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.
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| 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.
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| King Street, Enmore Road intersection looking towards Enmore. Fujifilm X100VI in Newtown |
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| Newtown railway station - Overhead booking office and station concourse (1892) |
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| The iconic triangular building at 312-314 King Street, Newtown |
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| The 1890s Queen Anne style Newtown Post Office on King Street, designed by government architect W L Vernon - above and below. |
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| Newtown Methodist Church 1859 now The Newtown Mission Uniting Church. Image made from 9 stitched frames. |
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| Something old, something new, and a happy, winking robot face... Look at that great light! |
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| Opposite Church Street which is where the light is coming from - Federation Freestyle architecture - Bring back the decorative elements, I love it! |
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| W Thompson - Victorian Free Gothic Architecture + Chorizo Chasers |
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| Coburra Chambers - Victorian Freestyle (1880s) |
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| Former, former... former Burland Community Hall - Inter War Stripped Classical (Art Deco (ish)) building has seen many changes. |
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| Clem's - feeding Newtown since 1982 - was pointed out to me as a great chicken shop on my arrival in Sydney in 1986. |
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| Stitched image from 3 frames - the Marcus Clark building, an example of commercial Federation architecture with landmark octagonal tower with a pressed metal roof. |
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| Upper story facades of 188 to 178A the Newtown Hotel on King St, Newtown NSW |
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| Newtown Hotel on King St, Newtown NSW |
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| W N Bull Funerals, King Street Newtown |
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| 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! |
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| Blocked colours & urban forms on Missenden Rd at the corner of King Street Newtown. |
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| Tattoo shopfront painted in horizontal stripes of rainbow colours. |
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| No, I didn't see the man until he spoke to me! |
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| 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.
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| Gould's Books - James Castle & Sons - Art Metal Workers (1889) - 2 horizontal stitched frames. |
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| J Palmer Buildings - Victorian Filigree Style (1886) Iron lace on veranda and parapet. |
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| 1880s Shopfronts, shop below, residence above, 8 - 12 King St Newtown |
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| Institute Building (circa 1883) Sydney University, City Road. Stitched image from 4 frames. |
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| 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? |
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| Redfern Station - Uni Students 1 |
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| Redfern Station ,Uni Students, and terracotta ridge capping against a blue Australian sky. |
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| 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
