• Members 27 posts
    April 8, 2023, 2:23 p.m.

    Before going to the Westminster dog show in 2014 I ended up getting a used X100; with a 21### serial number to avoid sticky aperture blades. It was my first big-boy digital camera after a the very nice Canon S90, S100, and Fuji XF1. In fact, it was the XF1 which made me want the X100.

  • Members 3 posts
    April 8, 2023, 3:29 p.m.

    Alright. Here is my story and my first post on this new forum. Really hope it takes off.

    I used a Canon DSLR for a long time but sought something smaller and more compact. So I switched to M43 for good couple of years. But I never really liked using either Olympus nor Panasonic cameras from a haptic point of view. I also disliked raw processing at the time (being a linux user back then). So I lost interest in photography in general and sold off my gear. But the photography itch came back and I took a closer look at Fuji. I was always somewhat intrigued but the somewhat larger size, the lens prices and back then non-availability of third party lenses threw me off.

    Still in 2017 I got myself a used X100T and totally fell in love with it. The DR, noise, colors was way better than what I had seen with my M43 gear. So I used the heck out of this camera for a year and went straight for the X100F because I do 75% b/w and I wanted to have Acros. Again I used this camera so much and I experimented with different jpeg recipes. It was a great period. But the 23mm fixed lens became somewhat limiting and I wanted a "proper" camera so I bought a used X-T3 to play around with old and new manual lenses. I experimented a lot and kind of found my style. At that point I also acquired a X70 which got more use than the X-T3 because of it's compact nature. Having two cameras, two different chargers and no longer interested in vintage or manual glass I decided to sell both for an X-E4. I just wanted something compact that works well to capture what I had in mind. But the X-E4 was still too big for a pocket so I eventually went astray and got a GRIII which is very much love and use. I replaced the XE-4 with an X-S10 because I became to rely on IBIS more often (something I sorely missed from my M43 days). Now I am quite happy with my setup...the X-E4 a 16mm, a Sigma 30mm and soon the Sigma 18-55 for everyday use and my GRIII for whenever I can't carry my Fuji camera.

    But the X100T sparked it all. I loved the handling and haptics. Something that neither the X-E4 nor X-S10 could replicate, not even the X-T3 felt just that good in my hand. If money were no object I would just buy an X100V for sheer enjoyment. I even thought about getting a used X100T again but prices for all X100 series cameras are quite insane right now.

    Also shamelessly plugging my website where I wrote about the X100T a while ago: emptysnaps.com/my-life-in-camera-part-11-fujifilm-x100t/
    Funnily enough in this series on my blog I linked to the dpreview database for my cameras thinking that at least dpreview.com won't go away. Ah well.

  • Members 621 posts
    April 8, 2023, 3:46 p.m.

    Nice write up on your site. The station in Berlin caught my eye as we’ll be there this summer.

  • Members 20 posts
    April 8, 2023, 9:54 p.m.

    I believe my first Fuji was a 35mm point and shoot back in the 80s. First digital Fuji was the F30.

  • Members 1 post
    April 8, 2023, 10:47 p.m.

    My first was an X-Pro1. How I selected it I don’t remember, but I was through with hauling around my big Canon DSLR. I wanted something easy to carry.

    It was a truly great decision.

    Yesterday I picked it up by mistake instead of my X-Pro3 and I was amazed, as I always have been, with the quality of the photos it produced. I love my X-Pro 3, but if I only had the the X-Pro 1 I would still be an extremely satisfied Fuji user.

  • April 9, 2023, 6:54 a.m.

    Crikey, I'd actually forgotten a Fujifilm camera was probably my first (I owned a few other brands before coming to the X-T4 a couple years back). Trawling back through my files, it looks like it was a mighty 4 megapixel Finepix S3500 zoom. Quite hilarious to look back at things like how simple the menus were etc, but at least it had a decent built in grip! 😅

    I might even still have the poor thing in storage somewhere...

    image.png

    image.png

    PNG, 80.0 KB, uploaded by nightowl on April 9, 2023.

  • Members 5 posts
    April 9, 2023, 11:53 a.m.

    Hi!
    My first and so far only is X-E4. Great small(ish) camera. 2021.

    A s l a
    2022_0826_15482400-04.jpeg

    2022_0826_15482400-04.jpeg

    JPG, 416.3 KB, uploaded by Asla on April 9, 2023.

  • Members 1587 posts
    April 9, 2023, 12:17 p.m.

    Fujica ST701

    My first real camera was bought at the age of 16, a very long time ago

    live.staticflickr.com/65535/52531785343_ef80720a78_k.jpg
    Fujica ST701 (1971-74) / Fujifilm X-T5 (2022)
    by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

    50-year interval
    The ST701 My first Reflex, Purchased on 01/25/1972
    The X-T5 is My last ML, Purchased on 11/22/2022

    But I had some infidelities between the two 😈

  • Members 83 posts
    April 9, 2023, 12:46 p.m.

    My first Fujifilm was an X100V. That experiment lasted about 6 or 8 months.

    I had convinced myself it would be good EDC camera but it really wasn't pocketable and had a ridiculously tough-to-turn shutter button which ruined the user-experience. I also never warmed up to the 35mm FFE FoV, so eventually I just sold it.

    Then last month I picked up an X-Pro3 and a few lenses. This time I'm prepared for the idea that I really need a bag, I have the lenses I like, and also the controls are much easier to operate, so I'm starting with a better mindset.

    My problem is that I'm really sold on the form-factor of the Ricoh GR cameras and I even prefer some of the film simulations like Positive and Hi Contrast B&W (I know that's heresy to say on a Fujifilm forum, but it's true...).

    So most days that's what I grab when I walk out the door.

    But the X-Pro3 is such a well made, and beautiful camera, so we'll see how it goes over the next few months...

  • Members 1 post
    April 10, 2023, 2:47 a.m.

    First Fujifilm system is utilized was the XT-1 and the XE-1… I purchased both at the same time. The XE-1 was a backup camera, for my journeys. I’ve had issues of camera dieting on travel trips.

    I loved both cameras, the XT-1 was well used, I think it’s at Frame count near 85k today, the XE-1 was much lower, but was super useful in my lite weight travel kit needs. And some times I would run into facilities that felt my XT-1 was too professional, and they regulated such equipment!

    So funny the XE-1 passed as amateur.

    Anyways today I’m heavily invested in Fujifilm equipment.

  • Members 17 posts
    April 10, 2023, 9:04 a.m.

    I'd been a Nikon user since the FM2. I drifted through D200 then a D800 but it had got to the point where I needed a draught animal to carry the stuff. I'd tried the original Olympus Pen micro 4/3 but it was plagued by shutter shock. So when I saw an X-M1 on special offer that seemed a splending idea and it was. No complaints about IQ at all. Anyhow after a while I compared the IQ for the X-T2 and my D800 and couldn't see any point in keeping the Nikon gear. I've just gone to an X-H2 plus an X-E3 to make a small camera. The truly good thing about Fuji is you can build outfits that take in small and light or big and technical and the one acts as a backup to the other.

    This is the quality of image that swung me to Fuji, X-M1 plus 60mm and the little built in flash

    X-M1 plus 60mm macro Iris foetidissima

  • Members 285 posts
    April 10, 2023, 2:21 p.m.

    My first Fuji was a S602z supe zoom. It was my second digital camera after the Canon G1. Before this I shot for many years with a Canon AE1. After owning the S602z for a few years, I got my first Digital SLR, a Nikon D70s. This was followed by a D200, D300, D300s, D500. I had an injury and needed to lighten my load and this is when I got a X-T3 and later the X-H2s.

    Morris

  • Members 14 posts
    April 10, 2023, 8:07 p.m.

    I used to shoot film in the mid to late 90's, then got out of photography at the start of the digital era. Fast forward (is that an anacronsim?) to 2009, when I returned to photography as a hobby. There have been dabbles along the way with other systems, but my Fuji journey went thus:

    • HS20 EXR bridge camera
    • X-S1 bridge camera
    • X-T10
    • X-E1(briefly, mainly because it came as a package with two lenses)
    • X-T1
    • X-T20
    • X-T2 (briefly)
    • X-T100
    • X-H1 (purchased twice; before and after my foray into Nkon Z and Panasonic L)
    • X-T4 (for one day, testing it with 16-80)
    • X-S10
    • X-T200 (alongside my X-T3, mainly for astro timelapses and star trails, but unfortunately much too limited)
    • X-T3 (current)

    Will have a serious look at adding the X-S20 to my X-T3. No need or desire yet for the 40mp sensor.

  • Members 209 posts
    April 10, 2023, 8:40 p.m.

    I started with Canon, first a 35mm P&S, added a APS one because I was very enamored by the 16:9 aspect ratio. But it had its disadvantages so I managed to sell it and bought a Canon SLR. A short phase with a Hasselblad X-pan [which is said to be Fuji designed and certainly looks like it] and then the move to digital, again Canon [because I could not afford new lenses at the same time], a 10D. Later a 5D plus a 7D, which became too big and heavy on the trekking I did a lot at that time. So I moved to mirrorless, with a pair of Sony Nex 7's. Did not like them completely [menus, color, lenses defenitely a step or two back from Canon L]. One half drowned in a snow flurry, sold the other one.

    So finally we get the story to Fuji X: a pair of X-T1's which served well for a couple of years. When I started looking for something new, the T series had grown a bit too much for my taste, so I went for the X-E3 [again a pair] which I still like very much, apart from the fixed screen which was a bigger hindrance than I expected.

    I haven't mentioned years, but I've always bought cameras pretty early in the product cycle.

    As for lenses: started with zoom, brief interval with primes, now zoom again

  • Members 1 post
    April 11, 2023, 4:34 p.m.

    I shot Nikon for years. Decided that I didn't want to lug around 40 lbs of camera gear everytime I went on vacation. Traded it all in on Olympus and Panasonic m4/3. Hated the G9 autofocus so traded in it and all but 1 PL 8-18mm lens and my old EM1.2 for an OM1. I really like that camera and I have a lot of glass for the m4/3 system.
    Fast forward to November 2022 and my local camera salesman posts up he has a few Fuji X100V cameras that had just come in. I figured why not. So I got 1 and although it has seen hardly any use, I like the colors and the sharpness of the photos. I have thought about selling it and maybe getting either an XT5 or an XH2 but I'm still on the fence about it.

  • Members 3 posts
    April 11, 2023, 5:23 p.m.

    My first Fuji was an X100S. I loved using that camera and it got me started on my Fuji journey. Then I purchased an X-T2 with some lenses to give me more options in shooting. After that, I bought an X-H1 when Fuji was selling them with the battery grip for an amazingly low price. Next up was the X100V. And today I ordered an X-H2S. I still own all of these cameras, so I guess you'd say I like Fuji equipment.

    This is my first post on this site. I want to thank the forum operators for setting it up -- really nicely organized site with a clean interface.

  • Members 535 posts
    April 11, 2023, 5:42 p.m.

    I wonder if there should be another thread specifically for those of us for whom the X100series was the entry-level drug. I know this was true for me, at least in terms of modern Fujifilm. My FinePix S2 was effectively purchased as a Nikon.

  • Members 6 posts
    April 13, 2023, 7:25 p.m.

    My first 'serious' film camera was an Olympus OM2 - I was young and had recently got my first proper job, nonetheless it was a considerable expense for me. I loved that camera; took it all over the world for many years and built up a small but nice collection of lenses. I used to lust after the OM2 spot, but could never afford it. One day it just seized up, Olympus would no longer repair them and I somehow stopped taking photographs. With the advent of digital I kept looking for a digicam to replace my beloved OM2. My first foray into the digital world was an Olympus E10 (brand loyalty!), 4mp of initial joy, but I soon began to chafe at the restrictions of a single, albeit zoom lens. When the Canon 10D came out I bought that, got equally frustrated with using FF lenses on a crop sensor (no EF-S lenses then), so ditched it in favour of a 5D as soon as that came out. A great camera, which I still have, but I always looked back in sadness at the small size and manual controls of the OM2. When Fuji brought out the X-Pro1 it was love at first sight - I bought mine 10 years ago with the launch trio of lenses and I've been delighted with it ever since.

    I didn't get the X-Pro2 because it didn't seem enough of an improvement to me, put off buying an X-Pro3 because there were always other toys I wanted to buy and, quite honestly, for my style of shooting the X-Pro1 still does the business. Looking forward to upgrading to an X-Pro4 though!

    None of the other Fuji X cameras works the same magic on me as the X-Pro line. I've tried most of them in stores and they just don't feel right.