Thursday, August 8, 2013

Drowning Pool

These photos were some of the first I took with the X-E1's back in April when I got them. This was part of a shoot in Europe with a heavy metal band called Drowning Pool. While heavy metal is not really something that I listen to much, it was a fun tour and the guys in the band were a lot of fun to work with. 

One of the complaints I had heard about the X-E1's was that they had a hard time focusing under less than ideal light. I figured a rock concert would be an excellent place to test how well the camera could actually perform. I shot the show with two bodies and the four primes, 14mm, 18mm, 35mm, and 60mm (35mm equivalent 21mm, 28mm, 50mm and 90mm)

It was a great night and a great shoot. Initially,  I was worried that I would miss stuff, or that it wouldn't be in focus, but I had just as many keepers as if I had shot it with my Canon gear (which was sitting safely back stage in case the X-E1's weren't up to the task.) One of the things I found is that people paid me a lot less attention with the Fujis than when I use my Canon gear. I guess a smaller camera does not elicit that response to make faces and do weird stuff when someone is taking your picture.

But I was really amazed at how well the metering worked (under crazy, always changing lighting), how well the focus worked, and how well the camera was able to handle some fairly contrasty scenes at high ISO.

This was the night that I really fell in love with what the Fuji's could do. 

And a couple of photos...