Fuji EF-X20, not a review...

Just recently received my new Fuji "GAS" flash, the EF X-20, i bought used on Ebay, haven't really put it to use, just some light testing, just to test if its working properly. As you can see above it works marvellously, and wirelessly.... It's not really wireless, but it is not wired, its in slave mode, as long it detects a flash, it will fire simultaneously. really nice for off camera strobing, too bad this wont work on the X-pro1 as the pro didnt have a built in flash to fire the flash, this works great on x100s but i haven't really test it to its full potential. Of course my Yongnuos are better. Sorry for the heavy crop on the picture above, my desk is really messy and to i need to crop some 'unwanted classified for my eyes only' 'stuffs' on the desk. LOL.

All in all for being smaller in size, i think its a good travelling flash and pair it with the x100s, should be nice to have off camera flash to play with. But in theory in broad daylight it might be having difficulties to detect the master flash from the x100s, i haven't try it, i'll make an update on another post when i have the time to test it.

While the x100s built-in flash is nice but if you want more power, this is a great combo.

And i love the direct hard flash ala Terry Richardson outcome!

Fuji X100S with Yongnuos stuffs...

Last weekend i had a pre-wedding photoshoot.
The couple suggested that they wanted a photo of them on a motorcycle.
I brought along my Yongnuos flash the yn560iii and its latest trigger rf603ii. I have to say last time doing this off camera shots are bloody expensive. A Canon speedlites alone can buy me about 4 or more Yongnuo's flash. And then the pocket wizard too cost more money. Yongnuo is cheap and it works as advertised. As long as you dont need TTL but although there are TTL models for the Canons and the Nikons, (not yet for other mirrorless cameras) but i like to use manual. so i'm in control. More power, less power, just bump it up or down. I gotta say i love these chinese products. Cheap and working although reliability is a mystery. So far none of them breaks.

Mine is a YN560iii flash which has a built in wireless and its pretty handy. You dont need a receiving trigger to put on its hot shoe. So no height added, just place it on a stand and ready to go. My trigger is the latest ones from Yongnuo, the RF603Cii, so far it works with all my camera, the x-m1, x100s and the omd em10.

Since i'm on Fuji mode so i took my X100s for the session. and it did not disappoint. Though there are few mislock focus pics but the ones that it nails, are so good. There's so much information in the Fuji Jpgs files for editing. Just a lil sliding in the lighroom basic settings sliders are fine.

Here is one from the session.

I used two flashes here, one is behind the motorcycle, my left about 10 o clock, to light up the background grafitti, you can see the tripod foot on picture left. Thats an easy fix. Either you crop or use the spot healing brush. I forgot to take a picture of the setup so i purposely shown the tripod foot. The 2nd flash is infront of the motorcycle, to my right, about my 1 or 2 o clock, facing directly on the couple. These flashes did not have softboxes on them, just the flash diffuser thats fitted on them. i dont remember the settings as i set them on manual. set to taste.
And then my favorite move, VSCO to death! Lol. I think ISO is about a 1000 and im confident what fuji can achieved. Nice clean files. Theres grain but its an okay grain. Unlike ones on Olympus. Too digital for my taste. Sorry Oly. I still love you but just not tonight.

Fuji X100S with Yongnuo YN560III + RF603CII

Fun.
Flash were never been affordable back in the days.
A Canon speedlites can cost you for about USD$500. Two flash and prepare a whopping 1G, one grand.
Poor wallet!
But now with cheap flash on the rise from the east, playing with flashes can now become affordable.
Strobing aka Strobist they say.
Yes these flashes are made in China, but these flashes are powerful.
I'm talking about Yongnuo's flashes.
Mine i just got my Yongnuo YN560III. This flash has built in wireless trigger which will work amazingly with their own trigger Yongnuo RF603CII.
I dont need to attach a trigger on the flash shoe. thats the cool feature. It wont add height to your flash.
They are so cheap you can get 3 Yongnuos for 1 Canon EX speedlite. i may be exaggerating but it is that cheap.
Cheap doesnt mean it sucks. Maybe for purist but for me, it works wonderfully.
It did give me a scare when i thought my flashes were DOA(dead on arrival) but you actually have to press the power button for about 3 seconds to switch it on. sheesh...
I also bought their own wireless trigger, as mentioned RF603CII, if you wondering, this trigger works with my Fuji X100S and Olympus OMD EM10.
On ebay, it still is confusing when they say Canon version, Nikon version but i bought the RF603Cii, supposedly for Canon but it works on Fuji and Olympus. I think Yongnuo updated this for the mirrorless cameras but i still dont get it when they sell it for Canon and Nikon version but whatever.. just get the RF603CII and it should work. You know how this chineses Ebay sellers copy and pasted each others ad... its so funny.

2 Yongnuo YN560III, Camera left and right (with umbrella)
Black cloth.
Ikea laundry basket, Fyllen.
Fuji X100S set to external flash mode ON. (Its not in the menu, its at the flash settings button)
Triggered by Yongnuo RF603CII.

Note: I'm not paid by Yongnuo but their stuffs are awesome!

OMD EM10 Live Composite Mode.... Fun Fun Fun!

I haven't pushed the capabilities of my OMD EM10, this guy needs a stress test but i just fooled around with the live composite mode and boy, such a fun experiment. Light painting made easy. Here's a test shot 1 second exposure OOC Jpg lighted with an iphone. Such a cool feature this Live Composite although some claimed it increased noise. Oh well Olympus noise sucks anyway. But the picture is razor sharp.

Finally none enhancement photo by Blogger. 

it was getting annoying i just had to google on how to fix it.

Yongnuo RF603CII Wireless Trigger on Olympus OMD EM10... OMG it works!!

I've been reading that Olympus OMD EM5 only works with Yongnuo RF602 but not 603 although there is a hack to it but i wont go into that. i dont want to hack my stuffs. i want to buy it and pray that it works. pay and pray. thats how i roll. thats just the way it is. i dont want to open up my trigger and solder this solder that. no. just too much hassle.

EM10 being almost similar to EM5, i worry the same issue with RF603 would resurface. I just purchased a set of RF603 before i bought the OMD although the ones i bought are the latest from Yongnuo, the RF603CII, i guess its a version 2 or Mark 2 they say. Anyway, its still model 603 but good news it works!! so if you want a cheap wireless triggers for your OMD, get the new RF603CII.

Some test shots below...

shot with OMD EM10 with RF603CII to trigger the flash. Flash is Yongnuo 560III

i just bought a pair of Yongnuo's flashes, the YN560III, as it has a built in wireless so you dont need to buy a receiver for it. Just get the RF603CII and set it to the same channel and viola, you got some strobing/strobist project to do!! This flash is cheap too.. i got it for USD$136 for 2 flash.

i set both flash to the same channel and triggered wirelessly by OMD EM10 using the new RF603CII

All i can say is its...

AWESOME!

Look whats in the mail today.... Yippie Ki Yay!

Actually the postmen never sent me a card telling me my stuffs arrived. no. poor service. boo hoo. i had to called the post office and asked them to track my stuffs. luckily there's a tracking number to be tracked or else i'm doom. its almost a month now and my stuffs has yet to arrived. But actually it already is in the post office, i dunno why they didnt call me to get it. again, poor poor service.

The stuffs that i've been waiting for are my Yongnuo's 560 III and the latest wireless triggers by Yongnuo as well the RF603CII..... Yay!

On a side note i hate Olympus OMD's noise... thats iso1600....

Gotta try this Yongnuo's on the OMD EM10......

thats after this break....

Instax 210

taken with Fujifilm X100S

I love this camera. Instant film. Polaroid-like or polaroid killer. My first instant film camera. Dont you just love how the image appears right before your eyes. i told you before in my previous post that id love printed picture, not to store pictures in your iphones or hard drive. This is the sh*t. This is how i become a Fuji Fanboy. Starting with the instax. and then the X series came along. Fujifilm makes things right for me. and everyone else i must say. because there's a growing fan base or a cult following. When i got this baby, nobody is selling these in my country. Nowadays you can find it in almost every camera shop in town. Told you, a cult is growing. my worries are gone. More films to be made. When i bought it i was worried Fuji will abandon a sinking ship. but this ship is not gonna sink. Instax are putting themselves big on the map.

Then they came up with the Instax Share printer.

Even Bigger!

Genius!

PeeKaBoo ....

Unintentional....but works with the title..

Puzzled? Let me explain...

I was uploading a photo to my 500px , it looked like this in the website (black and white category)

See there?

As you can see its all blacked out on 500px website, it looks like there is something wrong with my picture, and viewers would also think either its just an all black photo or corrupted photo.

But actually if you're really intrigued and clicked on the picture, actually its a picture of ...

PeeKaBoo!!

my kid.....
right at the bottom of the pic...

It was unintentional, but somehow coincidentally works with the title!

The real story was, i'm tryin to do a self portrait but with manual focus and no help it was PITA to nail focus so i asked my kid to stand in and adjusted focus and took her picture along the way.

Recesky!

Recesky.... in all its glory!

Still not sure if this thing takes pictures, i might have screwed up the shutter part of this camera.... anyway... with bright light i believe i'm exposing the film but not sure with indoors... found this thing is equivalent to aperture of f11... thats too small for indoor!

Cant wait to finish my ilford and see if i have good pics or just too black or too white of exposures... yikes!