I recently acquired two little, vintage dinky mini cars. Normally I would have reached for a 50mm lens and a sub f/2.0 aperture to create a miniature world effect. The Fuji 35mm lens / f/1.4 is equivalent to a 53mm lens at f/2.0 on a full frame camera. I thought it would be an interesting to see if the 35mm could deliver a suitably shallow depth of field.
All photos were captured using the Fujifilm X-E1 and either the 18-55mm zoom lens or 35mm prime lens.
A Mini Adventure : Toy Car Photography
Starting with the Fujifilm X-E1 & 18-55mm lens I shot a number of photos of the car. I set the X-E1 on macro mode). To get the scale correct really meant framing at 35mm-55mm.
At this focal length I was unable to get below f/4 so much of the surrounding area is in focus. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of field and scale.
I have a growing doubt if I really need a full frame camera and 50mm lens.
Moving to the Fuji 35mm lens, starting at the maximum aperture of f/1.4. I set the focus point on the front grill and captured the images using the ultra bright LCD screen. This meant I didn’t need to lie on the ground to see what I was shooting.
The Dark Hedges
This next shot is my favourite with the car is at a slight angle. I wanted to get more of the body in focus so moved the aperture to f/2.
Moving between the zoom and 35mm prime lens allowed for adjustment to the scale of the car. Both the 18-55mm zoom and 35mm prime worked well to achieve a ‘slight’ sense of reality.
To add a little bit of adventure I used a mix of flour and icing sugar to freeze the scene. The flour with too thick and sat too heavy on the frame of the car.
The first attempts to make it look like it was actually snowing failed miserably.
I am wondering if I need to retain a full frame camera given the quality from the fujinon lenses. There is a finer Depth of field offered by full frame and f1.4, I am just not sure how often I need it.
The next challenge is to incorporate Long Exposure Photography.
Update 2022
It turns out I really didn’t need a full frame camera. Ten years on the Fujifilm X100V and X-T5 come with no complaints.
Mini Adventure is inspirational. Awesome!!!
Nice post. My impression is that Fuji are keeping up the quality game; this ‘kit’ zoom has higher specs, and from what I have read, better performance, than most such glass.
Wow, this is amazingly inspiring.
I would want to do something similar to this, but have only this equipment. A Canon 550D with a Canon 50mm f/1.8.
What settings would you advice me to use when doing a similar project?
Thanks 🙂
Love this series. Great look with the mini.
Great shots and great idea. Love it! That’s a surprisingly detailed model too. How big is th model? Is it matchbox size or is it one of the larger scale car models you do see? Looks great. Looks like a commercial for something
Thomas, it is just a dinky car. I am just playing with scale and DoF to create the images.
Amazing shots!
I just trip over “Fujifilm X-E1 & 18-55mm zoom lens … setting the X-E1 on macro mode”
My X-E1/18-55 combo doesn’t behave any different when in macro mode. What am I doing wrong?
Cheers
Wow what a great series. Fantastic for a winter project. Did you shoot outside or is it fake snow?
flour and icing sugar but it was outside.