simonpg
Active Member
Every time I simply pick up my XPan I am reminded of what a brilliant tool it is. Then when I see the image quality, it becomes obvious as to why used prices today are much the same as new prices before the sad day production ceased!
A week ago I had the pleasure of visiting Metung in the Gippsland lakes region of north eastern Victoria. This is about a 4 hour drive from where I live in Melbourne.
Here are a few samples I shot on Fujichrome Sensia 100. They are all hand held and with the 45mm and 90mm lenses wide open (f4). Shutter speed was between 1/30 and 1/45sec. Personally I try never to use 135 format gear handheld below 1/60second (an higher with longer focal lengths of course) due to narcotic medication. But like the Leica M cameras, the solid weight of the XPan does help steady handheld shooting.
As most may have experienced, getting a panorama's horizon level takes some care; but, getting a seascape horizon level is a challenge - seas/lakes/oceans have "swells" that vary their "horizons" - and if there is a sea horizon on one side of the frame, and a land horizon on the other side - wow that can be a big challenge!
The Sensia (a very good film but a little too "cool" for my preferences) was 4 years out of date. I was given it by my local lab for $2 a roll with the promise that he has used Sensia 5+ years old not refrigerated (this was refrigerated) and never seen any adverse effects. He was spot on! He commented that Sensia is arguably the most robust positive film made. Well I certinly do not regret the purchase (it retails for about AU$11.00 here!).
So here are some lake shots.
A week ago I had the pleasure of visiting Metung in the Gippsland lakes region of north eastern Victoria. This is about a 4 hour drive from where I live in Melbourne.
Here are a few samples I shot on Fujichrome Sensia 100. They are all hand held and with the 45mm and 90mm lenses wide open (f4). Shutter speed was between 1/30 and 1/45sec. Personally I try never to use 135 format gear handheld below 1/60second (an higher with longer focal lengths of course) due to narcotic medication. But like the Leica M cameras, the solid weight of the XPan does help steady handheld shooting.
As most may have experienced, getting a panorama's horizon level takes some care; but, getting a seascape horizon level is a challenge - seas/lakes/oceans have "swells" that vary their "horizons" - and if there is a sea horizon on one side of the frame, and a land horizon on the other side - wow that can be a big challenge!
The Sensia (a very good film but a little too "cool" for my preferences) was 4 years out of date. I was given it by my local lab for $2 a roll with the promise that he has used Sensia 5+ years old not refrigerated (this was refrigerated) and never seen any adverse effects. He was spot on! He commented that Sensia is arguably the most robust positive film made. Well I certinly do not regret the purchase (it retails for about AU$11.00 here!).
So here are some lake shots.
