This year is Fujifilm’s 10th Anniversary of the X-Series. As such I wanted to reflect on my photography journey and my relationship with Fujifilm cameras.
Note: As this is a bit of a retrospective and reflective piece, photos shared in this blog post are from the last the last decade of my photography journey.
In 2020, I was approached by the editorial team at Fuji X Passion, an online monthly magazine, to write an article for them regard my photographic journey. If you’re interested, you can find it here: My Decade-Long Journey with Fujifilm.
My Story
The Fujifilm X series kicked off with the introduction of the Fujifilm X100 fixed lens camera back in 2011. I had heard about that camera from the various photography websites and podcasts that I was across back in the day. It sounded interesting but with the price point and the versatility of my existing Canon 60D camera and various lens, the X100 simply remained an interesting camera.
At the time I was still pretty happy with the Canon 6D and Canon lens system that I started investing in back in 2010 when I got my first full time job. It did everything I wanted it to do. It had served me well so far in my daily life and travelling at the time. I was one of those friends who brought the (giant) camera with me everywhere I went, and took photos of almost everything. Cafes, restaurants, walks. It was the very beginning of my “serious” photography journey and everything seems like an interesting photo to take! In hindsight, I’m sure it wasn’t, but it helped me hone my eye and practiced the different settings and features of the camera. I wouldn’t be where I am today as a photographer if not for that camera. At the time I went from your good ol’ fashion point and shoot type cameras, to a full fledge DSLR. I spent much of my free time learning about the exposure triangle, the “right” settings to use for different types of images, researched the types of lenses to buy etc.
In 2012, after a 4 week long holiday to USA and Canada with some friends, the weight of the DSLR and the associated lenses started to weigh on me. Lugging it around the country on planes, trains, busses, taxis, boats. It didn’t help matters when I also thought it was a great idea to lug all that gear in a cross body shoulder strap bag! During the trip I frequently ended up with sore shoulders and backs. That’s when I started looking at mirrorless cameras for something lighter for travelling. Over the next few years I kept an eye on the ever growing mirrorless market. I even use a Sony NEX camera at one stage as a second camera! I liked the form factor (it was small), but really didn’t like the (early mirrorless) Sony system. I still primarily used the Canon for all my photography and travels
Fast forward a few years to 2014, Fujifilm released the interchangeable lens camera, the Fujifilm X-T1. That really peaked my interested. It felt familiar, with it’s retro feel and DSLR style camera design that I was used. At the time, I was already so invested in the Canon system lenses and the price point for the Fujifilm X-T1 wasn’t cheap. There was a premium to the Fujifilm X-T1 given that it was their new flagship camera, aiming to draw away people like myself who had DSLR cameras and was was interested in a APS-C sensor (as opposed to the smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor).
In 2015, they released the “baby brother” version of the Fujifilm X-T1, the Fujifilm X-T10. That was when I decided to jump onto the mirrorless camera bandwagon and buy the Fujifilm X-T10. It was at the right price point for what I was looking for and the features that I was forgoing by not getting the X-T1 (e.g. weather sealing) I felt I could live without. The film simulations was also another reason I really liked the camera. It took a little while getting used to adjusting aperture on the lens itself, but not long after I was loving it. It was so tactile and really got me in the zone of photography.
I kicked off my lens collection with the famous and classic Fujinon 35mm f1.4 lens as well as the Fujinon 18-55mm f2.8-4 kit lens. I had a trip to Vietnam planned that year, and decided that was the perfect time to try out the new lightweight camera. It was liberating to be photographing using something so small and lightweight. It made travel photography so much more fun. I also shot just in JPEG at the time as the Adobe Lightroom version I had couldn’t read Fujifilm raw files. During that period of time before I upgraded my Lightroom, I shot just in JPEG when I used the Fujifilm X-T10.
I found myself building up my collection of lenses with all the pretty darn good Fujifilm cashback deals that came out almost yearly. Over time, I acquired the pancake 27mm f2.8 lens, the 14mm f2.8 lens and the 23mm f2 lens as my interest and style of photography evolved. I’m a big fan of prime lenses and typically only use the kit lens zoom when I’m travelling and feel like I want to have the flexibility of a variety of focal lengths in the one lens for ease.
The X series has been a game changer in my photography journey. It brought back the joy of photography for me after being a bit put off from having to lugged the “bulky” Canon 60D around North America. The X-T10 reinvigorated my love for photography and the visual art. It made photography easy, fun and nimble. Just what I wanted when I was holidaying with friends and family. I wanted a camera that helped me capture memories, sights and experiences. Not a camera where I “couldn’t be bothered” lugging around.
In 2019, after 5 years of using a Fujifilm X series camera, I decided it was finally time to part ways with my Canon DSLR that I have barely touch in the last few years. Over a period of time, I sold off all my kit including accessories like filters that really only fit the lenses I had with my Canon camera. The cash I got from that enabled be me to purchase some additional Fujifilm lenses.
Given that I photography was a hobby, I was mindful of still being deliberate about my lens choices to make sure I really did have a purpose for it before I purchased it. I ended up writing a blog post about my foray into selling camera gear (at the time selling on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace wasn’t something I did frequently) and my experience.
By 2020, I had my X-T10 for almost 6 years! I had started to think about upgrading my Fujifilm camera. It was still functioning perfectly well for such a dated camera, but as with any technology, the stuff that was coming out was amazing. I was also somewhat interested to learn to shoot video (the X-T10 video function has left much to be desired).
When the Fujifilm X-T4 was announced in early 2020, I thought that was my upgrade. I had previously borrowed the Fujifilm X-T2 from Fujifilm Australia for a mammoth trip to Iceland and UK back in 2017, so I knew I still enjoyed using the slightly larger form factor and ergonomics of the “big brother” series. I had some preliminary plans of travelling to Europe for a big Euro trip and was planning to time my upgrade to the Fujifilm X-T4. But alas, we all knew what kicked off in 2020… world wide pandemic and devastation. Photography took a serious backseat for me.
Working in the health care industry the last couple of years (and it continues to be, although gradually improving with the advent of vaccines) has been extremely challenging as the world faced a pandemic and health resources stretched. At the end of 2020, even though I wasn’t intending to or able to travel anywhere. I felt like treating myself to an upgrade to get me re-energised with photography and I also had my first proper paid gig coming up.
Throughout 2021 and so far in 2022, I have since picked up the camera a little bit more as a way of breaking up the daily grind of working in health care, facing the ever changing landscape with the pandemic. Photography has been my creative outlet. It has helped me through some busy and challenging times on a professional level. While I didn’t share a lot of photos or write a lot through 2020 and 2021, photography was always there by my side, for my self. In my annual year in review, I’ve given myself a somewhat lofty goal of getting more back into photography and sharing my photos and words once again in 2022.
The Community
The Fujifilm X series has also led to the creation of new photographic communities. As the Fujifilm X Series was originally such a niche market, when you found another fellow Fujifilm shooters you often got to engage in interesting and enthusiastic photography and gear talk both online and off-line.
Back in 2017 I joined an online Facebook group Fuji X Aus and we had our first photo meet up in Perth. I remember feeling very welcomed into the online community and I didn’t feel afraid to share my photography, questions and thoughts. Since then it’s grown into a 3.4k strong community of Australian and New Zealander photographers. I have also since become a contributor to their blog and online community through being a rep for the Perth team. It’s been a fun journey so far and I’m hoping 2022 will bring back the meet ups and more photography fun as we go into a “new normal” state of life.
When I first started using the Fujifilm X-T10, I found Fujifilm Australia really tried to engage with it’s photographers through all sorts of initiatives to promote photography. I ended up being featured as an Fujifilm X-Enthusiast photographer on their blog when they found my photos on Instagram. I have since collaborated with them on a couple of blog posts over the years. On a personal level, they have been so generous with their time and help through my own interactions with them online and also offline at tradeshows. Fujifilm Australia has also been a strong supporter of the group through events and collaborations.
Conclusion
The Fujifilm X Series has taken me to the next level in my photography. I’m in my 8th year of using an X series camera for my personal and professional photography. The combination of an enthusiastic photography community as well as the well design cameras has attracted me to becoming a Fujifilm camera user. If Fujifilm continues to push the envelope with camera technology, continues to listen to photographers who use their gear and engage the photography community like have have so far, then I think I will be a Fujifilm camera user for many years to come.
Thanks for stopping by today and happy shooting.
J.
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