Is the Fuji X100v Good for 4X4 Photography?
The Fuji X100v is a great little camera for 4×4 photography, the fixed 23mm lens [35mm full frame equivalent] is sharp, not too wide and coupled with a wafer thin flip up/down 3 inch screen makes this camera a great shooter for car photography on a non professional basis.
I wrote about the rarity of having dark cloudy skies when we hit the road in rural Granada one February morning, having some moody skies for vehicle images adds real depth to the photo so with a continuing run of overcast weather we decided to head once again towards the Almeria border where there is a stretch of road that seems to go on forever.
One advantage of living in rural Andalucia is the lack of traffic, although this is an arterial route to the town of Maria it is fairly quiet and offers the opportunity for some vehicle placement, you do still have to have your wits about you though so it pays to work fast especially if you’re shooting on your own like I was.
My old Pentax gear has long since been relegated to the hard case in the bedroom and I am now using the X100v for everything – portraits, the Shogun, landscape, you name it. My approach to photography has changed significantly over the past couple of years and I now tend to just shoot for me, not Instagram, not 500px or anything else which provides a two second hit of dopamine, life is too short for s**t like that.
One reason I decided on the X100v was it’s simplicity and also the fact that I would need to change my photography. Taking the image below shot across a road, with the X100 you stop, position the car, get out and shoot. No lens choices, no swapping lenses, thought process or concerns over focal length… It’s great, liberating in fact.
The general concensus is that 35mm is the preferred focal length for car photography, the fixed lens on the Fuji is 35mm in full frame equivalent terms, some may say it’s too wide, I don’t see any issues, in fact the 23mm is fun to use and will boost your creativity.
So is the Fuji X100v good for 4×4 photography? Or, rather, is it good for your style of car photography? If you don’t take your photography ‘too’ seriously, pixel peep and examine composition in clinical detail which seems to be a thing these days then the Fuji will fit the bill without a doubt, it’s a travel/street camera if you read the reviews but it’s capable of a whole lot more too.
Little is published about the capability of the camera for shooting portraits, the 23mm may not be ideal and certainly not to the 50 or 85mm purists but delivers fun, challenge and premium quality all wrapped up in a small package.
For shooting the Shogun I wouldn’t go back to my old DSLR set up, there is just something about being ‘restricted’ to that 23mm f2.0, it makes life a whole lot simpler.
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