The X-Pro1 Goes to the Burlesque!

The Burlesque network in Ottawa is healthy and vibrant. On Thursday the 16th of August, Maxwell's Bistro and Night Club offered Strip Cheese - A Burlesque Tribute to Rock Anthems, Power Ballads & Love Songs. Now I have my annual fill of Bon Jovi and Kiss.

This event put the Fujifilm X-Pro1 to its test. Where it succeeded, it was the best camera in the room, and that is in the company of Canon 5D IIs and Nikon D700s. That said, Continuous Focusing was a problem in the low light conditions, painfully slow and sometimes downright erroneous. So I went to spot focusing and damn it, it worked fine! However, and this is with Continuous Focus, the focusing hunting time is terribly long, often taking valuable seconds. Let's hope that Fujifilm looks further into this.  I used the 35mm f1.4 Fujinon lens. This prohibited my view but encouraged me to compose physically, moving closer to and away from the subject. I can`t wait for Fuji to release the new f1.4 23 and 56mm lenses to help the composition even further.

The Burlesque was fun and you can tell by the crowd watching. Many of the shots were done at speeds as low as 1/8th  of a second. All shots were done at between ISO 5000 and mainly 6400.

The last picture is of a Harley-Davidson motorbike and the leg of Stephanie Gagne. Thank you, Stephanie. We took this as we left the burlesque.

Hail Victoria!

Meet Victoria van Eyk, a damned good friend of mine. And not because she looks like the femme fatale in a Raymond Chandler novel, but she's smart and a really nice person (not to mention that she looks like the femme fatale in a Raymond Chandler novel). 

She and her sister Olivia are the owners of Mafia Jewellery http://www.mafiajewellery.com/ . Nice, well made and interesting jewellery at a good price. It's an offer you can't refuse.

You guessed it. Shot with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and the Fujinon 35mm f1.4 lens. These pictures were shot at the Bayshore gala in Ottawa, 1st August, 2012.

More Night Shots in Ottawa with the Fujifilm X-Pro-1

The Byward Market in Ottawa is the reveling centre on Saturday in Ottawa. The bars are filled to capacity, and so are the patrons. I went out on the street at night in the Market and shot pictures at about 11:00 p.m. with the Fujifilm X-Pro1, the native Fujinon f1.4 35mm lens and a fast Sandisk 16gb Extreme Pro SD card. With the exception of the third picture, (ISO 1000), all shots were done at a dizzying ISO 6400. For stability on the camera, I added the Thumbs Up CSEP-1S thumb rest http://www.matchtechnical.com/Pages/default.aspx that I bought from Rob Skeoch of The Rangefinder Store http://rangefinderstore.com/ in Burlington, Ontario. For portrait format pictures, the Thumbs Up is a valuable addition to the X-Pro1 and Leica M cameras.

The auto focus was surprisingly stable and seems to be faster than usual. This little camera can take on any dark situation efficiently and promptly. Fujifilm was wise not to place the FUJI logo on the face of the camera, making it nearly invisible to the subject. Canons and Nikons are noticeable  for their logos on the pentaprism of the camera, and frankly everyone agrees that the red dot on the Leica takes away from the camera. The stealthy X-Pro1 is a handy street machine. Once the auto focus is further improved it will match any Leica. Those are tough words from a Leica addict.

Aerial Angels at the Ottawa Busker Festival

The Ottawa Busker Festival is on from August 2nd to 6th on Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa. For a schedule of the performances go to http://www.sparksstreetmall.com/2012BuskersSchedule.pdf . And see the Aerial Angels. They are great!

All photos were done with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and the Fujinon f1.4 35mm lens.