Why You Still Need A Pocket Camera

The SMARTPHONE - be it an iPhone, Android or otherwise - has replaced a variety of personal items and stand-alone gadgets.  Planners, note pads, maps, alarm clocks and most particularly - your affordable pocket point & shoot digital camera.

The picture quality of smartphones now rivals those of dedicated point & shoots and sharing them has never been easier and quicker.  Such things cannot be done with your point & shoot.  But hold on. That being said, however, there are still some very good reasons to have pocket point & shoot.

Impressions: A Week with Fujifilm X-Pro1

Fujifilm X-Pro1 in tandem with the new X100S.  Photo courtesy of Isagani Penaranda.

The X-Pro 1 is Fujifilm's flagship X-Series camera.  Through Gulf Photo Plus and Fujifilm ME's loan program, photographers residing in UAE and a few, like myself, in nearby countries had the chance to try out Fuji's X-Series cameras.  I borrowed the X-Pro 1 together with 3 prime lenses - 18/2, 35/1.4 and 60/2.4 to find out if an all-Fuji system would suit me and eventually . . . huh . . . if it's possible to migrate from DSLR to Fuji mirrorless.  Why not Sony?  Or Olympus or Panasonic?  I don't know but they just don't appeal to me.  I was looking at Sony's NEX-6 and 7 but couldn't make myself to like their user interface.  The Fuji's look more like a viable "pro-camera" in a small package.

Fujifilm X100S - "It's not an 'S', in my world it means . . ."

My new FUJIFILM X100s.  It's a truly desirable camera although its beauty goes beyond it's gorgeous looks.

Oh . . . like the 'guy' who said that, the Fujifilm X100S is both speedy and stylish.  When mine was finally delivered to my office, our receptionist kind of saw the price of the package and she was curious to see what's inside.  So I showed her and she said, "Yeah, nice camera."  But . . . with a puzzled facial expression that says otherwise.  She can't seem to understand why I would pay a thousand dollars plus for an "old camera".  Then I showed it to my Project Manager, and then to another Project Manager, and then to a few colleagues.  They all had the same reaction.  No one, not even the photography hobbyists were impressed.  If you have not heard of the buzz that Fujifilm has been making for the last couple of years, chances are you won't get it either.  That's not to say it's a bad thing.  It simply proves WHO this camera was made for - for real photographers, not for the "guys-with-camera".

Rogue Honeycomb Grid

When you have outgrown shoot thru umbrellas, it can't be bad to move and experiment with other modifiers such as grids and snoots.  I've had the rectangular Honl made grids before but I did not grew fond of using them.  They stayed in my bag though, not because I like using them but simply for the purpose of "just-in-case".  My main issue with it is its difficulty to be attached securely and accurately to any of my flashes. And the beam it throws is not as circular as I want them to be.  Anyway I have the Rogue Grid now and I just love it.