I was an avid Canon supporter for many many years, enjoying my 450D, 7D and then 5D. I treated them like my prize possessions and very wary if anyone even touched them – in particular my 5D. I enjoyed landscape photography, mainly because if I missed the shot, it was normally still there to try again later. I normally had (and still have) my trusty golden retriever to accompany me on sunrises, sunsets etc – she’s always keen to be out and as I have to walk her anyway, it encouraged me to get up more often at those ridiculous hours.
So, picture this (pardon the pun), no matter what lens I took, I always wanted the one I left behind – so I found it easier to take them all. Admittedly I didn’t have too many, but minimum 4 on every journey, tripod, filters to name a few items. So each walk turned into a heavy hike, ok I may be exaggerating a little…. but because of this I did start getting a sore neck and shoulders that I could not shake.
To cut that long story short, out with the big camera and lenses, and in with the mirrorless Fuji XT-3. This was not an easy decision as I really loved my Canon, and felt part of a Canon club (versus the nasty Nikon – all jovial fun, well in my eyes anyway). I had read many reviews of the Fuji being smaller, and my real inspiration came from photographer Emily Endean who happens to live locally. Actually she is now an ambassador for Fuji. I asked her many questions and the biggest part to me was everyone saying the Fuji was a completely different and fun experience. So in came the brand new, smaller Fuji XT3 with lenses.
The experience was just this – fun, smaller, easier to handle, and I even let my kids and hubby touch it! And after 4 years, I still use it on a regular basis and love using this. I have the 16-85 and 70-300 (my all time favourite) lenses along with a couple of prime Viltrox lenses which also prove to be very handy particularly in low light with their excellent aperture. I haven’t started this blog to give the technical comparisons, there are many others for this, and the camera has since been superseded with the XT4 & 5.
And the main reason was to have a lighter camera as we love our travel so much. Rick and I only took cabin baggage to Malta for a week’s holiday which included the XT3, lenses, Manfrotto tripod, Lee filters/holder, batteries and remote. Yes, Rick helped share the load. It worked and as normal even travelling light, there was still a couple of t-shirts I didn’t wear.
The XT3 has certainly been an easier camera to use for my hobby and used extensively in our most recent trip to New Zealand for Christmas to see family. I will still argue you cannot capture ‘the’ shots on a phone that you can achieve on a ‘real’ camera…
This is where the BUT comes in. With all the love and passion I have had for amateur photography, I always have my iPhone on me and photograph everything! The quality of these is getting better and better all the time and I actually enjoy using this too (ask anyone at work, as if there’s anything going on, they all shout for me to capture it – I am in Marketing and do the Social Media).
The jury is not out yet, but over the next few travels, I am considering just taking my phone and see if I can ‘cope’ and not get palpitations on shots I could’ve got with the XT3.