Articles
Some actual thoughts on my photography
16/04/2020
It has been a long time since the last time I worked with the website. Much has changed in the meantime. This article tells something about it.
It has been a long time since I worked with my photo website. In all these years very much has changed in the world of digital photography. Although I have always continued to shoot photos it has not been easy two decide the system I want to work with. During these years I have used different cameras as you may see from my photos. I have shot a lot with Sigma cameras. But when Sigma stopped working together with Adobe Lightroom I found it difficult to develop a good workflow for my photos. I had first to open the photos in Sigmas own program, which runs very slow on even strong computers. Then I had to save the photos in TIFF format before opening them in Lightroom. The drawback was that this gave very limited processing on Lightroom. And the TIFFs took a lot of space from the harddrive.
I therefore started to look for alternative cameras. But it is not so easy to settle with a system. At the moment I have discovered and enjoy shooting with Fujifilm cameras. Fujifilm has understood how to make their cameras cameralike with the possibility to manage the most important settings for shooting with physical controls. This appeals to my way of shooting. The only thing I don't bother very much about, are the endless amount of options in the menu system. I just change a few settings when starting the use of a camera and that's it.
I recently started to process some of the photos shot with the Fujifilm XT-3 in Lightroom, only to discover some weird artefacts in the photos. Fujifilm is using a different kind of sensor, the so called X-trans sensor in some of their cameras. It seems that Lightroom is not able to process these files good enough. I am now trying out Capture One to process my Fujifilm photos and they are visibly better. But it is also an expensive software, so I am still in trial mode. If I buy it, it is to consider to use only the Fujifilm version or the complete package for all systems. It will of course be more expensive. But Lightroom is also very expensive, so I will have to consider this still for some time. Meanwhile I am learning more how to use Capture One and I am quite satisfied with the way of it handles.
I have not only struggled with cameras the last years, but also with some of my computer hardware. I had to reinstall Mac OS on a different drive in my Mac Pro 2010 because something went wrong with the main drive, a SSD. I also had to install a new graphic card to be able do install a newer version of the Mac OS, the Mojave. Furthermore I had to move my system to a different place which meant I also had to resetup and recalibrate my photo monitor. Sadly I do also have some problems still with my photo printer. To me a photo is finished when it is printed on paper, not when it is seen on a screen. Mostly the quality of a printed photo is much higher than a screen ever can show.
Because of all these different reasons I have the last years only being shooting photos with more or less no processing of them. But I have stored them on a laptop, so I have copied all to the Mac Pro. There are quite a lot to go through and to choose those to process.
Of course I shot sometimes on the same spots, but normally the weather and/or the light will be different. This can give the same scenery different qualities.
Most of the new photos you will soon become to see on my website I suppose will be Fujifilm photos. When I shoot I select one of the film simulations they offer. Fuijfilm have and had many good films, so it is nice to get them simulated also digitally. Although there is of course no need to simulate film with digital cameras. But it can give a certain mood to a certain scenery.
Capture One and Lightroom do also have the simulations, so in my actual workflow I often start looking at the RAW file with one of the simulations selected.
I have also have spent some time with a Leica Vario and a Sony A7 II and also their little compact Sony RX100 III. The Leica is good, no doubt, but I am not able to enjoy the Sonys.
At the moment I am using the Fujifilm XT-3 but also the compact X F-10. The little one is very nice to carry on the way and it has a 28 millimeter F 2.8 lens, which is actually very good, and it has a 24 Mpixel APS-C sensor. As you may see from some of the shots from the XF-10. In our time we have come to a point where it does not matter very much anymore which camera you are using because they actual sensors are very good. But for instance Fujifilm has very good lenses and to me it seems in the combinations with their sensors, you will have a good combination for shooting. I have some of their lenses for the XT-3 system, which of course can be used on further cameras from Fuijfilm.
I have not forgotten my first love Sigma and their Foveon sensors, which could produce very good photos. Meanwhile they have developed a lot of very good lenses for different camera systems. I'm indeed very interested in the new FP camera, which is the smallest full frame camera ever made. It has a very interesting 45 millimeter lens as the first of a new series of lenses by Sigma. It has the L-mount which also Panasonic and Leica are now using, so my wish one day do use this camera with an adapter for my Voigtländer lenses. It could be a very interesting combination.
I therefore started to look for alternative cameras. But it is not so easy to settle with a system. At the moment I have discovered and enjoy shooting with Fujifilm cameras. Fujifilm has understood how to make their cameras cameralike with the possibility to manage the most important settings for shooting with physical controls. This appeals to my way of shooting. The only thing I don't bother very much about, are the endless amount of options in the menu system. I just change a few settings when starting the use of a camera and that's it.
I recently started to process some of the photos shot with the Fujifilm XT-3 in Lightroom, only to discover some weird artefacts in the photos. Fujifilm is using a different kind of sensor, the so called X-trans sensor in some of their cameras. It seems that Lightroom is not able to process these files good enough. I am now trying out Capture One to process my Fujifilm photos and they are visibly better. But it is also an expensive software, so I am still in trial mode. If I buy it, it is to consider to use only the Fujifilm version or the complete package for all systems. It will of course be more expensive. But Lightroom is also very expensive, so I will have to consider this still for some time. Meanwhile I am learning more how to use Capture One and I am quite satisfied with the way of it handles.
I have not only struggled with cameras the last years, but also with some of my computer hardware. I had to reinstall Mac OS on a different drive in my Mac Pro 2010 because something went wrong with the main drive, a SSD. I also had to install a new graphic card to be able do install a newer version of the Mac OS, the Mojave. Furthermore I had to move my system to a different place which meant I also had to resetup and recalibrate my photo monitor. Sadly I do also have some problems still with my photo printer. To me a photo is finished when it is printed on paper, not when it is seen on a screen. Mostly the quality of a printed photo is much higher than a screen ever can show.
Because of all these different reasons I have the last years only being shooting photos with more or less no processing of them. But I have stored them on a laptop, so I have copied all to the Mac Pro. There are quite a lot to go through and to choose those to process.
Of course I shot sometimes on the same spots, but normally the weather and/or the light will be different. This can give the same scenery different qualities.
Most of the new photos you will soon become to see on my website I suppose will be Fujifilm photos. When I shoot I select one of the film simulations they offer. Fuijfilm have and had many good films, so it is nice to get them simulated also digitally. Although there is of course no need to simulate film with digital cameras. But it can give a certain mood to a certain scenery.
Capture One and Lightroom do also have the simulations, so in my actual workflow I often start looking at the RAW file with one of the simulations selected.
I have also have spent some time with a Leica Vario and a Sony A7 II and also their little compact Sony RX100 III. The Leica is good, no doubt, but I am not able to enjoy the Sonys.
At the moment I am using the Fujifilm XT-3 but also the compact X F-10. The little one is very nice to carry on the way and it has a 28 millimeter F 2.8 lens, which is actually very good, and it has a 24 Mpixel APS-C sensor. As you may see from some of the shots from the XF-10. In our time we have come to a point where it does not matter very much anymore which camera you are using because they actual sensors are very good. But for instance Fujifilm has very good lenses and to me it seems in the combinations with their sensors, you will have a good combination for shooting. I have some of their lenses for the XT-3 system, which of course can be used on further cameras from Fuijfilm.
I have not forgotten my first love Sigma and their Foveon sensors, which could produce very good photos. Meanwhile they have developed a lot of very good lenses for different camera systems. I'm indeed very interested in the new FP camera, which is the smallest full frame camera ever made. It has a very interesting 45 millimeter lens as the first of a new series of lenses by Sigma. It has the L-mount which also Panasonic and Leica are now using, so my wish one day do use this camera with an adapter for my Voigtländer lenses. It could be a very interesting combination.
