August 19th, 2014 … Fuji X20 … Great Street Camera (brain still on vacation)

08-14-0202-EditYaeh, yeah. That’s right, I said it and I believe it too. The Fuji X20 is an amazing camera for any use but for the street, well you didn’t get this from me and I ain’t responsible for any cameras store grabbing yer monies. The X20 is a great camera. It’s a wee bit smaller than the X100s and the megapixel count is less but there’s a real gritty attitude to the images that only the Ricoh GRD4 compares to.

08-14-0207-EditWhoa, hold on. Daido the Fuji X20 comes close to Penelope the Ricoh GRD4 in Grit but there’s still a difference. I don’t know what the difference is but it’s there….. I think. I told you my brain is on vacation so I’m going along in Auto Brain Wave Mode. Anyway, back to the streets. I am happy to report that most times my subject matter  is not affected by the camera I use. I also notice that regardless of the camera in hand, I still like a cup of Kona at home and on the street, I like a cup of whatever they call coffee out there. It kinda scares me when even in Starbucks, the coffee is always burnt cause young kids make the coffee and they are too damn busy on their walkman ipod ipad iphone android kindle thingys to notice they are burning the coffee. So the coffee  philosophers sit and drink that crap not know that real coffee isn’t burnt… ohhh sorry, I forgot… I ask a young girl, “Can I have a Kona Cream and no sugar?” She says, what’s that?. Cream, it’s the stuff that looks like milk but it’s not milk, it’s cream. She says with a cute smile…(Ok, I lost it, not afraid to admit it. She could sell me anything and I’m good, happy to see here smile.) ….not cream silly, and not sugar, I know what that is… what’s Kona… well the little cute angel just got pushed sooo far off my smile list…hhhhhmmmmm. I said, I’m sorry, I thought this was a pharmacy… and they had Kona…..it damn sura ain’t easy being a streetshooter…. sheeeesh.

08-14-0216-Edit08-14-0219-EditSo I figured I don’t need no Kona coffee out on the street because I getz it at home and home is where the Kona is. The Fuji X20 has some interesting things going on.
I mean I wrote about this camera a few times, actually more than a few times but not really a lot of times but enough times that well, let me get some meds in and maybe I can manage to keep on track. One of the great things is the small sensor and the DOF it makes. Say your shooting at f/4.0. …. ok waiting… say it ok…eh… I’ll say it for ya… I’m shooting at f/4.0 shooter. Well with the lens set to 28mm and focused to 5.0′  we get this DOF from 2.5′ to infinity. Now, I ain’t the smartest pencil in the box when my brain is on vacation and I certainly wouldn’t wanna do much but drink that coffee I love… uh… damn…uh.. oh yeah.. Kona.. see….but I gotta say this…. 2.5′ to infinity… I think that means.. I could hold my arm out, make a photo, have my hand in focus and be in focus at tommi, or Wouter…yup.

08-14-0224-Edit

 

Now it seems to me that if you can’t find a photo somewheres between 2.5′ and infinity… whoa.. wait a second… let me think about this…. If I Only Had A Brain…. if”n we can get that kinda DOF at f/5.6.. well I ain’t even gonna think what happens at like F/8,f/11.. nah… when my brain returns I’ll address this but till then… well, hmmm uh.. what the hell am I even talking about…? Dunno… I hope youse do cause I damn sure don’t…..

c’mon… just kidding…. what’d ya think…. “I’m smaaat Mikey”……

08-14-0231-EditThe Fuji X20 can set you free. It’s really the perfect companion for the Fuji X100s. The size difference is negligible but smaller which is nice. The lovely 28mm FOV captures me in a way 35mm doesn’t. Ray Sachs mentioned to me a few times that he felt that 28mm was better for me than 35mm.  He’s a friend and I respect his opinion highly and I must agree that there’s something about 28mm I adore. Luckily the Fuji X20 named Daido lives with me and now will be getting more use again.

08-14-0247-EditSo, all I can say is that I am enjoying the break from 35mm FOV and enjoying the time my brain has taken for vacation.

I’ll post again tomorrow for sure….. but listen…..

tomorrow I’m going to Starbucks to chat with the little knucklehead cute angel that thinks coffee comes from a bag…yeah right beautiful… coffee comes from that bag… it kinda just grows in there…hmmmm

well, what could an old streetshooter have in common with a young, cute coffee attendant? Well, at the moment, neither of us has a brain…..

shooter out…..uh, I think that’s me but it might be the guy typing at the keyboard….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

17 thoughts on “August 19th, 2014 … Fuji X20 … Great Street Camera (brain still on vacation)”

    1. I liked the read. I guess it’s because I like photography and coffee. Walking around, looking around, capturing and getting coffee (or trying, either to photograph or get coffee) But I think I don’t like x20. I never actually shot with it, just held it twice in a shop. And each time I felt cheated by the promises. Each time I saw a viewfinder and wanted to look through it to have a nice view. Nope, what the heck is that barely transparent small thing!? Well, lets have fun with ‘manual’ zoom. Nope, why is it so bloody inconvienient to use, somehow too small and shit I obliterate the view in viewfinder with my hand which is operating a zoom!? I guess it’s just not made for me. Have fun with Daido and good luck! p.s. isn’t there a rumor about x30 on a horizon?

      1. Jacek, different cameras work in different ways. For me what’s important is to find a camera that lets me work the way I want/need without imposing an opinion on what I doing. It’s ok if the camera makes me work it differently but I want to be able to call the shots. The Fuji X20 is that kind of camera. It lets me work the way I want but offers a slightly different approach than my other cameras.
        That’s what I find interesting about cameras.

    2. and I was just going to sleep when the phone rang, a voice on the other end said…”get yer azz up, that Jacek fella posted on the blog”.
      I know who you are but for the life of me, I don’t know who made the call…..
      peace, don

  1. Kona huh? I got a guy down the street who runs a pharmacy outta his apartment. Wait, no… I kinda like the Italian roast, but that’s my buds. Hope ya keep posting sooner not later. Yep, those X20s are quite nice. A couple of friends gottem and they sure tickle my fancy.

    1. Thanks Keith. I’d be glad to d=send you some fresh roasted beans from the plantation. A Nam Vet friend I served with owns a plantation and he sends me Kona whenever I want….
      let me know…. don

      1. Thanks Don! I am a coffeeholic. I cold use some fresh beans from the source. BTW, I was feeling nostalgic. Ya know, 45 year anniversary of Woodstock and all. I was searching through some old boxes and found my draft card…

        1. Keith, send me your address in the city and in about 2-3 weeksI should have another load coming in. I’ll send you enough to get you addicted.
          Draft Card…..hmmmmm I sent mine to hellfire….. of course that was after I returned from Nam but still…….

          1. Sent Don… I kept mine because my teenage years were pretty defining for me. Parts of which still haunt me today. I’m getting to that point where I might let those demons run loose within the confines of photography. Something I still have to sort through.

          2. Keith,
            My demons haunt me daily and even more at night. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of them in my photos….

  2. X10: big dynamic range thanks to EXR mode, but low rez for big prints in that mode.
    X20: info in the VF, great IQ, more rez, same less than perfect, cropped field of view in the VF
    X30: 100% view of the frame in an EVF! So the rumor goes.

    But the little X that I really want to know about is that mysterious shooterX with the Leica mod that you and Oliver teased about on the podcast a million years ago.

    What was the lens and resulting FoV?
    How’d you frame up?

    Do tell!!!

    And as always, love these images!

    Thanks Don!

    1. because it was a million years ago, I can’t remember the conversation.

      ya know, I’ll get an X30 regardless of what Fuji does. I love the X20 and promise myself never to be without one or is updated version.
      I don’t like zoom lenses but this camera…. magic.

  3. Great article, Shooter. Okay, I have the X10, not the ’20, but thought I’d try this out. Set to A mode, f/4, manual focus at 5 feet, the camera’s DOF scale indicates a range from about 3.5 to 8 feet is in focus. Now, set to f/9 it shows 3 feet to infinity if focused just under 7 feet away. Maybe the X10 is different from the ’20? I thought it has the same lens and sensor. But no nevermind, ’cause I don’t know anyone who lives at infinity!

    ~Joe

    1. Check DOF Master. The app gives you what you need. Fuji is very accurate with the focus distance but very conservative on the DOF scale. I guess they want to make sure you get a sharp photo. It’s good. use .008 for COC.

  4. and this is exactly why I make my own coffee…

    I’ve been primarily using an X20 for over a year and it’s quirky, but produces gorgeous pics. Do you have any lens filters on Daido and which? I hate that it’s such a wierd sized lens 🙁

    1. James, if you start to drink Kona, you won’t worry about using filters on yout lens, that’s why I sip Kona….

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