Since my slow transition in the direction of Fujifilm cameras as my main bodies for weddings (I currently primarily use a Canon 5D MkIII with a Fujifilm X-T1) I’ve found myself accumulating XF prime lenses. This began with a 56mm 1.2 and then progressed to a 23mm 1.4; I love street photography and so I spend a large portion of my time using the 23mm. This extends to my wedding work, whereby I’ll try to translate the candid, natural and unstaged nature of street photography to my wedding images. I love the X-T1 but the autofocus can be sluggish and I’ve been craving a second SD card slot to back-up shots on the fly.
Enter the X-Pro 2.
I’d been following the hype to this camera in the months surrounding Christmas and was interested in it, but honestly questioned whether it would be for me. I’ve been known to have G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome!) in the past and have been trying to rid my life of it. Fuji has begun to help with this in a sort of backwards way; going to prime lenses has really made me appreciate a ‘one camera, one lens’ philosophy, but obviously making a transition from one brand to another requires more gear!
So, I have a friend who had recently bought the X-Pro 2 and I had a little hands-on experience with it, and I was gutted to say that I loved it. I headed over the The Photography Show at the NEC, made a B-line for the Fuji camera bar and had a whirl with another X-Pro 2 explaining to the Fuji representative that I really wanted to hate it….but I didn’t. Fujifilm then had a loan service (read: clever-money-making system) whereby you could take the camera around the show with you for free (read: turn yourself into a walking advertisement). This experience didn’t help to relieve me of the feeling that this would be a fantastic addition to my camera bag.
A week (and one wedding) later and I write this blog with my X-Pro 2 nestled comfortable next to me on the desk. The question is, was it worth the purchase?
I’ll be posting some more thoughts in the coming weeks as I shoot more weddings with it, but for now I’m certainly very intrigued with it.
