Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-21)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 21 March 2020 17

TRACYborroweda FujifilmX-T1,which
youcannowbuysecond-handforaround
£220-£250.Sheusedit withthe80mm
macrof/2.8lens,whichcostsabout£
second-hand.Shesays,‘BasicallyI still
reallylikethiscamera,andit’sverywell
suitedtomacrowork.Mostofthe
advancesintherangehavecentredonAF
orvideo,andarenotsorelevanttomeasa
manualfocusmacrospecialist.Thesolid
SLR-typebodyanddesignis reassuringly
sturdyandthereis a goodbalanceofauto
andmanualcontrols.Althoughthe
camerais sixyearsold,it’sstillgotplenty
ofappeal,withsome important caveats.’

Imagequality
‘Itstandsthetestofthetime.Youcangeta
lotofdetailbackfromrawfiles,andusinga
macrolensI don’ttendtocropinsomuch
anyway.Photographersinothergenres,
however,mightwantmoreresolution.With
higher-qualityJPEGs,yougenerallyget
goodandaccurateexposure,whitebalance
andcolourrendition.I alsoreallylikethe
filmsimulationmodes,whichdefi nitely
addtoyourcreativearsenal.’

AutofocusandISO
‘TheAFis notsuper-fastbytoday’s
standards,butthisis notsuchanissuefor
me.Thereareseveralreallyusefuloptions
formanualfocusingasyoucanusedual
view(showsfullscreen,plusa magnified
viewina smallwindowtotheside),along
withsplitscreenandfocuspeaking.I only
pushedtheISOto800,andit wasfineat
thatlevel.Somemightwantmore
advancedlow-lighttechnology,but it’s
good enough for my purposes.’

Tracy Calder

Tracyis a formerTechniqueEditor

ofAPandis anaccomplished

macrophotographer,having

writtenseveralbooksonthe

subject.Shenowrunsthe

Close-upPhotographerofthe

Yearcompetition.Fordetails see

http://www.cupoty.com.

Handlingandbatterylife

‘TheX-T1hasa reallysolidfeel,asit’s

madefrommagnesiumalloyandis very

grippable.Thehandgripfeelsgreat,asI

don’thavebighands.Asforthetiltable

LCD,it’sok,butnotparticularlypractical

forshootinginportraitformat,andthe

4-waycontrolleris tooflushtothe

camera’sbody.Asa resultit’sspongyand

awkwardtooperate.TheEVFis

workmanlike,featuring2.36milliondots

comparedtothe3.69ontheX-T4,andyou

needtotakeyoureyeawayfromthe

viewfindertousesomeofthecontrols.

Havingsixcustomisablefunctionbuttons

comesinveryhandy,however.I alsolike

havingtheexposureandISOdialsonthe

topofthecamera,althoughtheycanbe

fiddlytooperateagainstyoureye.Battery

life,meanwhile,is so-sobymodern

standards.Asforthe80mmmacrolens,

I findit a bitplastickyandover-priced,

thoughit is consistentlysharp.I dowish

SigmaandTamronwereabletomake

lensesforFujifilmmount, as I really like

their macro lenses!’

ALL

PCTURES

ON

TH

SPAGE

©

TRACY CALDER

Macro

Formacrowork,where

youoftenfocusmanually

orusea tripod,Tracy

reckonstheX-T1is a

solid used buy

StraightoutofthecameraJPEGsarewell

exposed,whitebalanceis accurate and the

level of detail is good