efirmage
Established
Lately my photography has been going through quite a dry spell, weathering a busy senior year in college, and now working full time in an office. I bought the d800 when it came out in hopes that I would be able to dedicate some time to real photo trips. It's an absolutely stunning camera, and far more capable than I was at using it, but those photo trips didn't pan out due to some life changes, and the d800 began to feel like a very expensive paperweight.
I had a real crisis of where I wanted photography to be in my life. I had planned for some time to be a pro photographer, and the SLR equipment was purchased to foster that growth. But things change. I'll be selling the d800 next week.
Fuji caught my attention by discounting the X-E1. I was on the verge of using my phone as my main camera, but I thought that I could at least give the X-E1 a shot and see if this would be able to be a camera that can accompany me, not require dedicated photo trips, but still put out photos that justify the cost.
It may be premature to say it at this point, but my thoughts right now are that this could have been the best photography decision I've made since purchasing the Leica M6 5 years ago.
I adore the images that the X-E1 produces. The sensor is certainly not on par with the d800, but the images have a tactility and richness that I have not seen from many digital cameras. The autofocus is adequate, the manual focus is smooth and well implemented, the EVF gives you all the information you need at a glance, and it's about a third the weight of my Nikon.
This is a camera that I already love using. The most glaring issue I see is that the grip is a little small for supporting the weight of the camera and a lens. I'll probably be looking to get a lens mate thumb rest (or something along those lines) to help the ergonomics a bit. Other than that, no complaints.
Photography these days has a tendency to become far more gear driven than is healthy or productive. But the camera, and the experience of using the camera is integral to the kind of images you can produce. For me, the X-E1 is the perfect blend.
Here are a few pictures from my first day out with the camera.
I'll be posting more photos on my blog. The images look far better there than in the embedded post as well.
http://thesignified.tumblr.com
I had a real crisis of where I wanted photography to be in my life. I had planned for some time to be a pro photographer, and the SLR equipment was purchased to foster that growth. But things change. I'll be selling the d800 next week.
Fuji caught my attention by discounting the X-E1. I was on the verge of using my phone as my main camera, but I thought that I could at least give the X-E1 a shot and see if this would be able to be a camera that can accompany me, not require dedicated photo trips, but still put out photos that justify the cost.
It may be premature to say it at this point, but my thoughts right now are that this could have been the best photography decision I've made since purchasing the Leica M6 5 years ago.
I adore the images that the X-E1 produces. The sensor is certainly not on par with the d800, but the images have a tactility and richness that I have not seen from many digital cameras. The autofocus is adequate, the manual focus is smooth and well implemented, the EVF gives you all the information you need at a glance, and it's about a third the weight of my Nikon.
This is a camera that I already love using. The most glaring issue I see is that the grip is a little small for supporting the weight of the camera and a lens. I'll probably be looking to get a lens mate thumb rest (or something along those lines) to help the ergonomics a bit. Other than that, no complaints.
Photography these days has a tendency to become far more gear driven than is healthy or productive. But the camera, and the experience of using the camera is integral to the kind of images you can produce. For me, the X-E1 is the perfect blend.
Here are a few pictures from my first day out with the camera.
I'll be posting more photos on my blog. The images look far better there than in the embedded post as well.
http://thesignified.tumblr.com
