Gallery (55 images): 2023 Victoria - City Walks
The next three days, I spent my time wandering around Victoria, part testing lenses and part just exploring the city. These were slow and relaxing days, wandering around and taking photos. I used to do this quite often in and around Vancouver, but I've never taken the time around Victoria.
I had borrowed a few lenses and a GFX body from my Fujifilm rep for a couple of the days. One was a pre-production Fujinon XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR (equivalent to a very wide 12mm lens on full-frame) and there are a number of photos in the above linked gallery that were taken with that lens. I was impressed enough with this lens, that this year (in 2024) I bought one just before my trip to the Southwest with Emily. It replaced the also otherwise excellent Laowa Zero-D 9mm f/2.8 manual focus lens I had been using for many years with my X-Pro2. In a few ways, the Laowa 9mm is actually slightly better than the Fujinon 8mm, but overall I ended up preferring the Fujinon for a few reasons, so I made the switch.
At the beginning of the above linked gallery, there are also some infrared (IR) shots taken with my IR-converted X-E2, a camera I rarely use and when I do, I always tell myself I need to use it more often since the results can be magical! The grain and highlight glow, to mimic B&W Kodak IR film, were added in post with Adobe Photoshop.
I had also borrowed a Fujifilm GFX 100S as well as the then new ultra-wide zoom Fujinon GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR (roughly equivalent to a 16-28mm in full-frame terms), and this combination proved outstanding, with the zoom lens performing pretty much every bit as well as Fujifilm's GF prime lenses. If I were to ever get a GFX system, that lens would be very high on my list of lenses to buy! There are no images from that combination in the gallery, although there are a number in the gallery accompanying my review of the lens on the Beau Photo website here... https://www.beauphoto.com/tested-fujinon-gf-20-35mm-f-4-r-wr/
