Travelling light

As mentioned in an earlier post, I love my DSLR and don't see what all the mirrorless fuss is about (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).

When I had an entry-level DSLR I lusted after something more 'Pro'. While I'm fully aware that having a 'better' camera won't improve my photography, it does feel better in the hand (especially with a decent sized lens on the front). I like the weight, I like having an LCD display on top so that i can quickly see my exposure settings and adjust accordingly.

As odd as this may sound, I feel more credible and therefore more confident as a photographer with a big camera in my hands.

I bought my Fujifilm X20 purely as a compact camera for BBQs and days out with friends, not as a camera that i would ever reach for given the choice.

When I was invited to a wedding at a castle in Ireland, I was very much looking forward to taking my kit bag and getting some shots. Sadly the closest airport to the Castle was only serviced by a certain Irish budget airline and my 15kg kit bag was over the weight limit for hand luggage. In addition, to take my clothes in a suitcase would more than double the cost of the flight. As I was just a guest at the wedding, I couldn't justify the expense of taking my big shiny camera with me. So I resigned myself to the fact that I would 'only' have a compact camera with me all weekend.

Even 'loose' the essentials take up a fair amount of space

I'll have to take the 'compact'

The Fujifilm X20 only has a 12MP 2/3" sensor but the lens does does let a lot of light in with a maximum aperture of f/2. I thought that for outdoor shots in August it would be fine. It's likely that I wouldn't be able to shoot during the ceremony but for any other indoor or low light shots I'd just have to make do and hope for the best. At least it shoots in RAW so I've got some post-production options.

All packed up for the weekend

Once again the "Little Camera That Could" impressed the hell out of me. I was able to easily shoot in manual mode as the X20 has 2 rear control dials (shutter speed and aperture) but I ended up shooting everything in aperture priority mode, choosing a wide aperture and letting the camera do the rest. If I wanted to make any small adjustments there's a handy exposure compensation dial on top of the camera with +/-2ev at 1/3 increments.

I was also pleased with the range of focal lengths on the small zoom lens (28mm - 112mm) and found that it suited what I wanted to photograph on the day. All in all I couldn't fault the X20 as a handy and versatile compact camera. Considering the sensor size, it's a fairly competent camera.

I didn't have to worry about off camera flash, changing lenses, carrying a big kit bag, I just concentrated on taking pictures - perhaps a lesson to learn there.

The official photographer at the wedding was absolutely superb, it was a pleasure to watch him getting creative and also trying to work out what he could see in his mind as he dashed around the castle and the grounds to find his shot. Having since seen the finished shots, I am blown away by his creativity, vision and proficiency with a camera.

He deserved a drink!

Enough about the official photographer, how did my little toy camera get on shooting a proper wedding?

Well here are a few shots taken on a £400 compact camera:

Markree Castle, County Sligo

So, in future I might leave my kit bag at home more often!

Not always necessary to take the full kit...

New toys! Fujifilm mirrorless cameras

There's been a lot of talk over the past year or so about the 'mirrorless revolution' in photography. All the major brands are releasing mirorless cameras with fairly large sensors and decent digital viewfinders.
Even some pros are picking up the Fujifilm X-Pro range instead of their trusty 5D MkIII or D4. I always felt this wasn't for me, I like the reassuring 'thwack' of a mirror slapping out of the way, I like the weight of my 7D with a big L lens on the front, I like holding my camera to my eye and seeing out of the lens. Most of all I love the quality of images that a modern DSLR with decent glass on the front can produce.

But sadly we all have to fly with budget airlines occasionally and my kit bag sits at about 15kg with no spare room for so much as a toothbrush!

I was on  shoot earlier this year and one of the camera guys showed me a lovely retro-styled Fujifilm X100s. He told me that he went travelling around India and left the DSLR at home, relying entirely on this compact camera to catalogue his travels.
It was a thing of beauty with an optical viewfinder, a fixed 35mm (equivalent) lens and an APS-C sized sensor (same as my 7D). I immediately wanted one!
The Fujufilm compacts have been built to look like retro rangefinders or old Canon AE-1 SLR cameras.

The Fujifilm X100S is a thing of beauty

The following day I went to my local camera shop, Cameraworld in Chelmsford, with a desire to acquire the Fujifilm X100s, for all those occasions that a DSLR isn't suitable for, or is just too big to lug around.

I held it, played with it and was completely sold...

...until the gentleman behind the cash register told me it was £1000.

Now as beautiful (and arguably practical) as it is, there was no way I was going to pay DSLR money for a jumped up compact with a fixed lens!

I was deflated. It's not the price itself that bothered me, but the value of the camera. It's not worth £1000 to me. It's got a decent sized sensor, a fast, very sharp lens and full manual control (and it's so pretty) but it's not worth that kind of money to me as a 'toy' camera for BBQs and daytrips.

Fortunately there was a successful local photographer in the shop who overheard my semi-rant about the price vs. value of new toys.

Now here was a man who owns 2 professional camera bodies and spent more money on lenses than I care to imagine.

He actually agreed with me, the 'value' of this camera to him as a toy didn't justify the £1000 outlay, no matter how pretty it is. So he told me that he'd bought the smaller Fujifilm X20 and he loves it!

Fujifilm X20; just as pretty, less than half the price!

The X20 has a smaller sensor, but has a manual zoom lens that covers 28-112mm (4x zoom), full manual control and a built in flash. It also has the retro styling and optical viewfinder. It's also significantly smaller, lighter and only £400.

So I ended up with a smaller (but equally pretty) camera that's cheaper, more versatile and is much more 'valuable' to me.

This camera has been with me all summer, sometimes as a backup to the big 7D and sometimes as the only camera on my person.

I can't really fault this little camera at all. There's no noticeable shutter lag, autofocus is swift and precise. The lens is sharper than I had expected and the top mounted exposure compensation dial means you don't have to fiddle too much to get your exposure just how you want it. The X20 also shoots video at full HD.

Low light with no flash is noisier than I'd like, but it's much better than a mobile phone camera and if the situation requires, I've got the 7D with off-camera flash and lamps galore.

As a backup it's a great camera. As a BBQ / days out camera it's perfect for my needs.

It's got a nice sized rear LCD screen and an intelligent fully-automatic mode so it's family friendly for those "can you take a picture of me please" moments. But it's got all the manual and semi-automatic modes you'd find on a pro camera for maximum creativity.

The next problem will be trying to justify to the missus why I need "all that camera kit" if I keep taking the little camera everywhere...

Summer 2013

Wow, that's all. Just wow!

This summer has been the busiest summer of my life, it's been amazing. Sadly that's left me zero blogging time since the spring, but I'm back on it now.

So, the summer!
As well as the usual batch of summer events, fetes and festivals we'd usually perorm or coach at, we (Kinetix) agreed to run one of the sites for national kids camp company 'Megacamps' (check them out: http://www.megacamps.net) oh and we hosted free outdoor Parkour workshops & Bootcamps in the parks around the district all summer for the local city council, as well as me taking on a new personal training clients, then there was the SX Urban Games tour performing in every major town in Essex throughout July and August, oh and our regular classes carried on without interruption... (breathe) ...aaaand a very good friend decided to get married in Ireland right in the middle of August (more on that in another post).

So, it's been a busy summer, 14 hour days, 6 or 7 days per week, travelling all over the UK and Ireland, but life has slowed down to a manageable pace again now.

This summer wouldn't have been possible without my amazing staff at Team Kinetix and without Becki sorting out the timetables of 20 people for 8 weeks at a time (behind every great man and all that...)
So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, you guys are like family to me.

Anyway, enough gushing, get to the point!

With all the events we've run this summer, I've managed to get a lot of time behind the camera to hone my photography skills, I've really learned a lot by taking pictures almost every day.
So, here's the shameless plug of my Flickr page: BradWendes on Flickr check it out, feel free to criticise!

Here's some of what I've been up to while not blogging:

Zoe Salmon Parkour Video

The video of Brad Wendes teaching Zoe Salmon Parkour is now online.

Check it out!

Brad Wendes Coaching Parkour with Zoe Salmon

For more information on Brad's Parkour classes, to learn Parkour or watch more Parkour videos, check out http://www.teamkinetix.co.uk