The Fuji X-T3
What a badass system.
I’ve been a long time Nikon advocate and shooter. My first camera was a Canon Rebel 🙊 but then the superb D300, the magnificent D800 that got me more than happy but broke twice and now I’m using a D810. But doing all that lifestyle and sports work, I started to feel like the full frame was a bit overkill and just too big for the place I was going. The system was so heavy that I even stopped doing personal work. Try to tell your family not to mind the camera when you are holding a D810 with a 24–70. The system can be quite intimidating for your 5 year old niece at his birthday.
Doing commercial works, I still need to get the nice D810 resolution. But what about all the rest… I’m thinking about wedding, sports, events, lifestyle, familly, traveling, my own personal work… Was it the time for me to get a second camera? A Fuji? Doing outdoor work is also hard on the gear and I was a little bit stressed about climbing mountain with my only body that is worth 4000$ without the lens…
So plenty of reasons to jump into Fuji world
First, let’s stop hiding the fact that we like to look good, heck all the fashion industry would be out of business. That camera not only looks good, but it also makes me look good! 😁 Over time, I had the pleasure to shoot with different bodies and let’s be honest. A medium format Hasselblad will give you confidence and the feeling of being the king on the set. A Nikon/Canon make you feel like a proper trustful and respected photographer. But a Fuji made me feel like an artist. That camera actually helped with my impostor syndrome. By the time you walk the street with your own Fuji, you will feel good.
It’s like the X-T3 gave me+2 charisma and +2 wisdom on my stats 🤣
All joking aside, the body is just a tiny bit bigger than an old Nikon FE. You know, that time when the camera had the perfect size/weight ratio and the photographer couldn’t hide behind. Used to the big full frame, the X-T3 made me feel a bit vulnerable at first but it also made me feel more intimate with my subjects. You get an entirely different feeling shooting from that camera. Still, feeling like almost everybody, I was a bit scared of going back towards the APS-C format. Leaving my precious and trustworthy full-frame behind was a little challenge for my artist self-imposed impostor syndrome.
Enough talk, I went out and buy an X-T3, the 56mm 1.2 and the 10–24mm which will allow me to cover my portraits and adventures needs. That kit cost me about the same as a new D850 body only. But will it deliver? Two months later, I bought the 23mm 1.4 and the 55–200mm. 😜
I was so impressed with the picture that I actually kept shooting with the camera, I just couldn’t let the body on the counter while my Nikon was comfy relaxing in its case.
Then I tried it on an assignment for an editorial portrait, the deal was to get the shot with the Nikon first and then have fun with the Fuji. Thinking about it, I mostly shoot my editorial portraits around 5.6 on my full-frame so. I just needed to go f4.0 on the Fuji to get about the same feel and in bonus I get more speed 🤤. That crop factor can even be helpful sometimes.
I was hooked but still had to test for the very reason I bought it, traveling. My girlfriend and I planned 4 days in Iceland and it would be the perfect time to test everything. I was also excited about the medium telephoto lens that I just bought at the time…
The 55–200 f3.5–4.8
Based on this video, I saw the possibility to have a nice telephoto that I can actually travel with. I do have the magnificent 70–200 f2.8 with my Nikon kit but who travel with it? It is just not fun to travel with and believe me, I tried.
Iceland with a camera that has a soul
What can I say, it is simply not possible to say that those photos missed the full frame look in any way. I just got myself a cheaper system that gave me new possibilities for those needs. I was now able to take the same quality of picture from what I could see in a much more portable way. I even surprise myself thinking about shooting JPG. That can’t be!!!
Let’s talk JPG…
Actually, the fact that the X-T3 has two cards slots, I can shoot raw on a 64g (aprox. 1800photos) and small jpg on a 16g cards. Using the wifi feature that I thought was a gimmick but end up using it a lot, I could send the picture straight on my phone that automatically backup them on google photos. Now that I got used to the system, I even took the habit of sharing the photos to my family on location. I don’t need to import the photos back into the computer to then procrastinate and having my relatives running after me to get the shot of the party last week. Those JPGs are just that good and I often don’t feel like having to put more work on them.
A perfect camera for the people who like to capture moments without all the hassle.
Commercial Application
So okay, it’s good for the personal, lifestyle work, but still what about commercial works? I got surprised that I found the camera a bit too small for those big shooting days. Well, to be honest, it is more that the small Fuji body didn’t get me the same self-esteem level when shooting a big studio portrait than my big old Nikon. There nothing quality-wise that stop me from shooting with that camera, it is just that, we people, in general, are still used to see a big camera in studios. Solution? I end up getting the camera with the battery grip and it gave me back that feeling of shooting with a properly sized camera. Honestly, if not for resolution or any technical needs, I just prefer doing my corporate portraits on my Fuji now. It’s that more fun to shoot with.
Conclusion
For half the price, half the weight, half the size, the same perceived quality (pixel peeper just go buy yourself a Phase One and let us live) nicer JPG with the Fuji color science, no post-processing needed, no computer needed, photos directly on the phone, my conclusion is…
- Nikon got me burned out…
- …Fujifilm made me shoot again
For the technical out there who need all the specs… it would be really hard to beat the reviews and information of DPreview. It is the best ressources.
