| Joined: | Mon Apr 2nd, 2012 |
| Location: | Carthew, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 6874 |
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I shoot flamenco dance photographs which usually occurs in low natural light or in mixed lighting (halogen, tungsten, fluorescent tubes) plus I also do some additional commercial and publicity shooting as well as my own personal shooting of portraits, travel and landscape.
Background:
I have shot film, and since 1998 digital photos. One of the persistent challenges that has been present is grain or digital noise in high ISO situations where the natural light is of low intensity or quality.
Many people in the past used to put their cameras away when shooting colour at ISO400 and the light levels had dropped below 1/30 sec, and a wide open aperture. Those shooting B&W and having a darkroom could push on until ISO1600, but at that point golf ball sized grain became an issue.
In early digital cameras the issues remained the same but with digital noise in one or all of the RGB channels. Shooting RAW and using aggressive noise reduction was a possibility but there were always challenges. Then in 2007 Nikon introduced the D3 and life was made so much easier if you could afford this wonderful camera. Then one to two years later they introduced the D3S and also the D700. The world of low light photography was now open to all serious amateurs.
At the same time as introducing the D3 they improved the AF performance so it now behaved very reproducibly in low light (EV1-5). This improvement has been seen in all the modern digital prosumer cameras in the ensuing yearsThis was all in the era of the DSLR.
Then came mirrorless cameras usually in cheap point'n'shoot cameras but that all changed in 2010 when Fujifilm introduced the X100. This camera provided great handling and brought a 12MP sensor whose colour and quality was awesome but the AF was slow like all mirrorless cameras. Subsequent releases of Fuji cameras suffered, to different degrees, with this AF slowness but all the time Fuji were improving the AF speed.
The Fuji XT1 was released in 2014 with a promise that its 16MP could equal the DSLRs that were out there. Without a doubt the results from RAW files was just as awesome or better than the X100 quality and indeed due to its small size and improved AF it seemed like the answer to the heavy DSLRs. However all was not rosy in the garden, the EVF refresh rate was an issue and the AF still not up to that which was available in DSLRs in low light (EV5), and so sports and wildlife photographers struggled while some others marvelled that finally they had a small, light, high quality camera.
The release of the Fuji XT2 in September 2016 has changed this with a vengeance. The step change is similar to that experienced with the Nikon D3.
The XT2 now focusses as fast as my Nikon D3S and perhaps also the D500 in low and normal lighting conditions.
However the D500 is a shade more sophisticated and works well to the extent that I am starting to challenge my need for FX cameras. This comparison is based on 12MP D3S v 20MP D500 DSLRs. Then you throw a 24MP DX (APS-C) mirrorless camera into the mix and do a comparison and there starts to be a degree of apples versus oranges comparisons so we need to be careful to couch any findings with the correct setting of expectations.
My assessment criteria:
1. Focus accuracy
2. Focus speed
3. Handling
4. Hi ISO noise
5. Ease of use (Difficult as this is very personal).
I did a flamenco dance shoot recently and I tried to keep my shooting as normal as possible but I shot with an XT2 with 56mm f1.2 lens at 1/250 f5.6 and a Nikon D500 with 200-500m f5.6 AFS VR lens at 1/250 at f5.6. Both cameras were used at ISO 3200 or 6400.
I always shoot in Manual mode so ISO 3200/6400 with f4 or f5.6 and 1/125 or 1/250. AF is set to AF-S or AF-C depending on the dance sequences. I also shoot in Single shot mode except occasionally I use CL to capture short sequences.
Image results were nearly indistinguishable. Indeed if I didnt know which camera took the images it would be nearly impossible to assess.
Results:
Focus accuracy was from both cameras was a huge surprise to me as I expected the D500 to blow away the XT2. It didnt it was nearly identical. Focus accuracy under the same conditions was nearly identical.
Focus speed was similar to the D500, in that I never waited for focus to be achieved before shooting as this is not effective in this type of dance photography. You shoot when you see the image.
The handling on the Fuji XT2 was something I have come to enjoy in the last two weeks. Sorry Nikon you have dropped behind in the UI and handling stakes. The Fuji is so easy to work with under dark conditions with the aperture and shutter-speed and ISO all being to hand. The only problem is the EVF refresh rate which left me with short black out periods where I didnt see where the dancer had moved to. I dont know if this is entirely due to the EVF refresh rate but I suspect it is.
Hi ISO noise, what is that? A thing of the past!
Ease of use will be a thing that will rankle with some. What is one person's easy is awkward to another. I will keep it simple and say that from this point forward I dont have to take my Nikon kit to a shoot to be successful with my flamenco shoots. The Fuji XT2 is definitely there where the XT1 was just as good for static shots I couldn't use it for fast moving dance sequences.
One small bug bear is the EVF rate leave you with visually missed moments as the EVF refreshes after an exposure. I think this will this improve with the camera switched to Performance Boost mode but I dont know until next time when I have time to test.
Conclusions:
So at this point in time I am thinking what happens next?
Do I get rid of all my Nikon kit?
At this point in time I think this may be too radical a move but I do think I will release a lot of Nikon kit to eBay.
Do I get another XT2 and trade in my XT1?
Actually I think my XT1 handles very well and has some handling features that are better than the XT2. What items are these? It is mainly around my familiarity with the menus and getting to what I need quickly. this will probably improve as I use the XT2 more. I will probably get another XT2 as soon as I reduce my Nikon inventory.
Do I need to get a Fuji 50-140mm f2.8 and 16-55 f2.8 lens?
Only if I get rid of some of my Nikon kit so that this is a zero cost option as actually I want the 10-24mm f4, 16mm f1.4, 16-55mm f2.8 and 50-140mm f2.8 and probably the 80mm f2.8.
Impressed? Yes, you bet I am. Thank you Fuji for a paradigm shift in the camera from XT1 to XT2. There are still some things that need to improve mainly around the menus and firmware and some small pieces such as tethered control of the camera. Also the camera tethering software needs to be provided for both Mac and Windows environments.
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Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none