Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/8, 1/75

Traveling to London, England on a vacation I decided to go very light with my gear. To get photos like this of my family as we travel I wanted something more than the camera on my phone.

I wanted to zoom and keep high quality. This is one of those trips of a lifetime that we will cherish for a very long time.

Instead of just carrying 2 extra batteries I am carrying 4. This way I can just shoot away or if the cold in the air drains my batteries then I will be ready and not miss photos due to a dead battery.

The kit is what you see in the photo. Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm and the Fujinon XF 55-200mm.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.2, 1/100

You can see the bag I used to get all my gear here to London. I put my MacBook Pro 15″ laptop, external hard drive, beat headphones, some of my medicine, cables for everything including my phone. I also have a ExpoDisc for custom white balancing. Once we got to our flat I took most everything out and just had camera gear and put some gloves in the backpack. The backpack is the Think Tank Urban Approach which is designed for mirrorless camera systems.

Keeping it simple I never once changed lenses today. Tomorrow I will use the 55-200mm when we go to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/40

I love the Fuji for the high ISO of 6400. Great for most situations like this night scene of the restaurant we visited.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/10, 1/70

I am just adjusting the aperture for increasing the depth of field or decreasing as needed for each photo. Since it is mirrorless, I am looking at the LCD and seeing the results right away without having to use a depth of field preview button.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/10, 1/75

So for both the photos here I wanted to show foreground to background as sharp. I chose to shoot at ƒ/10 because the sharpness looked good in the viewfinder.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 800, ƒ/4, 1/100

Now for shooting the pastries in the window I just used a shallow depth of field.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/4, 1/100

Now our tour guide for the Harry Potter Muggles tour looked so much like my daughter today I needed a shot of them together. The background wasn’t quite important here so shooting at ƒ/4 worked just great.

The two of them were surprised at how much they had in common. They both are actresses and have been Olivia in Twelfth Night. Taste in movies from Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and Sherlock were just a few of the things other than dressing with similar attire.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 500, ƒ/2.8, 1/100

Now since I can see what I am getting before I push the shutter release I was able to see that ƒ/2.8 was fine for capturing my wife and daughter in front of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theater. While the background is slightly out of focus it is still enough to know where they are standing in London.

Lesson is simple, you can do a great deal with a small system. However, if you note I am thinking about what I want to capture and controlling the camera. The camera without my input would not give this good of a result.

To help you think about this, when Apple and Samsung introduce their new smartphones they hired professional photographers to show what these cameras can do. Why is that? Because it is the person holding the camera that determines if you have photos that are really impactful,

So if you are running a business and you need photos, please don’t just use your smartphone or your own camera. Be sure and hire a pro. If Apple and Samsung wouldn’t trust anyone to use their gear to sell it then why should you?