Soccer in Black and White
I just checked to see how many soccer galleries I have on my Smugmug site. The count is 89. My traditional setup for soccer is either one or two SLRs and for the most part either my 300 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8, or both. Yesterday I decided to go about it quite differently. All I brought to the game was my X-Pro1. I decided to try a few things out. One being the continuous shooting. The X-Pro1 actually fires off 6 frames per second. The new Canon 5D Mark III shoots the same 6 frames per second albeit with superior autofocus capabilities. So I had to work around things as I know AF tracking wouldn't be a good option.
At first, I shot around f/3.6 but quickly decided, why not bump the ISO to around 800, shoot at f/8 for increased depth of field. The ISO is clean at 800 so no worries here. I would then prefocus using the AE-L button and set the camera to manual focus. I snuck up near the goal post in order to get some action in and around the goal. Shooting with just one lens, and in this case, a 50 mm equivalent, takes a bit of patience as you have to wait for the action to come quite close to you, but I liked the images as they produced a new perspective for me. This is in no way meant to replace my SLR for this type of shooting but it was fun trying it out.
The other thing I decided to opt for was using the in-camera BW conversion. After all the talk of the Leica Monochrome in the last couple of weeks, I thought it would be fun to see what the X-Pro1 could come up with. I picked the BW yellow filter for no other reason than I thought it looked cool on the LCD.
Since my last X-Pro1 related blog post I have added the grip to the camera, an extra battery, and an ND filter. The grip is a worthwhile addition to me. It adds a little bit of weight to the camera and it now feels a bit more substantial. Coming from SLRs the X-Pro1 is so light. You obviously also getter a better grip on the camera it is one of those products that look better in real life. The tripod mount in the center of the grip is also a welcome addition as it replaces the off-center mount on the camera.
I am happy to report that battery life is better after the firmware upgrade. Still, it is nice to have an extra battery and I will for sure be needing it for 'all day' events coming up. The ND filter is handy for getting narrow depth of field shots when it gets too bright and I have also used it in order to gain longer exposures for some lake shots.
I keep adding images to my Smugmug X-Pro1 Gallery, so feel free to check it out. Below are a few photos from the game.
The photos in this post are captured with a Fujifilm X-Pro1 and XF 35mm f/1.4 R.
For a full review of the X-Pro1: Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review
