is not significant...but it really is.

Wide angle photography is a funny business. Leaving out panoramas and wide-format film cameras...and these are truly funny...we come to the way that standard digital cameras can be made to see a wide view of the world. Please keep in mind that wide also means high - when you drop the focal length by whatever means you effectively pack more into the frame vertically as well as horizontally. In other words you don't change the aspect ratio as you shoot.

Except, of course, when you do, Some cameras allow you to shoot in a 16:9 format to accommodate wide-screen television display. One client recently found that his camera has an external switch that does this, and when he inadvertently clicked it over he got image files that do not print out all that well on standard 2:3 inkjet paper. Now he knows.

For my part, I exercised the new converter on the X-100 at the Whiteman Park car show yesterday. There was a Nikon SB 700 helping to add sparkle and to cope with the shadows when the sun came out. It all worked splendidly.

As far as I can determine, the shots from this show are every bit as sharp as those taken with the companion camera - the Fujifilm X-E2 - taken at a previous show. In addition, the leaf shutter of the X-100 meant that I could run the shutter speed up and down for background effect without worrying about  getting the wrong flash synchronisation.

The focal length on the camera is now effectively 19mm and this approximates to 28mm on a full-frame camera. This is wide enough to allow a little closer shooting at a car show but avoids the looming corner effect of wider focal lengths - this is about as wide as you want to go to preserve some proportion in the result.

It must be noted, however, that if you need to go close-in, you need to unscrew the converter, turn off the powerful Nikon SB 700, and use the in-built flash on the camera. If you leave the converter in place you get a semi-circular shadow on the bottom of the image where the lens blocks the light.

Methinks the next stage of experimentation is to put a Fujifilm TTL flash on a coiled cord and see if it can overcome this handicap.

Will Wider be Wiser With Fujifilm?

Justin put me on to it. Or is that put me up to it...?

 He looked at my car pictures and recommended that I use my Fujifilm X 100 for daytime shots - better flash integration than a DSLR and a great deal lighter burden to haul about.

I needed a bit wider view than the fixed lens on the X100. It is 23mm and equates to the view that one would get with a 35mm lens on a film camera. I really wanted the view that one gets with a 24-28mm on a film camera but on the Fujifilm sensor.

Hey, presto, Fujifilm make just the thing. I ordered a WCL X100 converter lens. Mine is black to match the camera, but we also got in two more for stock - another black and a silver. That's what you see paired to the shop's Fujifilm X100s in the picture.

I've tried mine at home in the semi-gloom and it looks like it works - now to try it on Sunday at the car show at Whiteman Park. I shall show you the results so that you can compare them next week.

Note: the converter is actually small and light so it doesn't seriously affect the balance of the camera.