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Travel to Italy: X100T or X-E2?


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Hey folks--I'm new to Fuji (after years of shooting Nikon) and this forum but am already immersed enough to own both an X100T and an X-E2 with the 18-55 kit lens. My wife and I are going to Italy next month, and I don't know whether to bring both cameras or pick one. I will be shooting a combination of street and architecture with some landscape mixed in as well. What advice can you offer? Thanks in advance.

 

 

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As I am a huge fan of the X100T and also a huge fan in limiting oneself to one lens I would go with the X100T, some spare batteries, a spare memory card and that´s it. I personally love the 23mm lens. For me it is not a limitation. It frees my mind not having to think about which camera to use or which lens to mount on.

My wife and I went to Marrakech at the beginning of the year and all I had with me was the X100T. I never missed anything.

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This winter I went around the world with a Nikon Df and 6 fabulous lenses.  At the end I was so tired of lugging my kit that I used my cute little X100s.  I got great photos.  I took a snap from the far side of the bus, through a window, across a person, to a faraway woman crossing a bridge.  It was so clear that I cropped it to just the woman on the bridge and it was great.  I haven't used my Nikon since.

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Hi dbspano, take a look at my facebook page, nearly all the photos were taken in Italy with an x100 or x100s.

Great photos, Paul. Thanks for sharing them. I would much rather take the X100t but worry there may be occasions when i need a little more reach. But I will be mostly shooting street and cityscape, so i think I'll sacrifice reach for the convenience of this beautiful camera.

 

 

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Hi dbspano, reach is sometimes a problem, as is not having a wide enough lens, but I try to compensate for both these issues, as far as possible, with my legs :) 

My guess is that even if you take 3 cameras with 6 lenses there will always be times you "need" something else, so the problem is not with the choice of camera or lens, it's in your mind, in your approach to what you want to achieve. 

 

Make a choice, and then be happy to accept whatever advantages and limitations that choice gives you.  If, instead, you continue to think "what if....?" then your photography may suffer because you're not thinking positively :)

 

When I travel now purely for holidays, despite having about 9 cameras, I always choose the X100s.  Sometimes I'm too far away, and it's just not possible to get closer in time to get the shot, but I know that if I were to use a telephoto lens, the perspective would be shortened, flattened, and the photo would look like it was taken with a telephoto lens.  That may be acceptable for wildlife, sports, etc., but it is not ideal for city, street, or people photography, because such a flattened perspective psychologically removes the possibility of the viewer feeling as if they are inside the printed photograph.  Telephotos destroy any sense of "natural" - as do extreme wide-angle lenses.

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Take them BOTH.  They each weigh nothing.  The 18-55 I find it to be an EXTREMELY versatile lens with a wide to medium portrait tele.  The fast 23 on the X100 would be great for when you hit the town in the evening and want to photograph at dinner, or in low-light situations such as churches, etc.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

 

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My suggestion is rather simple - because I have made my kit selection simple.

 

My kit now consists of an X-100T with cable release and rather convenient Manfrotto Tripod and the option of a Lee Seven 5 Big Stopper filter.

 

That's it. No more pockets of lenses, need to carry a camera bag or lug a rucksack round with me, minding the products in shops, cafe's or exhibits in museums.

 

TheX-100T sits in my pocket rather easily and with the RAW ISO option of 6400 pretty much eliminates the need to even take the tripod. But then I have a long history of hand holding low light shots without a tripod via 3200ASA film pushed to 12800 or with ISO of 25600 on the Canon 5D2.

 

As for the 23mm lens? Covers nearly all bases and forces me to work with what I have, instead of missing the view because I'm constantly veiwing everything as a possible shot and trying to work out the body and lens combination before I move on to the next paving slab or cobble stone.

 

It's a trip for you and the wife - are you under contract to produce a travel guide or something similar? No? Then enjoy the trip and keep it simple...

 

My wife is loving the new 'photographic one camera in pocket me'. And happy to go travelling with me again...

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  • 2 weeks later...

When traveling abroad, I always take a backup camera, so my suggestion would be to take both cameras. A few years ago, I climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvius, where I planned to take photos of the splendid views of the volcano, Pompeii, and Naples. Unfortunately, my camera, a Leica, malfunctioned and stopped working. That afternoon, I went to a camera store in Naples and bought another camera, but I didn't have time to reshoot the views from Vesuvius. If I had taken a backup camera, things would have been a lot simpler and more productive.

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Hey folks--I'm new to Fuji (after years of shooting Nikon) and this forum but am already immersed enough to own both an X100T and an X-E2 with the 18-55 kit lens. My wife and I are going to Italy next month, and I don't know whether to bring both cameras or pick one. I will be shooting a combination of street and architecture with some landscape mixed in as well. What advice can you offer? Thanks in advance.

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I think both would be good because of the small size... I use the x100s and love it... The xe and kit lens is a great combo tho, covering a great range but zooming is just something else to think about.

 

Take one and don't regret it, there are advantages to both...

 

  

As I am a huge fan of the X100T and also a huge fan in limiting oneself to one lens I would go with the X100T, some spare batteries, a spare memory card and that´s it. I personally love the 23mm lens. For me it is not a limitation. It frees my mind not having to think about which camera to use or which lens to mount on.

My wife and I went to Marrakech at the beginning of the year and all I had with me was the X100T. I never missed anything.

DITTO...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had a similar situation - took a X100T and X-T1 w/ 18-55 on holidays. Lightroom stats: 121 shots with the X100T and 25 with the X-T1. The X100T can simply be always with you, delivers a great quality, and the 23mm are a great focal length. If you need more flexibility and can spend the money, you could add the converters to your kit - but I'd say the X100T would cover 85% of your needs.

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I would take both, just to have a backup camera. No need to use both at the same time though. I'm a big fan of the x100t with a WCL in my bag just in case I need to go wider for architecture.

 

In regard to being limited to 35mm focal length: you'll always miss shots by being limited. But you'll also create shots you'll work to find and have fun doing it.

 

Traveling with one camera and one focal length is rejuvenating.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, 

  Have you been to Italy yet? I wish I'd seen this post earlier as I had a very similar decision to make last summer. In the end the X100T was more than up to the job. As stated above- yes, there are certain shots you may miss but the sheer convenience more than makes up for that.

 

What I love most about this little camera is that it results in one less decision having to be made and THAT results in better photography (for me at least)- no more deciding which lens to use, whether to zoom in, zoom out... If I see something in the distance that would require a long lens and I can't get close enough to it, what do I do? I don't spend too much time worrying about it- there's a million other subjects all around us, out there, all of the time!

 

I posted 3 blog posts on Sicily all exclusively shot with the Fuji X100T (thats the only camera I had with me). The first can be seen here if it's of any interest still. http://www.foto.scot/blog/sicilia-i 

 

If you've already been it would be great to see some of your images and hear your thoughts. And if not, have a great time there :)

 

Arch*

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My facebook page covers street photography almost exclusively in Italy, with photographs and articles, if anybody is thinking of going to Italy.  There are even articles and discussion about the Law, and where and how you can take photographs.  There is a lot of information, both in English and in Italian:

https://www.facebook.com/GotchaStreetPhotography/

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I went to Italy this past October. I took two cameras. An X100S and an X30.

Next time I would only take the the X100S. 

 

my 2 cents, and worth every penny :-)

 

Have a great trip! Hope you and your wife get to Positano. One of the most beautiful and romantic places on earth. (Even if a bit touristy)

Edited by PaulGuy
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up taking the X100T only and had a blast with such a small kit. There were very few times I wished I had more reach. If you're interested, the best (imho) of my many shots can be found here: https://dbspano.smugmug.com/Street-Photography/Italy.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up taking the X100T only and had a blast with such a small kit. There were very few times I wished I had more reach. If you're interested, the best (imho) of my many shots can be found here: https://dbspano.smugmug.com/Street-Photography/Italy.

 

 

 

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Nice shots..are these RAW or JPEG, any pp?

 

Robin

Edited by robinchun
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Make a choice, and then be happy to accept whatever advantages and limitations that choice gives you. If, instead, you continue to think "what if....?" then your photography may suffer because you're not thinking positively :)

 

.

Paul: I really enjoyed your photos on Facebook--and find your above recommendation to be not only spot-on for photography, but also highly applicable to life in general. Very inspiring and full of wisdom.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Make a choice, and then be happy to accept whatever advantages and limitations that choice gives you.  If, instead, you continue to think "what if....?" then your photography may suffer because you're not thinking positively :)

 

 

Wise words that apply so well to life in general.  

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