When the Fuji XT1 came out in 2014 I jumped in the deep at the deep end. It was a fantastic camera, and I loved the hands on control you had. It felt like a camera. I also had a Fuji Xpro 1 as a second body, which I loved shooting with, more personal stuff.
Fast forward a couple of years and I moved into video, so I started shooting with Sony A7 series cameras, which made sense, both stills and moving image. I found the Fuji cameras were sitting on the shelf and gathering dust, so it was time for them to go. The only thing I did not let go was the X100T that I had when it came out.
Pink Sunset and Moon Rise - Fuji XT2
The Sony A7 cameras could pull off both my photo and video work, and eventually I went with the Sony FS5 as my dedicated video camera and the Sony A7R as my stills camera.
But something was missing,. The files out of the A7R are solid, full of detail, but there was just something that was not quite right, I never felt connected to the camera. Shooting fast action was not really possible, it was a pretty slow camera, with not a not very fast autofocus, but that was not the cameras fault, I was just using it for what it was not really designed for.
Trubbel, Rockebo - Fuji XT2 with small flash
I looked at Canon really hard, but that was a considerable economic investment to go for a 5D Mark 4, along with some Canon glass, so the XT2 became a serious contender.
I read review after review, and weighed up full frame vs APSC, weight, cost of glass, everything, over and over, until numerous nights at 0200 in the morning.
Åre - XPro1 - Helios 58mm
Since I shot Fuji before, I knew the glass was great at the price point, I decided that I would go for two XT2 bodies, and picked an XPRO1 up for 2000 SEK. I also purchased a few vintage lenses, a Helios 44M 58mm F2 and a Meyer Görlitz Oreston 50mm f1.8.
So far, I have shot a couple ski shoots, and the 11FPS or the 14FPS are more than enough for any situation. I have also shot a small concert in extreme low-light and was very happy with the auto focus in the low light and the high ISO performance.
Trubbel, Rockebo - Fuji XT2 12800 ISO
I also went with the Godox system which now supports Fuji and opens up their whole range of lighting options.
One source of research I came across is Jonas Rask. His website is awesome, a really great source of all things Fuji, you should check him out if you have not already!
I am very impressed with what Fuji have done with the XT2, and the issues that the XT1 had have been addressed. When shooting with the Fuji cameras it feels like a camera, precision, evolution over time, connected, not just a computer in a camera body.
Felix Axelsson, Åre - Fuji XT2
Portrait - XPro1 Helios 58mm
Then the GH5 came out, and I had the chance to sell the FS5 at a good price, so now I am shooting video on the GH5 or renting other film cameras when the production demands it.
With the winter season approaching, shooting skiing and snowboarding, along with events, I knew it was time to upgrade the stills side of things.