On tilted screen, feather smoke and a cross

I am going to continue to share my thoughts on the Fuji X70. It is not a review or some kind of promotional post. For some of you who have not read my previous blog post, I recently switched from DSLR Canon 650D to a more compact and more practical Fujifilm X70.

Everything mentioned here will be old news for some but hopefully those who plan to make the same gear switch, will find necessary information.

The tilting LCD screen is a winner. For me anyway. Apart from the fact that it allows you to shoot from different perspectives, it is very useful when you want to be discrete and not interrupt a scene.

I tilted the screen in all the included images. I notice a scene or something interesting to capture, approach the scene, flip my screen up, frame and shoot. All this while holding my arms to my waist level and looking at the screen. I don’t draw too much attention if I keep my arms down rather than making the gesture of making a photo.

Not another smoke shot! right… Besides the mysterious woman blowing out the smoke, contrasting with dark background, what I liked about the scene is that the right side of the frame is quite messy with random shadows, reflections and shapes and the left side is quite geometrically organised. The orange coat and feather smoke adds the x-factor.

Literally seconds after the smoking woman shot, I noticed the approaching monk (or priest). The hanging cross on his wavy robes caught my eye. He was about to cross the road, the light was good, the lines of the pavement and the blue post crossed too so I made a shot while in my head I thought – zebra + cross might work as word play… (can also submit this to the Streethunters’ monthly challenge). 

Now, don’t get me wrong, shots likes these are very much achievable with almost any camera but I felt that I was really at ease and in my zone. I wasn’t drawing attention to myself while I made them while looking at the back of the screen. In the end its whatever is comfortable for YOU.

I know that some reviewers/photographers have complained about the lack of brightness of the LCD screen when shooting on bright, sunny days. Well, I spent a few hours shooting on a bright afternoon and didn’t have such issues. In any case, there are optical viewfinders available for those who miss the viewfinder and having trouble seeing the screen in bright light conditions.

It will be interesting to see how this gear switch can impact what I shoot. I know one thing for sure – I will shoot more and more often as having the camera so light can only be a positive thing and the main thing that drove me to change from DSLR.

I would love to hear if any of you guys shoot with LCD screen. Do you miss the viewfinder? Has it changed the way you shoot and what you shoot?

Thanks for reading

Yuri