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Fuji X-E2 with the 18-55mm on a ProMaster XC525 Tripod

Christmas trees and cameras do better with tripods that support and hold them steady.

I have been testing the Fujifilm X-E2 camera for the past few weeks. Lately, I have been taking Christmas tree ornaments and enjoying using the Wi-Fi to upload the JPEGs quickly through my iPad using the Camera App, which you can download.

I also took portraits, which I posted on the blog earlier. I immediately noticed that my pictures were not as sharp with the Christmas tree ornaments as those in the studio. Of course, the ƒ-stop was greater, but the sharpness issue was with camera motion.

Sure the Fuji camera has vibration reduction, but even when this is flawless a camera on a tripod cannot be beaten.

Once I started taking photos with a good tripod, the images looked much better. It wasn’t a camera error; it was operator error that was causing my photos to appear less sharp.

By shooting on a tripod, I could also vary my depth of field since the camera movement at a slower ƒ-stop didn’t affect the sharpness of the photos.

While the photos were sharper, composition is another benefit of shooting on a tripod.

While these photos don’t win a Pulitzer for composition, I kept the camera still, which is hard to do when focusing as close as the camera allows on such small ornaments.

Some of the ornaments, like those of Snow White, were tricky to shoot if you shot them wide open, and that would be ƒ/4 on this camera and lens. I stopped the lens down to ƒ/10. How did I know that was what I wanted?

Fuji X E2 Feature Bonus

On the Fuji X E2 when you push the shutter release half way down the camera aperture closes to the setting you have and the viewfinder automatically adjusts in brightness so you can see your depth-of-field as it will look when you take the photo. On a traditional DSLR you have to wait for your eye to adjust to see the DOF. This is one of the really cool things about this new camera.

Now, all these photos use the existing light in the room, primarily the lights on the tree. By getting so close to all the ornaments, the depth of the field was pretty shallow, helping to pop them out from the tree. The background was cleaned up in the process.

My suggestion for any photographer with a Christmas tree and a tripod is to record some of your ornaments and maybe post them to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest account. I have gotten more comments about these than on many other posts.

Maybe the reason is something many of us collect and don’t understand.

At our house, you are just as likely to see The Citadel ornaments, photography ornaments, and what the season is all about, those that remind us of Jesus.

Get your tripod and let it slow you down this season so you can remember the reason for the season.