I’ve been shooting with Nikon cameras for as long as I can remember. I know every curve, button and dial like it was an extension of my body. My current cameras, a pair of D800’s, have produced higher quality images than I ever imagined possible. They are rock solid performers and there is very little they can’t do. Why then, was I feeling restless to try something new?
I have a few friends that have been raving about the Fuji X cameras for a long time. Some of my favorite photographers have also made the switch to the Fuji X cameras and have written glowing reviews and published some absolutely stunning images from these little wonders. My wife and I had a few short trips on the calendar and I was looking for something different to shoot with. I really didn’t want to lug around a big DSLR kit. I wanted something small, light and inconspicuous, but I still wanted amazing image quality.
Enter the Fuji X100T.
I must admit, those first few frames were a bit unnerving. This camera felt very strange in my hands. After shooting with a gripped D800 for the last few years, this thing felt like a tiny little toy. What had I done? Was this purchase going to be worth it or was it going to be a total disappointment?
We left for a trip to Frankfort, MI with some good friends a few days after the Fuji X100T arrived so I was finally going to get a chance to really put it to the test. I experimented with the film simulations and primarily settled on Classic Chrome. I’ve heard plenty of great things about the quality of the JPEGs this camera could produce. However, having been a RAW shooter for years, I just couldn’t bring myself to only shoot JPEG so for this trip I settled on RAW+JPEG.
I have to admit, as I started to review the images in Lightroom, I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, more than that… I was thrilled. I loved the colors and tones I was getting and I was blown away at how sharp the images were. I didn’t even really look at the RAW files. The images in this post are the JPEG files pretty much straight out of camera. Unbelievable. Could this be my new travel and every day companion? Maybe so…
Much more to come as I get to know this new little wonder of a camera.
Jeff……your pictures are beautiful. I absolutely love the tone and color that you have got. What piqued my interest is that these are jpegs with minimal/no or no post processing. What film simulations are you using……one or two look like classic chrome, I really love the fifth picture of the girl paddling, it has an almost ‘leica like’ glow to it.
Thanks for the kind words Matthew. You’ve got a good eye. As I recall, some of those images were the classic chrome simulation and some of them were velvia. The X100T is a great little camera!