It only took one look at the Fujifilm X100s and it was love at first sight. I can remember as a child where I was when the assassination of President Kennedy was announced (sat on my dad’s knee watching TV). I can also remember clearly when the twin towers were unfolding (at work watching TV in the policing team’s office) and Princess Diana’s death was announced (laid in bed waking up to breakfast TV). And so it was when I first noticed the X100s (laid in bed reading a camera magazine). These were memorable occasions in my life albeit I feel obligated to say that not all are of equal importance.
I knew I had to have it. To get this little beauty would again take lots of saving including birthday and Christmas monies. But it would be worth the wait. It was gorgeous in the extreme.
I’d just started getting interested in street photography and this looked the perfect camera seeing as a Leica was out of the question. Even my wife agreed it was gorgeous and encouraged me to save. It was made for the street photography task like no other. So I saved and scraped together just enough to buy one. I found myself carrying it everywhere and practiced shooting from the hip like street photographers do. It was fantastic fun and a joy to use.
But the revelation was the image quality. I was completely blown away. It was so much better than my Canon 7D, especially at higher ISO. And it was easier to carry than a DSLR with a big lens. I felt I needed to review my formula for feeling good and downgraded the importance of weight as a feeling good and looking good factor.
I found myself using the Fuji more often than the Canon. I realised that a day out with a shoulder bag full of DSLR kit was a real ache, whereas a day out with the Fuji no problem. Now I thought the fixed lens of the X100s would be a very limiting factor and that I would only ever use it occasionally as I had previously relied so heavily on a zoom. But I came to realise that I had legs that moved where I wanted most of the time and I could zoom manually. Whereas I always thought of Fuji as a point and shoot range, I realised that they were beginning to produce some stunning looking cameras with a cracking sensor. My Gear Acquisition Syndrome was kicking in again but taking a different tack. Smaller and lighter.
You can see some of my photos on my website. But wear sun glasses because they are dazzling mhbphoto.uk
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