Lessons learned with the Fuji X-T1
Well, I learned my lesson. I prepared in advance to make sure my next test with the Fuji X-T1 went as smooth as possible. I cleaned up the sensor, the lens, the filters, and the polarizer. I set my camera to shoot RAW. I woke up early enough and I focused on shooting at one place in Cinta Costera.
Even though it was a cloudy morning, and the light was somewhat uneven, there was no excuse to test this old Fujifilm X-T1 setup. Just a few important learnings: almost impossible to use the remote shutter release cable when the camera is in a vertical position and using an L-bracket, the T mode only goes to a maximum of 30 seconds which combined with the previous fact makes it very difficult to compose long exposures vertically, also the XF 18-55mm has a slight distortion from 18 to 24mm, which bends buildings in a funny way, a fact that cannot be corrected using either Lightroom or Capture One. Besides that, I think this is a great setup to start learning photography, and I would recommend buying them used instead of purchasing a more expensive new setup with a level of quality that would not compare to what this Fuji offers. Check it out in the following picture.
That morning I played around different compositions, and different exposures. I noticed the Cokin filters produced heavy color casting when doing long exposures, but that is what you pay for. Stil, pictures look nice, nothing extraordinary, but what is undeniable is that the X-T1 produces great colors, the XF 18-55mm has amazing sharpness, strong built, and good enough micro-contrast. This is what I like about Fujifilm, this is an old setup, and when you apply all the firmware upgrades, it behaves amazingly, and I have noticed compared to other brands and their marginal incremental updates, when Fuji releases a new version of their cameras you can actually tell a huge step in improvements and features, with another level of upgrades. I know there is a new Fuji X-T3, but to my level of photography, I fully enjoy both my X-T1 and X-T2. Let me show you some pictures from this day.