Fujifilm and me

A photographer's perspective on an ongoing relationship

By Chenthil Mohan

July 21^st, 2017

"Over the last three years, Fujifilm X series cameras have had me hooked and fall in love with photography all over again. My relationship with Fujifilm has not come without its fair share of issues (read Fujifilm India) and learnings"

In April 2014, I ventured into buying Fujifilm X100s. After years of using Nikon system cameras, the intention was to change things a bit. I always wanted a powerful yet compact point and shoot camera which could be my go to device when I am travelling and a backup camera in the bag if my hardened Nikon D700 shutter fails me someday. At least that was my initial idea while buying the X100s.

Early days with the X100s was largely shooting images around the home and daily life/travel stories. But as days went by and I got used to the Fuji way of operating, I started introducing the X100s into work scenario. Initially as the second camera in weddings. It was super fun to shoot weddings with the X100s. I still was tentative about the speed of the system then and always relied more on my Nikon D700 as a primary device. There was this one wedding where I forced myself to shoot only with the Fuji X100s. To address my insecurities, I had a second shooter who was on an all Nikon kit. It felt quite liberating that I could shove a camera in front of someone's face and they barely noticed me. But the AF speed still worried me. The fear of missing a frame still kept me going back to my Nikon systems. These were the early days when Fujifilm had already started rolling out the XPRO and X-Series Lenses etc.

A good friend and a fellow photographer Abhishek Scariya had jumped into Fujifilm earlier and was doing a fair bit of work by then with his X100. He kept himself updated on the new updates Fujifilm was making and was considering making the big move once the Fujifilm launched XT1. Wait and watch was the name of my game. At that point, I never believed I would move away from Nikon systems (late 2014). Around the same time, the sheer weight of my Nikon systems was taking its toll on my wrists and on my back. I needed a wrist support while shooting. When Abhi bought the Fujifilm XT1, I remember playing with it and was blown away by what it did for its size and it was not an MFT (micro four thirds) system.

"At the cost of buying a Nikon 85mm lens, I could buy a Fujifilm XT1 and the Fujifilm 56mm f1.2 lens! AND it would be waaay lighter !!"

Boom ! Without much thinking I jumped in and bought the XT1 and 56mm lens (Nov 2014).

85mm range is an unforgiving focal length for shooters like me who are more used to 24mm and wider focal lengths. This combined with a new system after 6 years of Nikon was a nightmare of sorts. But that is where Fujifilm slowly and steadily started winning me over. Unlike conventional DSLRs, Fujifilm kept updating their camera firmware at regular intervals. With every firmware update, it felt like I got an all new camera. Some of these updates were massive. My shooting style slowly started to change. The Fujifilm experience started to slow things down and made me appreciate the whole process of making images.

Fast forward to 2015, my last vacation till date (to Meghalaya) I managed just fine with just the X100s and the XT1. But on the work front, I was getting restless that I had to deal with two systems. I am a photographer who likes to be up close to all the action and an 85mm range was not cutting it at all. By now I was considering the unthinkable of jumping ships to an all Fujifilm system with talks of the new XPro-2 making rounds. By January 2016, I had already bought my self a Zeiss 12mm / Fujifilm 35mm and tried out an all Fujifilm gig at a couple of weddings. Without much thought, I pre-ordered the XPro-2 and completely shifted in 2016 and have never looked back. My kit bag has become much smaller, I carry a LOT of batteries and absolutely enjoy my time with X system. I've even shot sports assignments with these systems recently, thanks to Fujifilm India's support in making available their amazing Tele lenses to me. Now, I am even listed as a Fujifilm X-Photographer in the company's global website!

I'd be lying if I said all things were rosy! Nearly all my complaints carry with the Fujifilm systems is the lack of support for these amazing cameras in India. Some of my complaints are discussed in this post by SILK Photos that I contributed to last year.

Granular details of my personal experiences and shortfalls of Fujifilm's existence in India should be a dedicated post by itself (coming soon). But in a nutshell, Fujifilm India largely relies on its monopoly in the paper business and for some weird reason has chosen to push its Instax series over the X systems. Their service and support in India are still not up to speed for a working professional like me who makes a living with these devices. In today's time where the world is flat, the price variance is still huge compared to the international markets. Fujifilm India moves at a snail's pace and is not nearly as aggressive as their competitors. The company has just started out to engage with the professional photographer community and are taking baby steps to rectify the huge lacuna they have built around themselves. My hope and prayers are that Fujifilm India realises the potential of this amazing line of cameras and start moving forward aggressively in the years to come with competitive pricing, availability of products in sync with global launch and access to service centres.