How a Fujifilm made me remember why I love photography
Photos from my Canon, Sony(s), Fujfilm, and Film Film.
Ever since I can remember I’ve been taking photos. Most of my youth spent with a digital camera, or enjoying the nice clunk of a fully mechanical 35mm film camera advancing.
Well, more accurately it was my Dads camera(s). He had studied photography, and imparted that love onto me. It felt like almost every other month a new camera would arrive and we would bond over it. I remember the heft of an RB67; the lack of ergonomics of a panoramic medium format camera; the smell of old leather from camera cases from decades passed.
Above all else I loved shooting film. In an age of instant gratification there was something so pleasing about a slow, and fully analogue experience. Between not knowing what the end result would be at the time of shooting, and my limited student budget it would often be months between taking the picture and seeing the end result. Beyond everything there is a certain level of nostaliga seeing photos that are grainy, or poorly focused, months down the track. Those photos that were technically perfect were at the start a rare treat - but even then were filled with character that a digital photo would never have.
Still - film is expensive, and slow. While I enjoyed developing the film myself, and scanning the files and archiving the negatives (with an old scanner that would only work on Windows XP) it was most definitely not a convenient process.
My first digital camera that I spent some time with (once again ‘borrowed’ - thanks Dad!) was a Canon 6D. It was by no modern measurement fast in operation, its low light performance was so-so, and its autofocus really only worked in the middle of the frame but to me represented a massive change. It allowed me to experiment with new styles without worry, and I was happy enough with the colours and final files. Sure it wasn’t filled with the character of film - but the convenience was worth that sacrifice (even if it meant extra time editing).
With time I wanted to explore videography and the Canon wasn’t great for that. It was also heavy, and the mirrorless landscape was finally starting to compete with the DSLRs. So I returned the Canon, and bought a Sony A7SII.
The Sony was tiny by comparison, and extraordinarily light. The video was a massive increase, and I could adapt all those film lenses I still had gathering dust. But - the battery life was terrible (I would bring 10 batteries with me, versus the 2 for the Canon), and the autofocus was even worse than the Canon. I loved it.
The Sony did take longer in Lightroom to get to a final result I was happy with, but the high ISO performance was a worthy trade-off for the work I was doing at the time. The autofocus performance was so bad I almost exclusively used it as a manual focus camera. It was around this time I also started printing some photos and the 12mp sensor started to becoming limiting.
Enter another Sony (the A7RIII). Incredible autofocus performance, substantially better battery life, and an honestly ridiculous 42mp sensor. It was technically perfect. Sure - it wasn’t the fastest camera to shoot with, and my SD cards filled up quickly but I finally felt that I had a camera that I was the limitation of my photography - not the other way around.
I ended up barely using it.
More than anything I found that the newest Sony was almost phone-like in its use. There were deep menus of customisation, and all of the manual control you could want, sure. But in operation it would give me as much pleasure as taking a photo with my iPhone - not very.
Enter something completely different - a Fujifilm X-T3. My first non-full frame digital camera (that was a concern), but with good-enough autofocus, good-enough video, and good-enough battery. Aesthetically Fujis X-T line takes inspiration from the film cameras of old, but under the hood this was a very modern camera. It could not be more different than my previous Sonys.
Immediately I fell in love with the Fuji, instead of spending my time digging through menus there was a physical button or switch for everything. The lenses were solid, with aperture control right there.
More than anything I was able to get colours straight out of camera reminiscent of how I would edit them myself. They were grainy, and sometimes the focus missed and I loved each and every one of them.
Ultimately when I think back to my favourite memories they are not rendered in perfect detail, with perfect accuracy. When I remember a sunrise I will remember the warmth of the sun, the smell of the soil, and of coffee, the people I am with, and the colour of the sky - or at least how it felt.
At risk of waxing poetically - it is that inaccuracy that I want in my photos. I love film for it, but my Fuji is a close second. It gives me that similar experience without the inconvenience aspects of film.
More than anything it helps me spend less time in front of a computer, and makes me want to spend more time outside with a camera in my hand.
Thanks Fuji.