Small things make a big difference (part 1)

There’ve been a couple of recent occasions when I’ve concluded that when manufacturers make incremental changes to their cameras, they can add up to making quite a difference.  Perhaps it’s unwise to buy the first iteration of any new type of camera?  It may have all kinds of bells and whistles, look incredible (if you’re into how cameras look) and on paper appear to be a big upgrade from whatever you’ve used before, but in reality perhaps it’s best to wait until the mark ii version comes out a year or two later…then they’ll really have got it sorted and you won’t need to be irritated that you had been a beta tester (and paid for that privilege).

Guess where I went for my 50th birthday last weekend?  And no, I’m not one of the guys above who don’t look 50…but might have done once…. I had a fabulous time in the city of romance, good food and wine, and a street photographer’s dreamland.

I wasn’t really there to devote my time to photography (more interested in devoting the weekend to having a fabulous time with my girlfriend) but I did manage a few sneaky shots.

There was something very relaxed and also highly cultured about Paris – we loved wandering the streets, finding some secluded little gardens, and hearing bits of opera singing and piano music through some of the open windows as we wandered past – my home town of London feels a little brash in comparison.

And finishing off with where I started – the camera.  I took a Fuji X30 with me and all of the above are JPEGs with a bit of post processing tweaks but nothing much.  A joy to use – it handles brilliantly and has addressed nearly all of the issues that made the X10 and X20 slightly irritating for me (better controls, much better viewfinder, much better battery life so you don’t need to carry a spare or two at all times).  Fuji have done a great job of developing this product into a camera that is really great to use – it may not have the best ultimate image quality but it is more than good enough for the vast majority of purposes, and because it’s so nice to use the likelihood is that you’ll want to take it with you.  I’d certainly recommend one if you’re planning a trip to Paris (or a 50th birthday present from you to you….)

Cheers,

Jon