Paddling among the beauty of a summer morning on Stony Lake, Ontario.
The lily pads provide a beautiful accent to the calm waters and rocky reflections of Stony Lake.

 

Going out for a kayak paddle, especially in a place like Stony Lake in southern Ontario, is awesome at any time. But when it happens early in the morning, while the first rays of sun are reaching out and the water is calm, it is particularly special. Recently I had the chance to do just that.  My camera was busy as I was tantalized by the painterly reflections on the water and the rock formations in, what is appropriately called, Stony Lake.

photocrati gallery

 

Of interest to photographers:
All of these photos were taken with a Fuji X100s. This is an outstanding camera in so many ways. It’s very small and perfect for travel photography. It weighs almost nothing and fits into a jacket pocket. The controls on it are quick and easy to get to and the essential ones are right under your fingers. The image quality is simply outstanding for its sharpness and 16 megapixel resolution. It is equipped with a very fast prime f/2.0 lens with an equivalent 35 mm focal length. This is a fixed lens, so no lenses to switch and no zooming. I’ve used this camera on trips to Italy, Spain and while travelling from BC to Ontario and have come to rely on it whenever I don’t want to carry my bigger gear.

Some features that I really like:
– the built in macro feature means I don’t need to carry a macro lens. I’m totally impressed with the macro images I’ve made with this camera.
– the f/2.0 lens is incredibly sharp and has beautiful bokeh. If you’re used to using a zoom lens, you will definitely notice a difference with this prime lens.
– one of the many features in the menu is a built in neutral density filter. Wow, no filter to carry around. When shooting on a bright day, I can turn this on to allow for slower shutter speeds. Now all I need is a built in polarizer!
– the camera has many other valuable features, such as panoramics, video, multiple exposure, bracketing (for HDR) and settings to add creative processing to the images.

And two that I would like to change are:
– the autofocus is slow. It’s not an issue when photographing scenery but when I want to photograph people, the extra second or two it takes seems like a long time.
– having used the camera now for about one year, there are still operational aspects I have not understood. For instance, the view mode. Sometimes when I look through the viewfinder, the focus indicator is not visible. Other times it is. There are a number of complexities like this that could probably be learned but are just not intuitive.

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