10 days in St. Martin the good, bad and Ugly

took the S1 on the road for some fashion type shots in St. Martin

http://www.photoshift.com/portfolioDetailF16.html (16 to 34)
http://www.photoshift.com/portfolioDetailF34.html

Models are: Ola, Brenda, Casey, and Laura

This was the first time I really tried to use it on location and for me it came up short the camera is really best used as a studio camera. There are too many serious problems when trying to shoot on location.

Despite the shortcomings of the camera I still got some great results and I am still sold on digital the workflow is awesome.

The good:

• great color
• the microdrive worked perfectly
• the quantum battery worked for a half day shoot
• the burst rate was excellent
• the preview for "blur" shots is awesome

The bad:

• the damn thing would not focus in AF mode I switched to manual and still had lots of trouble.
• I had manual mode exposure all the time which was essential to get decent exposure. The problem though was that it is impossible to view the LCD in sunlight -- a friends loupe that fit perfectly over the LCD (square black) saved me -- but I still had trouble seeing the exposure -- this made me realize that for this to be useful on location a zoom function is an absolute must for the LCD preview.
• despite using a ND filter I still had trouble getting the depth of field I wanted I just did not feel in control of this like I do with my N90s

The Ugly

• I changed lenses once in Marigot and it was enough to get a couple dust spots on the CCD.

mstephan said:

• the damn thing would not focus in AF mode I switched to manual

and still had lots of trouble.

Click to expand...

was the lens a silent wave type? ...all my older af lenses work great, but the s type lenses do not work with the n60 body

mstephan said:

problem though was that it is impossible to view the LCD in sunlight

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I don't believe there is an LCD out there that works well in sunlight

mstephan said:

• despite using a ND filter I still had trouble getting the depth

of field I wanted I just did not feel in control of this like I do
with my N90s

Click to expand...

try using a polarizer or even a polarizer and ND filter...really makes a huge difference with digital cameras

I have no trouble with AF on my S1 using both Nikon and Tamron lenses. The comment below about the Silent Wave lenses is absolutely correct. I see this as both good and bad. My lenses are less expensive, I can't call an 80-200 f2.8 ED "cheap" , although I do give up a bit of performance in AF as well as a very small bit of noise.

As to the LCD viewing issue, I've used a bag, my coat, a hat and I'm even thinking about trying to figure a way to mount a Hoodman, http://www.hoodmanusa.com , on the darned thing when needed. It is true, however, that this is an LCD problem in general, not a Fuji S1 issue.

As to the dust issue, I must just be preternaturally lucky. I've changed lenses on the beach, in fields and horse barns at Dog Agility trials and I just don't get these dust spots.

But, I am going to order some of the Sensor Swabs just in case.

I was using a tokina 28-70 2.8 lens I had some great shots of Ola

standing in front of a church but the focus was on the church wall and her face was completely blurry -- I was sure I focussed on her face
-- maybe I need more practice -- but I do not trust the AF mode --
aside the focus issue -- its a huge issue --
I am happy with the camera --

Do you think an older Nikon would focus better ?

hope the post proves helpful...for nikon af lenses the autofocus works within the center rectangle (small) so if the model's face was not centered and the church was the camera would focus on that which was in the rectangle...the church

you can work around this by using the ae-l button to lock an area in focus, though I find just half holdiing the exposure button after focusing on the subject and then recomposing with the button half held locks the area of focus well

Bill Dewey said:

As to the LCD viewing issue, I've used a bag, my coat, a hat and
I'm even thinking about trying to figure a way to mount a Hoodman,
http://www.hoodmanusa.com , on the darned thing when needed. It is true,
however, that this is an LCD problem in general, not a Fuji S1
issue.

Click to expand...

This is a good point -- the LCD is as good as any other -- but there really needs to be a zoom feature like the Nikon coolpix has otherwise its too hard to make out details in exposure and focus.

In fashion i shoot "high key" and use other "non-standard" lighting so the histogram isn't that useful to me.

One big reason I switched is to not have to take polaroids -- but without the zoom in the LCD I can't match the information I got in the polaroid. I guess I could shoot connected to a notebook but its hard to do on location.

mstephan said:

This is a good point -- the LCD is as good as any other -- but
there really needs to be a zoom feature like the Nikon coolpix has
otherwise its too hard to make out details in exposure and focus.
In fashion i shoot "high key" and use other "non-standard" lighting

Click to expand...

There is a zoom feature on the LCD. When you are looking at the picture push the 4-direction button in the UP direction. It will allow you to zoom in to a factor of 19. Then while you are zooming, press the PLAY button again and the 4-direction button allows you to scroll around the picture.

Assuming that he's talking about a zoom feature while using the LCD as a viewfinder (and not on playback), then this won't work.

Simply put, there's a shutter and a mirror blocking the CCD, so there's no way to check focus and exposure in "real-time" like on the Nikon Coolpix--which has no shutter in front of the CCD.

Anthony

James Blankenship said:

James Blankenship said:

This is a good point -- the LCD is as good as any other -- but
there really needs to be a zoom feature like the Nikon coolpix has
otherwise its too hard to make out details in exposure and focus.
In fashion i shoot "high key" and use other "non-standard" lighting

Click to expand...

There is a zoom feature on the LCD. When you are looking at the
picture push the 4-direction button in the UP direction. It will
allow you to zoom in to a factor of 19. Then while you are
zooming, press the PLAY button again and the 4-direction button
allows you to scroll around the picture.

Click to expand...

Cool -- thanks for the info -- I should re-read the manual !!

James Blankenship said:

James Blankenship said:

This is a good point -- the LCD is as good as any other -- but> > there really needs to be a zoom feature like the Nikon coolpix has> > otherwise its too hard to make out details in exposure and focus.> > In fashion i shoot "high key" and use other "non-standard" lighting> > There is a zoom feature on the LCD. When you are looking at the> picture push the 4-direction button in the UP direction. It will> allow you to zoom in to a factor of 19. Then while you are> zooming, press the PLAY button again and the 4-direction button> allows you to scroll around the picture.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Yes this is a great point -- I knew this going into the shoot but perhaps I need some more practice -- but manual mode is safer

I was also somewhat put off by the slow response of the autofocus and the "feel" but maybe its jus me or the tokina lens or both

the best pick from the lot is

http://www.photoshift.com/portfolioDetailF37.html

Artichoke said:

Artichoke #46716 said:

hope the post proves helpful...for nikon af lenses the autofocus> works within the center rectangle (small) so if the model's face> was not centered and the church was the camera would focus on that> which was in the rectangle...the church> > you can work around this by using the ae-l button to lock an area> in focus, though I find just half holdiing the exposure button> after focusing on the subject and then recomposing with the button> half held locks the area of focus well

Click to expand...

Click to expand...