17TH Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade And Festival:
It was so cold over the weekend! Saturday was extremely cold but then Sunday came along, and according to the news, it was -1º F in the morning! With the windchill, it felt like -º20 F. Like a crazy person, I decided to go out early in the morning because I’ve been currently shooting with the Fuji XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS lens, and I thought I could get a few images early, and then go to the 17TH Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade And Festival in Manhattan. One thing is for sure: I can now state from experience that the X-T1 will handle extreme colds ;).
↑ Before the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade, I decided to walk to the East Side under the FDR Drive. Normally, there are a lot of people here exercising, jogging, and even fishing but as you can see, it is deserted. It almost felt like I was in that movie that Will Smith starred in: “I am Legend”.
I don’t usually go to the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade And Festival because there’s actually two major ones in Chinatown each year, and the first one (this one) is more of a traditional parade where the sidewalks are gated up, and you just stand there watching the parade go by. It can get very crowded. It was funny because the streets were deserted since it was so cold, and once the parade started, there were tons of people. It’s still a lot of fun but I usually go to the second one because that’s where you see the lion dances all over the streets, as each performer stops by all the stores and businesses. There are no gated up sidewalks, and therefore, it’s much more interactive and fun; I usually go with a bunch of friends and we have a blast. You can literally run around the streets with camera in hand and snap away.
↑ 17th Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade And Festival.
↑ I’m not sure what these cars were doing in the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade but it’s still great to see these exotics; The Lamborghini Aventador is my favorite car.
↑ Here is a Lamborghini Huracán.
↑ Here’s a McLaren.
But I was in the neighborhood, and figured I would check it out. I also thought it would be kind of cool to try out the XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS lens there. So, here’s some photos from the 17th Annual Lunar New Year Parade I thought I would share. This Sunday, I will be at the festival/parade I was just telling you about with the Fuji X70. The weather is suppose to be a lot warmer this coming weekend, so I may bring some other gear with me. I was thinking of trying some film there. It should be fun. Thanks for stopping by!
↑ That’s a monkey on top of the dragon because it is the year of the monkey.
↑ There were a variety of performers at the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade.
↑ Here are the lion dance performers.
↑ Do you see that white glove with the red envelope? So, someone in the crowd presented a red envelop (usually filled with some money) to one of the lion dance performers, and he came up to perform for him.
Great images Patrick. The Fuji has so beautiful color and sharpness. Cant wait to see what the X Pro 2 can do. I remember that you once said you like cameras like the x-e and x-pro better in terms of form factor. but you seem to have lots of fun with your x-t1. I think the x-t2 will get the sensor from the x-pro2. Are you interested in the x-pro2 or will you wait for a x-t2 ? I mean the x-t1 is still such a great camera that there is no need to rush it.
Hi Elderin,
Great to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. I think over the years, I slowly started gravitating towards the X-T body style for a few reasons. First off, I use the M as well, so that not only fills my rangefinder needs, it fills my OVF needs. Second Fuji lenses tend to be larger than M lenses, so the X-T1 body style seems to be a better fit for me. For instance, I tested the XF 90mm a while back, and when I mounted it on an X-E1, the body didn’t lay flat on a table. The lens actually lifted the front of the body up. Lastly, when the X-Pro1 was first released, it was nice but since then, Fuji has released so many other bodies with essentially the same sensor but in a more compact design. I was playing around with an X-Pro1 a couple of months ago, and I was surprised at how large it felt compared to my X-T1. I don’t know if you remember but I actually owned an X-Pro1, and it’s funny because it felt so much more compact when I had it a few years ago :). The X-Pro1 isn’t a large camera; it’s just not as compact as other X Series bodies.
So, I will review the X-Pro2 but I am definitely waiting for the X-T2. You’re right: there is no need to rush. At this point, I’m quite content with my Fuji set up, and happy enough with my X-T1 that I really don’t want to upgrade unless I can get the same body style. How about you? We’ve discuss this before, and now that Fuji has finally increased the megapixels in its sensor, are you considering an X-Pro2?
Best regards,
Patrick
Hey Patrick,
i agree with you that X-T1 body should be better with larger lenses. So much so that my latest aquisition was the Nikon D810. I went for the primes only and they are not small but light. Still i like a firm grip on my camera and larger buttons and dials to press. As with the M, i got the 28, 50, 85 lenses and they all fit in a smaller messanger bag.
Still i was (and i am) a fan of what Fuji does. I played with the X-Pro1 and owned the X-E1 and always loved the results. Superb clarity and color, lots of tonal range. But for my needs 16mp never was enough. If you watch images on an iPad (or slightly bigger), i can hardly think of a better camera than the current Fuji line-up. When it comes to print and large Monitors (27″ and up) there is some lack in fine detail compared to 36mp. And i am a huge fan of fine detail 🙂
The X-Pro2 seems to be a well made camera and i cant wait what you think of it. I will play with it tomorrow at my local dealer but i am not shure if i will add it to the stable. 24mp is 50% more resolution though and that makes this camera very interesting.
Hi Elderin,
One complaint I have with the Fuji bodies is sometimes I find there are too many small buttons in the back of the camera. It’s so bad normally but when it gets real cold out and you have to wear gloves, I do hit buttons by mistake. With the Leica, everything is so simple in the back.
As for MP, I’ve seen some of my images on my brother in-law’s iMac, so I know what you mean. Maybe you should wait for the rumored medium format digital Fuji :). I’m not even sure if it’s still in the rumor mill. I don’t keep up with rumors much but if it is, I bet it’s going to be a pretty awesome camera. Fuji made decent medium format film cameras in the past. If they make a digital medium format camera, I might go for one myself haha.
Take care,
Patrick
You got some great shots of the parade. The colors were really vibrant and the energy of the performers and crowd was great. I would have loved to have gone to take pictures there but I had to work that day. It looks like you had a lot of great shots from which to choose.
Thanks for the very kind words, Tina!
It was fun, and there was actually another one yesterday. The one yesterday was fantastic but I was late because I thought it was today :); all the schools were out and performed the lion dances. It was great to run around taking pics of everything.
Take care,
Patrick