Adding item to the basket... 27 June 2022
Andi Gordon grabbed our attention when he tagged us in his awesome shots on Instagram and we just had to see more. These images get you seriously up close and personal with the action and are a testament to Fujifilm’s speed, accuracy and clearly, weather sealing!
Over to Andi…
"For the last five years I have been shooting for Monster Energy covering a number of different sports and events, and in that time I have primarily been focused on Speedway. Having cut my teeth photographing the tyre smoking world of drifting, Speedway for me was a relatively easy transition. 500cc bikes with no gears, no brakes and fairly loose grasp of the laws physics as they slide left around an oval dirt track."
"Earlier this year I made the move from a hybrid Canon and Sony setup to a full Fujifilm arsenal. I now carry an X-T3 on each shoulder, one with a fast prime and the XF 50-140mm f2.8 is pretty much always on the other, I have been really happy since making the move. One lens I have been itching to get my hands on has been the Fujifilm XF 200mm F2 R LM OIS WR and the included 1.4X TC F2 and the perfect event to try this behemoth out would be the Cardiff Speedway Grand Prix. One of the jewels in the crown of the SGP series, it is held at the Principality Stadium in the heart of the city and the only Grand Prix meeting in the UK, attracting somewhere in the region of 45,000 fans."
"Enter Hireacamera. After hearing good things about their service I jumped online and simply went through the hire process. After a few checks and phone calls to make sure I was whom I claimed to be, the lens was sent out a day earlier than my order to add a day of redundancy in the unlikely event of the courier being delayed. To say it was a smooth process was an understatement, and I can’t recommend Hireacamera highly enough."
"As for the lens itself, well, it did not disappoint. I genuinely believe that Fujifilm make some of the finest modern prime lenses available (part of the reason I was so comfortable with the switch). I’m not a lens science guy. I don’t look at how many elements are in how many groups, and what coatings are on the glass. I prefer to try an item and see how the images come out, how quickly it focuses and how it feels in hand."
"The XF200mm is to my mind exemplary in all of these categories. I’m not a monopod guy as I feel it would slow me down, but I found I could comfortably handhold the lens. Thank god for really good in-lens image stabilisation. My concerns about how a small camera like the X-T3 would manipulate the focus motors in such a big lens were quickly put to bed. The focus acquisition, even in the challenging artificial light of an indoor arena was tremendous."
"Now the £5000 is question is, do I buy this lens? While it will probably take me a bunch of time to consider this question, I know that should I need one in the mean time I can rely on Hireacamera to sort me out."
What an inspiring set of images, you can almost smell the fuel! We'd like to say a huge thank you to Andi for sharing these with us, we’ll definitely be following his work on Instagram, you can do the same by clicking the links below:
Hire links:
Fujifilm XF 200mm F2 R LM OIS WR & 1.4X TC F2 WR
As always, if you have some images or video you’re particularly proud of, having hired our equipment then please do share it with us via enquiries@hireacamera.com, or tag us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
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