I’m really late to the party on this one, like, really, really late. I know a bunch of photojournalists have already jumped ship and made the switch to a mirrorless system. I’m a creature of habit and I hate change when it comes to my workflow. Well, until this past week that is.

For years I toyed with the idea of going mirrorless; I’d add one to my BH shopping cart, take it out, add it back, take it out. I just couldn’t commit to spending that type of money on something I viewed as a novelty, not a necessity.

Then came too many options. Did I want fixed lens? Did I want Sony? What about Fuji? It seemed like every time I went to purchase too many different makes and models came up and I was tired before I even started the research of reviews.

Last week I decided to just go for it and buy one. A friend of mine was able to get me a super discount at Fuji, of which I heard great reviews about in regards to their mirrorless systems, and I took the opportunity. I purchased a Fuji XT-10 with a 27mm/2.8 and a kit lens of 16-50mm. It has 16.3 MP and a APS-C X-Trans CMOS II Sensor.

Here are some examples taken with the 27mm/2.8 lens.

DETAIL

This is a self portrait of…myself. I just took it selfie style with my arm outstretched in front of me so I could show you guys how it looks taking a quick portrait. The detail and sharpness of the lens really blew me away; in my opinion it outshines my Canon L-series lenses.

This is an image of my sister, Allison, converted to greyscale. Both images had minimal toning and no color correction, well, obviously aside from the black and white.

I think the main thing that impresses me is how well this camera senses light. I’ve had trouble in the past translating light into my camera the way I compose around it. This little guy does a fantastic job of capturing light the way I see it.  Here are some images of my friends Shae, Rob, and Abbey. It also does a good job of picking up skin tones.

The Fuji XT-10 has settings that emulate film – makes sense since it’s designed to look like an old school film camera. For all of these photos I’ve kept it on the “Pro.Neg Std”setting for “portraits with soft gradations and skin tones.”

Color rendition is vibrant but not too saturated. I shot with this on a photo assignment to see how the colors looked through a film emulation setting. This was for the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Floatilla event. It was super sunny and bright and hard to see but the images rendered better than I thought once I was able to take a look.

Here’s some from traveling in Florida. It’s so great because it weighs only a little but more than my phone. Lugging heavy camera gear is the last thing I want to do when I travel and am on vacation – save the heavy stuff for work.

Wireless Feature Alert

One of the coolest things about this little camera is that it also has wireless capabilities. You can upload directly from camera to your iPhone. You can also use your iPhone as a remote for it with live view. I wasn’t aware of this when I bought it, another fellow PJ friend showed it to me and it changed my world. This makes shooting on the go (literally on the go) much more convenient.

Bottom line: Absolutely recommended. The retail price is $800 for the body and about $300-$500 per lens. The kit lens is a 16-50mm and you can get that for $900. I recommended replacing the kit lens with a prime, such as the 27mm 2.8.

I highly doubt I’ll be jumping ship to completely mirrorless anytime soon, however, the Fuji is a must have for my camera bag from now on.

All photos taken with a Fuji XT10.
Please do not repost without permission.