Bushwalking in Lamington: Caves track

View from Kweebani Cave. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm

Fairly easy Caves circuit at Binna Burra, Lamington national park. The track starts at Binna Burra information centre and goes to Binna Burra lodge. Two caves, essentially just big overhangs, are located somewhere in the middle of this walk.

From Binna Burra lodge I took Possum track, turned left to the bitumen road that goes down to the information center. After walking about 100 meters on the road I spotted a sign for a track towards the information centre. 

Close-up pictures with Fuji XF10-24mm

Ravine Orchid. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm.

Occasionally I take close-up pictures of plants on my bushwalking trips, and I was curious to see how Fujinon XF10-24mm will perform in such situations. The photos were taken on Albert river track, Binna Burra section of Lamington national park.  

Drymophila moorei. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm.

Fujinon XF10-24mm in Australian rainforest

Albert river circuit, Lamington national park. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm

Santa was kind to me this year (but not very kind to my credit card), so I've got an opportunity to take Fujinon XF10-24mm F4 lens for couple walks in Lamington national park (click on Labels below to see other photos from this wonderful place). Fujifilm rebate on lenses and good pricing policy of a local camera store, CameraPro, here in Brisbane also played an important role in the acquisition of a new toy.   

The widest lens I've used in the past gave me field of view equal to 28mm (full frame). XF10-24mm (15-36mm eqv.) is a new experience for me.

I found the lens extremely useful in rainforest environment, where "zooming by feet" is not always possible. The only  thing I miss at the moment is a polarizing filter.  

Albert river circuit, Lamington national park. Fuji X-E1 & XF10-24mm

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.

Another day, another walk in Lamington national park

Antarctic beech, Lamington national park. Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

I cannot convey the feeling of being inside of the relict Gondwana rainforest. I also cannot imagine  dinosaurs walking around such forest. It just does not sum up for me. Dinosaurs were big, and forest is very dense. Granted, Lamington national park is more subtropical (warm), and Northern NSW has the best Nothofagus forests in Australia. I mean places such as New England national park. 

Fuji X-E2 in Brisbane

One of my favorite local camera shops, Digital Camera Warehouse,  expects to have Fuji X-E2 in "early December". The price is a bit higher than for X-E1, but it is a better camera.

The wide zoom lens, XF10-24mm F4 is still listed for year 2013 on Fuji lens roadmap. Do we expect to hear the announcement within the remaining two weeks? It would be really nice... I am very keen to try the wide lens in local rainforest on my occasional bushwalking trips :)

Gorge upstream of the Coomera falls, Lamington national park, SE Queensland.

Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm; 1/13 sec, f/3.6 comp. -0.7, iso 1600, handheld at ~43mm (35mm eqv)

Another walk in the Lamington nation park

Border track near Binna Burra, Lamington national park. Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

Another walk at the Lamington national park. I went to Binna Burra last Sunday, and did the Coomera circuit. It was misty, and the place got some rains in previous days. It was wet and muddy, but leaches appeared only after the Coomera falls. The famous Blue Lamington crayfish  walked in grass along the creeks. Notable change happen on the track: the park rangers cleared a new lookout at the edge of the Coomera gorge, with nice view towards Yarrabilgong falls.

Surprisingly, I got bitten by a tick, a very rare event for this track. Another unexpected and unpleasant finding: a small patch of Creeping Gloxinia, Lophospermum erubescens, growing somewhere in the middle of the rainforest. I saw the same species growing upstream of Elabana falls at Green Mountains / O'Reilly's section, but it seems Creeping Gloxinia is common across the park.

High iso nature shots with Fuji X-E1

Toolona creek circuit |  Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm, handheld at iso 1600, exposure compensation -1.0.

I am pleasantly surprised with high iso shots from Fuji X-E1. In both photos the exposure was about 1/60. It is a huge leap from my Olympus E-30. I mean noise, of cause. I've use the lowest noise reduction option, with high iso noise reduction on.

Both pictures were taken on one of my favourite walks in the Lamington national park, Toolona creek circuit.

Toolona creek circuit |  Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm, handheld at iso 1600, exposure compensation -1.0.

Fuji X-E1: lack of weather sealing

Toolona creek circuit, Lamington national park | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

Yesterday I went to Toolona creek at the Green Mountains section of Lamington national park. The place got some rains recently but it was not as muddy as expected. The leeches were already numerous and active, and I ended up walking in boots soaked in my blood. The famous Lamington Spiny Crayfish were also active and wandered along the track.

The remote part of the Toolona creek track is at relatively high elevation, about 1000 meters, and in this time it is not uncommon to walk in clouds. This time it was foggy with occasional drizzling, so the camera mainly stayed in the plastic bag. I wish Fuji X-E1 would have some kind of weather sealing as Olympus OM-D E-M5. Or maybe I just should take an umbrella with me next time. I managed to take a couple pictures before the rain but walked though Antarctic beech forest without taking a single photo.

Toolona creek circuit, Lamington national park | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

Another day out with Fuji X-E1

Border track near Green Mountains covered with the red flowers of Illawarra Flame tree | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

I went to Green Mountains section of Lamington national park on Saturday. I decided to go by inland route through the Mt Lindesey highway, took a wrong turn at roundabout on Tamborine St / Mundoolin Rd after I was confused by big residential development along Mundoolin Rd but eventually made it to O'Reilly's (another name for Green Mountains).

As during the previous walk, I had the Fuji X-E1 with XF18-55mm lens and a small Manfrotto digital tripod. The weather was really good, cloudy but not rainy, and it was quiet, so many photos were taken with the camera mounted on tripod. Most of such shots were done at iso 200 through a polarizer.

As during my first outing with the camera I found the autofocus adequate for my needs. It may not autofocus from first attempt on clouds or very low contrast landscapes but it can be done. The tricky part are scenes as twigs in front of branches but reducing the focusing area does help in such situations.

The battery was flat when the tripod plate was mounted on camera. Maybe in the future it would be possible to have either tripod socked in the middle of the camera, or put the battery compartment door on the side, not at the bottom. When camera goes to sleep, it cancels the timer. I ended up to use 2 minutes "sleeping time" instead of 30 seconds because 30 seconds sometimes is not enough for a tripod work. This obviously, drain the battery. BTW, it seem that the camera clean the sensor avery times it goes to sleep, so I switched off an automatic sensor cleaning. I got about 200 shots per battery, not really great. For long trips I will need several spare batteries. Next time I will take either lens hood or big hat: even indirect light going into the lens washes out upper part of the image. I have the same issue with DSLR. Couple times the camera ended up in a plastic bag because of light rain. Olympus lenses are weather-sealed, so I would not even bother with a few raindrops. Some switches can be turned accidentally, so it is good idea to keep an eye on aperture setting and OIS status.

Some other images from this walk are posted on flickr. I did a minor editing in GIMP, (levels, unsharpen mask etc). Everything was shot as JPEG.

Gondwana relict, Nothofagus moorei, Antarctic Beech   | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm

High iso images from Fuji X-E1

Rainforest | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm, iso 3200 exposure compensation -0.7

Lamington national park is one of my favorite place around Brisbane in summer. Located on McPherson Range at elevation of around 1000 meters above the sea level, the park contain big area of subtropical rainforest. Most walks start at two main entry points, Green Mountains (O'Reilly) and Binna Burra. While the park is extremely poplar, majority of the visitors do not walk on long tracks.

These pictures were taken on Coomera track at Binna Burra section of the park during my walk on December 1, 2012. It was my first day out with Fuji X-E1 and XF18-55mm lens. I've already posted my first impressions from new camera. Here I added couple high iso hand-held photos.

Tree ferns | Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm, iso 500, 1/30 sec. 

First day out with Fuji X-E1

Stream Lily | Fuji XE1 with XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS lens

Yesterday I've done 17 km Coomera track at the Lamington national park located on the border between Queensland and New South Wales. The park is located on the McPherson Range at 800-1000 meters above sea level, so it is cooler there than in Brisbane. I arrived late, started the walk around noon and returned to Binna Burra after the sunset. It was pitch dark at the last couple kilometers, and the forest was packed with fireflies.

The whole "hiking photo kit" with Fuji X-E1 and XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS was very light and compact compared to my traditional DSLR gear. I also took Manfrotto 785B tripod instead of Triopo GT-3228 X8C. The only inconvenience was the battery compartment door blocked by the tripod plate.

It was not a "photographic" day by any means. It was sunny and the contrast between bright and shady spots was just enormous. Anyway, I managed to squeeze couple  hundred shots from Fuji X-E1 on the original battery, and a little bit more from the spare one. All pictures were taken in "Aperture priority" mode as JPEGs, with Auto WB, in STD (Provia) or V (Velvia) modes, with noise reduction at -2. 

Impression. The autofocus was fast enough for me in most situations. Obviously, it is not as fast as DSLRs, and it depends on subject and background. Couple days ago I struggled with the autofocus on Olympus E-30 trying to get photos of some exotic fruits hanging on tree. It is possible to improve the autofocus on X-E1 by reducing the focusing area. 

I wish it would be possible to set up the command dial to control the aperture in "Aperture" mode. I use the command dial to change the aperture since switching to digital cameras in year 2000. By default the command dial is disabled during shooting in Aperture priority mode. It would be really cool to have ability to change the aperture both with the dedicated aperture ring on the lens and the command dial. I may get used to "on lens only" aperture control in the future but I found myself constantly rotating the command dial - and guess what - nothing happens! :( I need more training with the camera :)

The XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS is not a macro lens, even with the Macro mode enabled. I have better close-up images with ZUIKO 14-54mm F2.8-3.5. The stabilization works magic. Most hand-held pictures were taken using rear screen, and in some shutter speed is very low.

I have tried EVF in very bright sun where the preview on the rear screen was essentially invisible. It was very comfortable view. After one year with Fuji X10 I found the viewfinder essentially useless but the EVF on X-E1 does help a lot on sunny day.

For hand-held shots the camera was set up on Auto iso (1600 or 3200), and most images were taken at the top of the iso range: it was not much light under canopy even at the bright day. I am very impressed with the results. OK, I came from 4/3 Olympus DSLRs and sensor technology of year 2008, so it is not hard to impress me :) 

The negative exposure compensation was applied to most shots with metering at whole scene because I got used to blown highlight with my previous cameras. After looking at photos from Fuji X-E1 I would say it is not necessary. Maybe I should try both RAW and JPEG, and see what can be done in camera. 

Both pictures posted here were taken later during the day, when the sun went down. Tripod and polarizer was used, so the exposure is in range of a few seconds. It was a joy to use a polarizer on Fuji X-E1. The camera was slightly unbalanced on the tripod but even a digital tripod handled it reasonably well. The hi-res images are available on flickr. On lower photo the levels were adjusted in GIMP.

Rainforest at Coomera track, Lamington national park | Fuji XE1 with XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS lens

Coomera river

Coomera river,  Lamington national park | January 1, 2012 | flickr

This is Coomera river in the Binna Burra section of the Lamington national park. I went to Coomera falls circuit that time. The photo was taken with Olympus E-30, on tripod, with 14-52mm Zuiko lens + polarizer. The RAW file was processed in Olympus Master and the image was edited in GIMP. I've darken the boulders a little bit.

Since I bought Fuji X10, Olympus E-30 didn't got a lot of use except for long walks. Fuji X10 is considerably smaller and lighter, and generally I am very happy with pictures from this camera.

I generally shoot in RAW on E-30 and process the files either in Olympus Master or GIMP/UFRaw. GIMP gives me a few extra pixels, and Olympus Master handles chromatic aberrations somewhat better. So, it depends on image. I gave up to shoot RAW on Fuji X10: I cannot match the OOC JPEG with supplied RAW converter.

 Below is the photo of Land mullet, one of the biggest skinks from Scincidae family, taken on the same walk. The lizard is shine black, and without polarizer the highlights on the skin will be clipped.

 Land mullet, Egernia major, in Lamington national park | January 1, 2012 | flickr

Coomera

Buttress tree in Lamington national park. January 7, 2012 | flickr

The best escape from the summer heat in Brisbane is a trip to a rainforest. One of my favorite places for such escape is Lamington National Park which is about 120 km / 2 hours drive from Brisbane. The park is located on Lamington plateau / McPearson range and because of elevation the temperature there is significantly lower. There are over 200 km of walking tracks, with beautiful scenarios and various vegetation. The park has two main entry points, Green Mountains and Binna Burra. This time we stayed in a tent at Binna Burra and walked 17+ km Coomera falls track (8+ hours). The weather was good, no direct sun, no wind which was really good for taking pictures (long exposure with polarizer). All pictures posted here were taken with Olympus E-30 and 14-54mm lens.

There were quite a few leaches, and I even got bitten a couple   times. We saw a couple snakes, a land mullet, a few skinks, and several Lamington Spiny Crayfish, very big and colorful crustaceans endemic to the park. During the wet season these animals are wandering around the forest near creeks. In defensive position crayfish lift its claws towards a threat. 

Lamington Spiny Crayfish, Euastacus sulcatus. January 7, 2012 | flickr

Lamington Spiny Crayfish, Euastacus sulcatus. January 7, 2012 | flickr

The track was relatively dry, the creaks were not swollen, and we finished the track in dry boots. I also spotted flowering Queensland Waratah tree, Alloxylon pinnatum.

Small creek on Coomera falls track, Lamington NP. January 7, 2012 | flickr

Shortly before our return to the Binna Burra a fog came down.

Rainforest on the Border track near Binna Burra. January 7, 2012 | flickr

Teahouse in Binna Burra. January 7, 2012 | flickr