With Fujifilm's announcement of the X-T1 today, I think I've found the perfect camera. It has the size and top plate of the X-T1, the functionality of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the sensor of the Sony A7R. Simple.

I'm only half joking, actually. I do love the design of the Fuji and hope that they got the actual feel and workings of the dials and buttons right. But I can't imagine giving up the speed and especially the excellent in-body stabilization of the Olympus for the more retro looks of the Fuji.

And that Sony does beat both the Fuji and the Olympus in terms of resolution. It would be even better if my imaginary camera had a setting that allowed it to shoot in full-frame 24 megapixel-resolution RAW format for when you don't need the 36mp.

I read a funny and spot-on comment on one of the forums last night. The person said how it's interesting that at first the mirrorless cameras moved away from the look of DSLRs and now they're all trying to make their mirrorless cameras look again like DSLRs. The hump is back.

Retro Right?

Yesterday, I wondered if Fuji would get retro right. It seems that they largely did, at least from the looks of the camera. Yet, DPReview* complains about some of the friction and locks of the dials and the placement of the buttons on the camera back. I won't draw any conclusions until I have handled the X-T1 myself, at some point in the future.

*See how I link to DPReview because it makes sense for you, the reader, but that DPReview would come after me if I linked to my own site when posting in their forums, because this is a commercial site and thus a competitor. Talk about paranoia.

Here's the commercial part. You can pre-order the Fuji X-T1 at B&H:

Fujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital Camera Fujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens

Unfortunately, my perfect camera is not yet available for pre-orders. Maybe some day.

By John van Rosendaal

Location, Bird Photography

Photographing Bald Eagles along the Hudson

This time last year, the lower Hudson River shores were filled with bald eagles escaping the frozen waters further north. In their wake, photographers and sightseers spent hours watching the graceful birds and shooting the occasional show of eagles fighting over fish.

I wrote much of this last year, at the end of eagle season, after I had been out to the river almost every morning for much of February and March. I figured it would be a guide for this season and I'd publish it around the time the eagles would visit the area.

Photographing Bald Eagles at the Conowingo Dam

Once you fall for bird photography, the Conowingo Dam in Maryland beckons. The hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River is known to attract dozens of bald eagles in the fall. In their wake, an equal number of photographers and long, fast teles show up for an annual ritual of fishing, photographing and freezing.

The eagles, opportunists that they are, come for the fast food delivered to them courtesy of the Exelon Power Corporation which operates the dam several times a day, in the process stunning the fish that make the trip through the generators and making them easy prey for the big birds.

Like few other places, this predictable ritual allows photographers multiple spray-and-pray runs at fishing eagles and thus increases the chance for the money shot. One hour at Conowingo can deliver more payback than many freezing hours along the Hudson in mid-winter, as I can attest based on personal experience.

The Perfect Camera: Fuji Olympus Sony X-T1 E-M1 A7R

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