Day One, Testing the Fujifilm X100VI in Sydney 2024

 As some of you will already know, I received an X100VI for a 2 week loan/review. Actually, no one ever asked me to review the camera, the Fuji PR people just asked me if I would like to try it, for two weeks. My answer was yes! The camera arrived on Monday the 5th of April 2024. It was boxed, and already pre-loved, I was not first cab off the rank, so not quite brand spanking new but pretty damn close. In the box; camera, one battery, one USB cable, one camera strap, the total contents of the box. I had asked for a spare battery and the LENS SHADE, (accessory not included) and just like last time, I received neither. Oh well, I would just have to make do. Making do meant using my own batteries & charger, fine, the camera is compatible with the original XPro/XT series batteries, though it lasts longer with the newest iteration. Personally I think a lens shade is an absolutely essential piece of equipment. It protects the lens from bumps and scratches and improves colour saturation & contrast by reducing the amount of scattered light skimming across the front element of the lens, and reduces lens flare, critical with lenses that have that front element mounted far forward, not set back in a chunky BLACK lens body. The X100 series all have very front mounted lens elements. So for me, great lens coating or not, a lens shade is essential. I improvised by taking the bayonet-mount shade that came with my 18mm Fujinon, ran a strip of camera tape around the shades inside edge and pressed the shade onto the barrel of the X100VI as I had done with the X100F several years earlier. Perfect fit? well good enough.

Next I headed out into a beautiful sunny and clear Sydney day to give the camera a quick test before heading further afield. I chose a street I love when it is lit in full sun. All sorts of bright tones and deep dark shadows. I realised pretty quickly that the camera was not at factory default settings, and using the Q (Quick Menu) button dialled in, RAW + JPEG Fine (well usually I just shoot JPEG but its a camera test so RAW too - just in case). The picture format is set to 16:9 not 2:3 and the Film Emulation to Eterna(?) I leave them as is deciding to try out the previous camera testers settings. I'm shooting RAW so I can process the files to my preferred Fuji settings later if I want to, can't I? My first impression is that the EVF (Electronic View Finder) and the back of the camera screen are not as colour correct as my XT1, or maybe it's just the 'Eterna' film emulation or some other in-camera setting that is on that is not in the Q menu, something I might be missing, deep in a sub menu somewhere. Otherwise the screen and the EVF are good, the EVF is great actually, other than the colour which is not terrible just not what I expected - and first impression is that it is not as sharp as I would expect. But I'm not too concerned as I know the settings are not at default (I have set the dioptre on the eyepiece) and I am shooting RAW - so I will be able to check out all the settings from the camera on my computer later. I've been shooting with the Fujifilm X Series since 2012 so I feel pretty confident in finding my way around the cameras and the Fujifilm RAW files.

Strapped, shaded and ready to go, the X100VI with the improvised Fujinon 18mm lens shade.

I decided to catch a bus out to Double Bay, wander around Redleaf Pool and walk back to Kings Cross, testing the camera in as wide a variety of shooting conditions as I can find. I leave the format at 16:9, why not, I'm shooting RAW, I can recover the rest later... if I want. The joystick (new for me) on the back which moves the focus point about is very sensitive and very fast! No need to activate it first, and the focus, is very fast, and very accurate. I notice this from the start and it does not take me long to get the adapt to the sensitivity of the joystick. It's very welcome.

The Golden Sheaf Hotel, 'Camera JPEG' with Perspective Correction (PC)

Most of the pictures shown here are from the full resolution Camera JPEG* (7322 px wide scaled down to 1836 wide - scaled in Nikon View NXD, watermarked in Photoshop and saved at level 8) You can click on the images to see them at the full presentation size of 1836 pixels on the long side, on a large monitor. 

Most images are Camera JPEGS, only a few of the images have post processing in Photoshop (PS), some have been cropped (Crp), some perspective correction (PC) as will be noted in the image caption. I typically post process all my pictures, but it's important to understand what comes out of the camera to work with so I've included some comparison pictures.

Old building and orange construction cloth, New South Head Road, Double Bay, Sydney

While using the EVF I notice the playback frame that pops up after a shot includes a tiny 100% detail at in it's own rectangle at the bottom of the frame which confirmed the shot really was in focus. At first I thought what the... is that in the frame, then I thought it was stupid and immediately wanted to get rid of it, then I got used to it and thought it was a great addition to the EVF - or was it the OVF?  Unfortunately within a few days I had switched off the function and never recovered it! I also attempted to turn on the grid lines which I use in my other cameras but was never able to get them to light up. I remember having had trouble with previous Fuji's but eventually worked it out, not this time. 

A spider as large as a big thumbnail(?) in close focus, Macro possibilities photographed with the Fujifilm X100VI at Blackburn Gardens (Crp PS)

Blackburn Gardens (PS)

 Green foliage and sky at Seven Shillings Beach

Youths - Redleaf Beach (Crp)

Murray Rose Pool - Redleaf (Crp)

The Focus on the X100VI is lightening fast. For the shot above I must have been focusing on the chairs on the right. A woman with her kids walked into the frame as I was snapping away. The focus pulled back to her, closer to the camera, perfect focus Already, this was not the first time I'd noticed the speed of focus, but this was exceptional. If not a great shot, thus the frame above I was setting up for.

Murray Rose pool 'Redleaf' cropped from the full frame below (Crp + PS) 4741 x 3136 pixels remaining. That 40.2 Meg sensor adds versatility to the fixed lens.

Murray Rose pool 'Redleaf' Camera JPEG as shot 7728 X 5152 pixels

Chir Pine - Double Bay Tree Trail - Redleaf

Substation, Double Bay - Camera JPEG

Camera JPEG Hi Neg Pro + (PS) High Pass & Curves.

Port Jackson Fig Trees, Steyne Park, Double Bay, Cropped to Panorama (Crp)

Paperbark Trees, Long Shadow Selfie, Darling Point (Duotone PS)

Harbour Bridge and Apartment Block, Annandale St, Darling Point (PS)

Harbour Bridge and Apartment Block, Annandale St, Darling Point (Original File)

Loftus St, Darling Point (PS)

Stairs and Angles, Loftus St, Darling Point (PS, PC, Crp)

Stairs and Angles, Loftus St, Darling Point - Camera JPEG

Morton Bay Fig, Late Afternoon, Rushcutters Bay Park

Rushcutters Bay Park (Crp + PS Curves)

Coke Sign & half the Moon, dusk approaching.

RAW Converter EX 3.0 Powered by Silkypix says NO!

Back at my computer. Even before I attempted my first RAW file conversion, I updated to the latest version of the Official, FREE, Fujifilm X-Series RAW file converter and all I got was a black screen and an error message - it would not even show the camera JPEGs - WTF!!!

I don't think I'm unusual here in first thinking that, maybe I have done something wrong. So I reboot the computer and try again. Nothing changes. I check the Silkypix website - again, and confirm that the latest version I have downloaded supports the X100VI. Check I've installed the latest version not reinstalled the one I already had. Yes, I've done it all correctly. The software does not work! I search the web and find just one or two references to Silkypix not supporting the latest version of the X100VI RAW file - it's not me, it's them.

Even though this is still a very new camera, it tells me three things and I am shocked by all of them. First that software has been passed as working with the X100VI when it is not actually working - NOT EVEN THE JPEGS SHOW - which is pretty bad, terrible in fact. The second is that there are so few complaints on message boards about this failure of the software. So few that, either people using the X100VI are not shooting RAW, so haven't tired converting with R.C. 3.0 Silkypix. Or, those that are shooting RAW are not using the FREE dedicated software 'RAW Converter EX 3.0 Powered by Silkypix' to convert their RAW files. Well I'm shocked, but I am not surprised. I am used to the idea that 'everyone' seems to do all their editing in Lightroom - and I do read on the same message boards and blogs that Lightroom works for converting the X100VI RAW files. 

Now, I don't use Lightroom, I might go into why I don't, sometime in the future if anyone really cares; but I do have Affinity Photo, the affordable photoshop and it's up-to-date and it converts RAW files too, so I decide to give it a go. And it works fine. Or it looks like it works fine. It sees the RAW file, well that's a start! It lets me make adjustments and I can export the result. What it does not do is let me use the unique Fujifilm settings (or Film Emulations) as they were in-the-camera! So I dig around the internet a little more and I find out that Fujifilm - not Silkypix - have come up with a solution to the in-camera-settings RAW-Conversion problem (keep in mind that the film emulations you can set in-camera are part of what draws many users to the X-series cameras and the X100s in particular).  The solution is called Fujifilm X RAW Studio and at first glance it looks like a good solution, but it's a solution for a problem that shouldn't exist.

X100VI file conversion L to R Eterna - Pro Neg Hi & Affinity Photo RAW Conversion

To use Fujifilm X RAW Studio simply install the software and plug your camera into your computer - because even though you have a fast, powerful, photography workhorse of a computer - it's the X100VI processor that is going to be converting those files for you - looping in and out of the computer along that USB cable the Data will go! But You MUST use the same model of camera that made the RAW file in the first place!!! No original camera, No Fujifilm X RAW Studio file converting. I am sorry Fujifilm, but this camera/software interface is slow and clunky - does not batch process - and it is not a solution. In the real world cameras get sold, cameras die, cameras are hired or borrowed, and even if not right now, RAW files may be edited YEARS after the original camera has long since disappeared. This is not an archival solution for photographers and photography, this is a camera manufacturers admission that there is no solution at all...

Now for the GOOD NEWS - about half way though my loan of the X100VI, Silkypix released an updated version of 'RAW Converter EX 3.0 Powered by Silkypix' Version:8.1.15.0 and the initial problems I encountered have been corrected. The RAW Converter now sees all the RAW and JPEG files from the X100VI and while it recognises some of the in-camera settings and includes the full compliment of Film Emulations, it does not completely mirror all the cameras settings (there is no 'grain' which is now an in-camera sub menu setting as is on-the-fly skin smoothing - I found them both and turned them off)  So it would seem that the only way to take full advantage of all the possible camera settings is to make sure you keep your camera and use the workaround solution - Fujifilm X RAW Studio. Sad Emoji Face!

Comparison, with grain & skin smoothing and without 

Shops, McElhone St, Woolloomooloo - Pro Neg.Std

Summing Up Day 1

I am a manual exposure, manual white balance shooter, and back in the day, manual focus too. I don't like fiddling in menus. To use the X100VI is pretty simple. ISO is activated by pulling up on the shutter speed dial and twisting to set. Shutter speed, same deal, twist don't pull up. F stops are on the lens barrel. The Q button top right hand side of the back of the camera gives easy access to white balance and film emulation settings along with a few other important, basic settings like file formats. I did find myself activating the Q menu a lot by accident when I was lifting the camera - but that is something I think would stop happening with continued regular use.. 

The handling of the camera itself was a dream, at least as I became used to the sensitivity of the focus joystick. Considering I simply stepped outside with a few batteries and started shooting, things went very well. For a Fuji shooter, even if some things may be laid out a little different, the way things work is familiar and easy. The only disappointment was to find out Silkypix did not work - since resolved as detailed above - and having to spend an hour or so converting the 300+ frames I shot to Hi Neg Std 3:2/normal ratio from the 16:9 format - and to get rid of the Grain setting and Skin Smoothing that were on and are buried in a sub menu. The pictures above are from that conversion process using Fujifilm X RAW Studio (not a happy experience). I ran the first battery after 200 or so frames, I also found the wireless file transfer settings on, and turned them off - set the power usage (sub menu) to economy. On subsequent uses I got a lot more frames to a fully charged battery.

The quality of the 40.2 meg sensor is superb. I've included plenty of late afternoon low light, shade and shadow pictures to attest to the quality of the sensor and it's processor. View on a calibrated monitor, click the shots and you will see them large. If you missed my first post about an afternoon shooting urban architecture in Newtown, shooting urban architecture in Newtown, Sydney, you can click here  Want to see how far Fujifilm have come with the X Series? You can read my review of the X Pro 1 from 2012 here.

Be sure to bookmark Street Fashion Sydney, more shots and information on the shooting with the X100VI to come.

*All these 'camera files' were created converting the RAW files using Fujifilm X RAW Studio which uses the camera itself to create the JPEG file with the exact same in-camera menu settings.

https://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com/2024/05/my-love-affair-with-fujifilm-x100vi-in.html

https://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com/2012/10/shooting-street-fashion-sydney-with.html

Special thanks to to Fujifilm PR at Campaign Lab.

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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Gene A’Hern - The Storm that Grew Us - at Cassandra Bird gallery

Opening night at Cassandra Bird art gallery for Gene A’Hern 'The Storm that Grew Us,' A show which was like a trip into a stormy Theosophical marvel. I loved the colours, I loved the mark making, I liked the storm. To my eye it's a tour de force though 20th century art movements that loved colour - seen through the eyes of Gene A’Hern and made new and fresh - because that's what storms do, they blow away the old and the stagnant and replace it with something fresh, something new - though sometimes that does involve a little pain. There are also works with washes of colour threaded with yarn, like large wall rugs, tapestries, or a craft kit on steroids, something that could so easily go horribly wrong but does not. Instead we have craft and art, the colours continuing their spiritual journey with a hint of retro hitching a ride.

I really like the work, and the gallery. Gene was kind enough to allow me to attempt a portrait at the opening. Thank you! I hoped to put some of the vision I saw in the show together with the artist.

The show is on now at 54 Kellet St Potts Point until the 18th of May 2024. https://www.cassandrabird.com/exhibitions/14-gene-a-hern-the-storm-that-grew-us/

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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My Love Affair with the Fujifilm X100VI in Newtown, Sydney

 And on the seventh day of my Fujifilm X100VI review camera loan, I took the train to Newtown to catch up with a friend. The light was so good, I decided to see just what I could get by simply walking the Station to City Road section of King Street. This is also the best known section of a street that I have been tramping along one way or another for nearly 40 years, so I know it pretty well. Newtown is always changing, but one thing that does not change so much, is the shape of the skyline where the terrace-houses, shops and the late Victorian Office buildings meet the sky. These days the flaking paint has mostly given way to recently applied fields of heritage colours, though some reminders of less affluent times remain. I made my first shot while still sipping coffee at a café beside the station, of historic roofs framed by the recent station access upgrade. Then I continued by shooting the landmark intersection where King Street branches off into Enmore Road. I've shot the streetscape here many times but I don't think I've ever come away with a stronger selection of pictures than I did on the 23/04/2024 with the X100VI - was it the field of view from the 23mm lens (35mm full frame equivalent) - maybe. I've never made such clean shots of the station frontage or of the beautiful triangular building on King & Wilson St. I set the camera to PROVIA which in my experience is the most natural for rendering a true, blue Australian sky. I set both the shadow and highlight adjustments via the Q menu to -1, and kept the ISO as low as I could at 125. 

Newtown Station, heritage roofline framed by awnings and canopies - Fujifilm X100VI in Newtown

I was not aiming for 'street photography' I was looking at the architecture and how well the 40 meg sensor and new lens of the X100VI would render the architecture, the streets facades. I have straightened and applied some perspective correction to most of these pictures - because when you tilt a wide angle lens up, lines converge and that does not make for the best kind of architectural shot - when not shooting for dramatic effect. I also made several multi image shots, hand held, stitched in post, the first, the Gothic inspired Newtown Uniting Church which has always presented a challenge to shoot. Can't get back, buses, people, trucks, a nightmare. Yet with the X100VI, I seem to have pulled it off (and I will get rid of that duplicate man too, later...). 

I mostly used the eyepiece EVF though for a few of the shots where people can wander in and out of frame I did try working with the optical viewfinder with BOTH eyes open - which only works for me with the optical finder - which is why having one is so great. Enough of the talk - stitched pictures will be noted in their respective descriptions - most shots were made at f7.1 or f8 or f9. I will speak to the handling and features of the camera in successive posts. N.B. Click images to view at 2000 pixels on the long side. Mouse over pictures for additional information.

King Street, Enmore Road intersection looking towards Enmore. Fujifilm X100VI in Newtown

Newtown railway station - Overhead booking office and station concourse (1892)

The iconic triangular building at 312-314 King Street, Newtown

The 1890s Queen Anne style Newtown Post Office on King Street, designed by government architect W L Vernon - above and below.

Newtown Methodist Church 1859 now The Newtown Mission Uniting Church. Image made from 9 stitched frames.

Something old, something new, and a happy, winking robot face... Look at that great light!

Opposite Church Street which is where the light is coming from - Federation Freestyle architecture - Bring back the decorative elements, I love it!

W Thompson - Victorian Free Gothic Architecture + Chorizo Chasers

Coburra Chambers - Victorian Freestyle (1880s)

Former, former... former Burland Community Hall - Inter War Stripped Classical (Art Deco (ish)) building has seen many changes.

Clem's - feeding Newtown since 1982 - was pointed out to me as a great chicken shop on my arrival in Sydney in 1986.

Stitched image from 3 frames - the Marcus Clark building, an example of commercial Federation architecture with landmark octagonal tower with a pressed metal roof.

Upper story facades of 188 to 178A the Newtown Hotel on King St, Newtown NSW

Newtown Hotel on King St, Newtown NSW

W N Bull Funerals, King Street Newtown

160 King Street, Federation Free Classical Style circa 1900 - displaying the same paint job above the awning as when I moved to Sydney in 1986!

Blocked colours & urban forms on Missenden Rd at the corner of King Street Newtown.

Tattoo shopfront painted in horizontal stripes of rainbow colours.

No, I didn't see the man until he spoke to me!

ROWDA Ya-Habibi restaurant 23/04/2024

Have you ever played that game walking along King St Newtown (or anywhere else for that matter). What used to be there? We were playing it back in 1986 when I moved there from Brisbane, and I would not know where to even begin now. But there is still the façade of the ROWDA Ya-Habibi restaurant. In 86 we lived (nearly opposite) in a Fitzroy lane warehouse, and a Falafel roll was always affordable! As I was snapping the neon for prosperity a man said to me - the man in the bottom right of the frame above 'you're just in time, it will be gone very soon'. So I decided to stand in the middle of the road for a better shot - what a great, Newtown place that was. I felt very pleased to be doing this project on that very day.

Gould's Books - James Castle & Sons - Art Metal Workers (1889) - 2 horizontal stitched frames.

J Palmer Buildings - Victorian Filigree Style (1886) Iron lace on veranda and parapet.

1880s Shopfronts, shop below, residence above, 8 - 12 King St Newtown

Institute Building (circa 1883) Sydney University, City Road. Stitched image from 4 frames.

Redfern Station 2 variations on the post processing - one is was rendered sharper in Post/Photoshop - but will it even show online? Is sharper better, or even accurate?

Redfern Station - Uni Students 1

Redfern Station ,Uni Students, and terracotta ridge capping against a blue Australian sky.

Redfern Station, completing my walk. The Belfry with helmet dome and weather vane is the same, as in exactly the same, as the one surmounted on Newtown station - I never realised 'that' until now!

Shot with the new Fujifilm X100 VI - special thanks to to Fujifilm PR at Campaign Lab. I've was pretty busy with the camera for the two week review period. Stay Tuned, more and varied posts on the X100 VI to come.

Telling Stories in Pictures all over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.

0433 796 863

kent@artcommunication.com.au

www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au

www.fashionphotographysydney.blogspot.com/

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