Vancouver Convention Centre - Private Fireworks...

Gallery (40 images): Vancouver Convention Centre - Private Fireworks

I was informed of some private, special-event fireworks that were going to take place in front of the Vancouver Convention Centre, so after promising to keep it quiet and only tell a few close friends, I was given the date and time. I was lucky to have some nice evening light with a fading blue sky, wind to keep the area smoke free for the 10 minute show, and some darker clouds behind the fireworks for contrast. It was bright enough still that I couldn't do my usual long exposure blocking technique for photographing the fireworks, but the balanced light of the sky, the convention centre lights, and the fireworks of course, all made for some nice images in the end...

Fujifilm X-Pro2 Review

Gallery (110 images): Fujifilm X-Pro2 Review Gallery

May 8, 2016: This very long review is finally complete! Enjoy...

I have now had my own Fujifilm X-Pro2 for just over a month, and by and large, I absolutely love the camera. Above is a link to a random sampling of images I've shot since getting the X-Pro2. There is a lot that is new and improved in comparison to the older Fujifilm bodies like my X-E2 and I will attempt to cover the major improvements. While I have now shot quite a lot with the X-Pro2, what I still haven’t done is a full-blown comparison to my X-E2 with respect to image quality. Suffice to say for now that my impressions are that it is as good, or better, in essentially every way. The increased megapixels have had no negative impact, and only contribute to its overall image quality.

This is also very true of raw files processed through the latest versions of Adobe's Creative Cloud Lightroom and Photoshop. With Adobe's tweaks to X-Trans sensor raw file processing, and the X-Pro2's increased resolution, I am actually finding quite acceptable results and generally don't feel the need to process images through a third party raw converter any more, converters like PhotoNinja or Iridient Developer. For a working pro that is using Fujifilm gear, shoots raw, and uses Adobe software, this can pay big dividends in productivity! Rest assured that the camera's JPEGs are still as good as ever.

Scattered throughout this review are some shots of the X-Pro2, side by side with my X-E2, so you can see how the controls have changed, the size differences etc. Apologies, but I had a very poor quality screen protector on the X-Pro2's rear LCD for those shots, and I've since then replaced it with a much nicer one. The full-resolution images, taken with the X-Pro2 in this review, were all raw files that were just processed through Lightroom CC.