I had fooled around with the X-H1 around the house, trying to familiarize myself with some of the video capabilities. One thing I noticed right away was how good the IBIS was for steadying the camera during filming. In most situation I didn't even need to use my gimbel. Right away I knew that this was going to be a game changer for me. I could make impromptu changes from shooting stills to shooting video with nothing more than the turn of a selector dial on the camera.
Yesterday, I decided to take the X-H1 on an exploring mission to the Green Cay Wetlands Nature Preserve. My timing wasn't the best because I arrived there around noon, but this was just a test mission and I knew that to switching to primarily black and white photography I would still be able to capture some dramatic landscapes with the thunder clouds in the sky.
We are now moving into my favorite time for photographing in Florida. The summer is thunderstorm season, bringing with it a heavy coverage of large cumulus clouds. Photographing nature in Florida means also photographing the weather. The physical landscape is flat and, in large expanses, also wet. In Florida the weather combines with the terrain to deliver an ever-evolving landscape that can be every bit as breath-taking, and dramatic as the Rocky Mountains. I have been waiting for June to arrive to begin photographing in the Everglades. Yesterday, was just a get-acquainted run to see how the camera and I would get along, and it didn't take me long to realize I was about to enter into a new camera love affair.
My lens kit consisted of three Fuji zooms: I had the do-it-all Fuji 18-135mm zoom to cover the middle focal lengths, and the Fuji 100-400mm zoom to cover the telephoto ranges because Green Cay is known for its abundant wildlife. For the shorter side of covering sweeping landscapes, I went with the Fuji 10-24mm wide angle zoom.
By the end of my time in the preserve the clouds began to turn ominous, and I decided to pack it in and return another time before the heavens opened up. I deemed the outing a completely successful trial run with the X-H1. I was able to switch over to capture some spontaneous videos simply by rotating the drive selector knob. I had already pre-programed the camera to my video settings so I was good to go in just a second or two.