Lukas Gisbert-mora is a professional portrait and wedding photographer, who used the Nikon system for 15 years. Then, one day, he bought the Fujiflm X-T1 for his personal use… at least that was his intention. But after three months (and 20,000 shots) he made, to his own surprise, the full switch to Fuji:”this is something I wasn’t expecting! […] I’ve never experienced something so enjoyable.” He now shoots all his weddings exclusively with the Fujfilm X-T1, enjoying the smaller and discrete X-system:

“At wedding, you have a camera smaller than some of the guests’ camera. […] That’s technology, things get smaller.”

Sure, the camera and the X-system have its quirks. Lukas talks about the lack of flash, video capability (improvements coming with the December firmware), the battery indicator is unreliable, it’s not a sport camera because the continuous autofocus is a little unreliable (50-50 to get the shot)…. but there is so much else that he loves on this camera, that he sold all his Nikon gear and didn’t regret it at all.

The single focussing is surprising fast, “one of the best I’ve used“. He keeps his camera in single focus mode because it is so quick to focus and take a picture, even with the XF 56mmf/1.2 wide open and a shallow DOF:

“At the dancing floor at a wedding, when I compare my shots taken with the Nikon, and a Fuji, I could actually see that the Fuji was performing better“.

Another big PRO is the EVF and the ability to see, in real time, what you’ll get in your viewfinder while you change your settings:

“You can be much quicker in taking the shot than using a DSLR which is great especially at weddings, when you can’t miss the moment.“

He then talks about the Fujinon lenses, which he apparently prefers over all the Nikon lenses he used before. In fact, he says that:

“The construction of the lens (the 56mmf/1.2) is simply the best I’ve used, superbly made. […] Between all my Nikon lenses, I can find differences in color and contrast, while with Fuji, between the €1,000 lens 56mm and the €400 lens 35mm, the color and the contrast are pretty much the same. This consistency in color and contrast between the Fuji lenses, which is really important for the workflow.”

The combination Fujfilm X-T1 + Fujinon glass delivers, according to Lukas,”a picture quality better than on my Nikon D3s […] I find the Fuji better handling the natural light, than my Nikon.”

So he ends up recommending the X-system especially to wedding and portrait photographers, and if you shoot a lot manually, because “working in manual, it’s probably the best experience I’ve ever had with a camera.”

Look at video here on youtube.

Oh, and Lukas specifies in the comments that he isn’t sponsored by Fuji and he doesn’t get anything from them… it’s just his personal opinion matured after 3 months of intense use of the Fujifilm X-T1. Do you agree (or not) with his conclusions? Share your experience with the Fuji’s at weddings/portrait in the comments down below.

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X-DEALS

SAVE $100 on the black X-T1 body & kit: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Pictureline
SAVE up to $200 on XF lenses: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Pictureline
Graphite Silver X-T1: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE / PCHstore /  AUSTRALIA: CameraPro

X100T: USA: BHphoto  / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE / PCHstore / AUSTRALIA: CameraPro

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It’s Fuji’s best and most sophisticated camera up to date: the Fujifilm X100T.

The shipping of this camera is coming closer, and the first reviews surface on the web. This time it’s photographyblog here, who tested the X100T and warmly recommends it to anyone looking to jump over to the X-system, assigning it 5 out of 5 stars. And it’s once more the electronic rangefinder viewfinder that makes salivate many reviewer ;).

“Many photographers have been wowed by the hybrid viewfinder in the X100/S cameras, ourselves included, but Fujifilm have still managed to make some significant strides forward in this area, making a great viewfinder even better. In particular, the innovative electronic rangefinder makes it even easier to manually focus both quickly and accurately, while the real-time parallax correction makes shooting at close quarters less of a chore.”

More about the Fujifilm X100T here: – Fujifilm X100T Hands-On at jiriruzek / Two weeks on the road with the FUJIFILM X100T  at bjornmoerman / The first wedding shot with a Fuji X100T at maxdemartino.com  (translation) / Fujifilm X100T test pictures at letsgodigital /

X-T1 Graphite Silver + 56mm @ f1.2, 1/10,500, ISO 200, Classic Chrome

I’ve read and heard several times, that no picture on the web does justice to the beauty of the graphite Fujifilm X-T1. And Michael R. Cruz confirms it in his review here:

“I have to admit, if I haven’t own the black X-T1, I would definitely go with this one. I might even sell my black X-T1 and get this one, that’s how much I like the Graphite Silver, but that’s purely subjective. This color is so much sleeker and it gives the X-T1 a more retro look. I felt like the black one is not “retro” enough, compared to X-Pro1 or X100s, but the “graphite silver” color gives the X-T1 that retro kick it lacks. To me, it is gorgeous! I was never a fan of how the X-T1 look/form, I much prefer the rangefinder style, but I think, the Graphite Edition changed that.”

He tested a pre-production graphite X-T1, and posted also some samples taken with the new electronic shutter (which, I remind you, also black Fujifilm X-T1 owners will get in December via firmware update). I’ve posted a sample above, for more, check out michaelrcruz’s review here.

Graphite Silver X-T1: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE /  AUSTRALIA: CameraPro

X100T: USA: BHphoto  / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE /  AUSTRALIA: CameraPro
XF 56mm f/1.2 APD: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE /  AUSTRALIA: CameraPro
XF 50-140 f/2.8 WR: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE /  AUSTRALIA: CameraPro
X-T1 + XF 18-135 WR: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama /

Kai from digitalrev compared the the Fujifilm X30 with the Sony RX100III (see youtube). His conclusions are that “there is nothing wrong with the Fuji… it’s a decent (but fat) compact camera, it’s just that the Sony seems to be the better camera overall“.

Here just a few PRO’s he listed about each camera:

Fujifilm X30 PROS: cool looking, bigger & better EVF, feels better in the hand, manual zoom.
Sony RX100III PROS: Pocketable size, flip screen, slightly sharper, more detailed images, better dynamic range, better auto-white balance in low light, better ISO performance

Just let me add one more PRO to the Fujifilm X30… it costs $200 less than the Sony. The Fujifilm X30 is sold for $599, while the Sony RX100III costs $799.