Mathieu

When a common passion brings people together: A Tale of Friendship, Photography and Fuji cameras

10/11/2013 By Mathieu 1 Comment

The love for photography is often enough to trigger meetings between people who, in other circumstances, would never have met. Photography clubs aren’t something new, but the Internet and social networks have increased the possibility to interact with all sorts of like-minded people across the globe, both online and off.

When I first entered the Fuji X Series Club Italia on Facebook, I was overwhelmed by how friendly, funny and welcoming the members were. Out of curiosity, I asked the founder, Marco Bozzato, to tell us the story of the group.

From there I discovered a story made up of friendship, photo walks, delicious Italian meals, selfies in the elevator and, above all, an unconditional love for Fujifilm cameras.

Post-processing Sony RX100M2 colours with Lightroom and Huelight Color Profiles

08/11/2013 By Mathieu Leave a Comment

If you read our full review of the Sony RX100M2, you probably know how much we love this small yet powerful compact camera. Its 1-inch Exmor sensor can deliver great images on its own, but the best way to get the most out of these images is to manipulate the raw files in a post-processing program. I often find the colours of the RX100M2’s OOC JPGs less natural than on other cameras. Moreover, the raw files give you more dynamic range to work with.

The Panasonic GX7 & Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro: An excellent combo!

05/11/2013 By Mathieu 5 Comments

On Sunday I had the chance to use the Panasonic Lumix GX7 along with the Panasonic Leica 45mm f/2.8 macro lens when a friend, who had rented it for the weekend, told me that he wasn’t planning on using it for the afternoon. Contrary to my expectations, I really fell in love with this little lens. Heather will tell you that I am anything but a macro photography fan (while she is!) so I had never really paid much attention to macro lenses up until then. But since I never refuse the opportunity to try something new, I took it out for a spin and found myself really enjoying it!

The Fujinon XF 23mm f/1.4: Hands-on & Comparison with the X100s

28/10/2013 By Mathieu 8 Comments

We photographers love fast apertures. We are like kids at Christmas, yearning to see just how blurry and ‘bokehlicious’ the background can get. And not that there’s anything wrong with that, as a famous comedian once said. A fast aperture lens is always nice to use. And if it is a wide fast aperture lens, even better. I find these lenses way more fascinating than telephoto or portrait lenses because of the focal length factor. With a wide lens, the mix of vastitude and shallow depth of field gives more punch to your photographs and brings them closer to the much-desired full-frame look.

Now that I’ve gone mirrorless, the only lens I really miss from my full-frame gear is the 24mm f/1.4 by Nikon, the best lens I’ve ever used. Though my time with it was brief (I sold much of my Nikon gear six months later), it was love at first sight. The Fujinon XF 23mm f/1.4 reminds me of it, even though it doesn’t have the same equivalent focal length.

Another case of love at first sight, perhaps?

Going Wide Inside the Museum: An Olympus Pen E-P5 & Lumix 7-14mm f/4 Gallery

25/10/2013 By Mathieu 2 Comments

In the middle of September, the Turin Cinema Museum asked me to take some shots of the wonderful Martin Scorsese exhibition before its closing at the end of the month. The request was very simple: they wanted pictures of the temple room which included the main part of the exhibition at the bottom and the dome at the top. The temple room is both the biggest open space and the main chamber of the Mole Antonelliana, the tower symbol of Turin and home of the museum. Basically, I had to include the very bottom and top of this giant “room” in a single shot (around 70 metres, 229 feet).