Let me start off with saying this is not my best work. It’s not Andre’ the Fuji X100F’s fault. Most decide to blame the camera when they aren’t hitting well. I don’t I am accountable to myself first and foremost.
Restless sleep last night as always and with most Vets. But this was different. Instead of seeing bad dreams and visions, I was seeing Andre’ in my hand and around my neck and we were walking and just relaxing . We need to get to know each other. Now, I live in Philadelphia, USA, the home of Freedom and Liberty and even soft pretzels. So, walking down the streets talking to my camera may seem odd but it’s acceptable.
Anyone can buy and use a Fuji X100F or any of the Fuji cameras. It’s that simple…..but there exist a small esoteric group of believers in Magic, Love and MOJO. I am a proud member. I would rather be out looking for the photos that are looking for me. That means I need as little of intrusions as possible. Just like magic, intrusions will break the spell of love.
Photography is about love. Love of being a human with a camera, seeing, the lovely sense of vision, the feeling of being an observer and trying to understand what lay in front of our lens. It’s about passion and the way that passion drives our heart to want to make photos. It’s about looking at our photos and just being so satisfied and not worrying about others think or feel.
Photography is about communication and the dialog we get with ourselves and with others. It’s about gear and if you don’t love your gear, it’s not right, get rid of it. If your not attached to your camera, poof! It’s about love, the love of seeing, the love of feeling, the love of living and the realization that we are merely visitors on the planet for an undefined period of time. We as photographers have the gift and responsibility to show what life and the planet looked like while we lived.
I write about this because I have a passion for life and photography that never ceases to burn. So what does this have t do with the Fuji X100F? Ok, here’s the way it is for me. I am totally in love with photography. That means that I must be totally in love with my camera. It must love me in return. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but trust me, at my age, I have seen a thing or two. Rumor has it that there are many shooters that think and feel of their camera as a tool. Shhhhhhh!
I can’t fathom that. I mean really. A camera is a tool. We all have our rights to think and do as we please. Even if that’s like some kind of detachment to things, it’s sad to me.
Andre’ the Fuji X100F is a fine camera and will be a close friend in a short period of time. For the time being, We need to shoot JPEGs because Adobe is taking their time. Affinity does the X100F raw files and works well. I hear Silkypix does also. The thing is, when I get into this situation and am forced to use JPEGs, I start to rethink things. Look at the photo above. This is bright sunlight. The dark tones in the windows holds detail easily.
The highs like the statue’s feet, there is detail. Maybe you can’t see it so well on the screen but I dang sure can on the original. This is SOOC. Amazing. I’m using Acros for these and will try Acros+r soon. Maybe I don’t need raw as much as I thought. I mean, this is better then fine. That’s really what I’m doing right now, testing the camera. I have to tell you, Andre’ is a champ.
It’s fitting Andre’ would make a photo like this. I uses M Focus mostly and at f11. I’m focused at 7.7′ and that gives me 3.8′ to infinity. Same as if I was using my M camera and a 35mm lens. The other thing is I use M Mode with auto ISO. The meter in the X100F is really tuned. It doesn’t get fooled but contrast range. Ya get 3 auto ids settings, plus L & H.
So, say you wanted to work in your own way. well normal people would kinda set the high limit to maybe 6400. Perhaps they would set the low limit to 200.
Well, what if you wanted to over expose you frame? I mean I do that all the time well not all the time but a lot of the time and it works. In Manual mode proper, you set 3 points of exposure. Aperture, shutter and ISO. Fuji put the Exp Comp on a dedicated dial and I never use it. I’d like that to be programmable. So, that’s like the purist way to use M Mode. Changing any one of the points will either make an under exposure or over exposure.
I like Auto ISO and the X100F does it very well. So, if I set the limits on Auto ISO in a way that would intentionally over or under expose, for me it’s more fulfilling. It allows me to think about exposure in a way that allows me to design the tonal range.
Above is also SOOC. Kinda scary to me because it’s all there. Her face is visible and that’s an achievement in itself. The shadow detail is utterly amazing. JPEG, out of camera, hmmmmm? Adobe better get their act together quickly. Look at the mid tones and even the highs. The detail is super. The X100F does exactly what I need a camera to do and then some.
I’m not selling these cameras, recommending this camera, just using it.
I am not a X Shooter or whatever they are labelled. I certainly have interviewed many X Shooters. It’s not about that, it’s about a camera for me that does what I need it to do, that creates a symbiotic love affair with me and that provides an internal satisfaction to live as a shooter. 
There is a feeling of creative freedom that I must have or I don’t work. I watch CNN and get ranty. No good at all. I’m only a few days with Andre’ the Fuji X100F but I see the path ahead and it’s gonna be a pretty picture, I tellya. I did do some very low light stuff with AF and this camera is not the fastest and none are but it’s extremely accurate. Hey, look… if your in low light, what the heck is the big hurry?
I did some work on theis because I wanted to see if the tones would block up. Ya know how when ya lower the highs a lot they get that funky gray tones, This doesn’t. The shadows are all there and it seems that Fuji did a bang up jog on the X100F
What it comes down to is….. for me a camera is more then a tool. (The Horror!) My cameras are my friends, my companions, my collaborators in my creative life. I name my camera’s because they are a part of me and I am a part of them.
The Fujifilm X100F is a great friend. If you see it as a tool, be blessed and I hope someday you see fit to name your camera. If you don’t and it’s just a tool, good, it’s a great tool. For me, there are windmills out there and Andre’ the Fuji X100F and I are out to find them and conquer our fears of being a human Being.
I’ll do more in a day or so.
Enjoyed the shots and commentary. If Amazon would ever get mine to me, I hope to bond with it as well. If you happen to know a store that has a black one in stock, let me know and I’ll cancel my order with Amazon. I’ve got a feeling we are going to see great work from you and Andre
Mike, thanks. Adorama should have it, Ask for Sy.
Good luck, you’ll love the camera.
Hello Don,
You asked me “what relation do I have with my camera”. I told you that it was just a tool. Nothing more.
I also told you that “I haven’t figured out yet the profound reason why I’m hitting the streets with my camera…”
Well still looking for answers, but the good point by reading articles on Eric Kim blog ans yours (just to name few), you’re opening my mind (and my heart). My camera (Ricoh GRD IV) might be considered differently on the future…
Best regards
Jeff
Jeff, thanks. Many think that my issues about naming cameras is maybe childish ot just a game. I will say this. No one has clearer vision then a child, I am not one. What happens with a child as he/she grows is the constant barrage of feelings, thoughts and opinions from others to drown the innocence. So, the naming of a camera in my heart and minds eye is the recognition that photography is all important for me and that it consumes me. I let that happen because I try to stay as much of a human as possible.
So, I name my camera because of my love of photography and that name covers all that I do or will do or hope to do in that entire life style. The attachment of things in our life it always there and by naming it, it creates a symbiotic relationship that I love to exist with. It’s very easy to talk about all the nice things in photography but for me, I live it and Andre’ lives it with me. He’s not the obly camera but for right now, he’s the new kid on the block.
We are just getting to know each other but it’s a fine light ahead for us.
Hi Don,
It’s a bulls eye, your statement “… Photography is about communication and the dialog we get with ourselves and with others. It’s about gear …” and, by extension, is this camera proving to be a better ‘Babel Fish’ for your photographic galaxy ? …
Sean
Thanks Sean. I know you get what I’m saying when I kinda get it right and your comments are inspiring. Thanks for being on the other end my friend.
Thanks for sharing your images and thoughts on the 100F . The camera beckons me! Just curious … did you go for the silver or black? Do you feel that there is anything to the thought that black is better for street shooting as it is more stealthy? Have fun out there this week with your new friend. Looking forward to seeing what you two capture.
Dave, I made the decision like this. My X100 was silver, then the X100s was black, then the X100T was silver. Now this is very scientific. I thought about this and decided the X100f should be and is black. I don’t like to think about stealth. I rather blend in like a tourist and maintain the position that stealth implies taking photos and I make photos so I drift in and out of observer and participant as the scene requires.
weather is breaking and I’ll be out there a lot.
be blessed my friend
Hi Don, You were excited about Andre; I get excited when you post a new blog ! Keep going my friend. Inspiring reading and great images !
Thanks Dean, that’s very nice to know.
cheers
Photography for me is more about the mages. The work that leads to the images. I had a teacher say, “Sometimes you’re on the express train, and sometimes you’re on the local.” The camera for me the a tool that gets me on the on my journey. I bond with them or don’t. It’s funny, I used to go through them like shoes. The one camera I always stayed with was the Leica, but the GR series never ever let me down. I could do things with that camera that the Leica could never do. I have a Fuji. It feels like a Leica. Makes me shoot like I have a Leica, but alas, it is not the Leica, and it’s not the GR. Nothing is perfect. I wish I could change lenses on it. But if I had only one, the 28mm has always been my choice. Hence the GR comes with me everywhere no matter what else I might be carrying.
I feel ya here Don in these images. Maybe, as you said, you’re not walking your stride. But you’re here. And that’s good.
Thanks Keith. My natural FOV is and has always been, 35mm. When Fuji was chatting about the X100 and still just teasing, word was that the camera would sport a 23mm = 35mm lens. I couldn’t have been happier. I have esential tremor and when my hand comes to my dace area, I get shakes. So in close quarters with an M, I can’t focus. Low light, same. The X100’s give me AF and a similar experience and that’s what has me.
I don’t look back at my cameras and miss them as they were, are. all friends.
I’m really in the beginning stages of understanding and finding a common ground with the X100f but it’s an enjoyable effort.
I look forward to hearing and seeing your experiences with it Don!
Me too Keith, me too.
You say this isn’t your best work but I really like it. My favorite picture is the second picture of the man in the hoodie and black gloves. I also thought the pants picture was funny and nicely timed. Sometimes you just need to putter around with something new so you don’t get stagnant or too comfortable. It’s fun to switch things up a bit. I’m glad you’ve posted pictures with this camera and your thoughts on it because I was considering getting it. I thought I was done with photography but I’m starting to get that bug again.
Tina, first off thanks.
I have been watching you with concern. Buying cameras, selling cameras, not posting much. Then I realized that this is the process for those the make photos not because they want to but because they have to.
I wait anxiously as my friend Tina re-groups and gets back to work.
don
I’ve never thought to name my camera…boats, dogs, children, paintings ya, but it makes a lot of sense to me now…..a companion that offers constant comment and complimentary points of view….yes to a name for a friend that remembers the moment the way that we will, without malice and with an appetite for something new
thank you, Don, for sharing so much treasure!
Thanks Ray. Please post the name of your camera when you both decide what it is.
I’ve decided to name my ( GX8 w/ the 58mm Rokkor f1.4 ) Furthermore….before, I used an E-M5 which was a good place to start, but I had to share that camera with my woman, Ruth….this was not so good because when it was her turn with it, all I could see were the shots she was missing….that went on for about a year and then we were able to get Furthermore…..Furthermore came at a good price but not in a box and the Minolta lens is old from the sixties like me….for most of my life, working a camera remained a mystery….working with Furthermore, now since August, I have had the pleasure of learning something new every day….discovery returns one to childhood, no?
thanks for asking
cheers
r
r, Furthermore is an interesting name. I don’t know that discovery returns to childhood but perhaps it guides us to a state of acceptance and hunger to discover furthermore.
If you have some work online, I’d like to see what your seeing.
d
http://rchorneau.wordpress.com
(selected) Or
americanseekingasylum@flickr.com
(daily posts)