Goodbye to Fujifilm
As I put the last strap of packing tape on the freshly store bought 12 x 12 x 14 box I’d picked-up earlier that day at lunch, I was taken back to a moment of afternoon summer reverie. For an instant, I was 25 again reveling my first new camera: a Canon Rebel XT and a 24mm lens. At the time, I ran the shipping department for an odd little store in downtown Portland that sold roof racks. My life was spent in boxes and tape dreaming of photographic adventures.
One hot summer week it arrived. My mid-year bonus had gone to pay for it and the B&H Logos on the strapping tape made me giddy. As a fellow shipping expert, it also made me a bit jealous. I remember my co-workers being aghast at how much I’d just spent at once, on cameras of all things. I knew it wasn’t going to be the last time.
Fast forward to 2024, and I found myself again amidst boxes and tape on a summer afternoon. This time, carefully wrapping up each lens in it’s own bubble wrap swaddle, and then shoving it into the box hoping to god it doesn’t bust open mid-shipment. I don’t ship nearly as much as I used to, but I still take a bit of pride in my ability to get things to their destination nicely. I feel like that’s how you respect both the equipment and the purchaser: take care of it like it’s worth a million dollars.
After about eight years of being a Fuji fanboy, it’s time to send those beautiful machines on to their next adventures. The X-T3 and 50-140mm will always remain one of my favorite camera+lens combinations, but I’m excited to see what nearly a decade of improvements in mirrorless technology have brought. On a sentimental side, it’s fun to now be part of the camera gear ecosystem, passing my used equipment down to the next user. Any time I get a vintage piece of equipment I like to imagine all the lives it has lived before me. I hope that my gear has lived an exciting life with me, and will go on to many more adventures.
Looking back over the years I’ve been lucky enough to shoot quite a few middle range consumer and pro-sumer grade cameras. It’s been fun, but it’s time for us to move on up in terms of digital real-estate. Nothing massive mind you, I’m not jumping to medium format yet. However, the full frame Nikon Z6iii has all the video features our X-T3 lacks, plus it has my all-time favorite feature: a flippy screen.
We’ll see how I get along with the Nikon, the last Nikon digital I shot was a D600 in 2016, and honestly the images blew me away. Hopefully, I’ll get the same tingly feeling from the Z6iii once it arrives.
Until then, maybe we’ll shot some film this weekend.
A pretty little camera, Fujica 35-ml
Fujica 35-ml rangefinder camera, a 35mm delight to use and a treat to look at.
The older I get, the more I love estate sales. I used to go to thrift shops almost every day. Recently, at least here in Portland, I've noticed what used to be thrift store finds are now housed in glass at vintage shops marked up 500%. Because of that, estate sales are my new love. This particular camera came from an estate sale.
The camera was in decent condition when I found it, but the shutter was stuck and I had to open it up to give it a slosh cleaning in order to shoot some test rolls. The rangefinder was a bit out of whack too, which might have been why it sat unused for so long. Thanks to smart Japanese engineering rangefinder adjustment screws are easily accessed from under the cold shoe.
Fuji made a ton of rangefinders over the years, with a bunch of different medium format versions from 6x4.5 up to 6x9. However, the Fujica rangefinder line was not immensely popular in the United States, so they fly under the radar a bit. From what I understand the 35mm rangefinders, especially weren't sold in great numbers in the U.S. so they are kind of a treat to find in good condition.
Oddities of the line: they all have the wind lever on the bottom, focus wheel on the back, and rewind on the side. All these things, are exactly what I love about it. This, surprisingly, isn't the only rangefinder camera I own with a focus wheel on the back. The Mamiya Six folder I have also operates the same way (although it moved the film plane instead of the lens). I really love being able to focus with just the move of my thumb, it feels much more natural on a rangefinder for some reason.
The little camera has a 45mm f2.8 lens that is nice and sharp, a characteristic of pretty much every Fuji lens it seems. It is essentially a small view camera lens, threaded into a leaf shutter. You set the shutter speed and aperture on the lens rings, just like you would on your large format rig. This is, more or less, the basic set up of all the Fuji / Fujica rangefinders - slap a traditional leaf shutter lens on the front of a body and make it focus.
Some of the shots that I got from the camera are really lovely.
