Category: Technology

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

The Elusive American Bittern Hunting Frogs a the Sourland Mountain Preserve Pond.  Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec).

About two weeks ago, I dropped my two Fuji X-T1 cameras off for service. One wouldn’t turn on, and since I am home for awhile the other one to fix the light pollution issue. There was a Fuji recall to fix the light pollution issue soon after I purchased the camera, but with my travel schedule never had time to be without the camera. Five days later I was told both cameras needed new power supply modules, and the one with the light pollution issue needed a new top cover ( ~$250 and ~$300). I then got a call that when they opened up the camera that wouldn’t turn on that there was internal water damage, and that the camera was not repairable. So much for weather resistance. The only time that camera got wet was the mist at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. And even then it was in a rain cover. So I ended up getting one working camera back. The first thing I noticed when doing my afternoon walkabout in the Sourland Mountain Preserve was how slow the Fuji X-T1 camera was in acquiring focus, and that it had a hard time auto-focusing for close targets. I would have to manually focus, and lost many shots. Two weeks of using my Nikon DSLRs reminded me of how good they are even if they are are heavier. Even the mirrorless Nikon 1 series of cameras focus faster (but don’t have same image quality for large prints).
End of Rant.