If you wear this hat & cross…. Your integrity must be unquestioned!

I got a really interesting email last night, and I am really glad I got it, because I want to answer it here for anyone else who may have the same question!  Here it is, word for word;

“Bill,

You don’t know me, but I met you at the Nikon booth a couple of years ago at Imaging USA.  I read your blog everyday and it is a great source of information and inspiration!  Thanks for that, and please don’t ever stop!  Now for my question, I know you have been a Nikon shooter for your entire life, what on earth did someone do to you at Nikon that ticked you off enough that you switched from Nikon to Fuji!!??  I saw your spectacular images at the Fuji booth at Photo Plus, and couldn’t figure it out, they were great by the way?”

Signed,

Puzzled

Wow, I’m glad you asked that question, because if you are thinking that, maybe others are, and I really want to explain this to everyone’s satisfaction!

Here goes; Absolutely no one at Nikon did anything to me that was anything but kind!  I left Nikon with the best wishes of everyone, and everyone there are still my friends.  So, I’m good with Nikon!

What happened is that 11 months ago my doctor suggested to me that my left shoulder was headed for the same rotator cuff damage that led to surgery on my right shoulder.  I was advised that if I did not want to have more surgery, (and I absolutely do not want to go through shoulder surgery again!), that I was going to have to reduce the weight of my shoulder bag from 25 + pounds to half that!  I tried every way I could to knock down the weight of my Nikon system, I carry two bodies, a 16-35, 24-120, 70-300 and a 105 micro, and all the associated accessories.  Everything I left out of the bag was later needed and I missed the shot!  I just could not get the weight of my Nikon bag down enough!

I started to search for a smaller camera system that would allow a full set of focal lengths and still weight half as much.  I tried several and all fell short of my goal.  One system had great sharpness, but the noise was just too high above 800, another had great noise but the lens selection was just way to limited.  I was starting to give up when a friend, Nick Coury, suggested I try his Fuji X-Pro 1. I shot it for an afternoon and it felt substantial but certainly was smaller and lighter than a DSLR! Truthfully I was uncertain how I felt about a mirror-less design and the OVF/EVF arrangement?  All those concerns fell way to the side when I downloaded the files onto my computer.  I sat at my desk dumbfounded, I simply could not believe, the lack of noise, the tack sharpness of the glass, the look of the colors, and the drop dead wonderful monochrome images straight out of the camera! Here was a camera that could easily compete with my Nikons that weighed half as much!  I bought a Fuji X-E1, (at that time the Fuji X-Pro 1 had not gotten the firmware that made it a completely great camera!)  It came with a so called “kit” lens, but this is not a “kit lens”, the 18-55 was the equal to any other mid range zoom I’v e ever used, from anyone!  I think the Nikon 24-70 f 2.8 is the greatest midrange zoom in the industry, and the only thing this little lens gave up to it is being f 4 at the long end!  Every lens I bought and I bought a bunch was simply world class!  This is great because I always stuck with Nikon because of the stellar glass!  Now I could save a lot of weight and still have killer glass.  It was an answer to prayer!

Now, I have not walked away from Nikon, I still own a bunch of Nikon gear, I just can’t carry it in the field, but I still shoot with it when I can work right in a studio setting or close to the vehicle.  As for the prints at the Fuji booth, they called and asked if they could buy some of the images I have shot with their gear and I said sure!  If Nikon had requested any of the tens of thousands of images I’ve made with Nikon cameras, I would have gladly taken their money too!

I write a blog and I offer my opinions on lots of brands of gear.  I want to make sure that my readers know that I’m not on the payroll for any manufacturer.  I have great friends at many fine photo industry companies, but I buy my gear just like you do.  I don’t work for Nikon anymore, but even when I did I was always honest in my advice to people regarding recommendations. As a tech rep my job was to help pros, and that means being honest.  I want the readers of this blog to feel confident that I’m not a paid spokesman for any company, if I praise Nikon or Fuji or Canon, it’s because I really believe I’m offering good advise.   I may not always be right, but I will be trying to be as honest as I can.

I love the quote Scott Kelby uses all the time, “You’re never wrong, when you do the right thing.”

So, I use Fuji because it easily meets my need for a high quality, well built system, with a great low noise sensor, and extremely sharp and well designed lenses….  Next question?

Below, one of those killer monochrome images, straight out of the X-Pro-1.

Blessings,

the pilgrim