Under The Sun - Gillam Road With Fujifilm

Every year I hope for an overcast day in Armadale - specifically on the date of the Gillam Road hotrod and kustom car show. And every year the Meteorological Bureau laughs and laughs and laughs...and turns the heat up to "9". Yesterday was no exception.

But yesterday was the first occasion that the car show rig of Fujifilm X-100 - EF 42 flash - WCL-100 wide angle adapter lens - Sunwayfoto bracket was tested.

The components have had separate runs in other circumstances - the weaker sun of Melbourne or the cloudy skies of Singapore - but this was the toughie; full WA sun on polished cars on asphalt. If it works here it works anywhere.

Well, it works here.

The leaf shutter design of the X-100 lets me set the aperture on f:11 and leave the camera to find its own speed - I am not restricted to a slow shutter speed. The ISO of the capture is 400 and the dynamic range is 200%. I'm shooting RAW since the whole thing can be decoded by Aperture or PE10.

I suspect I could also use the Fujifilm X-30 as it has a leaf shutter as well, but that's an experiment for the future. As it is, the WCL-100 means I am seeing with the equivalent of a 28mm lens on a film camera - wide enough to let me come inside the crowds and get a good bit of light on the cars but not so wide as to distort the noses or tails of the cars.

The EF-42 has enough punch to effectively fill in WA sun. I run it at +.5 for the outside shots and .0 for the interiors. I noted that I shot 300+ shots yesterday with forced flash on a plain old set of Duracell alkaline AA's, so it is economical in operation.

Final note: the old Camera Electronic Mitsubishi van cannot last forever. Clients are invited to vote for which of the following vehicles should be purchased to replace it.