Back with a favourite camera

 Once I had realised that photography was going to be more than a passing phase, I decided to pull the trigger on one of the high end cameras of its day, the Fujifilm X100s.

It was a second hand purchase and although the prices for used gear were not the levels of today, it was still a little more than most other cameras of the time.

I liked the idea of the single focal length, 35mm full frame equivalent and I attribute this camera for this being my favourite focal length to this day.
I happily used the 100s for over a year but was always looking to eventually purchase a full frame camera so the 100s was, in hindsight regrettably sold.

More recently these older fuji cameras are fetching silly prices, so if I wanted to reunite myself with another (to keep this time) I was more than likely going to have to bite the bullet.

About a week ago, I was making a habitual search for another potential purchase in the local classifieds online, when to my surprise, a reasonably priced 100s was up for sale.
Thinking it was bound to have been snapped up already, I sent the seller a message, expecting the 'no sorry, it's gone' reply but to my surprise, it was still up for grabs.

After an exchange of messages, I had arranged to possibly purchase this little beauty the following day.

As soon as the 100s was in my hands, I knew it was coming home, it was in immaculate condition and had taken less than 8000 shots, according to the cameras shutter count data.

The seller had kindly charged both batteries, so I was able to get out immediately after my purchase and rekindle my enjoyment of this camera once more.

A ten minute drive to Teignmouth for a test shoot was the perfect way to spend a couple hours of a work day afternoon.

The seaside images are from my first afternoon outing, the sunrise and blue hour images from my second outing last Saturday.

I had forgotten just how good the images from the 's' were and took my time on my editing in capture one. 

Yes, I feel like I am reunited with an old friend, yet I still do not feel that I want or need to have the latest iteration of the 100 series, when these older cameras have given me so much enjoyment in the last couple of years.

One thing that I will be doing more often with this camera, is using the optical view finder more, challenging myself to set exposure settings via metering, rather than with the EVF, and harder still, not looking at the images until I have got back home.

Some may argue that this method is counter productive, in that any mistakes can be corrected right away but for me, it is like opening those developed photos in the days of film after waiting patiently for over a week!