NCD

With luck, today will be a New Camera Day. A Fuji X100.

My primary rig is a Nikon D3s and I have quite a bit of glass that goes along with that rig including the 14-24mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and the 24mm f2.8.

That system is a delight to use. It has only one drawback: size. Whenever I travel, the Nikon is a big rig to carry. Big and conspicuous — particularly with the 24-70mm. I often get approached by authorities because of the size of that camera. And it attracts a lot of attention. I guess a big machine means “serious” photography. I have never been approached when shooting with a compact. No one seems to care.

I have tried smaller compact cameras like the Canon G series. I actually went through a few of them including the G9, G11 and G12. My wife usually shoots with the G12. Nice camera. Reasonable image quality. But I never really bonded with the camera. I also picked up a Sony NEX-5. Great APS-C sized sensor, really nice image quality, so-so lens. Unfortunately the Sony is just not that convenient for me. It is too awkward with anything other than a pancake lens attached. I never cared for its handling. And I never bonded with that camera either.

So I went looking for the impossible. A high quality compact camera capable of delivering good image quality without the cost of a Nikon D3s or Leica M9. A relatively simple, straightforward image-taking machine for a photographer. My sense is that the Fuji X100 will come close to meeting that need. We’ll see.

I will be travelling to San Francisco, New York and the U.K. over the next few weeks and I am looking forward to keeping a minimalist footprint and shooting, perhaps exclusively, with the Fuji. It will be a good test of the camera and a good test of my photography skills.