I am not entirely comfortable enough to shoot an assignment with the camera alone. The reason is nut the camera’s capabilities but my knowledge of how to use it. Shooting with the Nikon D4 is second nature.

I must get to this point with the camera where I am not hunting for the control to change something on the camera.

[Fujifilm X E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/105]

I set the camera to shoot on Auto ISO RAW. So the lowest ISO would be 200, and the highest is 6400. I also set the shutter speed to 1/60 and would change that to 1/250 and 1/1000, depending on the situation.

[Fujifilm X E2, 18-55mm, ISO 640, ƒ/4.5, 1/220]

For every camera I have owned, the autofocus has so many options that if you choose the proper setup for a situation, you get incredible results. Autofocus issues are why most pros ask other pros if they are having trouble with a similar camera. Then if they are not, they ask them what settings they are using for a situation.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/4.8, 1/500]

Mostly, all these photos were custom white balanced using the ExpoDisc.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/4.2, 1/500]

I like the skin tones with the Fuji X E2. I also think their lenses are super sharp and have great dynamic range and color.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/4.8, 1/500]

All the images I processed using Adobe Lightroom 5.3.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/4.8, 1/500]

I had just bought the new Fuji 55-200mm, my first time using it.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/3.6, 1/500]

I loved how the lens felt in my hands. It was well balanced and well built.

[Fujifilm X E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.8, 1/500]

Shooting the coin up close with the 55-200mm and shooting from the press box were two extremes where the image stabilization showed how good it worked. In addition, I was pleased with the results of handheld photos in both of those situations.

The reason I am so excited about the Fuji is its weight. My wife took a photo of me in the press box shooting.

Photo by Dorie Griggs

I was carrying all this on me using the backpack, and the ThinkTank modular belt system from 1:00 pm to 1:30 am.

• 2 – Nikon D4 cameras
• Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
• Nikon 28-300mm ƒ/3.5-5.6
• Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8
• Sigma 1.4 converter
• Shure Wireless lavalier microphone system
• Nikon SB900 with spare batteries
• 2 – Spare batteries for the Nikon D4
• 10 – CF, XQR, and SD cards
• Fujifilm X E2
• Fujifilm XF 18-55mm
• Fujifilm XF 55-200mm
• Manfrotto MonoPod

What a year it has been. I have had a great year of moments and feel incredibly blessed.

Lili’uokalani Park, Hilo, Hawaii. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 250, ƒ/7.1, 1/60]

Each year starts with me in the Georgia Dome covering the Chick-fil-A Bowl. This year will be no different. In addition, my wife Dorie will be celebrating her 20th year working the press box.

Tom Butler, Kona Coffee Grower [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/10, 1/200]

Anacleto Rapping is on the far left, and Joanna Pinneo is on the far right and is reviewing a student’s portfolio at the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference. [Nikon Coolpix P7000, ISO 1600, ƒ2.8, 1/30]

This year I am also working with the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference in Fort Worth, TX. Southwestern Photojournalism Conference takes place the first weekend in March.

Bill Bangham, Eugene Richards, and Stanley Leary at the SWPJC. [Nikon Coolpix P7000, ISO 1600, ƒ2.8, 1/60]

Dave Black looks at a person’s portfolio at the SWPJC.  [Nikon Coolpix P7000, ISO 1600, ƒ2.8, 1/50]

Pam Goldsmith is a world-renowned violist who was Richard Zvonar’s partner for more than 20 years. Richard is our daughter’s uncle. Pam took time to help Chelle, who had also taken up the viola. [Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/9, 1/60]

Chelle visits Richard Bugg, who works with Meyer Sound. Their sound system is what was in the Beijing Olympics and other major productions throughout the world. Richard Bug is another one of Richard Zvonar’s business associates. Together, they built this sound design system.  [Nikon Coolpix P7000, ISO 400, ƒ2.8, 1/6]

Dorie and Chelle are standing in front of Chick-fil-A in Hollywood, CA. We stopped here for lunch while seeing the sights of Hollywood one day. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 100, ƒ/3.5, 1/800]

Dorie, Stanley, and Chelle Paradise Cove in Malibu, California. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/200]

Another friend of Richard Zvonar is Ronan Chris Murphy, who has a recording studio in Santa Monica, where we visited him. [Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/6.3, 1/25]

Chelle and Dorie are standing in front of the Hollywood sign. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60]

Chelle met Pip, an American singer who participated in season 2 of The Voice as part of Team Adam Levine while she was a model in the show with Pure Fashion.  [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/5.6, 1/125]

Mark Wood is leading the workshop. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 10000, ƒ/5.6, 1/100]

Chelle is performing on her Viola with Mark Wood. [Nikon D4, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 Sigma, ISO 12800, ƒ/4, 1/320]

Chelle is singing with Mark Wood. [Nikon D4, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 Sigma, ISO 12800, ƒ/4, 1/320]

1st Lt. Nelson Lalli returned this past summer after serving our country in Afghanistan for nine months. We were so thankful he returned home. [Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 10000, ƒ/8, 1/60]

David Cifuentes Velazquez, the coffee grower and member of the Just Coffee Cooperative enjoys sharing with a visiting group how coffee has grown. The joy on his face and family captured the restoration of their family because of the coffee cooperative. [Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5, 1/80]

Can the Fuji X E-2 16M sensor do the job for a working pro?

As you can see in the photo above, the quality is there for available light shooting full frame, but when people ask if the 16M sensor is good enough, they want to see the photo at 100%.

100% view of the image above

Here is a low light situation: how many street photographers and photojournalists would capture their images? Of course, if you are shooting a commercial job, you would likely be shooting with a low ISO.

Fuji X E-2, ISO 200, ƒ/18, 1/180

Here is a portrait of my daughter shot with the Fuji X E-2. Again the question is, what about at 100%?

100% view of the photo above.

From my perspective, it would be a rare moment that any of my clients would ever need anything with more megapixels than this camera gives me.

Now, my lab is telling me that if your camera is a 6M size sensor and they can make any size print from this file size, then it would appear that 16M is more than sufficient.

PPRPix Tips

So I wasn’t surprised to hear that Hiroshi Kawahara, Fujifilm’s Operations Manager, also said that 16M was enough.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGsoBUIFrM]
If the other camera manufacturers do not learn from what Fuji is doing, Fuji will crush them. What is essential to listen to in the interview is how even while they think 16M is enough, they still listen to the customer and are researching to improve the megapixels.

One coolest thing about Fujifilm is its firmware upgrades for all its cameras. They continue to upgrade their cameras because they are listening to the customer. The firmware upgrades for the cameras make them even better. For the most part, if you want the latest camera design from other manufacturers, you must buy the latest one. While you might think this could hurt sales, it is doing just the opposite for Fuji.

Conclusion: The Fuji X E-2 exceeds the needs of my clients right now. It is a camera I am shooting now for corporate jobs.

For this test, I used the Munsell Color x-rite Mini ColorChecker chart as the comparison. Unfortunately, they stopped making it, but I still use it.

Closeup of the photo above

The top photo is the Fuji Camera.

Nikon D4, 29-300mm, ISO 200, ƒ/11 Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc [Click here for Full Resolution]

Closeup of the photo above

Tip One: Consolidating Files

If you create a new package using Final Cut Pro X, you can have your files all over the place. I have done this more than once due to being under a deadline to get the work out the door.

Here is a little tip that can help you find the files in one place later.

In the Project Library view mode, just put your mouse over the project you want to consolidate. Then, right-click, and you will get a similar screen that I have up above.

Select “Consolidate Project Media” as your choice.

If they are already in the same place, you will not be able to go further. Still, it is possible to have your media imported into another events folder and your project in a different project folder.

The advantage of consolidating is saving the file for you to return later and make edits.

Tip Two: Organization of Files

Go and buy Event Manager X.

Final Cut Pro X will run better when one project and event are open simultaneously. The event Manager will give you the best speed and performance out of the program.

Event Manager X will see all the events and projects you have in the file folders of Final Cut Pro X. By checking and unchecking your “Events” and “Projects” within Event Manager X, it will then move all those files unchecked into “Hidden Folders” that you can see easily through the program.

All you do is check on the “Events” and “Projects” that you want to open and then click on “Move Events and Projects,” and it will move everything for you. For example, I keep the “Re-open Final Cut Pro X” always checked so that when I click, it opens Final Cut Pro X, with just what I need open.

Bonus Tip

Keep all your Events and Projects on an external hard drive. Your computer needs extra space on the hard drive to run Final Cut Pro X. Keep at least 20% free space on your system drive.

Those tips save me loads of time and help keep my projects all organized.

Gregory Heisler is a professional photographer known for his portraits. Long before 2007, when David Hobby started his blog “The Strobist,” Heisler was already doing some incredible work with strobes.

Heisler is most known for his 50 Time Magazine covers.

Today many photographers will quickly pull out their large softboxes for portraits. While even Greg Heisler will use this on occasion, he prefers to light things so that they look natural.

I recommend buying Gregory Heisler: 50 Portraits: Stories and Techniques from a Photographer, where you see his photos and hear the stories behind those photos.

Heisler introduced a new lighting term used in theater and movie sets lacking in still photography.

Heisler heard while on a movie set the director said, “Motivate the Practical.” Of course, the practical is the light fixtures within the frame.

Heisler pointed out to those in attendance that when you go onto a movie set, you rarely see a giant softbox. The reason you don’t is the same reason when you go outside. You do not see light boxes all around us. So while the lightbox is wonderful light that looks like an ample window light, it isn’t the norm for most places we see people.

Heisler prefers light scenes to look like they would in a natural setting. He even goes so far as to make his studio at night look like a poolside photo during the day for a picture he did of Julia Roberts.

I was pleased to not only hear Greg Heisler speak I also was able to get him to sign a book for me.

This photo is an example of where I worked to create what would appear to be window light from the sun coming in the window. I put a strobe outside the window to generate sunlight on this rainy day.

I would have taken off the umbrella if I wanted a more complex light.

While in theater and movies, they would call this “motivating the practical.” I am creating a light that looks natural rather than just making great light.

I, too, prefer using “Motivating the Practical” over most any other type of light. It looks the most natural, and the more realistic the morning, the better the chance of it helping to create a “real moment.”

“What could be so bad as to try crossing the border?” was asked over and over by our group. We only spent three hours walking some of the paths that illegal immigrants use, and we were doing this in daylight, yet we were tired.

In the top photo, you can see some of the terrains our group had to help each other over in sunlight, and many who cross will do so at night. Many will break ankles just on the landscape alone.

The fence slows down someone for about fifteen seconds if they make it. Sometimes many fall and break legs and arms trying to go over it.

Imagine fathers and mothers often will leave their children behind and families to take this horrible trip that will most likely be around six days in the desert. Then the rest of their time in the US, they will constantly be navigating ways not to get caught and sent back.

Agua Prieta, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona, are towns divided by a fence. Agua Prieta is the most crossed area of the Mexican border.

Drug cartels hire young people who are US citizens but of Mexican heritage to carry drugs over illegally and then just come back through the checkpoint to do this over and over.

People come on this trip to understand the root causes of this problem. We listed to learn about how NAFTA had its flaws. For example, the Mexican government stopped subsidizing crops, yet the US continues to support major corporate farms.

What took our country a hundred years to change from an agricultural society to an industrial one, Mexico did in less than ten years. The farmers could not compete and had to leave what they knew to do something else, which they had no skills in.

We are seeing one small success through a cooperative formed of coffee growers in Mexico. The nonprofit Frontera de Cristo helped raise the money for a roaster. 100% of the money is staying in Mexico with the farmers.

Those families are no longer looking north and are now helping save their communities.

Here we are touring the roasting facilities in Agua Prieta, Mexico. Later we will fly to the Chiapas area of Southern Mexico to visit the farmers and their families. We will see coffee being grown and how this transforms their lives and communities.

Here is Robusto Coffee which is higher in caffeine.

The lower photo is Arabica coffee which is common in caffeine and smooth to drink. However, how you roast it can change the levels and taste.

Here Adrian Gonzalez, manager of customer relations, talks to us about how they not only sell whole beans but also grind the coffee by request of some customers.

They put the farmer’s names on the bags of coffee, helping to create a relationship between the customer and the farmer.

Stay tuned for photos of the growing process in Salvador Urbina and El Aguila, located in the Chiapas region of Mexico.