Dec 2012: elf's Fuji X-E1 Journal

To enable Macro mode, one has to press Cursor Up to bring up the menu and then Cursor Right to select the tulip icon; to disable Macro mode, press Cursor Up then Cursor Left to select Off.

As Fall arrived, I began noticing the the camera often tended to hunt more than usual during focusing operations. Then I began noticing that this happened when Macro mode was enabled (yellow tulip icon in the top left corner) even thought I was pretty sure (99%) I hadn't enabled it.

Yesterday, I realized what was happening what was happening— while wearing gloves, it is possible to press Cursor Up and Right without realizing it (while just holding the camera).

Dear Fuji, please change the Macro Mode key selection routine to require an additional OK key-press to prevent accident selection of Macro Mode. If the OK button is not pressed within 5 seconds, dismiss the Macro menu.

This past week, the temperature dropped to below zero. I took the camera out for about a half hour with a windchill of -4°C and it performed without any noticeable anomalies.

Update: Sun 06 Jan 2013 10:27:34 AM EST: The only problem I keep having is the inability to push the center Menu button with my winter gloves on. I keep hitting the up-arrow (Macro toggle) button.

From 2012

I unfocused this manually to make the lights look bigger.

• Non-destructive sharpening using layers (an alternative to unsharp mask)
• Blurring the background
• Colouring B&W photos
• Daido Moriyama (a featurette on Japan's most celebrated photographer; I am surprised how quickly he walks and how quickly he can spot a scene)
• Personal objects (simultaneously beautiful and sad)

What a great post from Roger Cicala titled, A Corporate Connotation. I love the surprise twist at the end.

It eloquently summarizes why I bought a Fuji camera after 10 years with Canon.

From 2012

I took care to ensure that the star at the top of the tree had a dark background. If I had taken one step to the left, the star would have been lost amongst the lighted windows of the tower.

From 2012

Three photos of the decorated trees in Berczy Park with successively more bokeh until the last one which is 100% bokeh.

From 2012

The pano is incomplete because I didn't intend to use the bottom portion of the near tree in my final composition, but in retrospect, I should have included it.