On Wednesday, I had another 7am start at another farm for my current major project. Usually I’d have to tap the alarm snooze a couple of times for such an early rise, but not that day. That morning, full of excitement, I was out of the door with the X-T1 and X100S before the koels could start singing their songs.
It was liberating to have the load off my shoulders. I carried three Fuji lenses, the 14mm f/2.8, 35mm f1.4, and 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 for the shoots, with any one of these on the camera and the other two in lens pouches attached to a Think Tank Thin Skin Belt. It was a full day’s shoot that lasted until dusk, and as the sun descended, I still had enough energy to be bouncing around from hill to compost hill! A feat almost impossible with the Nikon D300 or D7100 and its complement of lenses.
The X-T1 performs admirably. Its unobtrusive, small but sturdy build is perfectly suited to my small hands, and I love the manual control of its dials. And that EVF! Oh that beautiful EVF. It’s so big and bright that I prefer to review images through it instead of using the LCD. The two wide angles lenses are fast and accurate, though the 35mm has a bit of a shutter/aperture blade chatter – a known issue with that lens, but its IQ is simply superlative.
For documentary reportage work, I don’t see myself wanting to return to Nikon anytime soon. I’ve found my new muse.
Some images from my main shoot of the day:
