Phil V
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Inspired by a couple of recent mentions of various Fujis.
I’ve been shooting digital for 20 odd years, and film for 20 years before that.
I’ll start by saying as I have before, that I love my R6, it makes my photography so easy. But it doesn’t make my heart skip a beat, and the cameras that have are few and far between.
Mostly my cameras have been considered tools, and this post doesn’t mean I didn’t like anything else.
The first camera that gave me real joy to use was a Canon AE1p, unfortunately I had it as a loan from a mate, and it didn’t fit my priorities at the time. I bought a Bronica ERTS from the same guy.
The Canon EOS30 almost hits the mark, as the eye controlled focus felt like witchcraft. Followed by the 300d, as digital opened a whole world of possibilities, but still, it was just a camera.
We took the kids on holiday and I treated myself to an Olympus compact that went underwater and was tough enough to let the kids use, but was still a ‘nice looking’ camera. That makes the list.
Also bought for travel, I decided that I could afford a ‘second system’ and bought a Fuji Xe1, paired with a 23mm lens it was a much nicer to use version of my 6d and Sigma 35mm art. I stupidly decided that a Canon M5 was a more practical alternative and I was so wrong.
So that’s a short list, having owned maybe 30 cameras, mostly Canon EOS, and the only cameras that gave me a genuine pleasure to use are:
Canon AE1p
Olympus mju tough
Fujifilm XE1.
Anyone else have similar feelings?
I’ve been shooting digital for 20 odd years, and film for 20 years before that.
I’ll start by saying as I have before, that I love my R6, it makes my photography so easy. But it doesn’t make my heart skip a beat, and the cameras that have are few and far between.
Mostly my cameras have been considered tools, and this post doesn’t mean I didn’t like anything else.
The first camera that gave me real joy to use was a Canon AE1p, unfortunately I had it as a loan from a mate, and it didn’t fit my priorities at the time. I bought a Bronica ERTS from the same guy.
The Canon EOS30 almost hits the mark, as the eye controlled focus felt like witchcraft. Followed by the 300d, as digital opened a whole world of possibilities, but still, it was just a camera.
We took the kids on holiday and I treated myself to an Olympus compact that went underwater and was tough enough to let the kids use, but was still a ‘nice looking’ camera. That makes the list.
Also bought for travel, I decided that I could afford a ‘second system’ and bought a Fuji Xe1, paired with a 23mm lens it was a much nicer to use version of my 6d and Sigma 35mm art. I stupidly decided that a Canon M5 was a more practical alternative and I was so wrong.
So that’s a short list, having owned maybe 30 cameras, mostly Canon EOS, and the only cameras that gave me a genuine pleasure to use are:
Canon AE1p
Olympus mju tough
Fujifilm XE1.
Anyone else have similar feelings?


I think the D300S was 'just right' for me though.