X-Pro2 in Myanmar

ErickTYM wrote:

Very breath taking images you took of Bagan. It´s even hard to imagine those were places that belonged to some human civilization... they look quite "alien" to me. Looks more like some scenery from Hollywood...

These are the posts that make this forum worthwhile. Too many threads end up being worthless battles of the egos...

Thanks for adding value to this forum.

Now I am saving my pennies for a trip to Asia, should forget about new gear...

Thanks Erick! Bagan is really amazing. I wish we could have seen what it looked like when there were 10,000 temples and pagodas there instead of the current 3,000. I'd highly recommend visiting Bagan before it becomes a hot tourist destination like Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Bagan still feels like a legit Burmese ancient town. The electricity goes out randomly even in high end resorts and they have religious 90-car trains that come through the city at night that you lay food offerings on for the Monks.

Thanks for the detailed answer, totally wouldn't have expected that though! Especially the big use of the telezoom.

If one has the X-T2 and the 18-55, would you advice to go for either one of the WA lenses like the 14, 16 or 10-24, or rather for a telezoom?

PeteHolland89 wrote:

Thanks for the detailed answer, totally wouldn't have expected that though! Especially the big use of the telezoom.

If one has the X-T2 and the 18-55, would you advice to go for either one of the WA lenses like the 14, 16 or 10-24, or rather for a telezoom?

I'm only 10 months into photography so I'm no expert but I'll share my experience thus far. It all depends on where you'll use the lens. I tried to use the 23MM for some of the Bagan sunset pics but the image lacked the drama that I was witnessing with my eyes. The sun was a small circle and there were too many temples in the image which wasn't helping convey a clear message.

On the other hand, for the Inle Lake sunset images, I wanted to capture as much of the reflection from the funky clouds as I could along with the greenery growing in the foreground, so for that image, I went wider and it conveyed the feeling I wanted.

The 10-24 is a fantastic lens and the OIS is bonkers good, but I find the images become dramatic because they're wide rather than because of the subject. I have an image of a temple and a tree that looks great because it's at 10MM. In real life, it wasn't anywhere near as impressive!

if you're not going to be taking fast shutter night pictures, I'd recommend the 14MM. The extra width will come in handy and it's a smaller lens too. If you will be taking fast shutter images at night, or at close distances, the 16MM is beyond reproach. I love doing bokeh with it.

The 50-230 at USD180 is almost a freebie and should be bought in addition to the wide angle

Advent1sam wrote:

2)General iq all round you have got is very impressive, I wonder what I am doing wrong lol.

In each photo, I've included some commentary of how they were edited. If I edit in LR, I typically leave the standard settings, choose the appropriate film simulation (mostly Velvia for this set) and then adjust exposure, highlights and shadows to match the dynamic range setting of the camera.

If the image has a lot of foliage, I will edit the SOOC JPEG in Lightroom instead of the raw. Incidentally, I believe that a digital image is temporary so I print as much as I can (photo books or single images) and the prints look incredible from the X-Pro2! They look even better than the 5K iMac screen for some reason; maybe because I can't pixel peep

Thank you for posting, fcracer! Very nice images! Brings back some good memories from when I visited Myanmar (although I can see that a LOT has changed). I was there in 1983 and was only allowed 1 week in Myanmar (like every visitor). Visited Yangon/Rangoon and Inle Lake. Flew in from Calcutta/Kolkata India, and everyone on this plane had a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label and a pack of "555" cigarettes. That was sold in Myanmar (ïllegally"), to fund the whole week's stay in the country (I sold it to an immigration officer!). Back then there where very few cars and those where old American cars (comparable to Cuba). Also almost no tourists at all. No hot air balloons/no "cat-jumping-monestary" and the only places one could visit where Rangoon, Mandalay, Inle lake and Bagan/Pagan. Only with inland flight from Burma Airline Corporation (BAC). I stayed in the Tamada hotel.

I have to go back again...and hopefully, I can visit some corners (off the beaten track), of this wonderfull country. Again, thank you very much for bringing back these memories!