Hello Everyone,

I have to confess I have been visiting many of the other forums just to see the reactions to some of the new products. Because of my surgery and desire to carry something a bit lighter I am going to trash my old point and shoots and buy a GF-1….. but not right away. If Fuji somehow gets their act together and makes a micro 4/3rds cam I may just take them up on it.
But that is not the subject of this post. I thought I’d give a try to LightRoom 3 Beta and see how it treated the Fuji files. DISCLAIMOR: I did not do comparisons with previous versions and I am not qualified in the least to comment favorably or unfavorably about the newest piece of software. I know some on this forum would not use LightRoom and I respect that. But when I have hundreds of images to process I find the workflow fairly rapid and I sometimes use it.
Before my wife and I ventured 100 miles north to the High Desert ghost town of Calico last Sunday I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood with my trusty S5 and my Tammy 28-300 (which heretofore spent a lot of time on the D700). I was pleasantly surprised with the few images I took with colors seemingly jumping off the screen and the sky retaining the rich Fuji blue I like so much. BTW all processing was done in LightRoom 3.0 Beta with Nik Viveza being used sparingly on the sky. Here are 2 of the trees in the neighborhood. There was an east wind keeping the marine layer away so the blue cast was not present. In the first I did not stop the lens down enough to get all in focus but I really liked the resulting color:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2789/4062844124_ac96b2394e_b.jpg

Another similar image that required very little PP. Settings were standard across the board:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/4062836900_9b9bdbd0a8_b.jpg

I own a fair amount of equipment but there is something about Fuji color that I really like!

Finally and then I will go on…… a bird of paradise..hand held. That is exactly how it looks!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/4062092723_2a22c1a760.jpg

After I was so pleasantly surprised with the results my wife and I ventured to the very brightly sunlit (took the S5/Tammy combo) ghost town called Calico just outside of Barstow, California. A mining boom town in the latter 1800’s it boasted silver and borax as its main commodities. Almost over night in 1881 Calico boomed to a population of 1200 with 22 saloons, a Chinatown and a red light district. It had 500 active mines until Silver dropped in value. Once at $1.31/oz the price went to $.63/oz and so did the town. However it was resurrected with the help of Walter Knott who donated the town to the County of San Bernardino for use as a park. Now it is one of a few original remaining mining towns in the western United States. We visited during the Halloween season so there were extra festivities going on. We were first guided to an overflow parking lot that still showed the remnants of the old town:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2702/4067073849_aff1313b4f.jpg

Climbing up an old path one comes upon the monument with a special greeter dressed for all Hallow’s Eve:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2535/4067796050_ff675484ae.jpg

There’s a lot to see again with remnants of the past:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/4067827958_4edd3e76ba_b.jpg

Sometimes the past meets the present (look at the satellite on the building)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4067820590_f104f9c580_b.jpg

Could even stay at the modest-looking Hank’s Hotel:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/4067099321_a38eaf8dec_b.jpg

We took an 8-miunte ride around town on the little choo-choo:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2599/4067838228_a370211bf4_b.jpg

I liked the area so much I found a vantage point for a pano:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2763/4067095215_31b29ee3c1_b.jpg

We sat down for a bite to eat then caught a juggler/magic show. Some young guy could balance a wheelbarrow on his chin:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/4067051597_b6d08c76ed_b.jpg

He even balanced a ladder on his chin:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2588/4067806768_1477e68407_b.jpg

If that wasn’t enough he got into the near future holiday season:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2712/4067808796_668c83bc77_b.jpg

There was a fellow who fancied himself a fire eater:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/4067813296_4d60604441_b.jpg

He took a mighty large drink of a clear alcoholic beverage:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2487/4067812820_5025915948.jpg

Then surprised us all when he became an oral blow-torch!:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/4067060121_50c2a9eb82_b.jpg

I became very concerned so I ran to the fire house to summon the fire engine but discovered it was just for show…..but a nice one:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2439/4071068664_7777c264eb_b.jpg

I am still in my recovery phase so my bones were feeling a bit achy so we walked down the main drag and looked back on the town (D700 w/28-70):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2729/4071057624_5f792d597e_b.jpg

While walking back to the car we took a look back at the hills and saw why the miners may have liked the area:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2691/4070609451_def6d51341_b.jpg

The long and the short of it is we had a nice warm afternoon visit and I am pleased at the treatment of the RAF files by LightRoom. I just may use it more during PP. Lastly I really like the Tammy 28-300 on the Fuji. Lot’s of reach and the colors are pleasing.
Thanks for looking and taking a small trip.

Bob