London from helicopter - 2

May 28, 2017

Summer is coming and so it is the time for the last checks on my equipment before the travel season begins. A second doors-off helicopter flight (link at the end of this blog) over London was on my list to test two X-T2s with 50-140mm f2.8 and 16-55mm f2.8 lenses side by side. Both X-T2s were with battery vertical grips, as both lenses are rather large and heavy (by Fuji standards) and it is easier to handle the X-T2 body with one of the pro zooms when you have an additional grip. The flight was at about 5 pm, so we were expecting a lot of light and of course great scenery. The weather was (as usual) changing fast, but went into a very cooperative mood once we were in the air with some nice clouds lining up in the sky after a strong shower.
It was my second time in the doors-off flight and I wondered if I would get more used to it, doors are off to provide for the best quality shots and better freedom of view. For obvious reasons no lens changes can be made in the air and the same goes for hoods and loose filters being taken off, as no one wants anything to fly out of the cabin and hit the blades... Ideally one camera with one lens is the best option. It may give you less freedom of zooming, but whilst switching between cameras you may miss a good shot, as everything moves really fast and you do need both hands to support the camera when framing and shooting in strong wind and vibration. Both cameras were set at 1/1000s shutter speed, auto ISO from 200 to 800 and I only changed the aperture depending on the shot/light. EVF on the X-T2 is a great help to see what you get whilst shooting, that is if you can hold camera to your face in that vibration, but the X-T2's EVF is large and bright making it easy.

Post-editing was done in Lightroom 6 using Fujifilm Classic Chrome profile with some further adjustments. BW conversion - with Nik's SilverEfex. Click on any image to adjust it to your screen size.

The big view - with 16-55mm f2.8 @20mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

Urban grid, Fulham -with 50-140mm f2.8 @50mm, f2.8, iso200, 1/1000s

I found myself using both 50-140mm f2.8 and 16-55 f2.8 lenses pretty much equally. The former has IS but I switched it off, as for the speed of shooting (1/1000s) it makes no difference. I did not note any difference in quality of shots, as both lenses did a superb job. In an ideal world I'd rather have one pro zoom, something like 23-70mm f2.8, that would cover most of my needs. Using joysticks for choosing focusing points was very easy, especially in a heavy vibration situation and both cameras were very comfortable to use. I used vertical grips on both bodies and that helped a lot as my hands are large and even with smaller primes I tend to use those grips, or a minimal leather half-case from Garitz when I want to travel light. Speaking of grips - I accept all the benefits the new X-T2 VG gives me, BUT I do miss the old X-T1 grip. In my opinion it was much better designed from an ergonomic point of view. There is not much difference between them (size and weight wise) but ideally (if Fuji is listening :) ) I would love to have the option of a lighter smaller vertical grip for the X-T2 (similar to the old X-T1 VG). Also, as much as I love the joystick on the X-T2 - dear Fuji - please put it higher, swapping it with the Q button, in the next version of the X-T body. It is so well positioned on the X-Pro2. I would rather have the Q button elsewhere too. The same goes for the movie mode on the left subdial where the brackets used to be on the X-T1. It would make much more sense to place it with the other trendy consumer extras on the right side of that dial together with panorama, filters etc.

Anyway, the test and flight were great. Second flight was much easier and both cameras and lenses performed well. The 16-55 f2.8 is a brilliant stellar lens - fantastic for aerial shooting and I would certanly fly again with it. Thanks for visiting and maybe see you on the next flight!

The Tower Bridge - with 16-55mm f2.8 @55mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

Home of Champions, Chelsea FC -  with 50-140mm f2.8 @115mm, f2.8, iso400, 1/1000s — Home of Champions, Chelsea FC - with 50-140mm f2.8 @115mm, f2.8, iso400, 1/1000s

Urban living - boat houses on Thames - with 50-140mm f2.8 @50mm, f2.8, iso250, 1/1000s

Science quarter - Natural History museum, Science museum, Imparial College and Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park on the background - with 50-140mm f2.8 @140mm, f2.8, iso200, 1/1000s

Westminster - with 50-140mm f2.8 @98mm, f4.5, iso400, 1/1000s

House Guards Parade and Trafalgar Square - with 50-140mm f2.8 @115mm, f4.5, iso250, 1/1000s

St. Paul's Cathedral - with 50-140mm f2.8 @115mm, f2.8, iso400, 1/1000swith 50-140mm f2.8 @64mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

Buckingham Palace - with 50-140mm f2.8 @94mm, f4.5, iso250, 1/1000s

South Kensington - with 50-140mm f2.8 @60mm, f2.8, iso200, 1/1000s

Urban jungle - City of London - with 50-140mm f2.8 @50mm, f4.5, iso64with 50-140mm f2.8 @115mm, f2.8, iso400, 1/1000s0, 1/1000s

St Paul's Cathedral - with 50-140mm f2.8 @64mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

Walkie-Talkie - with 50-140mm f2.8 @50mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

The Tower of London - with 50-140mm f2.8 @50mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

St Katharine dock marina - with 16-55mm f2.8 @36mm, f2.8, iso200, 1/1000s

Welcome to London- Canary Wharf and beyond - with 50-140mm f7.1 @52mm, f2.8, iso320, 1/1250s

Canary Wharf - with 16-55mm f2.8 @20mm, f2.8, iso200, 1/1000s

KAyakers at Canary Wharf - - with 16-55mm f2.8 @16mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

Millennium Dome - with 16-55mm f2.8 @31mm, f5, iso200, 1/1000s

Royal Docks - - with 16-55mm f2.8 @47mm, f4.5 iso320, 1/1000s

Tide is coming... River Thames Barrier - with 16-55mm f2.8 @23mm, f4.5, iso500, 1/1000s

Shard and bridges - with 16-55mm f2.8 @28mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

Charlton Athletic ground, The Valley -  with 16-55mm f2.8 @55mm, f3.6, iso200, 1/1000s — Charlton Athletic ground, The Valley - with 16-55mm f2.8 @55mm, f3.6, iso200, 1/1000s

Old Royal Naval College, Greenvich- with 16-55mm f2.8 @42mm, f5.6, iso320, 1/1000s

Isle of Dogs and Greenvich- with 16-55mm f2.8 @30mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

Old Royal Naval College and the Queen's House, Greenvich- with 16-55mm f2.8 @45mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

Over the prime meridian, Greenvich- with 16-55mm f2.8 @31mm, f4.5, iso200, 1/1000s

The big view from above the Canary Wharf - with 16-55mm f2.8 @20mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

Chameleon - The Shard - with 16-55mm f2.8 @23mm, f4, iso320, 1/1000s

Westminster - with 16-55mm f2.8 @32mm, f4, iso200, 1/1000s

Buckingham Palace - with 50-140mm f2.8 @140mm, f5.6, iso500, 1/1000s

The Waterloo Station- with 50-140mm f2.8 @58mm, f5, iso500, 1/1000s

Over the London eye - with 16-55mm f2.8 @42mm, f3.2, iso200, 1/1000s

Battersea Park - with 16-55mm f2.8 @16mm, f8, iso800, 1/1000s — **Battersea** Park - with 16-55mm f2.8 @16mm, f8, iso800, 1/1000s

Battersea Power station being redeveloped into luxury living complex - with 16-55mm f2.8 @28mm, f6.4, iso500, 1/1000s

Battersea Park - with 16-55mm f2.8 @38mm, f8, iso500, 1/1000s — **Battersea** Park - with 16-55mm f2.8 @38mm, f8, iso500, 1/1000s

The London Helicopter

London from helicopter - 1

January 15, 2017

Time has come to upgrade my old trusty pair of X-T1s so what better place is to test new X-T2 than a doors off helicopter (link at the end of this blog) ride over London? After some thinking and web searching I opted for the X-T2 (with battery grip) and 50-140mm f2.8 lens combo, and X-Pro2 with 35mm f1.4 as a second camera, as I wanted to test a fast prime and was not sure how much light we would get at the end of the flight. The flight was planned for just after 3pm and the idea was that we would fly over the Tower Bridge about half an hour before sunset. With luck we would have good light and great scenery. In fact we (three photographers sharing the flight) were very lucky and the dull grey sky broke into clouds and gave us what we were hoping for.
To get the best quality shots and relative freedom of view one needs to take doors off. This requires a proper secure harness with several attachments points to the helicopter, plus safety belt, plus both camera straps having to be secured by carabins too. Despite all that, being strapped to a chair 1600 ft in the air still makes you being rather cautious when you lean out to take a shot. Having dual cards slots in both cameras and extra batteries in X-T2 comes handy as changing anything during the flight is not allowed, as no one wants anything to fly out of the cabin and hit the blades... for the same reason the lens hoods were removed too. Once in the air you get very strong vibrations, noise and wind so my cameras were set at 1/1000s shutter speed, auto ISO from 200 to 800 and I would only change aperture depending on the shot I was taking. Saying that, and you can see from the shot info I attached to each image, most of the shots were made with large apertures. I stopped down both lenses ocassionaly and only once used f8 when light was hitting me too hard - EVFs on both cameras are great to see what you get, that is if you can hold camera to your face in that vibration.

Post-editing was done in Lightroom 6 using Fujifilm Classic Chrome profile with some further adjustments. Click on any image to adjust it to your screen size.

London's golden hour; X-T2 ISO640 50-140mm f2.8 1/1600s

I found myself using both X-Pro2 with 35mm f1.4 and X-T2 (with vertical grip) and 50-140mm f2.8 lens pretty much equally. I did not note any difference in quality of shots as both cameras (and lenses) did a superb job. Using joysticks for choosing focusing points was very easy, especially in a heavy vibration situation and both cameras were very comfortable to use. The only thing I would have liked differently is a tighter aperture ring on 35mm f1.4 - it is too soft, so it is too easy to move under helicopter flight conditions. And yes, here comes a small rant, Fuji - why still only three frames per bracket? And why put movie mode onto the left subdial where brackets used to be on X-T1? It would make more sense to place it with the other extras on the right side of that dial together with panorama, filters etc. Also it would make sense if info icons on EVF were to have the same locations on both X-Pro2 and X-T2, for the sake of clarity and simplicity ... and finally, how about an option of saving your camera body settings onto an SD card as a file so you can quickly set up another new one? Anyway, would I fly again - absolutely yes (see link below), would I take the same cameras - yes, may be swapping 35mm to 23mm f1.4 or 16-55 f2.8 lens.