Blue Hour, Cesar Chavez Street – Austin, Texas

I have one more blue hour skyline photo from downtown Austin. We are looking east down Cesar Chavez Street — known previously as First Street — running parallel to the downtown lake. Google’s new triangular sail-like building is nearly done. The final piece completes all the development around the 2nd Street bridge. It’s currently the densest high-rise-packed section of the central business district.

When I first bought the Fujifilm GFX 50R two years ago, I was amazed by the quality and resolution of the camera. For optimal quality, especially in low light, it needed a tripod. It lacked image stabilization, and high-resolution images require a more stable platform. And throughout 2020, that’s how I used it — on a tripod. It produced remarkable photos.

Even as a photography enthusiast, shooting on a tripod is a cumbersome, painful, and restrictive process. I was really excited when I got an EF lens adapter to use Canon lenses with in-lens stabilization. This reduced the need for a tripod. Using a Canon 35mm f2 IS, I was able to make images hand-held that weren’t possible before. I’ve have over 60 posts using that lens attached to the GFX 50R, including many in Hawaii. However, the lens was far from perfect, with the stabilizing effects only producing a modest effect.

That’s one of the major reasons I traded up for the Fujifilm GFX 50S II. With capable in-body image stabilization, it greatly increased my tripod-less night photography. Remarkably, even with a larger sensor, its stabilizing prowess is roughly equal to my Olympus PEN-F. I made today’s photo hand-held at 1/5th of a second. I shot it from the pedestrian bridge seen in yesterday’s post. Hand-holding allowed for better framing. One that I couldn’t get using my tripod. I know. I’ve tried before.

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