A Street Photography Experience with the X100t

How I ended up with a X100t?

A few weeks ago I decided to sell all my main gear and buy a new camera that would aloud me to move freely without a big bag and 30 extra lenses that were also heavy. After researching online for some good compact cameras (mostly mirrorless),  I found myself struggling to decide between an Olympus EM-5 MKII  or a X100t, which was a really hard decision to make; but after a lot of thinking I decided to buy a X100t because it had a fixed lens and I liked that it would force me to use only one angle of view (35mm) and nothing else, after all, all I used with my D7100 was a 50mm.

Fast forward to last week, I got the camera in the mail and I instantly loved it. The camera is small, REALLY small, as small as my Nikon one touch. It is also really well built, you can feel it by how heavy it is, plus it looks sleek as hell.  Also, the mode dials are way better than a electronic display, I like the visual effect and the feel of it, it’s just a beautifully built camera. Oh and it fits perfectly into my new camera bag set-up (Which I’m going to write about on some other post).

How it was to shoot with it on the streets?

 It was great, I got shots I would’ve never attempted to get with my big D7100 but with the Fuji everything seems easier, people don’t look so much at you, it’s lighter so it’s better if you’re planning on going to the streets for a couple of hours, it’s fast and it’s just fun to shoot with. I found it somewhat relaxing to shoot with this camera rather than any other camera I’ve ever owned, which I feel is the best thing this camera offers, and that is, to enjoy photography in an easy and refreshing way.

Now on functionality…

The camera performs great in Aperture Priority I literally don’t have the need to set it up completely on manual, because the camera reads everything how it supposed to, on basically every situation. 

The EVF is freaking gold, I love that thing, it’s sharp and it gives you a live preview of how your image is going to look like beforehand which its great. I’ve heard complaints about how it could get a bit laggy sometimes and all that, but I really don’t see the lag, not even at night. 

The focusing is pretty fast, maybe faster than my old D7100, so it’s great for street photography and for skateboarding and that’s key for me. And believe me if the camera says is in focus, it definitely focused, its almost perfect.

The camera is dead silence, literally muted. I can barely hear it, even when I’m looking trough the view finder when the camera is really close to my ear, I mean you’d be lucky if you even feel the shutter go. This makes the camera so much more stealthy, it’s just a perfect camera for street photography nobody can hear you taking pictures of them which again, is awesome!

The Wi-Fi and App. It is definitely not a necessity for me but its a great feature to have especially when you are shooting someone you don’t know and you would like to send them a file just so they could keep it (works great for promo). And also if you’re on the street or an event and want or need to quickly upload something to social media this is the feature for you. Lastly, the remote viewing through the phone is a clever way to take pictures of people while looking like you’re just on your phone using Facebook.

Something I didn’t like was the battery power, it doesn’t last much, basically not enough for a full shoot, luckily I bought 3 batteries so it’s enough for a good 2-3 hrs shoot. So I would recommend buying a few extra life savers with the camera.

Now the last thing I will talk about ( ‘cause I don’t like extensive reviews and I’m pretty sure you don’t like ‘em either) is the sensor. The X-trans or X-something sensor from Fuji is SO sharp, like WAY better than my D7100, its stupidly sharp, like man I’m impressed with it, Fuji did an amazing job with that sensor. But I’m guessing I should show you some images for you to understand why I’m so obsessed with the sensor, so here we go…

To conclude my small, one week based, review of the X100t I should say that this is a great camera, and that every photographer should have one just because of its great sensor and compact size. For me, the camera is a full on professional work camera although I still haven’t shot fashion on it yet (But I will do, and I will also write about it here on the blog) but it fulfills all my necessities in terms of my work and I’m sure it could handle my fashion shoots too, I just haven’t done ‘em yet. If you’re looking for a small, good looking camera with a pro quality sensor this should be it, no doubt about it. So, go ahead and buy yourself an X100t whenever you can, I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it.