Putting the Fuji X70 to the Test in Denali National Park
Why bring a camera designed for street photography to a one-road wilderness? Because it gets the job done.
Grizzly bears, moose, caribou roaming the tundra. These stirring images from Denali National Park consistently grace the pages of nature and photography magazines. And I couldn’t wait to take it all in during a recent scouting trip for Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic travel programs. But did I honestly think that I would come away with the same images as the pros? Not a chance. So, instead of reaching for the perfect shot, I reached in my pocket and shot with the same compact street camera that I shoot with in Philadelphia and New York City: the Fujifilm X70.
Here’s what I found:
PORTABILITY
1. When you are out all day, lugging a heavy DSLR like my Nikon D750 can take its toll. The Fujifilm X70 fit easily into any jacket pocket and even in the side pockets of my hiking pants. Having it tucked away at times also made me feel more open to the surrounding environment, which is why you travel all that way. (Tip: you might want to get a screen protector to keep that beautiful LCD view screen scratch free.)
PERFORMANCE
1. Dials Rule: The Fujifilm X70 is designed for quick adjustments. The top dials for shutter speed and exposure compensation as well as the front aperture dial and lens ring keep every adjustment I would ever want to make right there on the body. No fiddling with a menu screen while the world passes you by.
Conquering the Mountain.
2. With 10+ hour travel days and the view screen on for every shot, I was nervous about battery life. However, the battery lasted all day with juice to spare. The manual says "300 shots" on a full charge, which is accurate, maybe even on the low side. Still, best to have a spare nearby.
3. The 3" tilting touchscreen is awesome. I know that this was a test of a street camera in the wild and that its main competitor is the Ricoh GRII, but the articulating screen let me easily compose ground shots of the tundra or go high above tourist’s heads to get a clean shot—seeing what I was capturing the entire time. I used the touch screen only to set focus points. (And I didn't miss the optical viewfinder.)
4. AUTO mode is fairly fast and accurate at identifying the necessary scene mode. However, if wanting to go that set-it-and-forget-it route, I preferred setting the Aperture and Shutter speed to AUTO and using the easy to reach exposure compensation dial when I needed an override.
5. Sharpness: It's not big glass quality but this 18mm lens (28mm equivalent) is pretty darn close! Especially impressive for a camera in the $700 range.
6. Close Ups: I’ve been the guy changing his lens while a bear snatches up a salmon more times than I care to admit. 14-24, then 70-200, then 85mm macro. It’s tiring, at times embarrassing, and my sensors were quickly becoming dust magnets. Being able to shoot the distant landscape one second and a close up of lichen-covered boulders from 10cm away the next is hugely valuable when hiking.
7. Lag: The start up time on the Fujifilm X70 is tops. So you're up and running by the time you point at your subject. However, those used to DSLRs will notice the focus lag with this camera. It's far better than most other point and shoots that I've used, but still worth pointing out. The X70's 8 frames per second ensures that when you are focused, you won't miss the shot.
The (Somewhat) Bad News:
Most impactful photography is about getting close to your subject and stretching the frame. Well, with such a wide lens you have to get REALLY close. No grizzly shots with this camera! There is a 35mm and 50mm digital crop but I don't want to switch between them in the middle of shooting. So the bad news is what you already knew, a fixed wide-angle lens is limiting.
Also, post photo-taking, I didn't realize that my Lightroom 5 wouldn't handle the .RAF files. What gives? I downloaded the .DNG converter and am making due, but it's an extra step in a process that already cuts into your schedule.
The Big Picture
Above all, I loved that the fixed wide angle of the Fuji X70 forced me to see beyond a silhouetted animal or the snowy updraft of a single mountain peak. I saw the scope of Denali in each shot. And I was really pleased at how it handled. The low light performance, discrete size, sharpness--all the features I praise it for in the street came through in the wild as well. Also, as you can see by these shots, I love the monochrome and monochrome w/ red filter straight out of the camera.
Full disclosure, I didn't leave my Nikon D750 at home. I took it out when I needed some reach or really wanted to get the absolute highest quality shot I could. But the X70 was so fun to use and much more disarming when shooting people. My fellow travelers stiffened when faced with the D750, but would remain their smiling, adventure loving selves in front of the X70.
In fact, at Wonder Lake and Eilson Visitor Center, I went around with the Fuji and took photos of people. Most didn't even notice, and they are my favorite shots from the entire trip.
What I Want From the Next-Gen Fuji X70
The snow-capped mountain range kicks off some serious light. To shoot them, I used my D750 and added an ND filter to take those highlights down. The Fuji rendered beautifully, but sometimes I needed to hold back the sky a little more. A built in ND filter in future models would be killer. And, please, a Wi-Fi app that is fluid and does not cut out.
However, none of these tiny wishlist items should keep you from picking up the X70. It's my favorite camera for the city and, now, the wilderness too.
Wild Chariots, Denali National Park, Alaska. (FUJIX70)
This woman asked her friend to take her picture while she took her own picture. (FUJI X70)
The scene at Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska. Shot on the FUJI X70.
Put your name in the bag. That's what you do at the Moth Storytelling events if you want to be selected to tell a story in front of an audience, have it recorded, and, if it's really, really good, maybe have it shared on The Moth Podcast.
I put my name in last night at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. The theme was "BUSTED: Caught red-handed by THE LAW, your mama, your boss or the security camera! Tell us about being sent up the river, to the clink, the principal's office or..." you get the point. I planned to tell a story of a time in college when I got caught climbing the Lincoln Memorial.
I really wanted to tell it. See, I'm a huge fan of the Moth and told a story six months ago. The whole experience was a rush, nerve racking and--standing on stage, under bright lights and in front of a few hundred people with no notes--terrifying. I did OK. The story got a lot of laughs, a big round of applause at the end, and I learned a lot about my responses to stress. I know that the more times I get up there the better I'll get. And if I can learn to overcome fears in this arena, I know it will pay off elsewhere too.
This night though, it wasn't meant to be. I had a great time listening to everyone else's stories, but when the tenth and final name was called and it wasn't mine, I slunk down in my chair a bit. "Next time!" my wife said.
On our way home, our Uber driver, Rocco, asked what show we'd seen. I told him about the Moth, that I'd put my name in, wasn't selected, and about the nerves and all that.
"Why don't you tell it now?" he said.
"Nah, you don't want to hear it."
"No, I do," he said. "I love stories. Let me hear it."
My wife and sister called out from the back seat, "Oooh! No pressure! No pressure!"
I looked at Rocco, liking him immediately, and laughed at the situation. Then, I let out a deep exhale and for the next 5 minutes of our ride, recounted to Rocco the Uber driver, my wife and sister, how I was busted for climbing into good old Honest Abe's lap.
The experience was just as satisfying as if I'd told it at the Moth, almost more so because of its intimacy. It's one thing to be on the stage but another to be one on one, on the spot with a stranger.
And the best part? Rocco gave me 5 Stars.
A stout man in khaki cargo shorts and a red t-shirt emerged from his group and approached me on the boardwalk at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. His nametag said, “Jason.”
“Anything good up there?” he asked.
I stopped, noticing the reflected mix of thermal pools and forest in his tinted Oakley sunglasses.
Anything good up there? You mean like this? Like everything around you? Like the fact that you’re walking on top of a super volcano right now? Do you mean in this eternally changing cauldron of travertine, with bubbling waters, broad, blue skies overhead and a breeze blowing from snow-capped peaks in the distance? Anything good in these 2 million acres that Ulysses S. Grant designated as the first national park in the world?
“Anything good up there?” is something you ask a store clerk stocking the top shelf.
Have you seen the bison roaming on the plains? The black bears and grizzlies in the forests? Have you felt the prick of pine needles from trees that Native Americans once used to build teepees? Christ, there were elk in the parking lot. Unless you drove here from Narnia, I’d say it doesn’t get better than this
I took a breath, put on a smile.
“Yeah. Everything’s great up there.”
And I got as far away from the place as I could.
And that made all the difference...
I get excited when I hear the phrase "Dating back to..." Dating back to means tradition and I, well, I'm a traditional guy. This weekend I made my way to the Italian Market Festival to celebrate the nation's oldest outdoor market. My favorite event is the procession of saints, which begins at St. Mary Magdalen Church, where my great grandparents and grandparents were married, and continues up 9th Street to St. Paul Church. When combined with music from La Banda Verdi (Organized in 1920), other music acts and food stands galore, the festival makes for a tradition I like to take part in year after year.
Here are a few shots from this year's festival.
Photography and writing by Marc Cappelletti. Travel Photos and travel writing and all things Philadelphia.
Copyright Marc Cappelletti LLC 2019 All Rights Reserved.
