I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone

Originally published 9 June 2022

I certainly do. ‘Jagged Little Pill’ sure had some timeless classics.

On to the Food Show.

Last year’s visit to the was such a blast, basically shooting the entire day with the Voigtlander 42.5mm. I had such a fun time shooting that I decided to go over both Saturday and Sunday this year. The idea was to spend Saturday alone, focusing on taking photos, and then Sunday was to go with some friends and focus on the eating. I pretty much did as planned, except I also took more pictures on Sunday, too!

I do sound like a broken record about the Voigtlander 42.5mm, but again, no surprises as to how useful it is when doing some spotlighting on specific things:

*Voigtlander 42.5mm @ f/0.95, 1/250s, 400 ISO | OM System OM-1*

*Voigtlander 42.5mm @ f/0.95, 1/250s, 1000 ISO | OM System OM-1*

*Voigtlander 42.5mm @ f/0.95, 1/250s, 800 ISO | OM System OM-1*

In the photo of the bagels above, you can see how narrow the focus plane is when the Voigtlander is wide open. As I was standing and looking down towards the bagels, the focus plane is visibly not as parallel to the stack, so some of the bagels are already coming out of focus. The softness of the Voigtlander also kind of makes the picture more whimsical to me. But I think it also reminds me of some film photos, which is probably why I like it.

Of course, at 42.5mm (85mm full frame equivalent) it’s a great focal length for some portrait-type work. Some samples below:

*Voigtlander 42.5mm @ f/0.95, 1/250s, 500 ISO | OM System OM-1*

I tell you what, when the light hits just right I think most lenses would actually look great, but I still enjoy it a lot when I get something I really like out of the Voigtlander.

In the photo above, and especially the one below, the colours are just so nice to my eyes. The sharpness is still good but keeps it soft and smooth when it gets to the background/foreground blur.

But as much as I love the Voigtlander 42.5mm, for some reason I didn’t have as much patience to stick with it. Probably because I wanted to put my Fujifilm X100V through it’s paces!

I got the X100V for myself for my birthday last year. I haven’t talked about it before as I tend to revert to my Olympus/OM System set up when doing ‘projects’. I don’t often shoot wide, and when I do it’s purposely for capturing more of a scene in the photo so I usually would be stepping back anyway with my wider lenses. I have taken a few photos here and there with the X100V before and I usually keep it in my bag whenever I go out. But since it’s a fixed 23mm lens (35mm full frame equivalent) I didn’t tend to reach for it as often since I got used to shooting from afar. You know what they say about going out of your comfort zone though!

So this time around I intended on getting in there and putting myself closer to the action. Halfway through Saturday I switched to the X100V, and stuck with it for all of Sunday.

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/200s, 1000 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

The X100V has some very nice colours as well as you can see above. The higher (26) megapixel count definitely helps a bit to give the photos more detail compared to the 20-megapixel micro four thirds sensors. And I know Fujifilm has the beautiful film simulations in its repertoire, but I haven’t tweaked them enough to my liking yet so I opted to stick with RAW files for editing myself in the meantime.

I tried to edit the photos closer to what reminds me of film photography, but I didn’t restrict myself to following specific film simulations or ‘recipes’. Basically, I edited them to my personal taste, which is a blend of ‘filmic’ look but retaining the modern sharpness and colours where it looks most preferable to me.

Speaking of comfort zones, the 23mm lens means that I sometimes had to get closer than I’m used to in order to get the framing better.

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/120s, 1600 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

Sometimes I still wasn’t close enough, and the photo looks plain like the one above. So I try and get in closer…

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/105s, 1600 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

And I mean closer…

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/200s, 1250 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

Fortunately though, despite me feeling awkward at the time taking photos from up close, the X100V kind of helped in that regard. I think the rangefinder style of the camera, coupled with the silver finish, makes it seem less intimidating - almost socially inviting even. I definitely got more people ‘posing’ for photos than I ever did with the Olympus and Voigtlander set up (although that’s probably because I wasn’t anywhere near as close with that combo).

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/200s, 1600 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

The X100V is so disarming that these two ladies even let me do a second take! I initially was farther back because I was trying to take a photo of the whole Bounty Box stall, but they noticed me and they stood to pose as I was just about to put the camera down. So I took a couple of steps closer and quickly took the photo, which they obviously didn’t mind.

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/125s, 1600 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

Same deal with the guy below. I was taking a photo of their set up, then he posed and gave the thumbs up when he saw me, so of course I took the picture.

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/200s, 320 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

Even though I was still adjusting to being closer to the action, it actually felt kind of nice. With the Voigtlander 42.5mm, I had to stand farther back to get the framing right - so much so that people don’t notice me much when I take portrait-type photos. So being closer with the 23mm lens on the X100V, it’s an almost reassuring feeling for me to be acknowledged and given an implicit, or in these examples, explicit agreement for the photo to be taken.

*Fujifilm 23mm @ f/2, 1/200s, 2000 ISO | Fujifilm X100V*

The lady above actually picked up the jar as she was telling us about their products, and held it still so I would take a picture of it!

And then the lady below, who I think is the person behind The Baked Dane, basically punked me by popping outta nowhere while I was taking a photo of the stand (the photo is the aftermath obviously).

Sidebar: I bought some Baked Dane crackers and they were so good; I enjoyed them paired with some pate and parfait I got from L’Authentique - I recommend if you’re into both these foods!

One thing I surely had to try was see how the X100V sensor looks with black and white. Even with manual conversion (Fuji does have the Acros film simulation available) it already looks quite pleasant to me. But it doesn’t make sense to do this series in black and white since the colours of the products and brandings are a significant part of the context.

Sometimes though, black and white could have made some photos better. In the case above, the blue glove in the background is too distracting. Compare that to the photo below, the glove no longer stands out, but the lack of colour takes away from the products being showcased even though the tones and contrast are good.

But anyway, it was such a fun time with the X100V. By the end of the event I was starting to get the hang of the 23mm view. And I think the X100V is definitely the preferred go-to set up for some social event shooting in the future.

Here’s some more pics from the weekend; next is a photo of the gang together.