Braden Gunem Photography

How do you shoot action sports and sync strobes with a Fuji X100?

by BradenGunem on July 13, 2011 | 15,338 Comments

The Fuji X100 is often said to be a poor mans Leica M9. Perhaps this is true; being that I love the X100 and well I am the 99%. I have shot with this camera almost every day since I got it. I wear it mostly as photog bling and use it for random street photography. I have started to see the world through its 35mm lens. I do wish I could have an M9; perhaps I will occupy the Leica factory.

When I first tried to sync strobes with my X100 I failed miserably. Since the hot shoe is disabled by default there was no signal going to the transmitter. (Turn on the hot shoe in menu > shooting menu > external flash > on) I think having the hot shoe turned on seemed to result in incorrect exposure when no flash or transmitter is on the hot shoe. I preferred to sync using the Elinchrome Skyport SPEED transmitter since it is small and compact for the small camera and allows you to manually remotely control the flash power of the strobe. I also used the Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 both will work, but only as manual triggers. The TT5 is recommend since in manual mode doesn’t let the transmitter sleep and the small battery in the TT1 is drained rapidly. The TT5 looks bulky on the X100, but it does not interfere with operation of the camera. The Pocket Wizard system is less than perfect for use with the Fuji X100, but it allows you to use small speed lights rather than a large light like a Ranger. The AC3 zone controller will not work on this camera with either of the transmitters. You could use the PW MulitMAX to control zones, turn them on or off, but not to remotely control output power.  The leaf shutter in the X100 allows you to sync at speeds way way way faster than current DSLRs.  This will allow you to darken a daylight background even while shooting with the wide open aperture of f2 or use a strobe as a fill rather than relying on it to freeze the action.

If you want to shoot action images with the X100 you will probably want to use full manual mode or at least meter and focus before the shot by holding the shutter button halfway down before the subject enters the desired frame. This minimizes the shutter delay to a very usable time. While this camera isn’t going to replace my DSLR work horse and quiver of lenses. I actually throw it in my pack and therefore actually have it on long rides and adventures. I cant wait to try the X10 and whatever else the Fuji X series future brings. X1?

Filed under Photography Tips, tagged action, bike, biking, Camera, composition, denver, firing, flash, flex, fuji, hotshoe, learning, lighting, lights, mini, photo, Photography, pocket, riding, series, shooting, speed, speed lights, street, strobe, syncing, using, wizard, X, x-10, X-100, x1, x10, x100