The X-Pro 1 Goes on Vacation with the Griswolds

[PhotoMat]

My family and I just returned from an eleven day trip that had the potential to be reminiscent of National Lampoon's Family Vacation. We travelled to the midwest to visit some family and friends, and prior to the commencement of our travels, I knew that we were going to be logging some serious miles and I did not particularly envision our stops as being rife with photographic opportunities, at least for my tastes.

Gearwise, I decided to travel light and brought only my X-Pro 1 with the Fuji 35/1.4, CV 15 and Leica 90 lenses. Since the majority of our activities were oriented toward our 2 1/2 and 6 year old boys, my subject matter was family pics with the occasional static/architectural shot thrown in as the opportunity presented itself.

I have to admit that it was nice to travel with a minimal amount of gear. The Fuji performed admirably and I was quite happy with the high ISO shots that I certainly wouldn't have attempted with my original Canon 5D. Regarding the non-Fuji lenses, the 90 worked well, and while the 15 was OK for family snapshots, I remain unimpressed with its performance on the X-Pro body. I'm really looking forward to Fuji's release of their 14mm lens this fall.

Anyway, here are a few snaps taken by me, Clarke W. Griswold. BTW, Wally World was still closed for repairs.😉

 

[PhotoMat]

 

[PhotoMat]

 

[PhotoMat]

 

[robert blu]

Interesting shots, for sure travel light is something good...
robert

 

[Mudman]

love that last shot of rushmore. great angle. be interesting with some light painting in the cave as well.

 

[j.scooter]

The blue door is something else!!! well seen.

I also like the interior of the church and all of those leading lines.

 

[shadowfox]

Nice compositions and good subjects.
Did those HDR shots come out like that from the camera?

 

[PhotoMat]

The only HDR images is the interior shot of the barrel vault ceiling in the chapel using Photomatix Pro. The other images (fallout shelter sign, chapel door and Motherhouse facade) were jpegs shot in Velvia mode and adjusted with Topaz in PS. I wanted the Motherhouse facade to look imposing and I knew that I would be able to accomplish the look later on using Topaz and some masking in Photoshop.

Being a big Velvia user in my film work, I tend to utilize that setting quite a bit with the Fuji. While the snaps of my boys would have been better served using a different setting, I usually keep my camera on the Velvia setting and shoot RAF+JPEG. As of yet, I am still using LR3 and have not played with the Fuji RAW files.