Night Photos With The Fuji XF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 Lens

Night Photos With The Fuji XF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 Lens:

I woke up at like 5am today thinking that I’d go out and take some pics with the Fuji XF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens that I have on loan but it was raining a lot and it was just kind of gloomy overall.  I usually have no problems going out in less than ideal weather but I was just hoping to see a little sun oday.  Plus, a lot of my recent pics have been taken in this kind of weather, so I wanted a change.  Some blue skies with nice puffy clouds would be nice :).  So instead, I thought I’d share some pics that I took from the other night.  I still may go out later.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, in addition to getting the XF 100-400mm lens, I also asked for the XF 1.4x TC WR Teleconverter to test.  With the teleconverter, I get essentially a 213-853mm lens.  Personally, I’ve never used such an extreme focal length before, which actually makes this whole experience a lot of fun :).  Below are some images I took at the American Veterans Memorial Pier in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.  For those who’ve never been here, you can see lower Manhattan but it is still far.  As you can see in the photos though, I had no issues with the distance.  The reach that this lens has, especially with the teleconverter, is simply amazing.

↑ This is a photo of the Verrazano Bridge from the Brooklyn side.

↑ Lower Manhattan is pretty far from the American Veterans Memorial Pier but I wasn’t even using the XF 100-400mm lens’ maximum range yet.

↑ This is when I decided to use the 1.4x converter.

Later on in the night, I stopped by the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights to see if I could get some more images.  For those who’ve been to my site before, you’ve probably seen images similar to these, since I’ve been to these places many times.  This was my first real outing with the XF 100-400mm, so I was just getting acquainted with it.  Anyway, I had some issues at the Promenade.  The Promenade is this long walkway that extends over the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, so you will get some vibration from the cars and trucks.  Normally, It’s never enough vibration to cause any issues in my photos but I’ve also never used a lens with such an extremely long focal length during long exposure either.  I had some difficulty getting a tack sharp image, and I was using a top end tripod and ball head, so I know it wasn’t from that end.  I was using my Gitzo GT2542 and my Arca-Swiss Monoball Z1 dp.   I didn’t even feel any vibration myself but apparently, it was enough that it was hard to get super sharp images.

↑ I was getting some vibrations in this photo but it still came out better than a lot of my others.

↑ I was amazed I could get this close to the Statue of Liberty from the Promenade.  I used the 1.4x converter here.

Since I was so close to Dumbo, I decided to make it my last stop.  Here, I was able to see what this lens could really deliver.  I have to say, I was quite impressed.  The clarity is amazing from this lens.  I did not used the XF 1.4x TC WR Teleconverter here like I did in the other two places because I just didn’t need it.

↑ This lens is very sharp; notice how distinct the lines are in this photo.

↑ Again, the XF 100-400mm is a really sharp lens.

↑ Here is one more of the Manhattan Bridge.

So, I hope you enjoy the images.  If I don’t go out today, I will probably go out tomorrow, and see what I can get with the XF 100-400mm around Midtown.  Overall, I like this lens a lot so far.  It’s just large, especially when you mount it on a compact body like the X-T1.  It’s definitely harder to walk around with than your average wide angle or normal lens ;).  This lens with the camera body essentially take up my whole Billingham Hadley.  But if this is the kind of lens that you need, it being large just comes with the territory.  The XF 100-400mm also gets images that I simply can’t get with my normal setup.  Plus, I should mention that the XF 100-400mm’s image stabilization is fantastic; handheld shooting is so much easier thanks to it. Thanks for stopping by this Sunday afternoon.