Back where it all started

[RRC]

After years of just relying on my iPhone for photography, as great as it is, I missed the enjoyment of having a nice camera to use.

I started out with Fujifilm film cameras before moving to Nikon digital, then to Sony.

Was walking through town earlier this week and saw in a camera store an original Fujifilm X Pro1 with an 18mm lens for a very decent price. Went in, inspected the camera and was blown away it looks and feels brand new! Certainly doesn’t feel like a 12 year old camera so I’d imagine it’s had very little use and sat in a box in a cupboard for years. I’d wanted one when they were first released but were far too much money to spend at the time.

For anyone that hasn’t used one, the X Pro1 was one of only two to use the first generation X Trans sensor and imaging processor which in my opinion really is the closest thing to film like photos, plus you can edit and tweak settings to create unique or use other people’s created “recipes” to replicate old film stocks, jpegs look excellent without any editing straight out of the camera.

I also bought my preferred focal length lens, XF35mm (50mm on an APSC sensor) F2 WR (weather resistant) and combined with the older camera it’s a great combo. Fast autofocus and amazingly image quality.

Anyone else on here got Fujifilm cameras?

 

[mollyc]

yes there are several fuji users here! i have an x100v and a gfx 50s ii. plus some nikon bodies. but the gfx is my favorite.

 

[mollyc]

@bunnspecial got into Fuji last year, and I think @Darmok N Jalad also shoots Fuji.

You should come join us on the Photo of the Day thread!

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I did at one time. Well, a couple times, actually. 😬

It's a great system, especially the film sims. Can't argue with the 50mm FFeq, too!

 

[mollyc]

I did at one time. Well, a couple times, actually. 😬

It's a great system, especially the film sims. Can't argue with the 50mm FFeq, too!

oh no more? i wasn’t sure. you change a lot!!

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

oh no more? i wasn’t sure. you change a lot!!

Yeah, back and forth, really. For as much switching as I've done, it's mostly been the same bodies. I've actually been a good boy lately. Had my E-M1.3 for 7 months now, and I've only bought two lenses (17mm 1.8 and 9mm 1.7) during that time. I got 2 of my kids old M43 bodies for Christmas, so they can leverage dad's lens collection.

 

[stillcrazyman]

I’ve been shooting Fuji exclusively for a few years now.
Just replaced an XT3 with the new XT5.

 

[coolguy4747]

I use an X-T2, X-T4, and X-H2 and a variety of lenses, Fuji and third party. I have been having great fun with them! They may not have the best technology for every aspect, but they are a joy to use nonetheless, and they are certainly capable of making better images than I am.

 

[bunnspecial]

I bought my X-T5 in May of last year because I realized my Nikon DSLR kit just kept getting bigger and heavier. I actually bought it ahead of a vacation-had it about two weeks before we left-and @mollyc told me at the time I was brave to do that

Taking a new camera, especially from a new-to-you brand, on a trip is definitely trial by fire. I think that can be especially true if you're pretty deep into one particular brand of ILC cameras, as I was and still am with Nikon. I spent a lot of time fighting the camera to get it to do what I wanted, then finally realized that sometimes I really needed to let the camera do what it wanted and was all the better for it! Overall the camera and I have come to an understanding and it listens to me when it needs to but I otherwise let it do its thing.

One thing I will say is that Fuji is good about firmware updates, and the AF in the X-T5 definitely got better with firmware versions 2.x(the first of which dropped about a week after I got mine).

It hasn't replaced my Nikon DSLRs, but I love the thing. It's so small and light, and best of all even though I shoot RAW I barely touch the files. I do switch film sims between Velvia and Pro Neg depending on what I'm shooting(those are my two main ones) but those seem to do a good job of setting the "mood" for my files. I've come to really value cameras that can give that-in Nikons the D3X, D4, and D5 give me that, so I lug them around despite their relatively low resolution compared to my D8xx cameras. My X-T5 gets used a lot too for that reason-the Nikons, and the D4 and D5 in particular-do give me less noise at high ISO(the D5 is unreal as this goes-despite DXOMark not being that positive about the sensor, I've not seen another camera give real world results anything like the D5 and presumably D6 at 5 and 6 digit ISOs) and overall are faster/more responsive cameras, but the X-T5 gets the job done at a fraction of the size and weight.

I mostly use the 16-80mm f/4, but Fuji's prime lenses are jewels, and the little f/2 WR lenses are especially nice. My 23mm and 35mm f/2 have an in-hand feel that reminds me a lot of my Leica 50mm Summicron Dual Range(1970s era I think), which is high praise.