good camera
I don't leave home without my Fujifilm X100F
It 2014, my dear friend and notable photographer, Merri Cyr, lovingly insisted that I buy her 2007 Canon 5D Mark 2 for a great deal. Most of the photos published in my book, So Far… were taken with that camera or the lighter Canon 6D I soon upgraded to. Taking her advice, I collected 3 Prime lenses, a 20mm, a 50mm and an 85mm instead of carrying a more convenient zoom. The 50mm was my favorite, and, to be honest, I still miss her. She was the perfect portrait lens. I learned to love the 20mm for portraiture, as well. I had originally bought the lens for architecture and landscape, but I began to experiment with her for portraits of people with their trade, when I wanted the background featured with the subject, instead of bokeh blur the fifty afforded. I never liked the 85mm. It’s a portrait lens for cowards, afraid to approach strangers.
While the images I captured on this camera are incredible, I've recently traded in my bulky Canon body for a petite, powerful used Fujifilm X100F. At 2 pounds lighter and 2” smaller all around with a 4.3 MP advantage, she’s a better daily street rig than the Canon. A rangefinder, I’m restricted to it’s built in 23 mm ƒ/2.0 lens, which is equivalent to a 35mm full frame, but I’m a traveling portraitist. That’s all I need. It took me 150 countries, but I finally found my aesthetic. Someone else has shot that building, that landscape…someone else is more interested in the manual mechanics of the camera itself. I prefer to set it on auto so I can focus on the interaction with the subject.
That’s been the hardest part of learning this camera. It’s bells and whistles are more than I need, and the wheels are more easily manipulated than the Canon. Sometimes I’ll shoot, only to find that my settings were wiggled into weirdness without my knowledge…and the moment is gone. I’ve spent hours of my life trying to figure out what setting was altered while I was simply wearing the camera across my body.
That said, I’m much more comfortable carrying this than the suite of Canon gear. My overall load is so much lighter, encouraging me to shoot more. There were a few destinations that I simply didn’t shoot because the Canon was so cumbersome. Heavy, yes, but, also, hard to hide in less secure spaces. The Fuji X100F is easily concealed beneath a shawl and can fit in a suit jacket pocket.
The best part is that she’s affordable. I bought mine from KEH Cameras, an Atlanta based online retailer with the best customer service I’ve encountered, compared to B&H and Adorama. I traded my Canon gear for a great rate, paying only $300 for cash for my unit. There have been two X100 models since the X100F was released in 2017, most recently in February of 2024. The latest has a 40MP processor, which is tempting, I’m holding out until the next model is released so I can grab it used.
