~ Nigel Wheal Photography ~

This last week has seen me getting used to the new puppy in the camera kennel, the Fuji X100.

I have been taking this little belter with me everywhere and using it as much as I can to get used to all the functions and slowly getting the camera settings fine tuned to my liking.

Here is a shot of a steel drummer that I came across on the foot bridge that crosses from the South Bank to Charing Cross.

I have posted up the original colour version and a black and white conversion that was produced in Aperture. Personally I prefer the conversion, for me has just that little more pop and impact.

Steel Drummer.

I am loving the new camera which has re-ignited my passion for observational photography, I love being able to wander about with this unobtrusive camera that everyone seem to disregard as a threat, unlike my normal DSLR which normally gets peoples attention as soon as I raise to my eye.

Would be interesting to hear which image you prefer and your reasons behind the choice, additionally I would love to hear from other uses of the X100 letting me know how they are getting on with the camera, and any issues they have found.

Get Shareaholic

A New Puppy Enters The Kennel….

On friday I returned home to a package that I had been awaiting.

After a quick cup of coffee I started to open the boxes and get my hands on my new Puppy… The Fuji X100.

I had been contemplating a new camera for some time, however I could not make up my mind if I wanted to get a second DSLR or something a little different. I was looking at either the Nikon D7000 – Leica X1 or the Fuji X100. A couple of months ago I made the decision that I did not want the Nikon so it was just a matter of making a choice between the Leica or the Fuji.

After several months of research and reading every review that is sitting on the net, I made the call and decided on the X100.After removing everything from the boxes and getting the battery on charge, I started to consume the contents of the manual trying to familiarise myself with all the controls and settings.

From what I had been reading on the net I new it would be a while before I got my head round all the little idiosyncrasies of this little belter and knowing that it may be sometime before I get the camera set up the way I wanted it, and getting the images out of camera how I wanted them with minimal editing. For the first hour after un-boxing the camera I just handled the camera getting used to where all the controls were.

Once the battery was fully charged I fitted the memory card and slotted in the battery and started to set up the camera.

Saturday and Sunday was a day of wandering with nothing but the X100 and getting back to a simpler way of taking images, no zoom lens just a pair of legs to get the composition I wanted. I must say since owning all my various DSLR’s I have become very spoilt and lazy when it comes to photography, changing lenses had become the norm to obtain the desired image. With the fuji everything has now returned to a simpler time, just one lens however loads of more fun. Since saturday I think I have walked about 9 miles just having fun getting to know the controls and how the image setting work within camera.

It is going to be an enjoyable experience owning this camera as it has already injected an renewed enjoyment for picture taking in its rawest form.

Expect to see a lot more images from this little gem as I intend to start taking this to London with me most days, that will make my lunch hours a lot more enjoyable.

Below is a little slideshow of some of the images captured over the weekend.