A journey with the Fuji XT2 and X100F Mirrorless Cameras

I want to do just a blog to kind of talk about what I’ve been shooting and what I’ve been shooting with and  this has been primarily using the Fuji XT2, XF10-24mm F/4  and XF18-55mm f/2.8-4 for my landscape work and the  Fuji X100f  with fixed Fujinon 23mm f/2for Urban/ street photography.

I really only want to talk about the sort of the shooting experience and how I’ve just felt with this camera so I’ll start off by saying that I have felt very very rusty, laboured in my landscape work, in fact with most of my photography. Delving into it I suppose the creative juice has waned and I haven’t really felt like I found my groove with photography for probably a several months

I have shifted somewhat between styles/genres and still not really found complete enjoyment or a style/quality of work that I could be really happy with. Yes there are a few photographs I feel proud of but not what I call a developing body of work, a sense of direction. Do not get me wrong the excitement of capturing a ferocious wave or the fog encroaching over the landscape and the challenges of mountain climbs and early early mornings to get to a location I find a total buzz.

When I had been shooting with Canon 6D, Leica and old Nikon film cameras I have been so trying to figure out what I want to shoot, how I like to shoot, but in doing that I haven’t been shooting very much so I needed a change from the weight limiting full frame DSLRs and film cameras and theses have been replaced with the Fuji XT2  and the Fuji X100f .

So it has been very much a chance to get up close and personal using the X100f and I did not really expect much, even though the reviews have been formidable for this compact camera with its f2 23mm (35MM) fixed lens. I kind of keep it in my daily bag all of the time when on the street and the XT2,  XF lenses, lee filters and tripod have stayed in the hiking rucksack at home.

I just started using the FujiX100f daily going into town, shopping, museums and work as to optimise every learning opportunity available. At first the photos weren’t great as I was capturing moments, glimpses I was happy about but there were not images or moments I had captured that would jump out of the screen or that I was wanting to put onto the website (jdtphotograhy.co.uk) or have ready to print.

Now after progressively learning and practising with this  Fuji X100f  and the Fuji XT2  I feel things are again starting to move in a direction where I am starting to get a few photos that I think really are okay, but there is still loads even though I like them when I took them, when I see them on an app or on the computer afterwards, I start to see problems. I am re-learning, starting to do stuff that I think is interesting allowing me to work manually with the camera very easily and to shoot in black and white with the acros film simulation and personal settings to further drive me forwards.

I am shooting both fine jpeg and raw, this allows me the best of both worlds to be able to use the superb jpeg quality and film simulations of the  Fuji X100f and Fuji XT2 compressed raw files to develop myself later in Capture one or by using Silver Efex pro  from the excellent photography software developers DXO

Still the question arises am I doing interesting work but am I more importantly being able to enjoy photography and the answer has to be a big fat Yes! I think it has to be down too the fact that I am using just one camera every day with its fixed lens, this being the fact that the lens cannot come off unlike some compacts.

The Fuji X100f has such a versatility and yet it limitations in a fixed f2 35 mm equivalent lens is forcing me to use the same lens and camera but capturing in a different way. I am simplifying my shooting process and because of that fact I am not thinking about which lens or whether I need this filter etc. I can concentrate on what matters and that is paying more attention to the scene, paying more attention to the light. I do not think about the lens and working in manual 95% of the time I am thinking about the spot metering and creating a mood that I feel is representative of my experience of the captured moment.

The way I have the camera’s set up is perfect for me and this is another great thing about these cameras, 7 customisations possible and the ability to change the function buttons to your preference / workflow. Another terrific feature of the  Fuji X100f is the opportunity to have a choice to use the hybrid viewfinder, an optical viewfinder or the electronic viewfinder.

I am not long into using Fujifilm cameras but I am getting the feeling for seeing a scene more, so in that sense I am really excited to keep shooting with these cameras and seeing where this Fuji X  journey is going to take me, especially in trying to well, you know get out of a photography rut.

This is the story so far and should you want to follow me on this learning curve as I a post images on the website, write more blogs and post images on Instagram, you can subscribe to the blog posts usually two a month or simply drop by, have a look and leave a comment. 

Thanks for following.