How to Shoot with the Fujifilm FinePix X100 for Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Note: This blog post is by Kaushal Parikh, a street photographer from Mumbai, India. 

Although this is an article about a camera, I don’t believe that gear alone can create good photographs. But I do believe that a good photographer can be inspired to make good images with the right gear.  I recently acquired a Fujifilm FinePix x100 that I have come to love and thought I would just share a few thoughts and tips about this camera.

These are just personal adaptations I have made with the Fujifilm FinePix x100 to help my style of shooting on the streets of Mumbai:

Zone Focusing

I shoot my x100 in manual focus mode between f4 and f8.  I set my focus to about 7 feet, which gives me an acceptable range, and I have barely ever missed a shot, as shutter delay is non-existent.

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

If my subject is out of this range a quick press of the af lock button resets the focus.  On using the af lock button to focus, I always glance down at the distance indicator in the viewfinder to ensure that the set focus distance seems about right.

Manual Focusing

After the firmware upgrade (1.10) I even use the focus ring for slight adjustments in manual focus mode.  (Fuji has recently released firmware 1.11 but I have still not downloaded it so cannot comment on it).

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Reviewing images

I rarely check my images on the LCD so the image review is set to off in camera. However, I set the playback view mode to ‘viewfinder’ so that when I do press the play button the image appears in the viewfinder itself.  This way I don’t have to remove the camera from my eye and can see the review image clearly even in bright sunlight.

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Also when you take a picture and immediately look at your LCD you arouse a curiosity in your subjects about what exactly you just captured.  The viewfinder playback negates this issue as well.

Sound settings

I do not use the camera in full silent mode.  I set all the camera sounds off except for the shutter which I keep at its lowest volume which is barely audible to anyone but me, so I know exactly when the camera has fired and also gives me a better sense with regard to the timing of the shot.

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Metering

I use the camera in manual metering mode only and have found it gives the best exposure (in most situations) when underexposed by half a stop.  With regard to ISO I confidently shoot from ISO 400 up to ISO 1600 (even go higher sometimes)

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Black and White

I like shooting in black and white so I set the camera to RAW+normal jpeg and set the film mode to b&w.  This way the image when reviewed in playback mode is b&w allowing me to see what the monotone image actually looks like, while at the same time the RAW image is available giving me the option of color as well at the time of processing.

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Conclusion

Overall I am really enjoying the Fujifilm FinePix x100 and if nothing else it inspires me to go out and shoot.  It is light, unobtrusive and produces good quality images.  Below are some of the images I have made with the x100.

Photographs by Kaushal Parikh

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Kaushal Parikh Street Photography

Links

You can see more of my work at www.kaushalp.com or on my street photography blog at http://kaushalpar.wordpress.com.

Fujifilm FinePix X100 users– how has your experience been with the camera? Share your thoughts and opinions