Zenpukuji River Park cherry blossoms in 2017

In 2017, I photographed the Zenpukuji River cherry blossoms with a new camera.  After my Pentax K3 died, I moved to Fujifilm.  I bought an X-T2.  And the lens was the XF 16-55mm f 2.8.  The results were very pleasing.

The session?  In the beginning, I only intended to walk around my neighborhood and take a few snaps and learn the controls.  In the end, I walked to Zenpukuji River Park, which is one or two kilometers from home.  The park gave me a delightful surprise as the cherry blossoms were still looking good.  

The flowers were definitely on the way out, but I was pleased to see them. I wouldn’t say Zenpukuji is a must-visit place, but, in spring, its trees are very nice.  It’s a local type of place.

As for the camera?  The quality of the pictures was good, actually more than good.  They were completely awesome.  The camera surprised me, though.

 

 

I found more dials and knobs on the camera than my old Pentax K-3.  So some learning and adapting needed to be done.  That was quite okay, but one thing about the X-T2 impressed me.

It was my first camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF)!  That changed my world.  I used to think they were gimmicks, but how wrong I was!!  Why?  What you see on the screen is a preview of the picture you will get.  It’ll be the same. 

My K3 had an optical viewfinder.  When I took pictures, I never knew how they would look.  I only knew when I saw them on my computer screen.  An EVF lets you know on the spot.  It made things so easy.  The screen got a little laggy, but attaching the booster grip and enabling boost mode sped it up.

And the 16-55mm lens?  Never before have I had such a sharp lens.  I read reviews on the internet and watched many videos about it on YouTube.  My initial experience was what I heard.  Yes, it was big, heavy and had no onboard image stabilization.  You lose any weight and size benefits that mirrorless cameras provide with it.  After seeing my pictures, I didn’t care because it was so good.  The 16-55mm was exciting and worth every penny.  But I didn’t tell my wife how much it cost!

 

Where is Zenpukuji River Park?

It is between Hamadayama (Keio-Inokashira line) and Minami-Asagaya (Metro Marunouchi line) stations.  There are three ways to get there:

• Walk from the stations.  It is a little far, but possible.
• Use the Sugimaru bus, which you can catch at those stations.
• Use the Kanto bus, which you can catch from either Kichijoji or Nakano stations.  

Here is a map: