The allure...

[Woodworth]

It had started with glances and wonderings at the new and alluring X-Pro1. What man hasn’t stolen a quick look at an attractive new model from time to time … just so long as the camera in your life doesn’t notice (she almost always does)! Then one fateful day a lovely, sleek and attractive X-E1 with a sexy 35/1.4 came into my life. The old DSLR was abandoned without ceremony or regret, my head had been turned, I was now a Fuji man, no doubt!

 

Soon the X-E1 and 35/1.4 became part of a harem, lenses, bodies and flashes were added. A smorgasbord of Fuji! There were X-E2s, an X-T1, X-Pro2s and an X-T2 and a positive orgy of lenses! That brief stolen glance had become a life style, a way of thinking and seeing, an obsession! A 23mm, a 56mm, a 90mm, a 16mm all soon made a home for themselves. 

 

Life with a whole heap of Fuji was a ball. A party where there was nothing off limit. As soon as something new came out, I had to have it, but there was also a feeling of dullness, a loss of vision. Was I just becoming a camera collector? Sure I was making a living out of it but was the focus the equipment or the making of pictures? Sure professionals need the right equipment but when I thought back to early days when a Hasselblad with 50mm, 80mm and 150mm lenses and an M6 with 24mm, 35mm and 90mm lenses sufficed, what was I doing?

 

I began to feel cluttered and confused, what was going on? There was simply too much stuff. I needed to rediscover my first love. So they all had to go, the party was over. I needed to clear my head and get a fresh perspective. I’ll be faithful to my X-E2 and just keep f2.0 lenses, yes that’s it, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll relive those heady romantic days when I wandered freely with a single Fuji in my hands and a few lenses in my bag. I felt so free, so light, so happy. Less is more, embrace the simple life.

 

Then Fuji revealed a bigger model, what was this? The curvy GFX with it’s voluptuous body was in the spot light. She was alluring, promises of performance beyond anything yet experienced but she wasn’t a cheap date! Could I… should I? No, she’s not for me. I can’t afford the cost of allowing her into my life. Does the journey end here? Has Fuji gone in a direction I don’t want to follow? What about all those lovely new optics? What should I do? Oh, no!

 

Then there was mention of an X-E3, would she have a tilt-able (or even an articulated) rear screen? Could there be IBIS? What would she look like, how would she perform … might there also be a 70/2? Oh, no - not this again! Here we go, my name is Chris and I am a cameraholic! For goodness sake, K.I.S.S. make pictures and not camera collections!

 

I’ve stripped down my Fuji stable to the bare basics, just what I actually need and no more. It’s going to be a couple of X-E bodies and a few f2 lenses and nothing more…

[milandro]

I think your doubts and thoughts are in essence similar to mine.

 

I too started my Fuji experience (and the initial attraction) with a simple lightweight camera X-E1 and the 35 1.4

 

THAT caught my attention. THAT attracted me to it.

 

We’ve discussed something similar to this that you are saying in another thread ( the one talking of the possibility that the GFX is distracting from further developments  of the lenses for the X line) 

 

My thoughts and doubts there were met with the usual salvo of hostile posts every time one questions things, like is there a real need to go 24Mp or do we want bigger cameras, bigger lenses and spend a lot more to get what exactly?

 

But I suppose I am prone to heresy, doubts and questioning mass movements.

 

when you see everyone going the same direction, I try to question the direction where everyone is going because: since we are different in everything, how can we all suddenly like one thing for all?

 

 

 

My doubts were sparkled from having seen how my photographic experience was deeply changed ( not for the best) when I bought the 16-55.

 

I had been thinking for a while that I wanted to fill the gap between the 12mm Samyang ( I also had had for quite some time the 10-24 which I then sold because it wasn’t for me) and the 18-55.

 

So, now that I had the chance and the cash, I bought what I thought was the “ missing link”. Little did I know that I would hate it. Just as well there was something wrong with the lens ( serendipity?) and I could bring it back and get my money back.

 

That lens changed my experience from a lean and mean small camera to something that it was precisely everything I disliked in modern photography ( and I’ve been in this game for over 40 years now).

 

I have a lot of lenses ( including a Petzval and some modifications of my own...) and adapters ( tilt, M42~FX helicoid macro, lens turbo) that are not conventional  fuji product and of regular use.

 

But most of the times I just want a simple kit to go around. with not so much bulk and weight.

 

I am not even updating the X-T1. I am going to stick with it for some time and skip generation 2 ( or even X-E3) altogether and wait for Generation 3 of the sensor.

 

As far as lenses I am probably done already and aside from my experiments with less conventional lenses I think that my Fuji kit is going to stay the same.

 

I am trying to fight consumerism not so much because of being a cheapskate but because it is a fool’s errand.