The Fuji
Two years with the Fujifilm X-T1 23.10.2016
During the past days I have been sifting through terabytes of photographs shot through the years in search of the best content for this website. Given that I have been actively glued to a camera since age 18, shooting both casually and professionally later on, I found out that I have a daunting amount of photographs to sift through. In the end I decided to focus on recent work, because it reflects best my shooting style these days, but there was one thing that stood out when I looked at all my images. There is this turning point somewhere in 2014 when I started shooting more, my straight off the camera images became more accurate, my photography showed more variety and slowly became better thought out. As it happens 2014 was the year I left the world of the venerable Nikon workhorse DSLRs and timidly moved to a mirrorless Fujifilm X-T1. Now, I am not one to obsess over gear, most people around will certify that I perpetually (and perhaps annoyingly) preach that getting a new lens doesn’t solve anything and we are all better off refining our shooting and composition skills with current equipment until we actually need said lens, so talking about a camera improving my photography sounds strange even to me. The thing is, it’s not the camera itself, it’s the way it makes you use it.
The Fuji Lifestyle
The Fuji is smaller. It lives in my purse with a pancake 27 mm lens attached to it and I never notice the weight of that combination. It’s always there when a photo opportunity presents itself and I find in my photo collection a number of images I would never have taken with a DSLR because I simply wouldn't have taken it along due to its weight. It's a discreet and quiet camera. On the street people consider me just another tourist snapping for their Facebook feed. I love it! You can’t compare this to pointing a DSLR with a hefty low aperture zoom lens which makes you easily spotted from miles away.
The Fuji gets the image right - it meters white balance better and I can see the image as it will be before I shoot it. It has that extra dynamic range which makes your images look almost like HDR when processed. I tend to joke that with the Fuji you can turn the lights off in post. There is also the feel of the images. The X-T1 renders subtle but rich colours and depending on your scene you can choose from several rendering options, each with its own merits. I look back at the images from my Nikon years and I find that although the quality is technically better and the files are more malleable, I actually needed that because I created the colour feel in post. I shot for best accuracy and played with colours later. To make the images impacting, I needed a very clear idea of the colour feel I wanted. The Fuji makes it easier to focus on the composition, the light and the scene because the colour feel is already there.
The negatives
Of course it wasn’t all roses with the Fuji. The knobs and dials were great for creating a visual memory of settings, but the fast pace in the field made me wish sometimes for the non-analogue electronic ways of the DSLR. The focusing system, albeit good for a mirrorless camera, couldn't match a DSLR and if I were shooting more events or sports, I would have had way more hurdles. The sensor of the X-T1 was great for an APS-C but couldn't beat the full frame sensor of the D600 I left behind. Raw editors didn't resolve the information from the X-trans sensor perfectly so lack of detail and softness were a problem. Noise was an issue at higher ISOs. The megapixels were on the tight side compared to other cameras. I definitely couldn't get away with excessive shadow lifting or cropping in post, so I had to think harder, compose better and perfect my metering in advance. Ultimately however shooting with these challenges made my photography better. It’s been a little bit like shooting with a prime for the first time - it’s more limiting than a zoom but it pushes you to refine your skills.
Last month I abandoned the X-T1 in favour of its current replacement, the X-T2. I looked at the two cameras side by side and noticed exactly how much I had worn out the X-T1. It really is a camera that makes you want to shoot and involves you in the experience.