I travel quite a bit. I’m frequently teaching photography at local and state organizations and I do some stuff with the Professional Photographers Association in Atlanta not to mention family trips and the like. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to start carrying a camera with me when I was on the road but I didn’t want to carry my big work camera (the Canon 5DMK3).
I did a lot of research because I love that sort of thing (you don’t want to see me buy a car.) I kept coming back to this one camera made by Fuji, the Fuji X100F (actually, I bought the x100S first, then upgraded earlier this year). It was different than most small cameras. It had a prime lens so you couldn’t zoom. It had a hybrid viewfinder like an old-school rangefinder camera. You couldn’t swap the lens. All of these things would never be accepted on my work camera yet, despite these drawbacks, I kept reading reviews about how awesome the camera was. I soon realized that it was a “niche” camera. It did a few things really well but it wasn’t designed to be all things. Because of it’s “limitations” it got to be other things that were unique, like fit in my pocket if needed and, in my opinion, be the most beautiful camera in the world.
So I bought one. It was love at first click. Except it doesn’t really click because it has a leaf shutter that is practically noiseless.
Since then I’ve added a lot of accessories to my travel kit. Last year I spoke at Imaging USA and mentioned that I had a great travel camera during my program. I was stopped several times over the next couple of days and asked about so I thought I’d make a video that details everything I carry in my travel kit and why I carry it.
Enjoy!