All in Fuji X-Series

Thoughts on the Fujifilm X100VI. The last of the Fuji Rangefinders

I’ve been a Fujifilm shooter for quite some time now. The original X100 still sits on a shelf in my office, and I’ve had a total of 5 different Fujifilm cameras over the years. While the original X100 wasn’t my first Fuji camera, it was probably the one I used for the longest. Since then, there have been numerous iterations of this camera, each better than the previous one. I never really bothered upgrading the X100 because my other Fuji cameras pretty much did the same thing, but with the additional option of changing lenses. Now with its latest iteration, is it time to finally upgrade? And what does the X100VI release say about the rest of the Fuji Lineup?

New Video: Photo Walk by Dublin's Grand Canal and Using Photography to Overcome Creative Block

In this video, I go back to basics and set out to enjoy the creative process of taking photos in order to overcome a bad case of creator block and imposter syndrome. I went for a Photo Walk by the grand canal in Dublin with my Trusty Fujifilm X-E4 and talked about how you sometimes need to take photos just for yourself and enjoy the process as a form of meditation.

A Personal Review of the Fujifilm 16-80mm lens

The Fujifilm Fujinon 16-80mm lens is one I’ve wanted for a long time, but it has been surprisingly difficult to get hold of here in Ireland. Ever since it came out, the standalone version has been back-ordered, and it was only really available here as part of a kit. I finally managed to get one second hand a couple of months ago, and I’ve been using it a lot since, including taking it on several trips. So, I wanted to do a non-technical review of this lens for those who might be interested.

The Giants Causeway: Reality vs Photos

The giants causeway is probably one of the most famous natural attractions on the island of Ireland. Located on the northern coast of Northern Ireland, the famous landmark is a series of volcanic rocks that formed into hexagonal columns. It’s somewhere I always wanted to see in person, with the formation being featured in geography text books when I was younger, not to mention practically every tourist board promotion for the region. Finally this past weekend, I got to see it in person.

My first reaction: “Is that it?”

Managing Fuji Files in Lightroom Desktop/Cloud/Whatever you call it (i.e. the non-classic version of Lightroom)

Someone recently asked a question on my Facebook group that, I thought, was actually such a good question that I should write a whole blog post, or perhaps even a series of blog posts about. For a long time, I’ve covered just about every aspect of working with Fuji files in Lightroom Classic, but I’ve never really covered some of the techniques for the non-classic version of Lightroom. While most things are broadly similar, many operations are also slightly different or in slightly different spots, so may be confusing to beginners. So in this post, I’m going to cover some of the fundamentals: how to change the film simulation mode, how to set the film simulation mode to what you shot in-camera on import, and how to use the “enhance” function to get better quality images.

Some more observations on the Fuji X-E4 after several months with the camera

A little while ago I wrote my first impressions of the Fuji X-E4, but having been using the camera for a little while now, I wanted to follow up with some more observations. I often find that a problem with camera review is that they are written after only a short time with a camera, and often miss out on things that come to light later. So, that’s the purpose of this review. It’s not to slam the camera or say it’s the greatest thing ever. It’s to highlight some things, both good and bad, that I’ve discovered while using it, so that if you’re considering purchasing one, you can be fully informed.

Using “Enhance” in Lightroom for Fuji Users – Answers to the most common questions

The Enhance function in Lightroom has been around for a while now. It was originally called “Enhance Details” but changed its name to just “Enhance” when the super resolution feature was added. For Fuji shooters, Enhance offers a way to get improved demosiacing inside of Lightroom without having to use third-party software. Using it on Fuji RAF files can provide significantly better rendering of detail in Fuji files, but it does come with some downsides.

The Return of Street Photo Diary - Street Photography with the Fuji X-E4

My most popular series of videos on YouTube by far was “street photo diary”. It’s a series that I loved creating, but it has been on hiatus since 2019 and the pandemic hit. Well, I’m delighted to say that I’ve finally created a new episode, and it’s up on YouTube now. In this video I take my new Fujifilm XE-4 on a photo walk around Dublin City to see how well the camera works for Street Photography, and to see how it will fare as a replacement for my ageing Sony A6000

Spring is (almost) here. New Growth and New Creativity

This time last year, I posted a story on this blog called “Virtual Spring”. We were in the midst of lockdown and I couldn’t get out to get any photos of the changing seasons. While autumn has always been my favourite season to photography, spring is a close second. I love as the bleakness of winter gives way to new life, and it clears out the cupboards of one’s mind, as it were.

DXO Photo Lab 5.2 Released - Important notes for Fuji and Apple Silicon Users

DXO quietly released the latest update to DXO Photo Lab sometime recently. I don’t know when exactly this was as there was no press release or anything and I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the software update notices, but it’s actually an important release for two reasons. It brings improvements to Fuji support and improves the way Fuji cameras are handled in an important way. It also makes us aware of a bug in the latest MacOS and offers a work around. Read on for more details

How To Customise Fuji Film Simulation Profiles in Lightroom

If you’re a Fuji shooter, you shoot RAW and use Lightroom Classic, then you probably regularly use the Fuji Film simulation colour profiles when processing your images. However, what if you want to customise those profiles? What if you’re not 100% happy with the colour balance for example, or you’d like to match some customisation options that you’ve set in-camera. Well, it’s actually easy enough to create your own custom versions of these colour profiles and in this video I’ll show you how!

DXO Introduces Pure Raw 2 - Now with Lightroom Plug in and Fuji X-Trans Support

Today DXO Labs announced the release of the second version of DXO Purer Raw. In case you haven’t heard of Pure Raw before it’s DXO Labs’s Raw pre-processing software. It allows you to take advantage of the company’s excellent Ai-based noise reduction and demosiacing technologies, while still using your favourite editing application. The new release adds to major new features: Fuji X-Trans support and much improved workflow options.

Switching to a Fuji X-E4? First Impressions

A few years ago, I was pretty heavily invested in the whole world of Fujifilm cameras. However, since my X-Pro 2 broke a few years ago, I haven’t had the time or the finances to replace or repair it, and so I’ve fallen out of regularly covering Fujifilm topics.So recently, I decided I was going to get one of the latest Fuji cameras to re-immerse myself in the ecosystem. But then the conundrum came – which Fuji camera to get?

Lightroom Quick Tip for Fuji Users - Easier Access to Film Simulations in Lightroom

If you’re a Fuji shooter who regularly uses different film simulation modes when shooting with your Fuji camera, then you may also want to regularly try different film simulations when working on your RAW files. Lightroom has profiles for all of the film simulations that come with various fuji cameras, but to get to them you have to go into the profile browser. While this is fine, you can actually make access to these a little easier, and there are two ways of doing this.

Processing Fujifilm Raw Files in 2022 - The Best Solutions

The topic of how best to process Fuji raw files has been a long-running topic on this website. I’ve covered it extensively in the past, including a previous version of this article. However, over the past two years since the last time I updated this, there have been a few changes to the landscape, and so it’s time to write an updated version. So, what are the best options for Fujifilm raw processing in 2022? (In my opinion)