Heading West

So I’m heading west come the end of the may. It’s been awhile since I’ve had the opportunity to travel at all. Now that I have a young child it’s a bit harder to just get up so to speak. However we decided to book a small trip out to Calgary to visit some family.

It’s a place I haven’t been in many years and I’m looking forward to it a lot. I’m hoping to have a good amount of time to do some photography and visiting, nothing huge planned.

I will be flying out on Air Canada as I often do. My two options Air Canada or Westjet, I’m not sure there is much difference but at least I’m used to Air Canada. I’m sure at this point I’m the kind of nightmare traveller what with me showing up with a wheelchair and a stroller. Can’t wait to see how this goes.

I’m looking for ideas of accessible things to see and do. So if you know any cool attractions or a great place to get a coffee let me know and I’ll try and check it out when I’m there.

Just a quick up here for everyone now. More planning details

Fuji 16mm F1.4 WR - Review

The 16mm F1.4 is the newest wide angle lens from Fujifilm. On an APS-C camera like all the current x-series cameras it gives you the same field of view a 24mm lens would on full frame. This makes it great for those who love to shoot architecture and landscape, especially since this lens is also weather sealed. Although I do enjoy shoot architecture I didn’t have a lot of time do that kind of work while I had the lens. I mostly did some street and some travel type images during my trial run.

At approximately 375g and a 67mm filter size this is not a small and light lens by Fuji glass standards at least. The extra size is easily noticeable over my general everyday 23mm F1.4 lens. This is to be expected of course all things considered. On my X-T1 the lens still had good balance and I could comfortably shoot with it all day. However on a smaller body like the X-T10 I found the camera a bit front heavy. You have to hold the lens with one hand for extra stability when shooting with a smaller camera. I suspect the same would hold true on the X-1 Pro or X-E2. Part of this weight of course means that the build quality is top notch. Exactly what you expect from a fast prime lens. There is a nice marked aperture ring that is good and clicky. The focus is nice and large and has the same push pull clutch manual focus selector as the 23mm lens. There is usable depth of field markings for zone focusing too which is nice.

I found the autofocus on this lens to be quick, at least on both the X-T10 and X-T1. I never found that I was missing shots due to slow or hunting autofocus even in reasonably low light. That said it is slower than some of the other primes just due to the extra weight of the glass. As I said the manual focus ring is large and smooth so I was using manual focus a lot and enjoying it with this lens.

Image Quality

Before getting my hands on the lens early reviews all said the lens was amazingly sharp. Thankfully of course those people were correct. I shouldn’t be surprised based on my experience with the 35mm and 23mm lenses though. Sharpness increases a bit as you stop down but even wide open I found sharpness to be enough.

Some will wonder how the bokeh is on a lens this wide. You won’t be able to get same level of separation as with say the 35mm F1.4 of course. However if you shoot a F1.4 and get reasonably close to your subject you can still get some pretty razor find depth of field going on. For a lot of my work though how shallow the lens can get is not so much an issue. For others though this will be important.

Colour rendering is what you expect from a Fuji X system prime. If you have the 35mm , 23mm or 56mm you know what you’re getting into on that front.

Conclusion

So if you’ve gotten this far you probably have a pretty good idea if you’re going to want this lens or not. The lens is built like a tank, has great image quality and handles quite well at least on the X-T1. The only two down sides at the large size of the lens, but that’s probably not an issue for most people. The other of course if the price. At the time of writing this the price is approximately $1000 Canadian plus taxes. Although that’s quite a lot of money I don’t think it’s out of line. I know it is not a totally fair comparison but it’s very close in price to a lens like the Sigma 24mm F1.4 full frame lens.

The Art of Packing

The other day I was thinking about packing. I know weird thing to randomly think about right. In the past when I’ve often traveled with my wife and our packing setup has been something like this. We each carry a backpack of some kind with things we need to keep handy. I swear by crumpler backpacks by the way. Then we have one large rolling suitcase that my wife pulls along with clothing and larger items. That’s the bag that get checked if we are doing a plane trip. You often have to pay to check bags at this point but we feel it's usually worth it. Sometimes I’ll also place another bag with handles on the back of my wheelchair over top of the backpack. I was thinking though what if I was traveling on my own or with someone I couldn’t share a suitcase with?

Packing is not going to be a one size fit all solution by any means. The fact that we all have different abilities and strengths means that some could push a rolling suitcase along while others may not be able to. I might be comfortable with a bunch of weight on the back of my wheelchair but for some that is a huge balance issue.

If you’re traveling and using a wheelchair I have a few basic tips.

1. An under the seat pouch is great for things you need to be able to get right away and want to keep safe. Things like your passport or boarding pass are good to keep there. Maybe some allen keys for wheelchair repairs.

2. If you’re traveling by plane or a train have a reasonable size carry on bag. For me this is a backpack that fits onto the back of my wheelchair. This is where I keep my camera gear, laptop or ipad. Maybe a change of clothes just incase and some snacks too.

3. Regardless of the size or style of bag you use for you clothing make sure it's something you can maneuver without too much trouble. Perhaps this is less important if you’re just going to travel by car. But if you have to trek through the airport or from public transit to your hotel that bag is going to seem a lot heavier as time goes on.

4. Consider if where you’re going to be has some kind of laundry facility. You can get away with packing light if you’re able to wash everything part way through you trip. Even if you have to pay it could be well worth it.

In all how you pack is going to be a very personal thing. If I was going on a long trip on my own I think I’d do something like this. A seat pouch bag which I always carry anyway. Next would be my backpack for carry on. Finally I'd take a four wheel rolling bag if it was a longer trip. If it was a short trip I'd take a bag I could strap to the front of my chair or put over my shoulder and rest above my feet.  

Packing is a pain, I don't enjoy it even though I enjoy planning a trip so much. However it's one of those things that has to get done. Take the time to think about what you really need and try and pack as light as you can. You'll thank yourself later. 

Let me know below what you do for packing. I'd love to hear some ideas.