I have been a Canon shooter since the original Canon 5D came out many (cough) years ago. I have been very happy with Canon, especially their glass lineup. I shot so many weddings, portraits, and other events with my Canon gear over the years, as I upgraded every once in awhile, and built up a large lens collection.
But over the past year or two, I had noticed that I wasn't shooting as much anymore for personal enjoyment. It's not just that the Canon full frame camera was large and heavy (especially with the battery grip and the large L series lenses). It was much more than that. When I would jump into my car with my dog Maddie to take a small road trip, I would look over at my large, heavy camera bag, and in a split second,
I would think 'nope, I am not carrying that around for the day.' It had become a burden to me, mentally. And that was subsequently squashing my creativity.
So quite a while back, I had started looking at mirrorless systems (stop by the Midlothian store, and we can talk ALL ABOUT why I love mirrorless systems in general). I had narrowed down my choices to Fuji and Olympus but was very hesitant to pull the trigger on switching systems. Let's face it, when you've been shooting for years with a system, it becomes second nature to you, like an extension of yourself. You don't even have to think about dials, buttons, settings, etc. Everything just flows naturally.
Fuji was particularly interesting to me, because of the rave reviews and samples I'd seen of their JPEGs straight out of the camera. A goal of mine for 2018 is to spend much less time in front of a computer editing RAW files and spend more time simply shooting, so seeing gorgeous JPEG samples with no editing was very attractive to me, personally.
So a little while back, Richmond Camera had a buyback event at the Midlothian store here, and I decided it couldn't hurt to bring in all my Canon gear and at least get an offer on the table to see what I could start with, in terms of trade-in value to switch systems. I have to say I couldn't have been happier with the service that Edward (UsedPhotoPro) provided, and I appreciated being able to get additional money as store credit.
In fact, I decided it was time to take the plunge, and I relinquished all my Canon gear. Insert moment of panic here...it felt so odd to trade in all that gear at once!
But it was entirely worth it.
I bought a Fuji X-Pro2, the 23mm (35 equivalent) f/2 lens (for the weather sealing and fast focusing), the X-E2S body (as a simple, travel backup), the 18-55 f/2.8-4 lens (one of the best kit lenses I've ever seen), and the 50-140 f/2.8 lens (my go to 70-200 equivalent, roughly). I also got the Peak Design Everyday Messenger Bag (my favorite bag I've ever had!) and the Peak Design Summit Blue Strap my favorite strap ever, I love the way it lets the camera hang vertically, right against the hip). You can stop by the Midlothian store to see my setup.
The Fuji system has been everything I had hoped it would be.
Light, fast, durable, gorgeous picture quality (even has me going back to shooting JPEG instead of RAW), great film emulation presets in-camera, a hybrid viewfinder, beautiful ISO quality, and the list goes on and on. I love the ability to switch between optical and electronic viewfinder, the built-in WiFi, the simple and reliable Fuji app, just, well, everything! I still have respect for Canon and other camera manufacturers as well, but Fuji 'gets me' as a photographer, and I love that.
So now when I am jumping in the car to go somewhere, I am once again grabbing my camera. And that means I am taking more photos than ever before, and THAT makes me happy. It's not about which camera system is better (that is so subjective), it's about finding the RIGHT camera for YOU. And for what I wanted, what I need, the Fuji system has been amazing thus far. And let's be honest...there is something invigorating about switching camera systems.
It gives you a spark of creativity, a boost of photographic energy.
If you want to learn more about the Fuji system, we have a Fuji demo event coming up at our Patterson location this Saturday! And as always, feel free to stop by Midlothian any day to talk to me about my switch to Fuji, and I can explain things in much greater detail! And let me just give a quick shout out to local camera stores everywhere... if I hadn't been able to pick up and hold the Fuji in advance, I don't think I would have felt comfortable making the switch. It's absolutely wonderful to have this resource, for me as a photographer.
Bonus Note: When you switch to mirrorless, get extra batteries. Personally, I prefer having extra batteries in my bag vs. using a battery grip. Stop by the store and I can show you why!
-Brian Clary, Store Manager, Richmond Camera Midlothian