Morte Point Walkabout

Mid July on the North Devon coast. The J-Bay event in South Africa is firing during (their) mid winter, temperatures are about the same……

I had an opportunity to watch the three 10s in the morning by Jordy and Julian and as a judge (asperger’s), I’m still trying to put them in order… (Leave comments below).

So, I went for a walk along the coast path with the Fuji X-T2 and the Fujinon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 OIS WR combo. I’ve heard good things about the X-T’s with the X-trans sensor, also the 100-400mm has had good reviews. Could it replace my normal wildlife walk around combo, the  Canon 7D mk2 and the compact  L series 70-300mm DO IS?

Who knows, changing from a brand that does everything perfectly for you, and has done for decades, is a leap into the buggery…

All these images are jpegs, fresh out of the can, I have sharpened them in photoshop.  I’m not too sure yet which raw converter to use yet for the X-trans sensor, any suggestion for best please let me know. Or shall I have to use the long wait in Lightroom.. ??

Click and make big you pixel peepers. 

100mm

Duck

and her chicks

Mallard female?

Focus tracking was alright

Family group

Pipit, jpegs out of camera – not too bad,

Hello

a close encounter with an elusive Morte Peregrine

you looking at me?

More

Rock Pipit

Morte Pere

Flying high above the point #mortehoe

Gannet

Oldenberg crashes past Bull Point lighthouse

Lichen

Lundy

Fuji X -T2 w/ 100-400mm 4.5-5.6

First impressions:

Lens is sharp (look at the duckings’ feathers)

Camera is light.

More to follow

Fish pie to finish of a good day.

 
Postscript.
Well Ive had some mixed feedback about Fuji X system which I am trying out atm. Mainly from ex-pro buddies who are saying that I need full frame (the Fuji X is 1.5 crop). OK, full frame is nice for cropping and for the ego of gear heads but ask yourself what is my camera for? When I was a pro it was for taking photos that could be published in a magazine and it had to be reliable. Today I take photos for this blog, for the occasional wedding, for family and for a yearly calendar. It still has to be reliable but in most professional situations a back up camera is required anyway.
Trust me, you cannot tell the difference between a crop sensor and a full frame sensor when the image is printed on a normal page. One of the last images I had printed in Carve magazine was a portrait of Chris Noble taken on an iphone 4!
The picture below shows the main advantage for me of the Fuji X system, size and weight. Esential for trekking without too much fatigue and therefore taking more photos #takemorephotos.

On the right the Fuji X-T2 with 100-400mm (on a 1.5x crop that an effective focal lenght of 600mm). On the left Canon 5D mk3 with 600mm f4. Enough said