A 7-day adventure with the Fujifilm X-Pro2

A little over a week ago, I was pleasantly introduced to the wonderful marketing team of Fujifilm Philippines by a good friend and fellow photographer-writer, Ms. Arlene Donaire. After her flowery introduction of myself, I got into a lengthy exchange of ideas with them and Mr. Maeda Takuya and his staff invited me to come by their office to borrow one of the test units of the X-Pro2 for experience and some insight.

My first Urban landscape output with the camera. A 2 image vert-o-rama of Makati city taken from the northern border of Makati.

Two days after, I was sitting on their couch signing papers for a week of trial.

The Sunset over Makati city taken from Paseo de Roxas

After 8 years of using Canon cameras exclusively, it was of course a challenge to learn using another camera system. Or so I thought. What really struck me was that the Fuji cameras are designed very intelligently such that using it is never challenging to use. Everything I had to instantly manipulate in the settings were literally within the reach of my fingers at that moment.

Mang Lando (not his real name) A man who makes balsas (bamboo rafts) who lost his wife and child due to labor complications. This man gave meaning to my travel experience to Wawa dam. X-Pro2 + XF 16mm

Ive written about the image quality previously and I stand by what I said. This is by far the best crop sensor Ive used . The image quality competes very closely with full frame sensor cameras. It makes sense that Fuji doesn’t seem to have any plans of creating full frame cameras because there simply is no need for such.

A 4-image panorama of the Full moon over Bonifacio Global City. The original image was a whopping 65 megapixels. (Pardon the haphazard stitching of the buildings on the left. My bad :P)

The efficiency of using and operating the X-Pro2 allowed me to focus on the creative side of shooting. It allowed me to focus more on what I am photographing instead of what I am shooting with. That’s what’s important anyway, isn’t it? In the end, the camera doesn’t really matter. The photograph does.

A young boy and his father walking around wawa dam. X-Pro2 + XF 16mm

I’ve always believed in and still stand by the idea that the camera is just a tool and that what is more important is the photographer’s skill and creativity. That will never change. However, as I said, having a good tool is as equally important. A good camera does not make a good photographer but a good camera makes the good photographer’s life easier and that’s what the X-Pro2 did for me.

One of my dream shots. Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman gracing the crowd with his amazing voice and parkour skills. X-Pro2 + XF 16mm. I was shooting with my Canon DSLR with a telephoto lens when Jon decided to climb up the stage posts. I was previously disappointed because I wouldnt be able to use the X-Pro2 for the concert because I needed a zoom lens. When he did this, it took me 1 second to grab the X-Pro2 from my bag, 1 second to set it up and I got a series of shots for one of the most intimate concert shots of my life. And this one is of the frontman of my favorite band. You can not imagine my excitement!

Am I shifting?

Let’s see.

Thanks for reading!

Special thanks again to Mr. Glenn Gatan, Ms. Maan Dela Cruz, Mr. Maeda Takuya of Fujifilm Philippines. Ms. Arlene Donaire and X-Photographer Rommel Bundalian for this adventure.