X100 Portfolio

A collection of photographs made with the Fuji X100 camera

Words+Photos: Mike Blanchard

Given the plastic-utilitarian nature of digital cameras it’s not often that they make much of an impression on me beyond being just a tool. But about three years ago I got a Fuji X100V. I discovered in the X100 an appealing camera that can be used for almost any photographic chore.

Over the last couple years I noticed that I just keep pulling images from the Fuji and putting them in my Favorites folder. So it occurred to me that it’s time to do a layout. Here is a portfolio of images from one camera and lens, the Fuji X100.

For those of you who have never heard of the Fuji X100V, it is a digital rangefinder about the size of a Leica film camera. These cameras have been popping up on my radar for several years. It’s a common backup camera for pro shooters, and even a primary camera for some. While it doesn’t have a full frame sensor it will shoot in RAW and the quality of the images is superb.

One of the interesting things about the camera is that it can be set to mimic film including classic slide films like Fujichrome and Kodachrome. It can also be set to a monochrome black-and-white setting to mimic Kodak Tri-X. Which is where my camera has been set for most of its time with me.

One of the things I like about the camera is the fact that the controls are simple (for a digital camera) and are the same as on a film camera. Another big plus for me is that the lens is not interchangeable. For some this would be an issue but it keeps me from carrying around a bag of stuff and it forces a useful artistic limitation. Limitation is something that is sadly lacking in modern digital cameras, but that is a post for another time. Suffice it to say imitations spur creativity.

Cameras themselves have become a sort of status symbol and visual bragging point and the deceptively simple and relatively small Fuji is pleasantly antithetic to this tendency.

What’s the best camera? The one you have. Because the camera is small-ish and performs well, it is the most used camera I have. It goes everywhere and as a result it gets used for a broad variety of images. I have shot fashion, street photography, portraits, reportage, action sports, landscapes and experimental images with this one camera.