a moment – with the Fuji x100

 

I’m not one to review gear on my website too often – however that might change in the near future as we are starting to cycle in some new equipment over the next few months and many people ask us about what we shoot with and why we choose certain cameras and/or lenses.  I am going to start with something I don’t use on wedding sessions, but I absolutely love from a personal standpoint.  The Fuji-X100 is a compact camera that has a fixed 35mm (full frame equivalent) f/2 lens.  It’s not a zoom and it doesn’t have the speed of our Canon 1D series cameras.  It’s a street camera – small enough to fit in the pocket of my jacket, but at the same time giving me quite a few professional characteristics that the average point and shoot fails to include.  First of all, the auto white balance on this camera is nothing short of stunning, which is a photographer’s dream.  The only work I performed on the image was a little bit of dodging on Hampton’s face – everything else is straight out of the camera.  The second feature that I love is – the “coolness” factor of this camera……I can’t say anything more than that.  It’s retro design is something I think the camera world has needed for a while.  It’s rugged steel, not plastic or carbon fiber – they made this like a camera should be made.  The body will certainly outlast almost anything on the market.  It’s manual controls and simple exposure compensation dial on top of the camera are wonderful for those who desire what’s needed in a camera without all of the bells and whistles.  It’s something I can carry with me at all times…..and I do.  Keep in mind, this is a professional’s (or advanced amateur’s) point and shoot.  If you want to place a camera on auto mode, zoom in and out, and make life super easy in terms of “not thinking” while you take photographs, this isn’t your camera.  However, if you want a great street, journalistic focal length with a fast lens and nice bokeh for a point and shoot, I would recommend this camera.  I found an ever-so-slightly used version and saved quite a bit on this – they also have a super cool, all-black, limited version available this spring as well.