“Cirque Du Soleil” with the Fujifilm X-Series

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to cover the dress-rehearsal and première of Amaluna, by Cirque Du Soleil. For the summer they have set up their big top in Knokke-Heist. Awesome show, so go check it out!

I’ve been shooting Fujifilm for a couple of years now so I dare to say I know the ins & outs of the system. I was confident enough about the camera’s but I shoot primes only… I guess I looked like the odd-one-out arriving at the venue next to guys from the associated press & getty. (think Canon/Nikon and heavy glass)

Gear Used:
Fujifilm X-PRO2, Fujifilm X-T1 (with grip), XF16, XF23, XF35, XF90

For the techies I’ve included hires images links, Exif data and some 100% crops. Yes, the AF & high ISO on the XPRO2 is amazing but let me tell you the X-T1 is still a very capable camera and the XF90 is a beast! For more geaky Fujifilm techtalk, scroll down. For now, here are my favorite images..

All images are made by me and copyrighted by Cirque Du Soleil and can not be sold, redistributed or printed. You can link/share this article but not host or embed these images on your site without consent.

XT1 · XF16 · f2.2 1/500 ISO2500XPRO2 · XF35 · f2.0 1/640 ISO3200 · 100% cropXT1 · XF16 · f2.2 1/320 ISO2000XT1 · XF16 · f2.2 1/800 ISO2000XPRO2 · XF90 · f2.0 1/250 ISO3200XPRO2 · XF23 · f2.8 1/320 ISO2500XPRO2 · XF23 · f2.0 1/640 ISO2000XT1 · XF90 · f2.0 1/250 ISO1250XT1 · XF90 · f2.0 1/250 ISO1250 · 100% cropXPRO2 · XF35 · f2.0 1/250 ISO2000XT1 · XF90 · f2.0 1/2500 ISO1250XPRO2 · XF23 · f3.2 1/160 ISO3200XPRO2 · XF23 · f3.6 1/160 ISO3200

All images are copyrighted by Cirque Du Soleil and can not be sold, redistributed or printed. You can link to this article but not host or embed these images on your site without consent.

Tech Talk: how I worked my kit

Main settings: manual aperture,shutter, ISO, AWB, CH.

XT1
When shooting longer lenses like the XF90 I tend to shoot in portrait more so for the first time ever I attached a 3rd party battery grip to the XT1. That also meant I had one battery less to worry about.
I feel comfortable shooting it to ISO1600 but here I used it to a max ISO2000. I did not use zone tracking on the X-T1. Worked CH & CL. Blackouts are annoying but when you prefocus and need to get the action you just keep your finger on the shutter anyway. Note: I accidently shot JPG only, but Fujifilm JPG’s are so good! (phew) While everyone is going on about the XT2 this little ‘old’ guy really amazed me.

XPRO2
Zone Tracking just works for this guy so I relied on it. (Even with the older XF35). 8fps jeej! And I cranked up to ISO3200. Have you seen this insane 100% crop? I was so blown away when I saw this image on my 27″ screen. For an earlier review, click here.

XF90
I haven’t shot a lot with this guy yet but I was seriously impressed the by AF speed and sharpness wide open. One of my fav shot’s of the night is the one where I could isolate the peacock lady dancing. Expect a review soon.

XF16
Allowed me to do some negative framing and capture the scene in a different way. Love this lens more & more.

XF23 & XF35
No zooms remember. So depending on how I wanted to frame I switched lenses so I didn’t have to crop (and lose pixels) in post processing too much. About the no zooms. I was only allowed to reposition myself once during the intermission. For the first part of the show I was on the front row, for the 2nd part I was at the back row. More range would have been nice but not a must.

Above images were processed in adobe lightroom without any heavy correction (contrast, exposure, cropped). I didn’t even perform any noise reduction.


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3 thoughts on ““Cirque Du Soleil” with the Fujifilm X-Series

  1. Pingback: “Cirque Du Soleil” with the Fujifilm X-Series | Tom Leuntjens

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