Did I give up on the X100F too soon? Nah.

It took me less than 24 hours with the Fuji X100F to know it wasn’t the camera for me. One of the main reasons I switched to a Fuji X-T1 three years ago was the tactile nature of shooting. There was a dedicated dial or control ring or button for just about everything. I could look at my camera and know exactly what the settings were. It felt like shooting my old Canon AE-1 and I loved that.

The X100F is a beautiful camera but it lacks that tactile feel.

I find myself having to go into the internal menu often to adjust things that can’t be controlled via the custom function buttons (bracketing, shooting mode, etc) and it reminds me too much of shooting my Canon DSLR’s back in the day. That’s not a good thing. (I’m sure this is all complete gibberish for anyone unfamiliar with photography gear. Sorry).

Another feature I really miss is an articulating screen. As someone who wears glasses, I rely on this feature a lot because I can’t put my eye to the viewfinder without smudging my glasses.

And so, the X100F will go back tomorrow and my new Fuji X-T2 should be arriving in a few days. I really love the premise of the X100 series and the styling is on point (I wish they’d remove the front branding from the X-T2) but for me, the pros don’t outweigh the cons.

However, in my quest to simplify, I am keeping just one of my lenses (the 23mm f/1.4, which has been my most used) because working within the constraints of just one focal length is really appealing to me.

I did really appreciate the challenge of shooting with a rangefinder style camera, which I’ve never done before. Working with new gear did cause me to shift my perspective and think outside my normal box. It was, in a word, refreshing.

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