Birding with Fujinon XF10-24mm

Male Satin Bowerbird near bower. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm

This year a brave Satin Bowerbird has build his bower in the grass at picnic ground near O'Reilly's guesthouse (Green Mountains section of Lamington national park). Naturally, the bird became a local celebrity, especially among photographers. O'Reily's is a popular place for birders, and for good reasons.

I went to take a picture of the bower with XF10-24mm lens attached to the camera, but unexpectedly the bird came in, so I snapped several pictures. 

Males of Satin Bowerbird put blue objects near bowers to attract females.

Brisbane after storm

Damage inflicted by the storm that hit Brisbane on November 27, 2014. Roof was damaged on the building (top photo). Fallen tree at the University campus at St Lucia, one of the worse affected suburbs. The storm lasted for half an hour, but in this time some areas got over 70mm of rain. The wind exceeded 100 km per hour (about 140 km/h, or ~87 mph).

Hail storm in Brisbane

Very intense storm passed through Brisbane on November 27, 2014. The storm cell was small but it went though the city causing wide-spread damage. Fallen trees and poles, shattered windows... Some suburbs lost electricity, and traffic lights were also affected. 

The DeLorean

I don't know if it is a replica or the original DeLorean DMC-12 (with the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor, naturally). The car caused a furore among local public.

Macro extention tubes from Fuji

Honeysuckle Bush. Close-up with Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm lens.

Today Fujifilm announced two macro extension tubes for the X mount,  MCEX-11 and MCEX-16 (11mm, 16mm), available from the mid-December 2014, with price tag approximately $100 (USD) apiece. The tubes provide electronic connections between lenses and camera bodies, so the autofocus will work. For XF18-55mm F2.8-4 with MCEX-11 the max. magnification on the wide end changes from 0.08 to 0.69(!!!) with working distance from the lens being just 11 mm, and on the tele end the magnification jumps from 0.15 to 0.37 (working distance 91 mm). MCEX-16 changes the max. magnification to 0.97 and 0.47 for the wide and tele ends of the zoom range, with working distances just 4 and 63 mm, respectively. In other words, MCEX-16 brings XF18-55mm close to XF60mm Macro. Obviously, the macro lens has a better resolution, and it gets more light. For other lenses the information on magnification with the extension tubes are provided in this table (pdf file).

The extension tubes reduce amount of light going to sensors / films but considering low noise of current sensors it should not create any problems. Hopefully, the autofocus speed of XF18055mm with the extension tubes will be faster than XF60mm Macro - it was a big disappointment for me. Hopefully the tubes will create a viable and affordable alternative for amateur macro shooters.

Kikstarter for photographers

(via Photo Rumors). Some smart guys in the US launched a kickstarter project for high quality filters (ND and UV). For the top models the project will use the famous SCHOTT B270 glass. The pricing for big filters is very tempting. The filters look cool, too.

It is a crowd sourcing: people pay in advance if they believe in the project. Usually those who pay in advance got products at discount. One of my favorite kickstarters - Hoverbike (successfully funded). 

Another cheap entry into the Fuji X world

CameraPro shop changed a very good deal for Fuji X-E1 / XF18-55mm kit to $799. It is still a good price.

Currently Kogan sells Fujifilm X-E1 (body only) for $349 (AUD) - very attractive price if you have lenses. If not, the kit from CameraPro is a better deal. Kogan sells a parallel (grey) import.

Fuji X100T in Brisbane

Fuji X100T is now available in Brisbane for about $1,600 (AUD).

After carrying X-E1 with couple lenses and tripod on a family trip to a national park the idea of relatively compact high quality camera such as X100/S/T looks very interesting. I probably will take more pictures with X100-style camera. I probably will enjoy a lot, without worrying of missed shots, lens swapping. Just taking family pictures, with occasional close-up pictures of flowers. It will cover most my needs on day like this.

Track to Bushrangers cave

Maintained track on the way to Mt Wagawn

Bushrangers Cave (link) can be reached in to ways. One track goes from the border gate but I don't know this route. The second route is within Lamington national park. The first rout is about 7 km return, the second is 20+ km return.

The track starts at Binna Burra and goes to Mt Wagawn. The track is maintained, so it is an easy part of the journey. In one or two places the track is partially blocked by fallen trees and vines, but nothing serious. It is a long way, about 10 km one way.

There is no official / maintained track after Wagawn. This part of the walk is not long, maybe a couple km, but challenging. Immediately after Wagawn the path is clearly visible but with numerous spiky vines growing on both sides of the track. It also marked with color tapes. At the edge of a steep slope the track essentially disappears, but the route is marked by color tapes. The tapes are old, so some attention is required. The slope is covered with leaves and overgrown with some spiky and stingy plants such as stinging nettle (not sure if it was the stinging nettle or some local variety). The slope is steep, so watch carefully what you grab. It is the most challenging part of the trip, not just physically but also psychologically: at this point the route leaves the nice rocks and goes into a forest without any obvious rocky outcrops. The cave is at the bottom of this slope. 

The descent from Wagawn to Bushrangers cave is about 300 meters or maybe a bit more. You don't want to do it on a hot  or wet day. 

The track is essentially invisible after this point. Start of a very steep descent.

Bushrangers cave

Bushrangers cave is a massive overhang located at the edge of Lamington national park, near the NSW border. The name came after bushrangers who apparently used this place as hideout in XIX century. People lived in this cave for at least 6,000 years.

The overhand is very impressive, plus there are several interesting rocky formations. 

There is no maintained / official track to the cave. It can be reached from Binna Burra via Wagawn followed by a steep off-track walk. The 20+ km return walk requires a certain level of fitness and ability to withstand numerous spiky and stingy plants. Alternative route starts at New South Wales near the border gate.

Easy way of entering the Fuji X world

CameraPro shop in Brisbane sells Fujifilm X-E1 camera with Fujinon XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS lens for $579 (after $200 cashback from Fuji). It is $10 below the regular price of the lens. Not much was changed in X-E2 compared to X-E1 regarding the image quality (X-E2 review on DPReview). The autofocus in Fuji X-E1 works fine on static objects as long as you don't use 60mm macro lens. Fuji provides regular software upgrades for old models.

links for Fujinon XF10-24mm f4 OIS lens

Track to Mt Hobwee circuit / Mt Wagawn at Binna Burra, Lamington national park

Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm; F5.6, iso 1600, 1/30 sec

I did some math today on lenses and cameras. It turned out that two Fuji X-E1 equipped with Fujinon XF10-24mm and XF55-200mm lenses have the same weight as Olympus E-30 with ZUIKO 50-200mm SWD. ZUIKO 50-200mm was my favorite lens for a very long time. In addition to the lens and E-30 I usually carried a sturdy tripod. With Fuji I can use a small "digital" tripod.

I did the math because of my last trip to a national park. It was cloudy, and it was fairly dark in the rainforest. Most of pictures during this trip were taken at high ISO and open aperture. Very often I hit 18mm (~28mm eqv) limit on XF18-55mm lens. In this situation XF10-24mm lens will be very useful.

I have not read much about XF10-24mm because of the price. The $200 cashback offer from Fuji changes the situation.

Links to XF10-24mm reviews:
LensTip
Admiring Light (by Jordan Steele)
Bjorn Moerman (with astonishing pictures)

What GAS and flu have in common?

Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or GAS, is common among amateur photographers, camera geeks and people obsessed with fancy lenses such as zooms with constant f2.8 aperture. Flu usually happens during cold weather, GAS peaks shortly before and around Christmas time. New flu strains come from South East Asia. Source for world-wide waves of GAS is also located in South East Asia. Flu transmitted through people contacts. GAS propagates through people communications, so it spreads faster than a forest fire. Flu epidemies are caused by new virus strains, the GAS peaks are caused by rumors or announcements of new lenses or cameras. People with acute form of GAS have red watery eyes from reading too much camera news on the internet. The flu virus causes similar symptoms.