Not much to add this week, the images are for the YPS presidents plaque with the subject of Weather.
/update: Images were placed 1st (Summer Rain) and 2nd (Cold Bath) in the presidents plaque competition.
Redux 21/03/18
Show Purchases
Remarkably the discounts (for Fuji – didn’t check others) were decent. Infact in some cases better than the best recent price on CameraPriceBuster.
So, what did I get?
To recap (like an annoying Channel 5 Documentary) I was looking at the following:
- 100-400 + TC (Lowest price and current £1490/1649)
- 18mm (£400/479)
- 27mm (£319/349)
- Fisheye (£212/219)
- Battery (£41/46)
Fortunately a Facebook/Forum friend (Alec) offered me the Fisheye for £130 – he was awaiting an Ebay purchaser that never paid up – so a win for me.
A further win was the 100-400 + TC being on offer for £1479, so that was snapped up fairly quick (along with a lens pen and lens wipes for an extra £10).
During the week I was thinking about picking up an X-E3 and 27mm to use as my carry to work camera (not wanting to take my X-Pro 2) – so that combination was grabbed as well. The X-E3 was £100 less and selling for £699 – the 27mm lens wasn’t discounted too well, at £339 it’s just a tenner off the normal price – however if bought with a X series camera another £50 was taken off. I did ask for offers on this combo and they eventually got it down to £969.60.
As I needed a SD card I picked up an Extreme SD card for £16.50.
So all in, I paid Wex £1615.10 as I had £850 in store credit (Total £2465.10)
So with regards to lenses I managed to do a Meatloaf – two out of three ain’t bad. I did have a look at the 23mm and X-E3 bundle, but found the protrusion of that lens a bit too much – Likewise the 18mm was a bit bulky.
I didn’t find any Fuji Batteries at decent prices, so I’ll probably pickup some Hahnel branded ones online – they seem to be a reasonable 3rd party replacement from a recognised brand. I’ll need to pick up a small bag for the X-E3 – I had a look at the show, but couldn’t find anything small/protective enough for my liking.
Overall I enjoyed the show and it was quite an expensive day – but mostly paid for by my Canon trade ins.
Photography Show
It’s that time again……
And unusually for recent times I’m buying stuff.
After my recent Canon clear out I have £2180 to spend currently in a combination of cash and store credit (£1330/£850 – Wex credit).
Current Shopping List (all Fuji X Fit)
- 100-400 + TC (Lowest price and current £1490/1649)
- 100-400 (£1300/1549)*
- 18mm (£400/479)
- 27mm (£319/349)
- Fisheye (£212/219)
- Battery (£41/46)
Total spend £2272/2642* Based on the 100-400 without TC
So based on the best lowest prices I pretty much get all in that part of the list. The reality is though, prices in recent times have never been great at the show. I have noticed some prices have risen recently so maybe its an artificial rise to make any discounts seem decent.
Ideally I’d like the 100-400 and TC combo so whatever that price is will be a fairly large chunk of the money. I probably can save £200 from this month as well so that’ll boost my spending to £2380.
**Chances are everything could and possibly will change **
This Weeks Selection (12/03/18)
So just to prove it wasn’t a one off here it is again. Possibly might be better calling it Redux this week. Why? well I’ve gone into my library to pick out a couple from the Central Library (Madin Edition): One from the day before it closed and the other is from the 4am Project meet up (although it doesn’t feature the library)
First up, under the brutal beast….
It was a bit of plan shot, but the Raw image contained the missing detail from the Jpg thumb nail in the Lightroom Library.
Tweaked as most of current images are in Nik Efex (Viveza, Colour Efex – possibly a bit of HDR Mono tone mapping, really can’t remember!)
So under the belly of the brutalist beast, shot on the day it was closing using my Eos 6D and 15mm Fisheye.
Next up…
Its Karen Strunks addressing the gathered crowd (who are behind me) after a rather wonderful 4am Project looking at the Central Library. Image taken on my Eos 5D Mk II (A camera I never really liked to be honest) and my 15mm Fisheye. Tweaked a bit in Nik Efex and cropped to the letterbox format.
Have either of the image got legs for a competition? Not sure but it is worth going back and revisiting some older images occasionally – even if it’s just to confirm they were as bad as you originally thought!
Judgement Evening (Mono)
So, the (delayed) Mono competition happened. I got awarded a Commended and Highly Commended for the two images. Quite pleased, I did think about changing them – but I’ll continue with going with my initial images I think.
The judge commented about letter boxing the Paddington image which on reflection is probably not a bad idea. He liked the Brutal Symmetry image but commented about maybe showing a bit more of the foreground detail – to be fair though both images were grab shots. Maybe with a bit of time and composition they might have been better.