Pic(k) of the week 5: MOONRISE OVER DUBAI - Fujifilm X-E4 and XF70-300 with 1.4TC
Testing new camera gear, like the recently announced Fujifilm X-E4 and XF 70-300 lens, is a great motivation to go out and make new images. I was surprised to see that the new telephoto Fujifilm XF 70-300 lens, now works with the Fujifilm Teleconverters!
For those unaware, a teleconverter (also called a tele-extender) is a secondary lens which is mounted between the camera and the existing lens in order to increase the apparent focal length and therefore give a greater tele-photo effect.
Typically TC's are made for a 1.4x, 1.7x or even 2x magnification. Unfortunately, the extra reach of using a teleconverter never comes 100% free. Because of the loss of light, the maximum wide open f-stop reduces; for the XF 1.4 TC this is one stop. The XF70-300 lens which normally has a wide open aperture of f 5.6 at 300mm, now becomes a f8 lens. When working on a tripod or when there is sufficient light, this is mostly not a problem.
Teleconverters often also degrade image sharpness. Although this has improved a lot over the years I was eager to see it with my own eyes.
Lastly, teleconverters do not work with all lenses. Until now the Fujifilm XF 1.4 TC was only compatible with the XF50-140, XF100-400 and XF80 Macro lenses. The new XF70-300, announced last week, is now also compatible, which is great news!
Looking for a good subject to test the new lens with teleconverter mounted on the new X-E4, I planned a full moon shoot. Obviously when there is a full moon, the sun sets more or less at the same time as the moon rises. There are however small differences on every cycle. Last weeks full moon rise was about 20 min before the sunset which worked perfect for the shot I had in mind. This way the moon is already relatively high over the horizon when the blue hour light is optimal (about 20min after sunset in Dubai). As a comparison, on the next moon cycle, the moonrise happens 10 min after sunset which would have not worked.
Secondly, one needs to have a good idea where the moon will rise. This is where apps like PhotoPills come in very handy. The augmented reality is great to anticipate where the moon will be at a given time. While I have done images of the moonrise with the famous Burj al Arab hotel, I wanted to make an image with the worlds tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, as the only building in the shot.
Image details:
- Fujifilm X-E4 and XF70-300 lens with XF 1.4 TC
- ISO 320, f11, 1/6s, 362mm (543mm full frame equivalent)
- RAW development in Lightroom Classic (including Exif data tweak to allow RAW conversion)
- Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for Black and White conversion
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