Fujifilm has already produced and delivered more copies of the X100VI than any other previous X100-series model. There are more X100VI’s in the hands of photographers right now than X100V, or X100F, or X100T, etc.. That’s truly amazing, since the X100VI was released only about a year-and-a-half ago, while the other models had production runs closer to four years.
The reason why Fujifilm has made so many copies of this camera is because of the unprecedented historic demand for it. By far, there were more preorders for the X100VI than any other camera by any manufacturer ever. No camera in the history of cameras has had so much interest at announcement. And, if the demand doesn’t relent anytime soon, it could possibly lead to the X100VI becoming the most-sold camera of all time (not including cellphones), which would be a highly improbable achievement. I don’t think that will happen—not even close—because surely the demand isn’t that strong. At some point, it will certainly back off to a more “normal” level, right?
There are still people lamenting that they can’t get their hands on a Fujifilm X100VI. They’d like to buy one, but can’t find it in stock anywhere. As soon as a camera store lists it in-stock, which doesn’t happen often, within hours or even minutes, they’re sold out again. So it might be easy to believe that the demand hasn’t relented. But that’s mostly just in America, and it seems to be partially related to the tariffs. Worldwide, the X100VI has been becoming easier and easier to find. It’s still out of stock at a lot of places, but overall, it’s not terribly hard to get one if you want one. People are reporting walking into their local camera store and finding a few copies on the shelf. So internationally—and depending on where exactly—the situation is a bit better than here at home.
What makes me think that supply and demand are equalizing is that there are used copies available for a reasonable price, like at B&H. Scalping continues on sites like eBay, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was last year. Things are slowly returning to normal. And this is where Fujifilm needs to be very, very careful, a situation that I’ve been predicting for more than a year.
With the X100VI, Fujifilm doubled the production numbers of the X100V from the get-go, from 7,500 units per month to 15,000. At one point last year they said that they wanted to double production again, making it four times that of the X100V, but later stated that that simply wasn’t possible. My best guess is that it is somewhere around three times more than the X100V right now, which would put it at about 22,000 copies per month, or about 265,000 units per year (these numbers are just guesses). The historically “normal” demand for an X100-series camera is 90,000 per year.
At some point, demand for the X100VI will drop. Once the majority of those who want one get one, Fujifilm will sell a lot fewer of them. If the market gets oversaturated, the value will decrease, and Fujifilm will be forced to reduce the price. Those selling them used will have to drop their price, too. This is a situation that Fujifilm really wants to avoid, as it would reduce brand strength. It would be a Lean Production failure if Fujifilm produced more X100VI’s than there are customers wanting to buy them. Fujifilm must proceed with caution.
The mistake of overproduction would be very easy. Since it takes many months from securing parts and scheduling manufacturing to delivering an assembled camera to a store, the demand must be forecasted in advance, probably at least six months. If Fujifilm is making 22,000 units per month, and the total international demand right now is 130,000, in six months Fujifilm would have overproduced 2,000 copies. That’s probably not a big deal, as they’ll surely sell those cameras; however, if they’ve still got 132,000 cameras in the process somewhere, to be manufactured over the following six months, that’s a massive and possibly devastating problem. That’s something that could sink the whole camera division.
I’m just little ol’ me sitting in my office trying to stay cool from the brutal Arizona sun, but even I can see early signs that supply and demand are equalling out. That should be a huge caution flag for Fujifilm. They should strongly consider scaling back production. Perhaps drop it back to 15,000 units monthly ASAP, and work towards “only” 7,500 units monthly by 12 months from now. Obviously Fujifilm wants to capitalize on this lightning-in-a-jar situation as much as possible, and they’d love to sell a quarter-million-plus copies per year without hardly any promotion—what a dream circumstance! But they should also listen to that nagging feeling that this won’t last forever, because it won’t.
I wouldn’t doubt if the X100VI sold twice as many units as the X100V or any other prior X100-series camera by the time its production run has ended. It might even sell four times as many. At some point, though, all the people who want one will have one. Aside from that, trends change quickly. All it takes is some shift in market dynamics or some other camera to catch the attention of social media influencers for the X100VI to be yesterday’s news. Overproduction is a real problem that Fujifilm is well acquainted with and desperately wants to avoid, and no other X-series camera has had a higher risk of overproduction than the X100VI. Fujifilm should ask themselves if now is the time to scale back, because it would be very easy to overshoot this, something that they’d certainly regret doing.
The short answer is no. The longer answer is below.
There’s a controversy that’s been brewing for awhile, but has really gained steam over the last couple of weeks, that suggests Fujifilm is purposefully crafting market shortages of products so as to create hype (or, really, FOMO), in an attempt to ensure that their products are constantly in high demand. The roots of this controversy are in the constant shortages of Fujifilm’s products. At one time, you could walk into most camera stores on any given day and buy the camera or lens that you wanted; however, over the last few years, that hasn’t always been the case. Then, just recently, Fujifilm seemed to confirm it.
Manhattan from Pulaski Bridge – New York City, NY – Fujifilm X-T50 – PRO Negative 160C
“The most important point is how much brand strength to create and how to maintain it,” said Teiichi Goto, Fujifilm President and CEO, in response to a question about their inventory situation and plan. “Therefore, it would be quite unfortunate to manufacture too much and lower the price. What Fujifilm has been trying to do for a long time is finally coming true now. We intend to drive the entire imaging business, including Instax, while concentrating on building brand strength and not reducing the value of the properties purchased by our customers.” When asked if the current inventory situation is normal, Mr. Goto replied, “Yes.”
A lot of people responded to this with something to the effect of: “This proves it! Fujifilm is purposefully creating camera shortages to manipulate the market.” But I think they misunderstand it. I wasn’t planning to write this article, but, since I’ve had several people ask me to comment on the controversy, I thought I’d type out my opinion.
I’m completely convinced that if Fujifilm could produce the precise number of gear (cameras, lenses, etc.) for the current demand, so that everyone who wanted to purchase something could do so without waiting, they would. But that’s nearly impossible to correctly estimate. When PetaPixel asked for clarification if they consider insufficient supply to be part of a marketing strategy, Fujifilm responded, “No. Our marketing strategy is to showcase the innovation behind our lineup of digital cameras and lenses to provide creators with a variety of options so they can choose the right tools for their craft.”
Sign on the Roof – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI – Classic Color
It takes many months for a camera to be manufactured and end up at a camera store. Fujifilm has to secure the parts, get them assembled, and shipped across the world. They are guessing in December what the demand might be in July. And there are limited resources for manufacturing. How many parts can a supplier produce at any given time? How many cameras can an assembly line put together each day? The whole process is much more complex than I think many people assume. Fujifilm not only has to anticipate future demand, but they have to figure out how to meet that within the constrains of many and various limitations.
Demand isn’t steady, but constantly fluctuating. It can spike unexpectedly, and fall off a cliff unexpectedly. If the demand for a certain camera suddenly ceases, Fujifilm needs to anticipate that months and months in advance, or they’ll continue to manufacture tens of thousands of copies of a product that few are buying.
Let’s look at the Fujifilm X100V. It was released in early 2020, and, for about two-and-a-half years, Fujifilm was more-or-less manufacturing the number of copies it needed in order to meet the demand for that camera. Then, suddenly, demand spiked, due to several viral TikTok videos. Fujifilm did not ramp up production (or, if they did, it wasn’t nearly enough) of the X100V, likely because they assumed the hype would quickly dissipate, especially since the camera was approaching three-years-old at the time; however, they guessed wrong.
Sentinel & Merced – Yosemite NP, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Vintage Color
For the X100VI, Fujifilm assumed that doubling the production of the X100V would be enough to meet the anticipated demand for it. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the demand for the X100VI was historic and unprecedented. There were more preorders for the X100VI in China alone than there were X100V’s manufactured in total. Fujifilm has said that they will be increasing production of the X100VI, but I’m not certain to what extent exactly (I’ve heard that it could be 30,000 units per month by sometime in the summer, but I have no idea what the precise numbers are right now).
This is uncharted territory for not just Fujifilm, but for any camera maker. Fujifilm has to try to meet steep current demand while being hyper alert for any changes in future demand. If, for example, they are actually making 30K cameras per month, and suddenly the floor drops and nobody wants one, and they’ve already set in motion the manufacturing of 150K cameras, that could be enough to bankrupt the company (at least the camera division).
Another example is the Fujifilm X-E3 and X-E4 cameras. Fujifilm anticipated that demand for the X-E3 would be greater than it actually was, and made too many copies. Fujifilm had to discount the X-E3, and sometimes significantly, to clear the warehouse. You could still find brand-new (and discounted) X-E3 bodies 18 months after it had been officially discontinued. Fujifilm used the sales figures of the X-E3 to estimate the demand for the X-E4; however, the X-E4 was much more in-demand than the X-E3 was (largely because it was viewed as a top alternative to the impossible-to-find X100V in the aftermath of the viral videos). Fujifilm did not secure enough parts to manufacture nearly enough copies to meet the demand of the X-E4, and likely assumed (incorrectly) that the spike in demand would be short-lived. If you look at eBay, X-E4’s are listed for double the price of X-E3’s, and much higher than the MSRP when they were brand-new.
I bring that up for a specific reason. While consumers prefer over-manufacturing (especially since it usually means one can find bargains, and you can readily buy what you want), producers prefer under-manufacturing. Most ideal is precise-manufacturing, but that is really difficult to achieve; between over and under, every company—including Fujifilm—would much prefer to err on the side of making too few of something than too much. And, if you want the gear that you spent a lot of money on to retain its value, you, too, will prefer them to err on the side of caution.
Toyota created the Toyota Production System in the aftermath of WWII. This system invented what is now referred to as Lean Manufacturing (or Lean Business Philosophy or Lean Strategy Process). Many books have been written on this topic—I have a few on my library shelf, although I’ve only actually read one. To understand Fujifilm’s approach to manufacturing and inventory means understanding the Lean approach, which is used worldwide, especially in Japan. This Harvard Business Review article gives a very brief synopsis of what the Lean strategy is, just to give you an idea; even better, I’m sure your local bookstore has a few books on this topic.
The conclusion is that Fujifilm (along with all manufacturers) is in the tough position of trying to accurately gauge demand for each product they offer, and attempt to produce just the right amount; if they are going to err on one side or the other, they much prefer to err by producing too few copies than too many. Making too many of something reduces its value, while making just the right amount or too few does not. They have to guess what the demand will be many months from now, not just what the current demand is. The current demand might be an indication of future demand, but it also might not. Fujifilm would love to make and sell 50,000 copies of something, but just because they make 50,000 copies of something doesn’t mean that they will actually sell them all. A much better position for Fujifilm is to make 30,00 copies of something, and sell them all. That’s not manipulating the market, but simply good business strategy that provides some stability in a turbulent market.
I Spy with my Little Eye – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Fujicolor Reala 100
There’s an Adobe controversy that seemingly everyone’s talking about. I have probably a unique take on it, and I want to share that with you in this article. If you’re interested, read on; otherwise, this is probably a post that’s ok to skip.
I don’t want to spend too much time rehashing what has already been said about it, but for those who don’t know… Adobe—the makers of Photoshop, Lightroom, and a number of other software programs—has been ticking off their customers for some time now. They’re constantly doing something that makes their customers unhappy—but, apparently, not unhappy enough to actually matter. Adobe is the long-time reigning king of photo and video editing software (at least by subscription sales…), and their closest competitors are pretty far in the distance. Adobe is not worried in the slightest about any controversy they’ve stepped into. They can be brazen in their controversies and it doesn’t bother them even a little. They have a lot to gain and very little to lose (or so they think). They can even spy on your pictures, and you’re not going to do a darn thing about it.
That’s the current controversy. Adobe has updated their terms of service, which allows them to potentially look at your pictures—presumably only if you are utilizing their cloud service and/or AI technologies; however, they haven’t fully clarified that, which certainly casts some doubt to a limited use scenario. If you’re not being forthcoming, people are going to assume all sorts of things, especially if you have a history of deception. For example, nobody had a clue that Adobe was using their pictures (via Adobe Stock) to train their AI; when it came out, Adobe pointed out it was in the terms of service, and everyone was like, “I don’t remember agreeing to that, and I wouldn’t have if I had known.” But how can you argue? You agreed. Is it Adobe’s fault that you didn’t read the lengthy terms of service written in a legal language that only an attorney could fully understand? No, it’s your fault, because you agreed, even though you had no idea what you were agreeing to. It was buried in there somewhere, apparently, that Adobe could legally use your pictures to eventually put you out of business.
A photo from 2015, back when I still post-processed RAW files. A little over-edited; nevertheless, this picture hangs on a wall in my house.
If you want to learn more about the controversy, PetaPixel has a few articles (here, here, and here). Tony Northrup has a video. Even Fujirumors has a post. There are a thousand more, I’m sure, that you can find and read. It’s a big story, but it won’t make any difference, unless this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Unless their customers have finally had enough and have a mass exodus. Otherwise, we’ll all forget about this rather quickly, and (as usual) it will be a complete nonissue.
The fact is that most apps are spying on you. Data is money right now. Big money. It’s a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The more that is known about you, the easier it is to control how you think and behave and (most important to companies) to sell you crap that you probably don’t need and otherwise wouldn’t have purchased. Adobe is spying on you for the same reasons why Google, Apple, Meta, Yahoo, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., are spying on you. There’s a lot of money to be made from knowing more about you, and there’s a lot of money for that data. They will tell you that it’s innocent: to improve customer service or improve their products or for legal or training purposes— something like that—but in reality it’s about the money that they can make from doing it. Your money, btw—it’s about how they can get their hands on your money more easily. And it’s not just your money; they don’t actually care where the cash comes from—for example, Adobe’s AI ultimately isn’t about getting more money from photographers, but eventually the money that might otherwise go to photographers; they’re going to cut out the middleman (that’s you).
I know all of this because, technically speaking, I’m an app developer, and I’ve learned this stuff while developing apps and researching topics related to it. My apps don’t spy on anyone for any reason. I collect zero data with my apps, not even user names or email addresses. There are plenty of people who would say it’s not smart to do that—everyone else is doing it, and making a lot of money in the process. Why shouldn’t I? But I value your privacy, because I value my own privacy. Treat others how you wish to be treated, right? That’s the Golden Rule, which used to mean something. Maybe I’m naive, but I think the world would be better if more people followed that principal. Unfortunately, most apps don’t follow that rule, and you’re being spied on a lot more than you likely realize.
Going back to Adobe, I haven’t used their products for a long time now. A lot of Fujifilm photographers use Capture One instead of Lightroom because of how it handles X-Trans files. Nowadays—and for a handful of years now—I shoot JPEGs, and don’t edit, other than cropping/straightening and maybe a minor adjustment occasionally. I use Film Simulation Recipes, and get the look I want straight-out-of-camera, unedited. I have no need for Photoshop or Lightroom or even a competitor’s version of those programs. Personally, I don’t really care what Adobe does or doesn’t do, because I have no skin in the game, so to speak. Every person’s needs are different, but I bet that a lot of you reading this probably don’t need Adobe’s software, either, and could cancel your subscription (if you have one) without any negative impact whatsoever on your photography. If you’ve been on the fence about cancelling your Adobe subscription, perhaps now is a good time.
Even though Adobe owns the primary programs that many photographers use, if you are not happy with them, why continually give them your money? There are alternative software options, and alternative approaches, that make Adobe unnecessary for almost everyone. For me, it’s Film Simulation Recipes and JPEGs. For you, maybe it’s Capture One or some other program. I don’t want to suggest what might be the best choice for you, as we’re all different. Maybe you actually really do need Adobe; if that’s you, I hope you don’t mind being spied on by them, because they might just be doing that.
Anyway, this will all blow over really quickly, and two weeks from now probably no one will even be talking about it or concerned in the least about Adobe possibly spying on their pictures. So none of this actually matters. But if it does matter to you, just know there are indeed other options, and some might even be closer to you and easier for you than you realize.
Dumbo Crowd – Brooklyn, New York City, NY – Fujifilm X-T50 – Reala Ace Recipe
2024 has been a wild ride so far, but in the best way possible.
I have so much to share with all of you. I’m sure it will take weeks to get it all out via various articles, videos, and social media content. This post is simply to lay out the backstory, and serve as a foundation to build on. There’s so much that I’ve been wanting to tell you but couldn’t; however, now I can!
In January I got a call from Fujifilm North America. They told me that they like what I’m doing and that they want to work with me in the coming year, but they weren’t yet sure what that might look like. This call was more to get the conversation started, and to make sure that I would be willing to work with them. It was a very positive experience, but I took a wait-and-see approach.
I didn’t have to wait very long, as Fujifilm sent an email in March inviting me to be a part of a global film simulation project. Specifically, they wanted me to create some pictures using Nostalgic Neg., Classic Chrome, and Astia that illustrate how those film simulations can look. They encouraged those involved in the project to use Film Simulation Recipes. Of course, for me, that was a good excuse to invent some brand-new Recipes! Nostalgic Americana, Classic Color, and Astia Azure are the three that I created and used for my photographs. Just recently, Fujifilm published a Film Simulation page on their global website, which is the first fruits of the project—you can find two of my Nostalgic Neg. pictures there. I’m sure there is more to come.
Just as soon as that project wrapped up, I received another email from Fujifilm. They wanted to send me an unreleased camera to try out. Whoa! It was such an honor, just to even be asked. Of course I said “yes” and a week later a Fujifilm X-T50 arrived at my door. I had to wait until after the X-Summit announcement before I could talk about the camera.
Film Dial on the Fujifilm X-T50
It took me a few days to warm up to the X-T50, and a few more days to really figure out how to use it. But, once I did, it quickly became a personal favorite camera. I love the Film Dial! Is it the perfect implementation of it? No. Is it a lot of fun and useful? Absolutely! I still have the camera in my possession, but it’s due to be returned. It’s a preproduction loaner, so I can’t keep it. I just hope, if there is a wait list, that it’s not very long.
This isn’t the end of the story in the slightest. Well before the launch, Fujifilm invited me to join them on a creator’s retreat—Camp Fujifilm, as they affectionately nicknamed it—in the Catskill Mountains of New York, followed by a rooftop X-Summit Experience event in New York City. The retreat was a new thing that Fujifilm was trying out. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew to say yes, no matter what else I may or may not have had going on at that time. It was a drop-everything-and-be-there type of thing.
So my wife, Amanda, and I flew out of Phoenix to Newark one week ago today. We stayed a night in Brooklyn, and the next day met up with everyone. Fujifilm chartered a bus; we loaded up, and were quickly off. This was our first time in New York City, so we were incredibly excited and just in awe of everything, trying to soak it all in. But as quickly as we got there, we were out of the city and in the rural greenery of the Catskills.
I don’t want to tell anyone else’s story. But, just real briefly, there were 13 creators (including myself and Amanda), plus three Fujifilm employees, at this retreat. It was a very diverse group. There were X-Photographers, cinematographers, YouTubers, hobbyists, etc.—just a wide range of talents and experiences. There were no real expectations. It was like Fujifilm wanted to know what would happen if they just had us all meet and hang out for a few days.
I was nervous because I didn’t know anyone there. I was unsure if I was going to fit in. Even though I have a popular Fujifilm blog (and some apps), I still often feel like an outsider in the general photographic community. But I had nothing to worry about. Everyone was great and welcoming, and we had such an incredible time. I made some new friends, which alone made the whole trip worthwhile.
I won’t soon forget the early morning hike in the pouring rain with Bryan Minear plus Matt Matkin and Lotta Milde of B&H (you may have seen them on YouTube or B&H’s social channels). Tom Baumgaertel (a.k.a. bewaremyfuji) was super helpful when discussing multiple exposure photography. I feel like everyone brought something to the table, and we all learned things from each other. Amanda was surprised how many questions she was asked about social media video trends, and in turn she was able to ask questions related to recording and editing videos. It was an invaluable experience—I’m sure for everyone there, but definitely for myself and Amanda. I hope that Fujifilm does this regularly moving forward.
Tunnel Traffic – New York City, NY – Fujifilm X-T50 – Pacific Blues Recipe – Double Exposure
We returned to New York City from the Catskills on Thursday. The bus dropped us off at our Manhattan hotel, and an hour later Amanda and I strolled over to Foto Care for the X-Summit Experience. The rooftop event was super cool. I got to shake hands with some of you and briefly chat cameras, which was amazing. I met some more talented content creators—photographers and cinematographers—and made some connections.
One highlight was meeting Omar Gonzalez. He was at the event, and we got to talk a little. He had his Fujifilm X-T20 Noir camera with him. I’m a big fan, personally, so it was like meeting a favorite musician or actor or something like that. I kept telling myself to play it cool, just play it cool. Anyway, it was so great to meet him!
Afterwards, I met up with more Fujifilm people, and hung out for awhile. We ate a mustard/sauerkraut pizza at Lions & Tigers & Squares at the suggestion of Shotti—I know it sounds gross (and it’s not something I would normally even try), but it was easily an all-time top-five favorite for me. The whole trip was so surreal, but especially this day. It was like a dream, except that it actually happened. It was so great to meet everyone and make a lot of new connections.
I have a lot more to share, but this is enough for today. I want to give a big “thank you” to Fujifilm North America for loaning me the camera, inviting me out for the retreat and event, and the first-class treatment. I’m so glad that I could meet the team, and I hope that we can work together more in the future.
Back in 2018, I briefly owned a Fujifilm X-Pro2. I loved that camera! It was so much fun, and the perfect compliment to my Fujifilm X100F. To this day it remains my absolute favorite interchangeable-lens model by Fujifilm that I’ve ever purchased. Unfortunately, I had to sell it.
You see, I didn’t have a lot of money back then to spend on (what was at the time) my hobby. I’m sure that many of you can relate. I found a good deal on a used X-Pro2, but I really couldn’t afford it. Using PayPal credit, I was able to hold onto the camera for about six months, but when the interest came due, I had to let it go. I had high hopes that I could find a way to keep it, but it just didn’t work out. The day that I mailed the X-Pro2 off to its new owner was a sad one (although I’m sure it was quite happy for them). I’ve thought about that camera—and the summer of 2018 when I briefly owned it—many times since. I’ve often wondered if I’d like it just as much today as I did then.
Thankfully, the kind folks at MPB, who are fans of Fuji X Weekly and Film Simulation Recipes, provided me with the opportunity to find out. MPB is the sponsor of this article—this is the first ever sponsored post on this website, by the way—and they loaned me a Fujifilm X-Pro2 to try out for two weeks. For those who don’t know, MPB is an online platform where you can buy, sell, or trade used photo and video gear. “At MPB, there’s something for everyone who wants to try something new, hone their skills, or pursue their passion—and it won’t cost the earth.” If you’re in the market for used camera gear, be sure to check out their website—you can learn more about MPB here. Thank you, MPB, for making this article possible!
Fujifilm released the X-Pro2 eight years ago, in 2016. It’s a rangefinder-styled 24mp APS-C mirrorless camera with a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder. The X-Pro2, which resembles a classic film camera, is rock-solid, and feels like it could last forever, even if you tossed it around a little. In my opinion, the X-Pro series is one of the most beautifully designed camera lines of all time. The X-Pro2 was an instant classic when it was newly released, and will continue to be for many years to come.
I chose the specific Fujifilm X-Pro2 that I wanted to borrow from the MPB website the same as if I were buying it. When the box arrived in the mail, the camera was exactly as the website described. The camera functioned like it was brand-new; the body had a few minor signs of wear, which I was well aware of due to the gear-specific ‘cosmetic condition’ rating displayed on the platform. There were no surprises, and I got precisely what I was expecting to get. Did I mention that the X-Pro2 is a beautiful camera?
When I had the X-Pro2 back in 2018, I brought it along with me on some epic roadtrips. It went with me to the Black Hills in South Dakota. It traveled with me through Colorado and New Mexico, including The Great Sand Dunes and Taos. I have many great memories associated with the X-Pro2. Was how I felt more about those adventures than the camera itself? Or was the camera truly that great?
As I was removing the X-Pro2 from the box, many of those memories came flooding back. It was a great joy to hold it once again. This time, I wouldn’t be able to take it on any roadtrips. Would I feel the same without some travel experiences to go along with the camera? I wondered what I would think about the X-Pro2 all these years later—would it hold up to the test of time?
Back in 2018, I mostly used three lenses with the X-Pro2: Fujinon 60mm f/2.4, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4, and Meike 35mm f/1.7. Of those three, the only one that I still own is the Meike, so I used it extensively during the two weeks that I had the X-Pro2. I also tried a Helios 44-2, Pentax-110 50mm f/2.8, and 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95. Each of those four lenses have unique characteristics and strengths. The X-Pro2 is especially fun to pair with vintage and manual lenses, and I very much enjoyed that approach with it.
I shoot JPEGs, and rarely edit my pictures (aside from some cropping/straightening). I found that this approach works very well for me. The photographs in this article are all camera-made JPEGs that are not post-processed. The Film Simulation Recipes that I used with the camera six years ago were mainly Kodachrome II, Dramatic Classic Chrome, Vintage Agfacolor, Acros, Acros Push Process, and Agfa Scala. A few of those pictures remain personal favorites to this day.
Above: My Fujifilm X-Pro2 photos from 2018.
For this project, the seven Recipes that I programmed into the C1-C7 Custom Presets on the X-Pro2 were Kodachrome II, Kodak Gold 200, Kodacolor, Classic Kodak, Color Negative, Provia Slide, and Acros. The Kodachrome II and Acros Recipes require the same White Balance type but different White Balance Shifts, so I used the Kodachrome II shift with the Acros Recipe; however, towards the end of the project I replaced Kodachrome II with Analog Monochrome, and switched the Acros WB Shift to be correct for that Recipe. You cannot program a WB Shift into the X-Pro2’s C1-C7 presets (like you can with newer Fujifilm models), but if each Recipe uses a different WB type (or share the same WB type and WB Shift), you don’t have to remember to adjust the WB Shift when changing Custom Presets, and you get a better user experience.
When reviewing the pictures after I returned the camera, I discovered that the Film Simulation Recipes I had used the most were Provia Slide, Acros, Kodak Gold 200, Kodachrome II, and Kodacolor (in that order). Provia Slide is a brand-new Recipe that I created on the X-Pro2, and it wouldn’t exist if MPB hadn’t loaned me the camera, and is a very positive side effect of their sponsorship. I’m quite happy with how several of these images turned out, even if I only had the local sights to capture.
Using Film Simulation Recipes on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 provides a film-like shooting experience and output, especially when combined with vintage or manual lenses. It’s an analog approach with the convenience of digital. Since the pictures don’t need to be edited, you can download them straight from the camera using WiFi and immediately share them—or send them off to be printed—right from your phone. That can save you a lot of time and hassle, while making the process more enjoyable and authentic.
Above: My Fujifilm X-Pro2 photos from 2024.
It was once again heartbreaking to mail off the Fujifilm X-Pro2. I very much wanted to keep it. The camera is just as great in 2024 as it was in 2018. I can’t help but think that 20 years from now the X-Pro2 will be sought after for the photographic experience and picture aesthetic that it provides. There aren’t very many digital cameras you can say that about. I feel like in today’s age where new camera models are constantly being released, and photographers just have to have the latest-and-greatest, it’s easy to overlook legendary cameras like the X-Pro2. And I do very much mean that the Fujifilm X-Pro2 is legendary—those who own it already know it, and those who don’t haven’t yet discovered it.
Will I buy a Fujifilm X-Pro2, this time to keep? I’d love to and I hope to, but I already own way too many cameras, so I’d first need to part ways with at least a couple that I rarely use. The X-Pro2 is extremely tempting. I don’t have an answer one way or the other yet, but the X-Pro2 is one that I certainly wish that I had.
Just today, Fuji X Weekly surpassed the 10,000,000 page view mark for 2023! Amazing! This is an unbelievable milestone.
Specifically, 2.3 million visitors (it’s projected to reach 2.4 million by the end of the year) have viewed over 10 million pages and articles on this website this year. That’s a lot of visitors, and a lot of page views! I broke this down not very long ago, and the number of actual regular readers is nowhere near 2 million. Still, nearly two-and-a-half million visitors viewing over 10 million pages in one year is just incredible, well beyond anything I ever thought possible! I’m stunned by it.
Looking at all-time stats—from when this blog began in 2017 through today—over 6.5 million visitors have viewed 29.5 million pages (sometime in January it will surpass the 30 million mark). Over 1/3 of those visitors and page views happened in 2023. Interestingly, visitors increased by about 30% from 2022, while page views increased by 25%, which means each visitor viewed fewer pages in 2023 than 2022. A few different things could cause this, and I’ll have to dig more deeply to see if there’s something that I should be doing better. There’s always room for improvements, and I’m constantly trying to do a little better as I learn new things and gain more experience.
Most people visit this website for Film Simulation Recipes. Those are always the most popular articles. The Kodachrome 64 Film Simulation Recipe is by far the all-time most viewed, with double the views of second place: Vintage Kodachrome (which has been around for twice as long). I write about a variety of topics (mostly related directly to Fujifilm, but sometimes just photography in-general), but (with a few exceptions) those articles that are not about Recipes tend to not get a lot of attention compared to the Recipe posts.
One more note that I want to discuss: I’m back to having ads. After my expenses for running Fuji X Weekly increased earlier this year, I experimented with one ad company, but had an absolutely awful experience with them. It lasted a few months, and then I pulled the plug. I’m just now trying a new company, and so far am having a much better experience; however, I’m concerned about your experience. Please let me know if the ads are detrimental to your use of the website or are causing frustrations. I’m doing my best to keep them minimal, opting for an optimized user experience (within all of the options that the ad company provides). There’s a limit to what they’ll allow me to do (I’ve already had to fight for some things), but if there is something that they do allow that I can do, if it makes the user experience better (or, with regards to ads, less worse), then I’m happy to do that. So I guess I’m asking for your feedback. Please speak up if the ads are causing you problems. I can’t guarantee that I can fix or change it, but if I can I certainly will.
Millions of people have visited this website in 2023, and the year isn’t even over yet!
I never imagined that Fuji X Weekly would grow so popular—I’m shocked by it, actually. It’s a real honor to be helpful to such a large number of photographers across the world, and I feel like I’m only getting started. It’s amazing to me just how far this thing has come, and I can’t wait to see where it all goes.
I’ve been digging through the Fuji X Weekly website analytics, which I do from time-to-time (but probably not nearly as often as I should), and I discovered a few interesting points. Some of you might find this intriguing, too, while others might not (and I apologize for that). For those who are interested, let’s dive into the stats!
During the month of October two milestones were reached: 1) near the beginning of the month, Fuji X Weekly total page views for 2023 exceeded that of 2022, and 2) by the end of October, Fuji X Weekly surpassed two million unique visitors!
Page views is a pretty straight-forward statistic. Between the homepage, blog page, blog posts, Film Simulation Recipe articles, etc., etc., etc.—across the entirety of the Fuji X Weekly website—all of the various pages have been viewed a total approaching 9,000,000 (last year was just over eight million; this year is on track to top 10 million). That’s an absolutely unbelievable number to me! In 2023, I’m averaging 4.3 page views per visitor, which (from what I can tell) is a good number. I’ve read that 3-4 page views per visitor is average. One person might only ever open one article, while someone else might view seven, and between the two of them they had eight page views, with an average of four. Some websites—such as many e-commerce—have more page views per visitor, while some have less, and some much less. There are several very popular photography websites (I won’t mention them by name, but trust me that they’re highly recognizable) that average less than two page views per visitor.
Surprisingly, the more convoluted statistic is unique visitors. Near the very end of October, Fuji X Weekly surpassed two million unique visitors. Or did it? What constitutes a unique visitor, anyway?
If you visit this website from the same device multiple times, you’ll typically be counted as only one visitor. There are some exceptions, depending on your security settings, how often you delete cookies, if you change internet providers or move to a new home, and things like that—but, by-and-large, if you visit this website (say) 20 times over the year, you are counted as only one unique visitor. However, if you use multiple devices—say, your desktop, laptop, work computer, cellphone, and tablet—you could be counted as five unique visitors. Unless, that is, you are logged into your WordPress account (if you have one) on each of those devices, then you’ll only be counted once and not five times. It’s impossible to know how many unique visitors there actually are, since it’s likely that many people are being counted more than once. I cannot know just how many are being counted more than once, or how many times they’re being counted. For sure, two million different people have not visited Fuji X Weekly so far in 2023, but whatever the real number is, it’s still a heck of a lot.
Let’s talk bounce rate, which is the number of people who visit a website only once, and view only one page, and never come back (they bounce). The average bounce rate across all websites is about 40.5%, but it varies significantly based on website type. Blogs, for example, are in the highest category, with an average bounce rate of 65%. My bounce rate is 50%, which is really good for the type of website that it is. It means that half of the visitors read only one article and leave, never to return. They probably followed a link from some other website or a social media post, or Fuji X Weekly came up in a Google search, and they either found exactly what they were looking for and had no need for further reading, or (more likely) they weren’t all that interested in what was published, so they left. That accounts for one million visitors (and, in turn, one million page views), which leaves the other million as people who are either repeat visitors, or someone who visited just once but viewed more than one article before leaving. For that second group of one million, they averaged almost eight page views per person.
Of that one million who didn’t bounce right away, it’s impossible to know just how many are repeat visitors, or how many were counted more than once (one individual counted as multiple unique visitors). As best as I can tell from the data I could find, making some assumptions based on averages, I believe that around 500,000-ish people have visited Fuji X Weekly in 2023 more than once, and around 80,000-100,000 are regular readers. Someone who is a “regular reader” isn’t necessarily someone who reads everything that’s published, but perhaps checks in every now and then (probably opening many of the Film Simulation Recipe posts that pertain to their particular camera model, but maybe not a lot of the other content). Those who read the majority of the articles published on this website is a much smaller number, around 4,000 to 5,000 I think. Those who read literally everything—the true diehard fans—is likely less than 500, and maybe as little as 200.
We started with millions—two million, to be exact—which is an impressive number; however, we dwindled that down a whole bunch. First to one million, after subtracting those who quickly bounced; then to 500,000-ish, for those who likely visited more than once this year; next to 80,000-100,000, which is the rough number of those who do (at least somewhat) regularly read this website; then to 4,000-5,000, for those who are enthusiastic, and read much of what’s published; and finally to as little as 200—the truly devoted followers of Fuji X Weekly, who read literally all of the articles. Of those numbers, I’m most happy by the smaller ones. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am by those who visit this website often—you are why I continue to publish content and new Recipes frequently. Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, you really mean a lot.
I’m not really sure how to conclude this, but just to say one more time a big “Thank you!” to everyone who visits this website, reads the articles, maybe shares them with others, and perhaps is even a Creative Collective subscriber. I also want to express my great appreciation to those who have downloaded the Fuji X Weekly App (and/or the Ricoh Recipes App and RitchieCam App), and especially to those who have become Patrons. This wouldn’t continue to exist without your support. I really appreciate you!
Luxury Among Palms – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Reala Ace Recipe
Today’s SOOC Livebroadcast was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who tuned in and participated—you all make it great!
We discusses the new Reala Ace film simulation, and talked at length about my Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe. The Reala Ace Recipe is for X-Trans V cameras, and not everyone has one of those cameras, and even if you do, you might prefer a different option, so Nathalie Boucry and I offered three similar Recipes as alternatives. Specifically, we suggested Fujicolor Reala 100, Fujicolor Superia 100, and Fujicolor 100 Industrial. Watch the video below to learn more.
There are two Fujicolor Reala 100 Recipes—one for X-Trans IV (excluding the X-T3 and X-T30), and one for X-Trans V. Likewise, there are two Fujicolor Superia 100 Recipes—one for X-Trans IV (excluding the X-T3 and X-T30), and one for X-Trans V. The Fujicolor 100 Industrial Recipe is just for the X-T3 and X-T30; however, simply ignore Color Chrome Effect to use it on X-Trans III (it will look very similar, and only slightly different), or for newer cameras, set Grain size to Small, Color Chrome FX Blue to Off, and Clarity to 0.
While you are here, the long-overdue Viewers’ Images slideshow from the previous broadcast was finally published. You can watch it below. There are some really great pictures by you all, so you’ll definitely want to take a look. Thanks to everyone who submitted photographs!
I have to admit that the announcement of the Nikon Zf has given me G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). The camera looks stunning! And it seems to be nicely equipped, spec-wise.
There are some who will say that the 24mp sensor is unimpressive—and, yes, it’s not—but it’s all that most will ever need. Some cars have a powerful turbocharged V8, but do you really need it? It might be a whole lot of fun on occasion, but not likely a necessity, unless you’re towing something heavy or maybe on a raceway. That fuel-efficient V4 is a lot more practical, and probably plenty for your purposes. Similarly, the 24mp sensor in the Zf is more than enough resolution, unless you plan to crop deeply or print posters. On Fujifilm, I actually prefer the 26mp X-Trans IV sensor to the 40mp high-resolution X-Trans V sensor, just because more resolution is more cumbersome and can create storage issues, and I simply don’t need that much resolution. I think, for most people and purposes, the 20mp to 30mp range is ideal, and 24mp to 26mp seems like a sweet spot. More than that is overkill for the majority of photographers.
The problem, though, with the Zf is fundamental: there’s no aperture ring on Nikkor Z lenses. Because the lenses don’t have an aperture ring, Nikon was forced to include PASM. Just like the Zfc, the Zf has a shooting mode (a.k.a. PASM) switch, which enables and disables the knobs on top of the camera. For example, if the switch is set to A, the shutter knob doesn’t do anything, and is there only for looks. Of course it makes sense that it does this, but if designed correctly, the step of moving the switch to the correct position in order to activate the knob so that the shutter speed can be adjusted is unnecessary. Also, it’s unintuitive. No aperture control on the lens means that it can’t be set when the camera is powered off. Oftentimes, when I am photographing a scene, as soon as I see what it is that I’m going to capture, I have an idea what I want the aperture to be, and I’ll set it even before I power on the camera. Can’t do that on the Zf or Zfc. Just like the Zfc, the Zf makes the most sense when used in Manual mode, and especially when paired with a third-party lens with an aperture ring.
If you want the full Fujifilm experience, you’d better get a Fujifilm, as the Zf won’t deliver that. The Zfc couldn’t match it, and the Zf won’t be able to, either. That doesn’t mean the Zf isn’t an excellent camera, because I’m certain that it is very good, maybe one of Nikon’s best ever (I’m saying this having never used it personally). I would certainly love one myself, just because I’m a sucker for beautifully designed digital cameras that look and handle retro-like. I think the Fujifilm X-T5 and Nikon Zf will be compared very closely by reviewers and YouTubers, and, in my opinion, the X-T5 wins for several reasons, including size, weight, price, JPEG output/Film Simulation Recipes, and user experience (no PASM); however, the Zf will have strengths that beat Fujifilm, so it depends on what’s most important to the user as to which one wins, as I think they’re very comparable. If you’re in the Fujifilm system, you’re not likely to jump ship for the Zf, but if you’re in the Nikon system, the Zf will be quite tempting, and maybe it will convince you to stay with Nikon instead of switching over to Fujifilm, if you were considering that.
I want the Nikon Zf, but $2,000 could fund a nice weekend getaway somewhere. I think experiences matter much more than gear, and oftentimes it’s better to invest in using what you have in an epic way than to buy something new and miss out on the adventure. G.A.S. is an unfortunate problem, especially when combined with F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out); however, the best way to overcome it is to accept that what you have is plenty good enough—simply use it to the best of your ability whenever the opportunities come, and see what happens.
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Fujifilm will be announcing some new gear on September 12; Fujirumors is reporting that it will be GFX cameras and lenses, including a GFX100 successor (which, apparently, wasn’t the GFX100S), GF 55mm f1.7, GF 30mm f/5.6 tilt-shift, and GF 110mm f/5.6 tilt-shift. A rumor has floated for awhile now that two X-series cameras would be released in 2023. The first was the X-S20. What will the second be? And will it be announced in September?
We know that the X100V replacement won’t come until next year, so which one will be next? There’s been a lot of speculation that it could be the X-Pro4 because it’s long overdue; however, if it is, something would have likely already leaked about it, so I’m marking it as unlikely. How about an X80? Fujifilm absolutely should release this camera, but I think that ship has sailed in their minds, and it’s not even on the list of potential future models. X-A8 or X-T300? Those lines have been discontinued, so no. It’s much too soon for an X-H3 or X-T6 or X-S30. What does that leave? The X-E5 or X-T40 (which they might call X-T50). Let me give a few quick reasons why I think it will and won’t be each of those models.
It will be the X-E5 because the X-E4 was a hot commodity just before being surprisingly discontinued (presumably so that manufacturing efforts could be diverted to the X100V). It was backordered everywhere and even sometimes selling for more than MSRP. There’s still quite a demand for it, but so very little supply. It was strange that Fujifilm axed an in-demand model, but if they were preparing to release a successor, it makes a lot more sense.
It won’t be the X-E5 because Fujifilm will probably only offer one base-level camera going forward (due to shifting markets), and between the X-T00 and X-E lines, it’s more likely the X-E that’s not renewed. Besides that, historically, the X-E line comes at the very end of a sensor generation, not towards the beginning or middle.
Wearing Grandpa’s Hat – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – Kodacolor
It will be the X-T40 (or X-T50) because this line is long overdue for an update. The X-T30 was released over four years ago. The X-T30 II was an extremely minor upgrade, mostly just a firmware update that should have been given to the X-T30. Both the X-T30 and X-T30 II have been discontinued, so it makes sense that a new version is about to come out. Besides, the X-T00 line has been a good seller for Fujifilm, and the current lineup is in desperate need for a camera of its class.
It won’t be the X-T40 because the X-T30 II was released only two years ago. While it sold well, it wasn’t as in-demand or trendy as the X-E4. Aside from that, Fujifilm is clearly focusing more on higher-end models, and not entry-level.
What’s my opinion? I think, if an X-series camera is announced on September 12, it will be the X-T40. I don’t think the X-T40 will likely be a major upgrade, so including it on the same day as the GFX150 (or whatever the new GFX camera will be called) makes sense. Just as likely, no X-series models will be announced on September 12; perhaps the next camera will be the X-Pro4 in November (that’s just speculation, I have zero inside information).
The X-T40 will probably be the exact same thing as the X-T30 II, except with the X-Processor 5, which brings improved autofocus and video specs, along with the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation. I suspect that it will have the same X-Trans IV sensor and the same NP-W126S battery, and be 95% the same camera. I don’t think it will be revolutionary; however, it will be Fujifilm’s sub-$1,000 option, which I think is still important to offer. Don’t be surprised, if Fujifilm does decide to eventually release an X-E5, that the X-T00 and X-E lines aren’t available at the same time. In other words, they might manufacture the X-T40 for a year or two (depending on how it sells), and then discontinue it as they prepare to release the X-E5. Once that’s been on the market for a year or so, it’ll get discontinued in time for the next X-T00. I think Fujifilm sees these two models as competing against themselves to some degree. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if one of these two lines was simply (and quietly) discontinued.
In my opinion, I think Fujifilm has been secretly working on the X-Pro4, and I wouldn’t be shocked if it was released in November (like the X-T5 was last year). I think it would make a ton of sense. They’ll probably readdressed the rear screen somehow. I do believe it will have the 40mp sensor, and don’t be surprised if it is the first X-series camera with the XPan aspect ratio as an option. This would be a smart move, I think, and it would fall within Fujifilm’s shift towards focusing more on higher-end cameras and less on lower-end.
What do you think? Will an X-series camera be announced on September 12? Which model will it be? What do you hope for? Let me know in the comments!
These 2″x2″ embroidered iron-on patches are a great way to share your love of film sims to those around you. Put them on your camera bag, backpack, jean jacket, etc.. There are 11 of them: Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, PRO Neg. Hi, PRO Neg. Std, Classic Negative, Eterna, Monochrome, Acros, and Sepia. Find them on Fujifilm’s online store. Not sure why Eterna Bleach Bypass and Nostalgic Neg. didn’t make the cut, other than these patches resemble the small “box-top” screen on the back of the Fujifilm X-Pro3, and those two film sims aren’t available on that model.
I think they’re really cool. I ordered a couple, and plan to iron them onto my travel camera bag. They’re not exactly cheap at $10 per patch (or all 11 for $79.50, which is actually a significant bulk discount), but I think it’s a fun way to show your love of film simulations. I also think it’s fascinating that film sims are now so prominent—in large part due to the popularity of Film Simulation Recipes—that Fujifilm is merchandising them. I’d love to see them do more of this type of thing.
Exciting: Fujifilm Film Simulations just got real with these embroidered applique patches, in 11 different designs. Digitally recreated, based on historic film stocks, our Film Simulations are now available in all-new physical form. These quality, machine-embroidered patches can be heat-applied to fabric surfaces, from clothing to backpacks. Are you a bold Velvia fan, or an admirer of the timeless Acros? Grab either one separately, or the both of them if you can’t make up your mind. Love them all? We don’t blame you! Get ’em while the iron’s hot!
“I seem to have trouble loading your site and posting comments… Most comments never got through.”
-TheCameraEatsFirst
I’m not a web designer. I’m not an IT expert. I’m not a programmer. Yet, here I am, playing each of those roles.
I’m a photographer. That’s what I want to spend as much of my time as practical doing. I’m also a writer to an extent, which is something else that I enjoy doing. The Fuji X Weekly website is my outlet for both. I like helping other photographers, and am truly honored that my Film Simulation Recipes have had such an impact on so many and even the industry at large—it’s far more than I ever imagined!
Sometimes, though, I have to set my camera down, and be the Fuji X Weekly webmaster. Who came up with that name, anyway? Webmaster sounds so dramatic. Was it on Peter Parker’s shortlist, and after a coinflip he went with Spiderman instead? Surely it was an IT guy—his office was probably in a dark corner of a basement and he felt really under-appreciated for all his hard work maintaining some large company’s website—who coined the term, so that he might get more respect and maybe a pay raise.
When I first enrolled in college many, many years ago, I didn’t really know what I wanted my career to be. A lot of adults advised me to major in a technology field, like coding or engineering. So that’s what I did. In the very first semester I took this class called Computer Basics, which was mostly about how to use Word and PowerPoint and the internet, which was fairly young at that point—DPReview wouldn’t launch for several more months, and Ken Rockwell wasn’t even on the scene yet. The final project for that class was to write a simple DOS program, something like if you prompt it to answer 1+1 it would give you 2. I struggled so much, and passed the introductory-level class with a C. The very next semester I changed my major to photography.
Problems with the Fuji X Weekly website have been ongoing since it first launched on August 21, 2017. I’ve had to learn how to design a website, and to an extent how to code. I was suddenly a webmaster. I didn’t feel much like the master of the web, and I still don’t. I’ve learned so much about it over the years; however, I’m far from an expert. Mostly, I limp along, and hope that Google has the answer to whatever problems I’m trying to solve. YouTube University has been invaluable!
Lately, though, the problems have grown. It started several months back when I needed to upgrade hosting, because I was pushing the upper limits of the plan I was paying for. Unfortunately, what should have been a seamless switch wasn’t, and I was suddenly experiencing both small and big issues. Next, because my expenses expanded—for both the website and apps—I brought back ads, but through a different company that promised a better experience. That’s been a huge headache, and it hasn’t exactly gone well. I’m fighting to get the ads to be minimal, unobtrusive, relevant, and appropriate (yet cover the expenses)—it’s been a battle, and we’re still not there. I’m on the fence on how I’ll move forward with this. I’ve almost pulled the plug several times on the ads—and I still might—but I’m hoping to get it right at some point soon. I appreciate your patience with this.
Some of the website problems are definitely significant. Probably the biggest one is that some people are experiencing an error, and the page won’t load. The message is “too many attempts” or “too many redirects” or something like that. I haven’t found the root of this issue, but clearing the cache and cookies has sometimes resolved it (so try that if you’re experiencing this problem). I don’t know why some people get this error while most don’t, or why clearing the cache is sometimes the fix. If any of you know the answer, please reach out to me, because I’d love to fix it.
Another issue that just recently came to my attention is that a lot of comments aren’t coming through. There are two aspects to this. First, I moderate the comments. Someone who has never commented before, or who has included a link to a website, will often get flagged for moderation. I get a lot of troll and spam comments that I don’t want published because it ruins the experience for everyone, so moderating these are important. This is my website, so I have the authority—and, really, obligation—to do this. Comments held for moderation haven’t changed as far as I can tell. The second aspect is that WordPress will flag obvious spam comments as spam. I get probably 100 of these type of comments each day, sometimes much more than that. Unfortunately, many non-spam comments are getting flagged as spam for some reason. I dug through the spam folder, and found intermixed with all the spam comments a handful of clearly not-spam comments, some by regular readers who have commented many times before. There are so many spam comments that it’s not practical to go very far back looking for the few non-spam that got flagged, but I know that I need to dig through it daily now. I’m really sorry if your comment didn’t come through. I don’t know why this happened or even when, but hopefully I’ll be able to find and approve all of the non-spam and non-troll comments going forward.
Are there other issues that I’m not aware of? I hope not, but I’m certain there are. Whenever I put on my webmaster cap, I do my best to fix them, but I cannot fix what I’m not aware is broken. If you’ve experienced some sort of issue, don’t hesitate to let me know—it’s greatly appreciated whenever someone does. And if you know how to fix the problem, please share with me the answer! I might technically be in the IT field, and I’ve certainly learned a heck-of-a-lot over the last six years, but I’m still in over his head on some of this stuff. Besides, I’d rather be out with my camera, capturing photos for next Film Simulation Recipe—especially during golden hour, when the light can be magical.
Day 2 — June 6, 2023 — Morro Bay, San Simeon & Cambria
This was our first full day at the ocean. My wife and I decided to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to explore Morro Bay, followed by the elephant seals north of San Simeon, and finally Moonstone Beach in Cambria on the way back down. This area is just incredible, and is one of my favorite sections of coastline in California!
Did you know that there are wild zebras near San Simeon? There are! Actually, they were once part of William Hearst’s private zoo, but they escaped (were released?), and now live wild in the coastal hills below Hearst Castle. Sometimes you can spot them from the highway. We were fortunate to find a few; while they weren’t very close, I was able to photograph a couple of them with my 90mm lens. I would have loved to visit the castle on this trip, but it just didn’t work out this time.
The weather was cool and overcast. It was fairly poor light for photography. A couple of times the sun did briefly try to peek through, but it mostly remained drab all day. Still, this area is stunning, so there were many photographic opportunities—in fact, the potential for great photography always exists no matter the time and location, and it is up to the photographer to find it.
Playing with Waves – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400 Recipe
The camera gear that I used on Day 2 (you can read the entirety of the gear that I brought with me in my Ultimate Travel Compact Camera Kit article) was a Fujifilm X100V with a 5% CineBloom filter, a Fujifilm X-E4 with a Fujinon 90mm f/2 lens, a Ricoh GR III, and a Samsung ST76 digicam. The X100V was utilized the most and the X-E4 + 90mm was second most. The GR III and Samsung digicam were barely used, while everything else remained in the camera bag on this day.
The photographs below are in order of when they were captured. The picture at the top of this article, Splash, fits in-between Wave Crash on Rock and Picture-in-Picture. The second image, Playing with Waves, fits in-between Beach Play and Self Portrait. Despite the drab weather, I was able to get a few good shots (interspersed between some so-so images)—with four more days still to go (including with Ken and Dave), there would be many, many more photographic opportunities to come.
X Leaves – Pismo Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Urban Dreams
Two Stacks – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Urban Dreams
Bay Boats – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Urban Dreams
Sea Weed – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400
Dena’s Boat – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Expired Velvia
Fender – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400
Rock Veiled by Poles – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400
Sub Sea – Morro Bay, CA – Ricoh GR III – Monochrome Film
Happy Boat – Morro Bay, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Urban Dreams
Notice – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
Penal Code – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
Better View – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
How Thou Cow? – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
Cows & Zebra – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
Zebra Below Castle – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2
Yellow Coast – San Simeon, CA – Samsung ST76 – Retro filter
Blossom Cliff – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Yellow, Green & Sea – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Blooms Above Waves – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Pacific Blues
Yellow Cliff – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Pacific Blues
Protect our Wildlife – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Urban Dreams
Resting – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Kodachrome 64
Yawning – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Fighting – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Watching – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Biting – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Elephant Seal Beach – San Simeon, CA – Samsung ST76 – Retro filter
Seals – San Simeon, CA – Ricoh GR III – Monochrome Film
Coastal Flowers Reaching – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400
Two Rocks – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Patch of Yellow – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Pacific Blues
Seaside Cliffs – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Superia Premium 400
Colorful Cliffs – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Green Shrub – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Wave Crash on Rock – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Picture-in-Picture – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – The Rockwell
Rocky Coast – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Xpro ’62
Rocks in the Water – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Xpro ’62
Cloudy Coast – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 90mm – Xpro ’62
I was actually very nervous for several reasons. First, I’m an introvert, and meeting new people always makes me a little apprehensive. Second, Leigh and Raymond are big names in photography. They have been successful YouTubers for many years. They are well connected within the industry. It’s kind of like meeting an actor, musician, or sports star. Third, Raymond does ultramarathons; while I might make a special effort to get to Dairy Queen if Blizzards are half off, I’m definitely not doing normal marathons let alone the David Goggins kind—and we were scheduled for a hike through the desert. I wasn’t sure what it would entail, or how intense this adventure might get.
It turns out that I had nothing to worry about. Raymond was super nice. The hike was easy and relatively short—definitely something someone with my “skills” and “experience” (or lack thereof) could accomplish. We had a great time. It was really good to meet up for some desert photography.
Raymond and I — Captured with RitchieCam on my iPhone
I used my Fujifilm X-T5 and Fujinon 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens for this outing. I chose and programmed into the camera my Kodachrome 25 Film Simulation Recipe because I thought it would do well in this scenario (which I’ll get to in just a moment) and because I’m converting this Recipe for the X-T5. You see, X-Trans V renders blue more deeply on some film simulations, but the fix is simple: if an X-Trans IV Recipe that uses Classic Chrome, Classic Negative, Eterna, or Eterna Bleach Bypass calls for Color Chrome FX Blue set to Strong, change it to Weak on X-Trans V, and if it calls for Color Chrome FX Blue set to Weak, change it to Off. The Kodachrome 25 Recipe calls for Color Chrome FX Blue set to Strong, so I adjusted it to Weak on my X-T5.
I decided that the Kodachrome 25 Recipe would be good for this scenario because of its characteristics. Kodachrome 25 film had low contrast (for slide film), slightly subdued saturation, and true-to-life (yet Kodak-warm) colors. It was regarded as the sharpest, most fine grained emulsion on the market, and was a popular choice for commercial photography. With an ISO of 25, some found this film to be challenging to use, so the higher-ISO Kodachrome 64, which had a little boost in contrast and saturation, was a more common option. Still, plenty of Kodachrome 25 pictures graced the pages of publications such as National Geographic and Arizona Highways, and I wanted to replicate that classic aesthetic for my desert images. It was forecasted to be overcast with perhaps some peeking sun, and the Kodachrome 25 Recipe does well in that weather—not too warm or cool, and not too much or too little contrast.
If this had been film, I would have shot two rolls of 24-exposure Kodachrome 25 (yes, it was by chance exactly 48 exposures). Of course, Kodachrome has long been discontinued, so shooting with this Film Simulation Recipe on a Fujifilm camera is probably the closest you can get to shooting with the emulsion. The Kodachrome 25 frames in this article are my 12 favorites from that desert outing with Raymond. I hope you enjoy!
Rock Ridge – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodachrome 25 Recipe
Raymond Photographing Flowers – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodachrome 25 Recipe
Flowers in the Dry Desert – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodachrome 25 Recipe
Remnants of a Tree – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodachrome 25 Recipe
Wow! It’s been crazy the last several days. Fujifilm released the X-T5 on the 17th. Not everyone got their orders.
Let’s back this up. Amazon apparently listed the X-T5 too early on announcement day. By contract, everyone is supposed to go live no earlier than a certain time, but Amazon jumped the gun. I preordered an X-T5 on Amazon because I had reward points that I wanted to use. When the 17th came around, some people received their preorders that day. For others it shipped that day, and arrived in the next day or two. For me? Nothing. Those who ordered on Amazon were left in the dark. What I didn’t know is that Fujifilm decided to punish Amazon for their sins and not give them any cameras to sell; sadly, only Fujifilm photographers who ordered through Amazon were actually punished. Is it Amazon’s fault? Yes. Is it Fujifilm’s fault? Sure—they could have done something else to teach Amazon a lesson, while still allowing people to receive the cameras they ordered. Is it my fault? No. Is it your fault? No. But you and I didn’t get our gear when others did. I know this is a first-world problem, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter, but it is something that many people have experienced.
Amazon is a huge company, and Fujifilm sales are a tiny drop in a massive bucket. If Fujifilm stopped selling to Amazon altogether, it wouldn’t hurt Amazon in any way, shape, or form. I get that Fujifilm has to hold them accountable. I get that it wasn’t fair to their other retail customers. But let’s be real: crap rolls down hill. Who ended up with the crap? Me. You, if you, too, ordered through Amazon. Fujifilm’s customers are who got punished, not Amazon. I’m sure Amazon gave two seconds to this situation, and hasn’t cared one iota since. When they get their cameras, they’ll sell every single copy, and it will have such a small impact on the bottom line that you need a powerful magnifying glass just to see it. Those trying to be patient with their Amazon preorders might have to be extremely patient—I’ve heard that it might be sometime in January before orders are shipped. I don’t know that for a fact, but it’s what I have heard, and it may or may not be true—I hope it isn’t true.
So how did I get my X-T5? I called around to local camera stores, and I found one in stock. Luckily, Foto Forum in Phoenix had a body-only copy, plus one bundled with the 18-55mm f/2.8-f/4 kit zoom. I purchased the one with the lens. If you are still waiting for yours to ship, maybe call around to local camera stores to see if they still have an X-T5 in stock, and if so purchase from them instead.
That’s my story. What about you? Did you buy a Fujifilm X-T5? Did it arrive or are you still waiting?
People have already begun asking me for my impressions on this camera. I think a number of you are waiting to learn a little more about it before spending so much money. It’s way too soon to provide you with anything valuable. I’ll tell you my way-too-soon initial impressions, but please take them with a large grain of salt. I’ve only barely begun to use the camera and really haven’t had a chance to properly test it. I’ll give a full review later.
First, let’s talk about megapixels. Do you need 40? If you crop deeply, print posters, or just love to pixel-peep, then maybe. But if you don’t crop deeply, don’t print posters, or don’t pixel-peep, then you definitely don’t need 40mp—it’s way overkill. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to negatively affect the speed of the camera or even the file transfer speed when using the Fujifilm Cam Remote app. Unfortunately, it does take up more space on the SD Card, phone/computer, and storage, and uploads to my cloud storage are noticeably slower. There’s pluses and minuses to 40mp; I don’t anticipate the pluses coming in handy for me very often. For some of you, though, it is an important upgrade.
I haven’t put the autofocus improvements to the test whatsoever, but through three days of shooting, I haven’t noticed it being any more snappy than my X-E4. The only thing I noticed is that face detection locked onto a face that was far away, which I wouldn’t expect to happen on my X-E4. Since I wasn’t trying to photograph the person, it actually wasn’t a positive thing, but I can see this being an improvement. I haven’t even attempted continuous tracking or anything like that yet, so I can’t speak of it.
I was really excited for HEIF, but discovered that it disables Clarity. That’s disappointing. No HEIF for me, since I use Clarity a lot. Speaking of Clarity, I was also very disappointed that it isn’t any faster on the X-T5, and the Storing pause is identical to X-Trans IV. Fujifilm should have spent some time speeding this up, in my opinion. Oh, and somehow I keep bumping the drive switch, and accidentally switching to CL or HDR, both of which disable Clarity—I’ll have to figure out how to not bump that switch.
While the X-T5 is smaller than the X-T4, and just a little bigger than the X-T1 and X-T30, it is definitely heavy. Seems like a similar weight to the X-T4—not sure if it is or isn’t, but it’s hefty. I personally prefer the weight of the X-T1 or X-T30, but if you use large lenses a lot, you might appreciate the solid base of the X-T5.
The reason that I purchased the Fujifilm X-T5 is because this camera has the new Nostalgic Neg. film simulation. What do I think of it so far? If Eterna and Classic Chrome had a baby, it would be Nostalgic Negative. It has some similarities to both of those film simulations, with soft gradations in the shadows similar to Eterna and with some Eterna-like colors (particularly the warm colors), and with contrast, saturation, and an overall palette more similar to Classic Chrome. I’m not a huge fan of default straight-out-of-the-box Nostalgic Neg.—I was actually initially disappointed—but with some adjustments it can become magical. I love it! Nostalgic Neg. is another analog-esque film sim from Fujifilm that’s sure to become a classic. Expect some recipes soon!
I don’t have any other observations yet. I hope to do some more serious experimentations soon, and when I do I’ll share those impressions with you. In the meantime, here are some straight-out-of-camera Nostalgic Neg. pictures that I captured with my Fujifilm X-T5:
Two Ducks – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
311 – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Caution: Nature – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Believer – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cat Clock – Prescott, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dusk Blazer – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Spiderweb Rocks – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Don’t Shoot – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Warning – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Light Chair – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red & Gold – Prescott, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Going Out of Business – Prescott, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hyundai – Prescott, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Short Train – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Around the Bend – Arlington, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Lakeview – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Log on the Lake – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Private Dock – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Can’t See the Forest – Lynx Lake, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Irrigation Mist – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I turned off the advertisements on Fuji X Weekly. They’re gone. You’re welcome. Oh, and I’m sorry that you had to put up with them for so long.
Why did I do this? Why did I even have ads in the first place? To answer the second question first, there’s a real cost to running this website and doing the things I do. The ad revenue (which isn’t much—it’s amazing how little you actually get from ads, much less than many of you likely imagine) helps to pay for it. It basically covered the cost of web hosting and domains and stuff like that—not only for Fuji X Weekly, but Ritchie’s Ricoh Recipes, RitchieCam, RithieRoesch.com, and the Community Recipes page, too. I discontinued the ads for two reasons: the company facilitating the ads cut their payouts in half (which is crazy unfair), and the ads were just soooo annoying anyway—I hated having them. It was time for them to go!
Unfortunately, when you run a website, you sometimes have to do things that you don’t want to because you have your own expenses that must be covered. The ads were helpful in covering those expenses, but not something that I liked having. In fact, in my very first post, I optimistically proclaimed, “I’m not placing advertisements on this website.” That lasted a little while (although, at the time, WordPress placed their own ads on this site because I was utilizing their free plan back then), but as this website grew, so did the expenses of running it. I hoped that someday another revenue stream would eventually be enough that I could turn the ads off. That never really materialized, but lately Amazon affiliate purchases have increased (thank you for using my links for your purchases!), so I’m using that as my excuse: affiliate revenue is now paying for the expenses of keeping this thing up and running. I’m hopeful that the ads are gone for good.
It’s long overdue, and I’m glad that I finally did it: Fuji X Weekly is now free of annoying ads! This should make the experience of this website noticeably better. I’m sorry that you had to put up with them for so long, and I hope you celebrate with me that they’re finally gone. Hallelujah!
Chinook With a Limp Essex, CA, 2002 Photo by Troy Paiva
If you already know who Troy Paiva is and have seen his wonderful night photographs, then you are well aware of how important his work has been to the genres of light painting, urban exploration, and Americana photography. If you don’t know who Troy is… well, you will soon be initiated, and you can thank me later. “Every once in awhile an artist bursts forth with such a profound impact on a genre of art that it forever alters its course,” photographer Ken Lee stated in a Photofocus article. “Troy Paiva is one such artist.”
What Troy is most known for is nighttime light-painted photography of abandoned, forgotten, or neglected roadside Americana. He visits abandoned buildings and old junkyards and even airplane boneyards during full-moon darkness, capturing long-exposure images using artificial lights to add pops of color that aren’t naturally there. His striking pictures have been displayed in art galleries and museum exhibits, and printed in magazines and books, including a couple of Stephen King covers.
The Star in the Window Rhyolite, NV, 1997 Photo by Troy Paiva
My introduction to Troy Paiva came through an unusual book: Weird Arizona. He was a contributor to it (plus some of the other books in that series), and it had a little Route 66 writeup by Troy that included a picture of an abandoned gas station with a strange red glow on the ceiling. Later, I found Troy on Flickr, and even corresponded with him briefly on the location of one of his photographs. I’ve been a big fan of his photography for over a decade; however, he’s been doing this whole light-painting thing since the late-1980’s, well before I stumbled across his fantastic images.
I interviewed Troy recently, and I’m very excited and honored to share it with you. This is a very important article, because I’m certain that many of you can relate to it—I know that I can! Perhaps, like me, you have piles of old slides and/or negatives stored in a box somewhere. Nobody ever sees those pictures. What do you do with them? They can’t be any good, can they? Are they worth the trouble to dig through and scan? Will anyone care about them if you do? Are they even worth keeping? What will eventually happen to them if you do nothing? Those are questions that Troy Paiva recently wrestled with, and I think his answers are both fascinating and inspiring.
Salton City Trailer Salton Sea, CA, 1992 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: Troy, I love your photography—your pictures and your process! I noticed that you have been revisiting your old analog images lately—daytime photos from the late 1980’s, 1990’s, and early 2000’s. What made you dig out your old slides?
Troy: Earlier this year I bumped into a set of my images on Flickr—The Mojave Carhenge from 1992—that I had scanned ages ago. They looked bad, with low resolution and converted to B&W. I wanted to find those slides and rescan them, but I put it on the back burner. Later, I needed to re-up on the long-dormant software for my film scanner to do something for a friend, so I used that opportunity to finally dig out those slides—scanning and processing them using 2022 software and skills.
I was surprised by how my perception of those pictures had changed over the course of 30 years—how old and rare and cool the cars in it were. It was weirdly timeless, like it could have been shot in 1982 or even ’72. I put them on Facebook and I got a response that supported these feelings. I looked through a few more boxes of early ’90’s daytime slides—pictures that even I hadn’t seen since the early ’90’s—which seemed to generate the same level of surprise. It didn’t take me long to realize that I should keep going.
Welcome to Nephi Nephi, UT, 1996 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: What camera gear did you use back then and what do you use now?
Troy: I’ve always shot with Canon cameras. In the early ’90’s it was a ’60’s vintage FX, an all-manual (broken) match-needle relic for night work, and A-1’s for metered shooting. I switched to the T90 in the late ’90’s—it was a great night shooting camera. I had several running different films. I used the FX forever, right up until 2004. Digitally, I went from the 20D to the 60D to the 6D. Once you night-shoot from a knee-high POV with a swivel screen, you never go back! All the film cameras were used—cheap. I’m pretty cavalier with equipment, and night photography has a way of wrecking and breaking your gear anyway.
In the ’90’s my lenses were constantly changing. All of them were purchased used, and lots of 3rd party junk. They’d fall apart, or get stuck on f/2.8 forever—especially the wide lenses from the early ’90’s, which were loose and wiggly in your hands and the focus fell off hard in the corners—and I’d buy another one for $25 at the flea market. All part of the character of the work: shooting junk with junk.
I used a mix of Ektachrome and Fujichrome, and a little Agfa, too. I would shoot with whatever slide film was on sale.
The Islands of Yucca Interstate 40, AZ, 1996 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: What drew you to your subjects back then?
Troy: A lot of the signage imagery stems from my MCM graphic design background. At the time I was working as a designer at Galoob Toys, making Micro Machine-sized gas stations and car washes. I was already obsessed with abandoned roadside long before I ever got to Galoob, and taking pictures of it—day or night—was a natural part of the headspace I occupied.
N’ Fresno, CA, 1995 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: What is your process for digitalizing your slides? What challenges have you encountered?
Troy: I’ve had a Nikon IV ED film scanner since about 2001, which I’ve always used to scan my night work to put online. After moving into the digital era (in 2005), it sat largely unused. There was even a long period where it was unusable because Nikon stopped updating the software. Luckily, 3rd party software appeared at some point—I use the one from VueScan. The raw scans are not even close to right, but good enough to get them into Photoshop where I use MANY tools to make them presentable: masked sharpening/noise (grain) control, major HSB adjustments, white and black point shifts—the whole bit. Some also require perspective adjustment, cloning scratches out, creative cropping. Some mix down in a few minutes, some take a half hour to pull together.
The Yuma Cabana Yuma, AZ, 1995 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: What differentiates your daytime pictures from your night ones? What is surprising about it?
Troy: My daytime work was more about scouting locations to potentially come back and work later that night. Many of these subjects would have been impossible to do with my full moon technique because they’re bathed with sodium vapor streetlights. Or sometimes I’d get chased back to the car by dogs or some nut racking a shotgun. In many cases, the day shots are the only record.
The daytime work always took a back seat to my experimental night work, so I rarely showed it to anyone. It just sat in storage for 25, 30 years. Occasionally I’d pull some night work for a fresh scan, completely ignoring the daytime work. Why? I wish there was some smart-sounding “I was consciously playing the long game” answer, but, apparently, I was playing it unconsciously.
It’s a part of my photography that longtime followers of my night work have never seen. It mirrors it in many ways, yet doesn’t fall into the trap of having the “light-painted night” aspect take over what the picture is about. They are just “normal” pictures of things, and that makes them easier to conceptually digest.
Also, I’m still scanning. There’s a lot I haven’t even looked at yet. I am intentionally not going through everything at once. I grab a few boxes, or all the work from one trip—cull, scan, and process. Only then do I look at the next few rolls. The picture of my slides (below) isn’t even all of it—there are about 10 carousels full, too. A lot of it is personal things of no interest to anyone but me. Several boxes have nothing worth scanning, but some… every slide gets an “Oh, wow!” when I put it on the light box for the first time.
Troy’s old film slides, mostly from the 1990’s.
FXW: What did you discover through this project?
Troy: I discovered a body of work that almost feels like someone else shot it! Sometimes memories come flooding back as I look through them; for others, it’s, “Where was that again?”
My MO was to specifically shoot the once-loved things that looked like they were on their way out. Most of it was abandoned and heavily weathered, steeped in Wabi-Sabi feelings of accepting loss and finding beauty and nobility in decay. It turns out that my hit rate was good: it seems like 90% of these subjects are now irrevocably changed or just gone. I perform Google searches on most of the sites—looking for them on street view, images, etc.—and in many cases, there doesn’t appear to be any other “intentional” pictures of them made before they disappeared. I’ve run across a couple of motel signs where the only other picture that I could find is in the John Margolies collection in the Library of Congress. It seems like everybody shoots this kind of stuff now, but in the early ‘90s, it was rare and—frankly—kinda weird.
I haven’t parsed out what any of it means. I’m still in the middle of the scanning project, so I’m not ready to sit back and figure out what to do with it yet, except share some of it online and get it seen.
Mom’s Motel Fresno, CA, 1995 Photo by Troy Paiva
FXW: How important is it to revisit your old pictures?
Troy: Once I started to see how much of this rare imagery I had, I began to think of Vivian Maier and Charles Phoenix. Imagine finding this motherlode of daytime and weird night photography of the long lost American roadside in a dumpster behind a Salvation Army! If I didn’t scan and share it, someday when I die that mountain of boxed slides would either end up in the dump, or a thrift store to be found and exploited and re-contextualized by someone else. The 99.9% reality is that it would most likely end up in a landfill, never to be seen by anyone. Once I realized what I was sitting on, I didn’t want any of that to happen.
Time has a way of making ALL pictures better. They’re a record of a moment in time. That moment often seems inconsequential when it happens, but someday you may not be able to experience anything like that moment again because the place or people are gone, and the picture suddenly takes on different meanings that were hidden before. Ever notice when you look at really old magazines you tend to gloss over the articles and spend most of your time looking at the advertisements? The things we don’t think are important or historic now have a tendency to be the ones that end up being more interesting later.
Liquor For Health Yuma, AZ, 1995 Photo by Troy Paiva
I want to give a very big thanks to Troy Paiva for taking time out of his busy day to allow me to interview him and publish his words and photographs on Fuji X Weekly. Thank you, Troy! Many of these pictures have been shared on his social media pages, but a couple of them have never been published before, and you’re the very first (aside from Troy and now myself) to see them! To say that I feel honored is such an understatement.
My hope is that this article has encouraged you to take another look at the pictures you captured years and years ago. Maybe they have a different meaning today than the last time you saw them. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to do your own project similar to Troy’s. It could be time to dust off that old scanner, or even buy a new one. I think this article also illustrates that the photography you’re doing right now is important, even if it doesn’t seem so at the moment. Keep at it, and in time you’ll see the significance of the pictures you captured today.
Still shocking to me, I’ve gotten a lot of followers on the Fuji X Weekly Instagram account over the last two years: over 25K right now! I topped 10K followers on May 11, 2021, and 25K on July 9, 2022—it has grown 150% in roughly 14 months. That’s amazing, and all thanks goes to you! I never thought that was possible.
When I reached 10K followers I signed up for a business account. While it certainly has its benefits, it also has one huge negative: Instagram wants me to pay them money to show you, my followers, my posts. They purposefully hide your content from your own followers—if someone seeks it out they will find it, but it won’t show up in their feed—unless you pay Instagram a fee. My engagement dropped in half the instant I signed up for the business account. You might think that engagement—likes, comments, shares, etc.—would have grown at the same rate as the followers, but not so. The average post at 25K has a similar engagement as a post at 10K prior to signing up for a business account. While my followers have increased by 150%, my engagement has only increased by 100%—back to where it was before Instagram cut it in half.
Instagram is a great place to feed your envy. There are people whose pictures suck that have 100K or more followers and are basically earning an income from Instagram. There are people who capture amazing pictures who have less than two hundred followers. I’ve seen both of those circumstances personally, and maybe you have, too. Now I’m not the world’s greatest photographer by any means. I see many, many photographers who are more talented than I who have fewer followers, and I also see the opposite, too. Nobody’s self-worth should come from Instagram, and the followers and engagement (or lack of it) don’t actually mean anything. Unfortunately, it’s more of a popularity contest than anything else; however, Instagram is a good way to connect with others across the world.
Once upon a time Instagram was the place to see wonderful photographs. You could find a lot of inspiration. It still is, but less so now. Why? Instagram (which is owned by Facebook/Meta) recently claimed that engagement in still photographs is down nearly 50% over the last two years, so that’s why they’re focusing on video. I call B.S. on this.
I know two things: Instagram will hide your content if they want to, and Instagram (Meta, actually) doesn’t like competition. Whenever a new social media app comes along that Meta perceives as a threat, they buy it; if they can’t buy it, they make their own version of it to incorporate into their own apps. Right now that competition is TikTok, and since Meta can’t buy it (I’m sure they tried at one point), they’re becoming “TikTok” in order to win—at the expense of you, the photographer.
I believe that Instagram has put into place algorithms to suppress still photography and simultaneously push video content (Reels, as they call it). Then they say that still photography is dying and video is booming, so they need to be video-centric. They’re paying people money to publish videos. I’m not a video guy myself, but by far my most popular post on Instagram is a Reel, with triple the engagement of my most popular still-photography post. Is it because you all are more interested videos, or because Instagram wants you to be more interested in video? In my opinion they’re trying to transform their app into TikTok, which means that photography needs to take a back seat.
You can still be successful on Instagram as a photographer. Since Instagram is pushing Reels so hard, you might consider using those to show your pictures (instead of a traditional post, or in addition to it). I’m personally not a fan of what Instagram is becoming, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. A lot of people have discovered my Film Simulation Recipes through Instagram. I’ve made a lot of connections (I get about 50 DMs on IG each day!), and even made some friends. There are definitely still some positives.
I do think the time is ripe for an Instagram-alternative for photographers. I know that many have tried, and no one has really succeeded. I don’t know what its unique shtick should be, but there has to be something that sets it apart. Money is obviously an obstacle, because everyone wants a free app, but an app like that would be expensive to produce and maintain. I don’t have the solution, but I do know that an opportunity exists right now for someone who thinks that they might have the solution.
Now it’s your turn! Do you like or dislike how Instagram is evolving? Would you try an Instagram alternative if there was a good one? Is there a current app that you prefer to Instagram and why? Let me know in the comments!
Fujifilm X-T200 — Fujifilm’s last entry-level camera?
I commonly get asked advice on camera gear. Most often it is which Fujifilm camera to buy, usually by someone who is trying to get into the system—either as a first “serious” camera or switching brands, typically because they want to try Film Simulation Recipes; however, I occasionally I get asked by someone (that knows that I’m “into photography”) who is looking for an entry-level camera for themselves or their teenage kid. If it’s for themselves, it’s because Johnny’s 5th birthday is coming and they want better pictures, or they’re about to take that epic vacation they’ve been saving up for and want to capture the memories. If it’s for their child, it’s because their kid has shown some interest in photography and they want to foster that. Either way, the basic entry-level model is what’s needed.
Whenever I ask about budgets, I usually hear something like, “Under $300.” Sometimes $500 is the upper limit. I’ve been told $150 before. Almost never is it $1,000. In the past the advice I gave was to buy a used entry-level DSLR, like the Nikon D3200, for example, which could often be found somewhere close to the budget—super easy for the novice, yet advanced enough that a budding photographer could learn on it. Later, I would suggest something like the Fujifilm X-T100 or X-A5, which were affordable mirrorless options (and, of course, Fujifilm). Nowadays it’s harder to make a recommendation because the entry-level camera is basically gone.
Those who are “serious” tend to know that they have to spend more to get a quality camera. Much of the time you get what you pay for; however, sometimes these entry-level models were surprisingly good—I was impressed by the image quality of the Fujifilm X-T200, for example. Those who are after quality will typically skip the entry-level and go for a mid-tier option or higher. Those who want a cheap introduction will be satisfied with a low-budget camera. A lot of people—mostly those who would never consider themselves a “real photographer”—used to buy these cheap cameras in droves, but now they don’t.
The reason they don’t is largely because of the cellphone. The camera technology on your phone is beyond good enough for most people and purposes, and it keeps getting more and more impressive. You don’t need a bulky, inconvenient, complicated, and expensive DSLR to capture Johnny’s 5th birthday. You don’t need an interchangeable-lens camera to photograph that epic vacation. Your phone is more than capable of delivering stunning pictures that can be instantly shared. Yes, you could spend a grand on a camera and lens, you could lug it around, you could take classes or watch videos on how to use it since it’s all so confusing, and you could download a bulky photo editing program onto your computer—or just pull out your phone and let its smart technology handle it all for you with just one tap.
It wasn’t long ago that the cellphone killed the pocket point-and-shoot. Now it’s also killed entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras. While I think cellphone camera technology can be (and could continue to become) appealing to “serious” photographers, I don’t think it will have a big impact on higher-end cameras. The market is shrinking from the bottom up—not the top down. If anything, there is an increased demand for mid and high end models. But the lucrative point-and-shoot and entry-level markets are pretty much all dried up.
What does this mean? There are several things. First, those hoping to find a cheap camera will have to get an older model, because less and less are new ones being made. I definitely don’t mind using “old” gear, but others don’t always feel the same—five-year-old tech is practically obsolete and 10-year old definitely is (in some people’s opinions, not mine). Fujifilm’s last entry-level cameras—the X-A7 and X-T200—were discontinued shortly after their release, due to sluggish sales. Right now the mid-tier X-E4 is their lowest-level model, and it is certainly not a “low-end” camera. Other brands have been discontinuing their entry-level options, too. If you want a “real” camera, you’ll need to get a “serious” camera; otherwise, stick with your cellphone.
I think the affect on those with a budding interest in photography will be profound. Either you will learn on a cellphone (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), or you’ll pony-up for a mirrorless—those who cannot afford the mirrorless model either won’t have their interest fostered and it will fade, or will learn photography differently—good, bad, or indifferent, this will shape the future of photography in some way. Change always has some impact on the future, but we won’t know exactly what it is until we get there.
Another impact that the disappearing entry-level will have on the camera industry is that money must be made somewhere. Camera companies have to make up for the lost revenue. While the trend in tech is that things become cheaper over time, I think we’re already seeing that the top-end is not getting cheaper. It won’t just affect the top, but that is what’s most affected currently it seems; I suspect that it will have an impact across all brands and all tiers to varying degrees. Fujifilm is lucky because their Instax line is still extremely popular and profitable.
The flip side of the coin is that the cellphone camera market is (and has been) booming. Whether it is Apple or Android, the camera capabilities of your device likely had a significant impact on your decision to buy. How many lenses does it have? How much resolution? What kind of computational tricks can it do? The more people spend on cellphones, the more the technology marches forward, and the better the cameras become. It’s really quite amazing what the little telephone/computer/camera in your pocket can do!
Photo by Amanda Roesch using the RitchieCam App on an iPhone 13
Obviously those advancements mean opportunities. I took the opportunity to create the RitchieCam App to bring simplified and intuitive one-step photography to your iPhone. My wife took the opportunity to do some underwater photography—something that she wouldn’t have done with an interchangeable-lens camera, but her iPhone 13 handled it swimmingly well. What that opportunity is for you depends on you—there is an opportunity for certain, you just have to find it and make it happen.
Yes, the entry-level camera is disappearing, and will soon be gone. Much like CDs, Blockbuster, and one-hour photo labs, cheap interchangeable-lens cameras are a thing of the past. It will have an impact on photography, but whether that’s positive or negative depends on your perspective. And I do think there are both positives and negatives. Certainly camera manufacturers have been concerned for some time—if there’s a lesson to be learned, perhaps it’s to do more to bring the mobile photography tech advancements to “real” cameras, too. Those wanting a bottom-end camera are seeing their options disappear. Those hoping cameras will become cheaper as they become better will likely be disappointed, at least for a time. That might look bleak, but I also believe that photography has become more accessible.
How has photography become more accessible if it isn’t becoming more affordable? The phone-in-your-pocket is only getting better, and is being taken more seriously. There’s a reason why the pocket point-and-shoot and entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras have succumbed to it. Many more people have access to a decent camera, and the pictures are easily shared across the world—more pictures are being captured now than ever before, and that’s a huge understatement!
Fujifilm cameras have made post-processing unnecessary. I don’t know how many of you truly understand the impact of this—I have a front-row seat, and I’m just beginning to grasp the magnitude of it. Learning Lightroom and Photoshop have been a prerequisite barrier to becoming a “serious photographer” for years; however, not everyone in the world has access to photo-editing programs, not everyone has a desire (or the time) to learn them, and not everyone enjoys sitting at a computer for hours (or has the time). A lot of people have been on the outside looking in, but now they don’t have to be because the barrier has been removed (thanks to Fujifilm cameras and Film Simulation Recipes). For others, it’s just a fun way to do photography, and has made the process of creating pictures more enjoyable.
Some who are just learning photography, who’ve maybe only used their cellphones previously, are buying Fujifilm cameras and using recipes and getting good results out-of-the-gate; if they had to edit their pictures, they would still be stuck on the software—they’d be making less progress and having less fun. Some who are experienced pros and have been in the business awhile have found that using recipes on Fujifilm cameras has simplified their workflow and made them more productive, while not sacrificing quality delivered to the client (true story I’ve heard several times).
Camera makers don’t like seeing a previously profitable market segment disappear, and that makes them worry about the future. Those wanting to buy a low-budget camera are finding it harder and harder to find. Things are shifting and changing within the photography and camera world. Yet, whether you just want some decent snaps of Johnny’s birthday or are just starting out in photography or are a seasoned pro—or anywhere in-between—there are great opportunities for you right now. The obstacles in your path have never been smaller.
Last night’s storm as captured with my Fujifilm X-E4.
Arizona gets summer thunderstorms. If you are not from this region you might be surprised to learn that on average one-in-five days are rainy in Phoenix during the months of July and August. The thunderstorms come suddenly and can be intense. Flash flooding is common in the desert. They call this Monsoon, which roughly translates to stormy season or perhaps more simply weather or season, depending on who you ask.
One of these Monsoon thunderstorms hit the house hard last night. The wind was strong, the rain was pouring, and the streets turned into streams. Things toppled over in the yard. Branches broke off of trees. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. It was kind of scary for a few moments.
I snapped a high-ISO image of the mayhem from safely inside the house. I used my Fujifilm X-E4 with a Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 lens, which isn’t the greatest low-light combo, so I used a window frame to help stabilize the camera for the 1/5 second exposure. I had my Nostalgic Print Film Simulation Recipe programmed into the camera; however, after the fact I thought it would look better in black-and-white, so I reprocessed the RAW file in-camera to the Kodak Tri-X 400 recipe.
I photographed this still-wet blossom today with my X-E4 and Fujicolor Pro 400H recipe.
I went to bed while the storm was still raging, but when I awoke this morning all was calm. It was a peaceful morning. The sun was shining. The wind was still. Birds were chirping. Everything seemed normal, except for what needed to be cleaned up—a task that didn’t take long—and I was able to enjoy the moment while sipping a cup of coffee.
This made me think of life. Sometimes the metaphoric storms rage, and it can be kind of scary. But once these storms-of-life pass—and they will pass—we can enjoy a moment of peace. The sun will shine again. The flowers will bloom. I think it’s important to take in the calm that comes after the storm. It’s inevitable that more storms will come; perhaps they’re easier to weather when we can remember the calm that comes after. Sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Yeah, you might have some junk to clean up, but then take a moment to appreciate the peaceful morning.
Storm brewing behind a Palo Verde in 2019, captured with a Fujifilm X-T30 and Velvia recipe.
This article doesn’t have much to do with photography, but I hope that it is encouraging to some of you nonetheless. If there is a way to make this more photography-related, it is this: no matter if it is stormy in your life or a peaceful morning, get your camera and capture pictures. Expressing yourself through your images can be therapeutic, and there are many valuable lessons that could be learned.
Even though they can be scary, Monsoon thunderstorms are necessary for life in Arizona. They provide much-needed water to a parched land. They produce cooler temperatures on scorching days. The land becomes more lush and green in its wake. Similarly, your personal storms-of-life, although they’re awful to experience, can make you stronger and better, and perhaps are what will propel you forward to whatever is waiting for you tomorrow.
