x100s action in mono & colour and Nik Software

At an athletics meet in Sydney today, I thought I'd see what the x100s could achieve track side. One of my sons was running in the 1500m race and I waited near the starting gun hoping to catch a few shots. I left everything in Program mode and set the drive to 6fps, and focused using the center focal point. I processed the B&W shot in Nik Software on the PC to bring out the structure and contrast, especially in the sky. I've also included a colour version with a slightly different crop, also using Nik Colour Efex Pro. Enjoy.

f6.4, 1/850th, iso 400, processed in Nik SilverEfex

same as above slightly different crop processed in Nik Colour Efex

The x100 is still a great portrait camera

Even though I sold my x100 for the newer x100s, the x100 is still a great portrait camera, although at 35mm it's not at the classic 85mm to 135mm focal distance. Then again, it's clarity and ease of use is easily enough of a trade off to achieve some great shots. This was taken at Balmoral Beach Sydney, no posing just raised the camera and snapped. Enjoy.

Action shots with Canon 60d and Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS by the beach

Whilst the harsh Australian sun might be a curse for outdoor photos because of the high contrast shadows, it does have one great advantage........high shutter speeds. With high shutter speeds, because of the extra light beaming through your lens, you can capture some fun and interesting high speed action shots. Usually you'll want to use a shutter speed above 1/1000th second to try and get your subjects as still as possible, but sometime using slower speeds can also be effective for creating some motion blur. The Canon 60d is more than capable of capturing fast moving action, as well when you use it with a non kit lens such as the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS. I really like this combination for everyday photography, unless I'm using the x100s which is life changing. Enjoy.