A Conversation with "iamtongue" - All Things Fujifilm X-T5, X-H2, X-H2s, XF33mm f1.4 and More!
Photographer iamTongue explains why he shoots Fujifilm, comparing the X-T5, X-H2, and X-H2s against Sony and Canon. He picks the X-T5 on a budget, praises the XF33mm f/1.4 lens, and shares how to turn portrait photography into paid work starting with free shoots and word-of-mouth.
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Cool. How's it going? So we have. Who do we have here today?
It's me. I am Tongue back here, back in action on this wonderful podcast with the beautiful, handsome, full of head and hair, Dylan.
Yeah, you'll be there. You'll be there one day soon, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, yeah, man. I wanted to, I wanted to get you on here and, and ask you some questions. I mean, obviously it's been a crazy big year for your favorite camera system, Fujifilm, right? It's been a wild year and you've touched, I feel like, every single piece of new hardware. So I want to get your thoughts on that. And then also, you know, I want to highlight some of the work that you've done. I'll split in some images here of some of the, some of the amazing photos that you've taken that you've shared online, of some of the portrait work you've done, some of the lifestyle stuff and just incredible stuff. So I want to hear a little bit from you on that. But first I kind of want to start with. Look, the reality is we're getting pretty close to the end of a. What, you know, what is really an unbelievable year for Fujifilm, right? I'm a big fan of Fujifilm, been a user of them for close to a decade here. This has been probably in my experience, the most exciting year, right? We have the XH2, we have the XH2s, and in many ways those, those two bodies have, you know, in my opinion, revolutionized the, the X Series system, Right. They've given it new life. So GFX aside, having used both of those cameras and recently, I see that you've gotten your hands in grubby fingers all over the XT5. You know, what are your thoughts on where the System is in 2022 right now as we get close to the end of the year?
Well, thanks for having me on your show, Dylan. I appreciate that. And saying all those wonderful things about me, it's really, I really appreciate that. But yes, in terms of cameras in 2022, where Fujifilm stance, I think Fujifilm filled out, filled out all its gaps. Like you got one for video, you got one for the high res and then you got the mid range, which is the XT5. And that's more for the photography side that doesn't want to do the video, but still wants that high resolution sensor. And it's been really great because now Fujifilm, Fujifilm pushed all these cameras just right in time for Christmas. So hopefully they're going to get some sales out of this. It's a lot to choose from too. A lot of people are like, very indecisive right now. I've seen my YouTube comments go up and they're just like, what should I get? I don't know what to get. I'm very undecided, decisive. So it's a good, I guess it's a good time to be a Fuji user if you're looking to buy a camera.
Yeah, definitely. And I, I think you make a good point there, right? Like the indecisiveness and you know, from the business perspective, I'm sure, you know, we've got some really smart people in the top over there in Japan and they know what they're doing, right? Putting out multiple bodies gets people excited versus one body. Like, oh, it's not for me right now. You truly have something for everybody. So, you know, in terms of those three, you know, autofocus has become a huge point of contention. Right. I'm sure you've seen a lot of that in the comments. And you know, you and I frequent the Facebook groups, which are kind of cringy at times. Right. But they're also, there's some, there's some folks on there who have some great work and I, for me, I don't know about you. For me, it's a little motivating, right? Seeing, seeing good stuff and then you're always coming out sharing your photos. So it's always really motivating. But something I'm seeing a big point of contention is autofocus, right? Ton of camera enthusiasts are like, look, autofocus for me is number one, when in reality it's probably not. But you know, we collectively, as these Fujifilm fans or users or even just camera users, can't decide and we cannot agree whether Fujifilm is close to where maybe Sony and Canon army, certainly I think the consensus is that they surpassed Nikon for the most part. All things considered, you know, having used. You've used everything, man. You've used the H2 as you've used the T5, used H2, haven't used everything. What are your thoughts here and what conclusion. And also I know you have a Sony A7. 4. So where are you at in terms of autofocus?
In terms of autofocus for photography, I think it's pretty good. It's really, it's up there. I would say it's third behind Canon and Sony. I, I feel like, in terms of, for what I do, like, which is portraits, I find that it nails, focuses all the time. I did two tests with my wife Hillary and I think for the Fujifilm XH2s, when you're shooting at 40 frames per second, the, the hit rate is, it's at like 80%. But then just the amount of seconds, just the amount of photos they take is what you should be surprised about. Like, like 80% of like 150 shots is a lot more than 90% of or 90, like 99% of 20 shots which a Sony A7 IV can max out on. So that's, that's where you have to, you're gonna have to like look at that as the scale for auto focusing and for people wanting to know, yeah, Fujifilm is up there. But in terms of video, I still think that it's a little finicky, it's a little indecisive. But as a creator you're supposed to know how to work around it. It is annoying to look at, but when I record or film B roll and stuff, you're not going to see that in my shots. You're only going to see the good parts. You're never going to see like the, the jerkiness of the auto focusing, but it's there, right?
Yeah. And it's an interesting thing, right. I've seen that on video where I have a 16 month old daughter and trying to take video of her, it'll you know, randomly lose her and this and that. But considering that, you know, other camera bodies may do the same thing like my, my wife has a Sony A7 III and even Sony A7 III. Very similar. Yeah, we're, it's a very split household. Right? Why didn't household.
Why didn't you push her onto the Fuji?
She. I, you know, I've tried, I've given her the bodies and just like no, I need my, I need my Sony UI and menus. Enjoy that. Have fun.
Wow.
But you know, even on that camera it will lose in the same instances. So yeah, I guess my point is, and you kind of touched on this, it's not fair for people to say, well, you know, Sony is 100% and Fujifilm's 90% because it's different. Right. In photography. Yes. You know, Fujifilm is definitely there. I would agree with you. In video, maybe Sony is a little bit ahead, but it's not light years ahead. And it's still, those are things that you're going to notice if you're sitting on YouTube watching side by side comparisons. But in real use, as you said, when you work around these issues, you're not going to show those clips. You're going to get those clips that are, that are locked on. So you know, there was a video by, by Manny Ortiz recently where he's selling the Z9. It was this funny thing. He's like I'm quitting Nikon. And I think he's a great photographer and he's someone who's like self taught and just, just does it the way he wants to do it. And I have a lot of respect for that. And he was saying that the consistency, the AF is terrible, right? And so Fujifilm users have said this for a long time, you know, like it's inconsistent, etc. But we've got this new generation of sensors, we got the extra 5 HS and the extra 5 HR and people are still saying there's some inconsistency there. So do you think all manufacturers are inconsistent? Do you think Sony and canon are 100% perfect? Or is this just something as you alluded to where you know, people that are making content have to work around this.
You know what, I can only speak for what I use and which is like Fujifilm and a little bit of Sony. I think for the people that are viewing the content creators content, the people that are viewing these YouTube videos out there, they're, they are the one that likes to nitpick because I feel that they just want the best value out there, right. So they're going have to see like, which is good and then like, like this is people's hard earned money, right? So they just want to be able to squeeze as much value out of it as they can. And I guess this is where we get like, you know, these people that are unsatisfactory side with some of the testings that we do or like, you know, stuff like that, right. So I think it's all up to the person behind the camera, the person using it again. I'm always going to like there's a lot of user error in what I do as well because I'll let people know right now that the testings that I do, they're not freaking like scientific at all. I'm not like Gerald undone. I'm not gonna sit there and then like plan everything out. Everything is just gonna be boom, boom, boom, let's go. And then you know, I, I film auto focusing tests outside where the light changes and then I have to switch to a different camera and then that cameras, the lighting on for that camera is going to be shit and stuff like that. So yeah, there's a lot of moving factors but so, yeah, I think at the end of the day, it's probably at the end it's the person who owns that camera, they just want people who are looking to buy that camera, they just want to get the best value of their money.
Yeah, no, no, you bring up a good point. Because it's like, you know, we're focused on, hey, if I'm going to spend 1700 20, $500 on an H2S, right, I want to make sure that I'm getting most for it. But I, I think I agree with you. You know, you're, you're going to have an amazing camera and if you sit there and watch the side by sides, maybe not. So, I mean, I guess that kind of is a nice segue into my next question, which I'm going to be very brutal here with you. But what, I mean, you've, you've documented your journey, man, from. I think it's at one point and maybe you still have it. The ZVE10 or the ZV E1 or. I don't remember. And again, here in America we say Z. I know everybody else says Zed. So we're. Excuse me, but you know, you've gone to Sony, you've gone to Fuji. And then it just seems like, man, when, when you're doing videos on Fujifilm cameras and some of the images that you're putting out, they can speak to. You're enjoying it, man. And correct me if I'm wrong, you're having a good time. So here's my question, and I'm going to be brutally honest with you. What the hell keeps bringing you back to Fujifilm? Is it the images or is it the views on your YouTube channel? And be honest.
Oh, man, no. You know, I've been, I've been shooting with Fujifilm since the X T2's release. So it's probably been about like six years, going on seven. So I, I've been shooting with Fujifilm way before I had this YouTube channel. I've just been really passionate about Fujifilm as a camera because I really like their colors first and foremost. Like, I don't know if you know the story, but when I, when I started picking up photography, I started with a Canon Rebel and then mirrorless. Mirrorless cameras were just being introduced into the market. So they're still people at that time. People are still debating the mirrorless DSLR kind of thing. And then I hopped on to a Sony A6300 and I was like, yes, mirrorless is the future. And then I just Realized that like when I was editing my photos, it never looked kind of right to me. Even though I was a new back then, I kind of saw that these colors were off a little. So, funny story is in Australia, I traded my laptop to, to this guy, a brand new laptop. He's like, hey, do you want to trade for a Ricoh GR2? I knew nothing about the Ricoh. I just said yes. Which I found out later. It's a very good camera. It's a very good pocketable camera, right? And then I realized taking images with that camera was such a fun experience because the colors were just right, the colors just speaks to me. And then I was looking at my Sony, I'm like, what the fuck? What the hell is this Sony doing here with these stupid shitty ass colors? And then, and then I messaged him again. I'm like, hey, listen, I really love the, the colors on the gr. Is there any other camera that you can recommend that has similar colors? And then he recommended me the Fuji. And that's, that's how I got started. And from there it's just been, it's just been so good since because I like, even though I still shoot with Sony or like, you know, right now it's just a video camera and maybe like big time clients stuff, but other than that, like I don't, I, the, the colors are all right. It's not as good as Fujifujifilm. Every time I see a shot taken with a Fuji, I just get like really, really excited.
It's a weird thing, right? Yeah, it's like me too. I mean, I certainly feel the same. You know, the, the colors are insane and you know, I could probably wax poetic about the colors, but I would say I think a lot of us hearken back to the days of, you know, looking at photography from, from the earlier days. And there's a very filmic vibe to it. And this has been beat up on a million times, but I, I think the colors are so warm and inviting and special that it makes you come back. So you certainly have a love for the cameras and I think more than that, you obviously have a love for the images because like I said, some of the work you're doing, some of the portrait work, some of the model stuff that you've done is just unbelievable. I know you got the Voigtlander 23 recently and some of the stuff that you've done on there has been fantastic. So with all that said, what do you prefer the most right now? You've got your hands on all Three cameras. At some point you've touched them, you feel them, you, I remember you ran through a parking lot doing autofocus tests. You were down a hallway doing autofocus tests. Like you were running these cameras through the gamut. And your comments and the folks that love what you do and enjoy your, your videos and wait for the I love you at the end. Those folks were saying, hey, you know, what do you like the best? So, so what's the answer? XT5, XH2 or XH2s? You only have enough money for one. What do you do?
Man, I just, I guess I'm just fortunate enough that I have all these cameras to play with and I've, I guess I've been fortunate enough to build up a YouTube channel where it's big enough to be on Fuji's radar for them to allow me to, for them to allow, to send me stuff. Right. Like the X T5. So I really duly, truly appreciate that. But if you guys, if, if I only have enough money for one, I think it'll, it would be an X T5. I, I've started with an XT2, so picking one up would just, you know, reignite what I love about the Fujifilm camera. And I'm not going to explain it further, I'll just say an X T2. It's just, it's just a little bit of, it has a little bit of everything for everyone.
Yeah, agreed. Yeah. And I think the, I haven't got my hands on one yet, but I know the size is really special. You know, me personally, I have the, got an XH2 here and then I've got an XH2s and I've got an XH2S.
Yeah.
You know, and the reason is, and I'll touch on this in a little bit, but you know, I think if you're doing paid work and you need two bodies quickly to shoot, shoot. I had got rid of my XT3 for the XH2 and upgraded to it and I was really thinking, you know, am I going to go XH or XT5? But you know, during the shoot, as a funny story, I was so used to my XH2s that when I switched my XT3 I had the ISO dial kick over to 12800 and I wasn't paying attention. And you know, the, the clients are talking to you and I'm taking photos and you know how it is. I mean, you've been on a beach in the middle of golden hour, like not wanting to stare at your settings, you have this model in front of you and, and I ended up taking everything at 12800 and really screwed up the images on that camera. So you really do get used to the PCM dial on here. So. And that's something I'll touch on here in a moment. But if I had to choose, I certainly, I probably would do XH2s if budget wasn't an issue. I think a budget is an issue. I would actually recommend the XH2 unless you're a die hard for the dials, which I get. I love the dials too. I just, I've. I've kind of changed my ways. So for the work that you're doing right now and you're doing some incredible work, I can't stop saying this. I mean not only am I a fan of yours, but I think everyone that sees your images on the Facebook groups, you do a really good job sharing. I don't. I haven't seen you on the Reddit Fujifilm group, so we got to get you on there because there's some really, really talented folks on there too, doing a lot of like very filmic stuff. So after this remind me, I'll get you on the, on the Reddit groups because I think your work would go over really well there. You know, you've done a lot of great stuff on YouTube. Your videos are getting views because the talented images that you're putting out, I know the one at golden hour of the, of the girl in Portugal was just incredible. So you've done some amazing stuff, man. And here's the kicker. It doesn't matter what lens you use me, I mean when I'm using the 56 1.2, I'm putting out great stuff, right? Because it's an unbelievable lens. You're using third party lenses, you're using all sorts of stuff, putting out high level attainable work that is really publishable. So for all the stuff that you're doing in your opinions on what lens, I mean I'm talking third party, first party and we talked about this. What brings you the most joy and happiness and blows you away every time you use it? So what, what lens is that one for you then?
Anything that is the nifty 50 I would say. I just feel very comfortable with that focal length. So I'll shoot anything you give me. I have. So you saw how many reviews I did out there with the 35 millimeter focal length, right? So I got the 7 artisan focal length, 7 artisan lens review. I got the mitochond I got the, the Laowa Argus, then I got the XF33 millimeter. So I shoot a lot with around with this focal length and that's what I really enjoy the most. I just think that it's enough, enough compression, but not too tight. And it just allows me to operate and just move around freely as I'm looking for composition and angles to photograph. But out of, out of all those lenses I tried, I keep going back to the XF33 millimeter F14 just because.
Right now it's a special.
Yeah, baby. It's a very special lens. It's a super reliable lens. I, I said that in my last review. Review of that lens is that you can't beat reliability. As much as I love the XF35 millimeter F14, it's just too slow for what I do. Like, the images are great, but I'll sacrifice a little bit of that magic for the XF33 millimeter F1 for, for the auto focusing reliability and weather sealing and stuff like that.
Yeah. And I'm sure you and I could sit here for an hour and talk about the differences between the 35 and the 33 and how, you know, I think you just touched on without going into it, you know, the 33 still retains. And I, and this is again debatable. I get it, still retain some of the magic. We keep talking about the magic as Fujifilm users of the 35, but I think the 33, and I talked about this in a video I did on the 33 where it's still got some of that stuff. Right. And the reliability. You mentioned the linear motor. Right. The weather resistance, I mean, these are things that you have to have nowadays if you want to be efficient and quick. Now, if I've got an X Pro one, you know, and I'm going slow and I've got four hours and I don't have any kids and I don't have a job. Sure, right. You can take your time. But with the 33, if you're doing paid work, if you've got someone who's impatient in front of the camera, you got to go, right. So having those linear motor and those things, and like you said, the reliability I think is key.
So go ahead. Yeah, I respect people's time a lot. So whenever I shoot, I'm always thinking about the person in front of me as what they have to do afterwards. I don't want to waste any time. And that again, that this is where the XF35 will fall a little bit short because then you have, you're gonna have to ask to do retakes or redo and I just don't have time for that. So me, I'm just efficient. I'm trying to be as fast and as clinical and you know, just go in there and then just get out with some bangers.
And they might ask, you say, tongue. Man, I thought you were a pro. What's going on here? You're telling me you gotta reshoot this? You're like, well, it doesn't have a linear motor. And they're like, what? So hey, listen, we're in the middle of November. We're getting close to the end of the year. Biggest surprise of the year from Fujifilm for you. What, what surprised you? I mean, obviously the rumors had leaked. Most of the stuff that we see that we saw come out. But once you got your hands on it, what surprises you the most?
I think the XT5 surprised me the most because I think what the XH2s and XH2, I kind of knew what I was getting into because, you know, they divided that up with like the, the dual, the stack sensor and then the high resolution. But the XT5 was the one that I'm just like, okay, like they put all these specs in the X stage 2, the XH2 and the S. What, what's gonna, what are they gonna put in the XT5 that's gonna make it compelling for, you know, photographers, for like anybody in looking for that mid range price, like social media creators content and for its price, I think that's like the best value. You're still getting a little bit of everything. Not to the degree of the XH line, but it's still better than a lot of like a lot of cameras out there in that same price range. I feel you got like the 40 megapixels, you got the 6.2 K, you got the 10 bit recording and then I think you can also do prores in internal. But that's, that's a video, that's, that's a video thing. I got a lot of people in the comment section said this is a photography camera.
And those people are actually going to film a video or two of their family. Watch guaranteed.
Yeah, exactly. But we just live in a social media content creators world. Yeah. All right. So I think through that lens that I'm viewing at, it's like, it's one of the bigger surprises for me.
Yeah, definitely. And you know, I'm blown away. I had, I remember I was talking with someone and I, trust me, I get a Facebook is a lame, stupid place. But you know, these groups are actually fun, engaging things. You know, you spent most of the year earlier this year very famously saying XH2 and 2s are going to be full frame cameras. And you were the ultimate troll. And it was amazing, right? But I, but I think now that, now that, that that has passed, you know, I think I was even telling people, I said, I really don't see them coming out of the X T5 this year. You know, the rumors weren't there Fuji rumors. And Patrick runs a really incredible site over there, really works his tail off, had said, hey, I think it's coming 2023. And all of a sudden got news that, hey, it's actually come in November. We were all kind of blown away. And then, you know, you were actually, I don't know if you know this, but you know, I try to watch YouTube pretty quick, pretty closely, but you're one of the first folks out there to get your hands on it. That wasn't this, you know, 500k subscriber channel. You were one of the smaller channels that first to get your hands on it. So kudos to you and I. And I think that, as you said, I think that speaks to the level of work you're doing and the level of analysis you're doing. And yeah, you're not doing this technical, clinical, brick wall analysis, but you're doing like, hey, here's some shots I took. Here's my wife on a scooter, right, in Portugal. Here's what the autofocus is doing. And I think that is what us users want to see. We want to look at that stuff before. I don't really care about dynamic range graphs, right? I don't really care about sharpness bar graphs. I'm a smart guy, you know, but I don't care about that stuff. So I think you've done really good there. You know, I want to transition into talking about paid work, right? And I think this is something that a lot of people are, you know, with all this gear, right? I mean, I've got, I mean really, when you think about it, my hands there, there's, there's, you know, I don't know, 6,000, 7,000 US dollars of gear in my hands, right? It's a lot of money, right?
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
And like you said, like, I'm fortunate enough to have that, but I'm also, you know, really pushing in the paid work, right? I would love to do more and more of it and in the past couple months, I've done quite a bit of it. And it's fun, you know, it's not enthralling. Like, I have more fun talking to you. I have more fun doing YouTube videos. Right. That's where the passion is. But let's be honest, there is a lot of paid work opportunity out there. So, you know, where do you see enthusiasts, really people that are watching your videos saying, hey, you know, tongues, show me what the, what gear to get, show me what lenses work. The 33 has got that reliability. And as you mentioned, I got to be conscious of people's time. If I'm getting into paid work, you know, is that something that, that you would recommend to people? And then, you know, what would you recommend to people who have gear and not getting into paid work? Where are you kind of at when it comes to, to being paid for some of the work you're doing?
Well, when it comes to paid work, I, when I, when I first started photography, I made the, I started as a, like a travel landscape photographer. I don't know if you know, so I love taking pictures of like the places I travel to. But then I realized that once I was heading back home to Toronto that there's not going to be much landscapes there. So I decided to pivot and I decided to shoot portraits because I knew that if you shoot humans, you're going to get paid from other humans. So that's what I would recommend is for anyone wanting to get paid work, start shooting portraits, start doing them for free, you know, build out your portfolio, start sharing them on social media. Because even though, even if it, even if it gets like one life or no, likes, like people are watching in the background like, like you, sir Dylan, I did not know that you're watching me until you made that connection.
Right.
So I appreciate that because, like, you know, every time I post these photos on like, you know, Facebook, I really don't know who the people are. I'm just posting it out there just to get eyes, right? And then it's, it's, it's not until like, you know, you post consistently, you get better, you show people that, you know, you're improving as a photographer, that people are going to start noticing you and start reaching out to you.
Yeah, I love that. And I 100% agree. I think doing portraits for free, I think, you know, I know you're in Portugal right now, but I actually my, my full time job, I'm in the staffing world and a big part of recruiting and staffing is really? LinkedIn, right? So getting a nice LinkedIn photo, building a nice profile. I mean, folks that have. If you have this nice camera or you even have an X T2 or an X T1 or even X T30, whatever camera you have, go tell someone, I'm going to take LinkedIn photos of you because your LinkedIn sucks, right? Get people excited for that kind of stuff. I just did a guy in L. A, I did his dating profile photos, right? And it was such a funny thing. He's like. He's like, dylan, man, I loved your work, right? And first of all, when people tell you that, right, it's always flattering, but he's like, you know, I need dating profile photos. And I'm like, well, you don't really need an XH2S and a 3314 to do dating profile photos, but came out awesome, right? And the speed and reliability of the autofocus and. And some of the colors we were able to get out of the sensor. I mean, it really makes it special. And he was able to recommend me to a couple of his friends, and that's really how you can get paid for your work. And I've already reimbursed the camera through that, right? So that's.
That's amazing.
Exciting.
Amazing.
I want to go back to you. I want to. I want to point out here, I mean, you haven't talked too much about this, and I think it's worth spending a couple minutes on. Look, let's be honest. You've. You've chronicled a little bit of this journey, but you're a world traveler at this point, right? I'm over here in Orange County, California, sitting here, not. Not in a terrible place, but not able to go to the places that you are. So you travel in the world at this point, you have some really strong feelings, and you're very vocal about that, which I love. I love the honesty, man, because most people are like, okay, on different cities, countries, areas. So now that you've. You've been a few places, I know you spent some time in Hawaii, obviously from Toronto, and now you're out in Portugal, which is obviously a dream for a lot of folks. What's your favorite place, kind of objectively? And why would you say that's your favorite?
Oh, man, it's. It's kind of hard, man, because each place brings a totally different vibe to, you know, just brings a totally different vibe. But it's hard to say which one's my favorite. But I'll tell you which one I Like, I, I do like Hawaii because, you know, we're by the water, we're by the ocean, the people are lovely, the food is great.
And what city in Hawaii did you stay in, by the way, to let.
Folks know the, the island was Oahu, so Honolulu area. Okay. Stayed around there. Beautiful place. And I like, I like Singapore because when I was walking around, it just looks so futuristic. You see the architecture around the city, it's just like amazing. It's awestruck. And the food there is great too. I love Sydney for the, for the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. That view is just one of the best views that I've ever seen. And a photographer's dream, right? Yeah, a photographer's dream. But I'm always, I was going to say that there's a connection between the cities that I really like to, that I really like visiting. All have like good food places. So, yeah, Hawaii has good food joints. Singapore and so does Sydney. They all have incredible food and incredible views to just, you know, take travel photography.
That's awesome. Yeah. And I'm sure you have a whiteboard somewhere in your room of ideas coming up. But I think I speak for everybody on the food note where we would love to see because. And you've dabbled a little into this. I don't. I know maybe it hasn't got the success you want it to have gotten, but certainly it's, you're, you're a really great on camera personality and I think some of the vlog stuff that you've done, it would be really cool and not to, not to give you ideas here, but it'd be really cool to see kind of a food vlog of, of Portugal because I know that there's some special places there and for you to kind of go around and speak to some of the food you like with some Fujifilm gear and kind of test it out in the field. I think that would be really cool. So hopefully looking forward to that. And when that video drops, I'll be on the comments saying, love this stuff. So that's awesome. So I won't take up too much of your time. We're already at about half an hour here. I know you're a busy man.
Wow, really?
Yeah, we've been having some fun here. I kind of want to close it on, on a point here. So look, I mean, I've been flattering you most of this time and I mean it. I mean, you're very, you're very incredible talent behind the camera. You've done BTS stuff You've shown kind of your process. You know, you're known for your photography at this point, whether you, whether you want to be humble enough to admit it or not. I mean, for God's sakes, you have a mural in of one of your photos. And what city was that? Someone painted one of your photos?
Yeah, that was in Norway.
Norway. Because your neon work that you were doing at the Toronto Neon place was just incredible. Right? It's. I, I think I, I'm a big Flickr user. I've posted videos on why I think Flickr is incredible. I've seen your stuff on Flickr get reposted, you know, like, really, I've seen it everywhere. Yeah, I'm telling you, man. And if you Google search neon image, I think you know that that girl with the glasses shows up quite a bit. So this is, this is timeless stuff. This is flattering, great stuff. But, you know, you're talking about photos and you're talking about videos and photography and videography respectively. What other areas of tech are you super interested in? I just did a video on the Apple Watch Ultra and a Garmin Epics and I'm a big fan of Garmin. I'm wearing an Enduro too, right now. I love their watches. I mean, they're expensive as hell, but they're, they're fun products. What other areas of tech are you interested in? And kind of what's this next year look like for you? I know you're. You're focusing on this and growing the channel and Channel is definitely growing. Yeah. You had a record year in 2022. I mean, I think some of the stuff you put out was, was awesome and really special. But where do you see the channel going? And what other areas of tech do you kind of want to touch on?
Oh, man. First off, I would like to say that I did not know my images are on Flickr. Yeah, I don't use Flickr.
You got to get over there and.
That'S kind of cool to see. But in terms of like, other texts that I'm. Other tech that I'm interested in, I, I love watching MKBHD Marques Brownlee. I, I like, I like watching MacBook reviews. I like to see what, what machine is out there. Because, you know, as a content creator now, and as a content creator and now that we can edit 8k videos, it's going to be a lot more demanding for your computer. So I'm always on the lookout for what is going to make my life a little bit smoother. Not. Not give Me much headaches and stress when it comes to a video, video editing. So I'm always looking for like, computers, laptops and hard drives and whatever, whatever it is that everything has to be fast. Yeah, it has to be the latest and greatest. It has to be fast. It has to, you know, just, just works and works seamlessly and that's what I like. And maybe headphones. I don't know if you notice, I don't know if you remember, but I said that I used to dabble in music production.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you've touched on that before.
Yeah. So I like making house music. Edm. Music. Edm.
So I have any of that stuff published. Can anybody go listen to any of that?
Yeah, it is, but it's like, so I can give you a link or something for you guys to check out.
Like, or, or we'll make people message you and really put you on the spot and say, hey, I'm a big fan. So.
Yeah, yeah, that works. But where was that? Yeah, so I like looking at, review. Looking at reviews on headphones as well, just to hear the different sound and stuff like that. And before I wasn't a big audio guy, but because of like, music production, I've become like, so into headphones.
Yeah. And, and with all that, that, that, that interest that you have and obviously background, like, where, where do you see your channel expanding to? Are we sticking to photography? Videography, which you're very good at, and there's still a lot of room for growth there. But do you want to dabble into some other stuff? What's kind of your plan.
Right now?
I.
My plan is just to see the, the channel grow at a consistent rate. Right now it's just focused on photography because what I like to do is to show my process and show you, show you my images.
Right.
But in doing so, what it is that I do is I like to inspire people to say, hey, look, listen, this is the shot that I took with this, this type of camera. And for anyone that owns that camera, you guys have that same potential to make images like me. And that's what I really like and enjoy doing. And I just love photography overall. Like, it just so happens that Fujifilm meshes well with my, my vision and stuff like that. But I, I always say this, like, give me a camera and I'll try to shoot whatever I can. I just like going out there and documenting things. So for now, just the, the channel is just going to be focused on photography. Maybe a little bit of my life if I, If There's a little more interest to it. I tried that during Hawaii and I didn't get much, much traction.
So honestly, man, I would say give another shot. I think Portugal is a great place. And to show more of that, I know you did an XH1 kind of walk around photo walk with your wife and that was super cool in Portugal because the, again, sitting here in California, I'm like looking at the architecture you're talking about, I'm like, I've never seen any of this stuff, right? So to share that with your fans and folks that like Fujifilm, I think you get great results. I, I want to speak before we go. I want to speak a little bit on your process. I, I think, and I speak for most people that have seen your videos. You know, I, I like to think I'm a Lightroom expert. I like to think there's nothing else I can learn. I know that Lightroom has come out with some incredible features that I'm using every day. Like the auto masking AI stuff is un. Fucking believable. Like, it's so crazy and so futuristic. I grew up in San Jose, California and one of my friends still works at Adobe. He's on the Photoshop team. And um, just, just hearing from him, like, you know, crazy things are coming. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden it drops and I'm like blown away, right? So really, really cool stuff coming. I want to go back to a video that you did of your editing process. And I remember, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was like a pretty short video. It was like three to five minutes and it was, it wasn't super long. Like some of these Lightroom videos, like if I did a Lightroom video, it's gonna be three hours long, right? You were able to show an editing process for a photo in a really digestible, easy to understand way. And your result was, was incredible. I think it was a photo of your wife, I believe that you most recently did. And it was fun and I, I learned something out of it and I'm like, man, I thought I knew everything, right? So some of the masking that you do, some of the, the techniques that you do with some of the linear filters and the, and the radial filters and all these kinds of different masks and different sliders that you're, you, you like to do. I think a lot of people on YouTube and you can probably relate to this, will say, okay, I'm going to edit a little bit of exposure here. I'm going to do a little bit of this, that's all fine, but showing what's going through your mind and showing what image you're trying to get. And because you have a very distinctive style, it's a very. If I were to describe it, it's a very filmic but, you know, very timeless style where it doesn't. It's not overly saturated, it's not overly unsaturated. It's just right. My stuff, you know, I tend to make my skies really, really blue and really make things that in 20 years, I don't think it's going to look that great. But your stuff is really soft and does a really good job. So is there more in the future?
Can.
Can we expect more Lightroom, not tutorials, but behind the scenes? Like, hey, I've got eight images from this shoot today that I love. Sit with me and edit these and kind of see my process. Or do you still want to keep a little bit that behind closed doors?
I know I'm. Well, first off, thank you very much for saying that my style is very timeless. That's a very. That's a word that I've never used to. Never heard of to describe my style before. So I appreciate that. And second, I would say that your style is timeless as well. So when people look back, they're going to be like, oh, yeah, you know, this might be shot on a film or something like that, so don't beat yourself down like that. But in terms of the editing, I would also like to say thanks for saying that. You know, it's a very digestible. It's very digestible and people can learn from it because I feel that I am not as well articulate and as well eloquent when it comes to my words. So I appreciate you saying that too, because that makes me feel good and gives me confidence to actually put more effort into this kind of video.
Absolutely. It's all love, man.
And second, yeah, with Lightroom tutorials, there's a lot of demands for it, but then when I do it, no one watches it.
Yeah, yeah. That's one of the downsides, right? Yeah.
They say. They say they want to watch it, and I don't see them in the comments, but it's one of those things that I do want to do more of. It's just the interest needs to be there. And if there's anything that people want to learn, I will happily oblige. I think. I think one person said, hey, can you do more cinematic videos, more cinematic edit videos? And then the next Day I did an edit and then it came out a few days after that. So I do oblige it.
Just once you get the request, you're ready to provide.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, like there's going to be more. Just people need to ask about.
Yeah, definitely. And, and because you do so much portrait work and again, I'm giving you all these suggestions and you don't have to do them, but I, I think going over some of the new lightroom features that they're, they're amazing, but they're not perfect. And you have so many images of models and of, of human faces that to see really. Is this stuff really working? Because, you know, if you, if you sort it down by lips, hair, teeth, I'm getting some mixed results on some stuff. So maybe to show how you work around, that would be great, but people love that stuff and I know the views aren't there, but I'll certainly give you a shout out on my very small platform too. So, yeah, I'm gonna wrap it up, man. Anything you want to plug, anything you want to close with, anything that is on top of your mind.
Oh, man. Dylan, thanks. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you. I appreciate you sending the invite out to this because not, not too often that I get to just sit and just chill and just speak photography, speak gear and just speak about art. So I do appreciate that, man, because this is totally different from what I usually do. I'm usually by myself, just away, just cooking. Yeah, just cooking.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I appreciate it, man.
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, thanks for coming. And it's 8 o' clock in the morning here. I know it's 4 o', clock, almost 5 o' clock in Portugal. So thanks for taking the time in your afternoon. We'll do this again. We'll maybe look at some images next time. And during this video, I want to cut in some of your work so folks can see it. But let's do this again. And I appreciate you coming, man. Thanks so much.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate you.
Take care. Thanks for watching, everybody.
Bye bye.
