5 Reasons why I love Fuji
Auust 6 2021
I have been a loyal Fuji fan ever since I bought my first Fujifilm camera in 2013. I changed to the Fuji system after selling my Canon 5D and L series lenses to switch to mirrorless. I have grown my system to include the XE-1, X100F and the X-Pro3. I have also added several lenses including;
XF14mm F2.8 R
XF18mm F2 R
XF23mm F2 R WR
XF35mm F2 R WR
XF50mm F2 R WR
XF18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS
I have a large collection of legacy glass adapted to the x mount including Takumar, Helios, Fujinon, Minolta and Canon FD.
1. Fuji walks its own path
Camera manufacturers announce new models every year, outracing each other with higher spec cameras, sometimes packed with useless functions that don’t necessarily benefit the photographer. Fuji never follows the pack though. Example? While a full-frame-high-megapixel mirrorless war had recently been ignited with Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Sigma and Leica all competing with each other, Fuji didn’t care to join. Where is Fuji in all this, you ask? the Fuji GFX 50R: medium format sensor, 50 MP.
Fuji is laughing:
“You guys can keep playing with the full-frame sensor, no problem. I’m going medium format instead. See this here? It’s my GFX line, 50 megapixels to start with. And oh, I have a 100 megapixels monster as well.”
Fuji is always able to carve its own corner, and on doing this it does not necessarily compete head-to-head with its competitors. Fuji plays its own game.
2. Fuji innovates
One can refer to many innovations from Fuji, but I will just take these two to demonstrate my point.
The Hybrid OVF / EVF viewfinder. Like it or not, this was a first in the industry, Fuji is the only brand with this system. A beautiful integration of old school rangefinder interface mixed with 21st century technology.
The X-Trans sensor. Forget the Bayer type pixel pattern, Fuji created its own RGB pixel pattern with the X-Trans and on doing this they confidently removed the AA filter for added sharpness and film like grain.
Put the X-Trans and the Hybrid OVF / EVF together on a nicely styled body and an excellent lens, and the X100 introduced in 2011 took the small camera with large sensor formula to the next level – and sent shockwaves around the world. This is innovation.
3. Fuji cameras are beautifully designed
Fuji cameras are well thought out and photographer oriented, as opposed to spec oriented. Most manufacturers produce cameras designed by their marketing departments, sometimes with stupid provisions that are hard to believe.
Fuji knows what is right, and with this they had successfully created their own style and identity. Fuji cameras are beautifully designed, stylish and user friendly because they have the photographer in mind.
Future classic: Fuji X-E4.
Fuji don’t rush out new models every year like their competitors. And, while a new model introduces improvements to the camera’s previous model, in terms of hardware you can hardly see the differences between new and old models. This happens in all their camera series: just compare the several iterations of the X100, X-E, X-Pro and X-T models. Over the years there was technical evolution, but the new models look mostly the same as the original ones. Instead of X-E4, you could call it the X-E1 Mk IV if you wish. This design consistency is honourable. This is how you create your own identity and – mark my words – Fuji cameras from today are future classics.
4. Fuji cameras got attitude
Fuji cameras are designed for still photography, period. You get the classic layout to control exposure: shutter speed dial & aperture ring. That’s it. Everything else is bullshit.
Other brands like to show off their video capabilities, so what? Fuji couldn’t care less. “Video? We are not giving you any dedicated video button because this is a camera for stills. And no, you won’t be able to assign a video function to any of the Fn buttons.”
Love it or hate it: Fuji’s polarising X-Pro3
Then there is the recent hidden-screen X-Pro3. “Don’t use the back screen, stupid! Just focus on photography.” This is Fuji going unconventional – because they know they can.
If this is not attitude, then what is?
5. Fuji delivers superb image quality
None of the above would make any sense if Fuji did not deliver the goods in the image quality department. And boy, do they deliver… Fuji cameras produce outstanding image quality. How they do it is ultimately the result of their magnificent lenses, sensors and image processors. Which is to say, the essential components of 21st century digital photography.
Fuji lenses are among the best you can get. Their XF 35mm f1.4 R – just to name one – is legendary: sharpness and micro-contrast able to dethrone the clinical Leica 35mm Summicron. It’s that good.
Then, of course, there is the medium format GFX system that is still in its infancy. I have used a GFX50 R and the GF 45mm, and I’ve never seen so much sharpness and definition from any other camera I have used
Obviously, one can’t talk about Fuji’s image quality without mentioning the beautiful Fuji colours. Weather you shoot RAW or JPEG, it doesn’t matter. Fuji colours always look great. I mean, really great, super pleasant.
I could write a lot more, but this is enough to make my point. Sony, Canon, Nikon, etc… Yeah, I’m sure their cameras are good as well, but most of them look crap with bad ergonomics , they are just spec loaded, designed by people with thick fingers, no finesse – and utterly boring.
They don’t have Fuji’s attitude and personality. So if you don’t have a Fuji, perhaps you should get one ;)
June 28, 2021
Artistic photography – or as some would say creative – is different from documenting and recording reality. Most cameras today are more than able to capture realistic images. The problem with most camera reviews is that they think photography has to do with framing reality. The essential criteria of the camera is that it works as a tool in an artists hand to make things look the way you envision them. Or perhaps even better; if this tool enables you to become an artist and make you see and create things you would like to see. A camera is not a tool to conform to reality, but a tool to make a new one of your own. It is the feeling of having the right camera, to hold and use that makes you see things, and then enable you to create the magic.
If you fall in love with a camera and a lens, then you are more likely to use it. The photographer brings talent and a love for what they do, along with a vision of what they want to do. And all a camera does is a recording of the light.
It’s really not a matter of camera megapixels, features, price, brand or any other thing. It’s simply matchmaking between a photographer and the piece of equipment he or she will fall enough in love with that they will use it to capture photographs. Of course, most people fight with equipment they don’t love, even less understand. And that goes for professionals to the same degree as any other photographers
May 4, 2021
I admit that the majority of my photographic output is black and white. Since my introduction to the medium of film in my younger days monochrome images have always resonated with my vision and senses. For me the emotion and feeling I want to express works to a stronger degree in black and white when totally eliminating colour and the subject is isolated.
I am not against good colour images and they can provide us with the beauty and vibrancy of the world overall. Colour is a part of photographic lives and story telling and I am not discounting what great color represents to the photographer and the images a photographer gives to us.
There is a long-awaited and most certainly deserved rebirth of the monochrome image, people are beginning to appreciate how a monochrome can draw them into the image, right to the heart of the story, the subject.
Film is also having a rebirth and there are many options now to get hold of 35mm film. Bellamy Hunt has his own brand of film at http://www.japancamerahunter.com/shop/jch-streetpan-400-film/
Definitions
Adjective: 1) having only one color, 2) representing colors with shades of gray (photography).
Origin: From Ancient Greek μονόχρωμος (monókhrōmos), from μόνος (mónos, “one”) + χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”); mono- + -chrome.:
July 24, 2020
I have to admit I just love the feel of the old Takumar lenses on the Fuji X bodies. There is something wonderfully organic using these lenses on the XPro-3 camera. Since I shoot primarily in manual mode the process is seamless. Sure it may be a little slower than auto focus, but for me the process is part of the fulfilment in crafting the image. Quality of the glass is excellent and they produce sharp compelling images. Lens to body adapters can be found on eBay, search for "M42 to Fuji x adapters". I use a focal reducer by ZyOptics (Turbo II) which gives a very close original full frame field of view 35mm equivalent and an extra stop of light. For crop factor magnification I’ll use a cheap M42-FX adapter that was only $20.
I currently own several including;
Super-Takumar 28mm f3.5 sn3835704
Super-Takumar 50mm f1.4 sn1966979
Auto-Takumar 55mm f1.8 sn448198
Takumar 105mm f2.8 sn574327
Super-Takumar 135mm f3.5 sn1905013
Super-Takumar 200mm f4 sn3415236
All of these are in great working order with no fungus and all aperture blades are smooth. They are not expensive and can be found on eBay for reasonable prices. I recommend fellow Fuji X shooters give an old prime lens a try and add something special to your images
April 6, 2020
There have been many discussions on the internet among photographers and critiques with the use of the term ‘Photoshopped’. The purist boasts about ‘Straight out of Camera’ thinking that alone makes them a better photographer, allowing the camera processor to make the artistic decisions for them. The artist uses software like a digital darkroom to create the final image. It is not an act of ‘Fixing’ an image after it has been taken, but as Ansel Adams said ‘The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways’.
I have no problem or guilt removing objects that distract from my vision without hesitation. I am not documenting reality, I am creating in an artistic way a scene I saw in my minds eye.
What is real?
To me, all art, including photography, is about creativity, imagination, and producing something that is your creative vision. I don't care if someone says something's unreal or not how it really looked, or if they think something's been "Photoshopped" because as an artist I have no limits or restrains. As long as we are honest if someone asks us about how we created an image, what does it matter? As long as I like my finished images and they represent accurately my feelings and my artistic ambition.
“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships” Ansel Adams
However, it seems to some people that any image not accurately representing exactly what we saw with our very own eyes at the precise time we hit that shutter button must be fake. So any black and white image is fake, any retouched image is fake, anything with even the slightest bit of change, no matter how infinitesimal, is fake. Or is it?.
