One thing that annoys me is the auto ISO made by Fujifilm. It’s not specific to the X100F, my X-E2 works the same way… Why can’t I use a shutter speed higher than 1/500s ??? In the street, I tend to shoot a lot on the fly and this speed isn’t fast enough for me. But I’ve accepted this constraint. The X100F, like all the cameras in the series, is a beautiful camera that plays on the retro feel. Many people love it because it has an OVF (Optical ViewFinder) that can be switched to EVF (Electronic ViewFinder). On my X-E2, I never used the OVF. I find it so much easier to frame with the LCD screen that the viewfinder isn’t really useful to me. When I was in Thailand, however, I used the EVF on my Fujifilm X-E2 a lot because I had a non-autofocus 23mm lens and when I used it at full aperture (f1.4), I had to do the focus manually. I found myself being very quick at this little game, even in the street when the light was poor. Here with the X100F, I can switch to autofocus when there’s not enough light. As I’ve already explained in previous Blogs, I work in the street with the zone focusing. So I don’t use the camera’s AF. I tried to focus manually with the X100F for fun and I didn’t like it at all. The ring is very small and I found it uncomfortable to use. My 7Artisan 35mm f0.95 or my TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 were much more pleasant to use.

Ever since I started shooting with the X100F, I’ve complained that it’s too flashy. And yet I’d taken the trouble to buy the ‘black’ version to try and go unnoticed. But it’s no use. This camera attracts attention wherever I go. I don’t think it’s the size of the body. I sincerely think it’s the ‘retro’ feel that gives it away. Over the last few months I’ve been trying to ignore this problem. And frankly it was starting to weigh on me. So I made the decision not to use this camera any more. I’ve put it away until I can sell it. The price seems reasonable. It’s still going for around €900 second-hand. I’m selling it again because it doesn’t suit me. I’ve already written about it. GEAR MATTERS ! If I’m not comfortable in the street, it will show in the results of my work. The X100F interlude was short-lived. I can’t say that I took many photos with this camera. I’ve put together a slideshow of some of them, which I’ll share with you.

So EXIT the Fujifilm X100F. It’s a question of feeling and you’ll be more comfortable with one camera or another. John Harper also bought a Fujifilm X100S several years ago and sold it because he wasn’t comfortable with the camera. He switched to Leica. Don’t think I’m going to do what he did! No. I’m still convinced that the Leica MP or any other Q wouldn’t suit me. In fact, I think that whatever I do, I always come back to the same camera. Yes, you’ve guessed it, I’m going back to the GR … Back to square one!

Well, almost. I’m not bringing out my Ricoh GRD IV, or my Ricoh GR, but my Ricoh GR3, the unloved, the hated camera. I refer you to the article in which I trashed Pentax/Ricoh following the release of the GR3. So what am I saying? I can say it now, I use the Ricoh GR3 by default … Remember, in a previous Blog, I listed the important elements in choosing my camera for 35mm shooting. I’ll list them again here:

• A compact camera
• A 35mm fixed focal length, no zoom
• The Leaf Shutter
• Image Quality

Well, I’ve got it, it’s the Ricoh GR3 ! Yes, this camera has a lousy battery life. It overheats. I’m not going to list all its faults, but it’s got a lot of them! But it’s compact, has Leaf Shutter, a good IQ and it also has 35mm! In crop mode, I grant you, but it’s much better than the regular 35mm ! I’ll tell you why.

How does the 35 mm mode work on the GR3? It’s just a crop of the image taken in 28 mm. So basically the camera doesn’t zoom in. As a result, the 35 mm file is only 15 MP, whereas the 28 mm file is 24 MP. That’s more than enough for my purposes, especially as the file size isn’t really important. What’s important at my level (I’m not planning to make 2 m diagonal prints…) is to have good image quality management. And here you retain the same quality as when shooting with 28 mm because it’s still a crop of the original image ! The real advantage comes from depth of field ! Even if I shoot at 35 mm, the DoF is calculated from the 28mm ! I think I must have lost a few people in mentioning these considerations, but the images below will speak for themselves.

Basically, I shoot in 35 mm while taking advantage of the DoF of a 28 mm. So I’ve turned my Ricoh GR3 into the ultimate 35 mm Point & Shoot! Everything is sharp between 1.16 m and infinity at f8 when I do the focus at 2.5 m. If I wanted the same thing with my Fujifilm X100F or any other APS-C camera, I’d have to close my diaphragm to f16 ! Which means that if I were to run out of light using the GR3, I could even open to f5.6 and gain one stop of light while keeping a fairly good DoF (1.3 m at 13.6 m).

Being back on the street with a GR changes everything. I’d forgotten how light this camera is and how perfectly it fits in the palm of my hand. The funny thing is that even at 35 mm, I shoot as if I were at 28 mm. Looking at some recent photos, I think they could have been taken in 28 mm. There’s not much difference between the two focal lengths. There’s just a little less distortion. Purists will say that I’m not really shooting 35 mm because basically this is just a crop of the 28 mm image from the Ricoh GR3. But as you can imagine, I couldn’t care less. My Ricoh GR3 is constantly in 35 mm crop mode. I’m not even tempted to switch back to 28 mm. In any case, I can’t see myself shooting 35 mm with any other camera than this one. I’m prepared to accept the many faults of the Ricoh GR3 in order to be able to use it. So Mr Pentax/Ricoh, now that you’ve brought us a 40 mm Ricoh GR3x, wouldn’t you like to come up with a native 35 mm GR3 or 4 as well? I think I might be tempted.

All the photos were made with the Fujifilm X100F and the Ricoh GR3 using the 35 mm crop mode.

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Let me share the photo again here cos’ WordPress always reframe badly the opening photo …

I’ve been shooting exclusively in 35 mm for a few months now. It requires a different approach and you have to learn a lot if you come from 28 mm like I do. 35 mm requires you to keep a certain distance from the subjects you photograph. Gone are the days when I spotted something interesting and ended up rushing at it without asking myself any questions, because the focal length meant that the subject was almost always in the frame, and the closer you got, the more interesting it became. That’s the magic of the 28 mm. Another advantage of using the 28 mm was that you could blend in more easily with a more compact crowd and still take photos without attracting attention.

I don’t hide when I take photos, but I try to be as discreet as possible and if I’m asked to shoot blind, I do it without any problem. Some people will say that a blind shoot has no value because the photo hasn’t been framed and in the end it’s just a lucky shot if the photo turns out well. I don’t agree with that idea. When I was using the 28 mm, I took a huge number of photos blindly. Only because I knew my distances perfectly and I knew what was going to be in the frame. The 28 mm has this ability to absorb a scene because it’s a wide-angle lens. It’s an art of shooting blind. Yes, there is an element of uncertainty, but your eyes see the scene and the camera only serves to capture that moment. A gesture, a fleeting interaction, a moment is enough for me to have the reflex to press the shutter release, even if I haven’t had time to compose while looking at the LCD screen of my Ricoh GRD IV. There have even been situations where shooting blind was the one and only solution for me to capture a scene without risking altering it by attracting the attention of the subjects being photographed. This is not a photo made underhand. The photographic gesture is assumed. I just want to capture a moment without interaction. I’m aware that many photographers won’t agree with this philosophy. For me, capturing a moment comes before any other consideration.

The 35 mm camera encourages me to work differently in the street. You have to stop trying to get too close to people and the scenes you want to capture. I know this for a fact, but I still tend to get too close, and I end up missing a lot of shots. Rule #1 with 35 mm: forget your old habits and keep your distance!

One of my fears when using 35 mm was how to manage zone focusing in the street. You know, that technique that allows you to do away with AF by using the aperture to have a zone where the focus is relatively sharp. I say ‘relatively’, because obviously it will never be as sharp as when using AF. With the 28 mm, I had a crazy depth of field that turned my Ricoh GRD IV into the ultimate point and shoot. At f4 and focusing at 2 m, everything was sharp between 1.7 m and infinity. In other words, focusing wasn’t a problem and I just had to concentrate on what was happening in the street. It’s true that the Ricoh GRD IV is a special camera. If I look at my Fujifilm X-E2, which has an APS-C format, 28 mm, f8, with a the focus at 2 m, everything is sharp between 1m and 25 m. It’s not infinity, but it looks like it…

I switched to the Fujifilm x100F, which also has an APS-C sensor but a 35 mm focal length. My big fear was how I was going to be able to work with such a focal length in a focusing zone. I got out my app again to calculate the DoF and came to the following conclusion. f8, focus at 3 m: DoF of 1.6 m at almost 20 m. In theory this is almost the same as the 28mm.

Unfortunately, the habits I’ve acquired over so many years of shooting with a 28 mm camera have taken their toll. It’s hard to get rid of the habit of wanting to get too close. But if you stick to the focusing zone, it works very well, even if I’m always surprised. But I’ve studied science and I know there’s no miracle in it. It’s just physics, and more specifically optics. I still remember my preparatory classes when we did experiments with light passing through a sheet of paper pierced with holes of different diameters. It’s exactly the same with my camera.

So as far as zone focusing is concerned, the rule is simply to apply rule #1: keep your distance, the rest works just like with the 28 mm, nothing more, nothing less!

What also changes with 35 mm is that there is less distortion. The 28 mm used in a certain way could create surreal scenes with striking foregrounds and insane depth of field. I liked using 28 mm in this way. But you had to be careful not to fall into the gimmick. I overdid it a lot and that’s why at a certain point I started to air out my compositions more, to stop always making the same style of photos… The 35 mm lens encourages you to work differently. And you can say goodbye to the gimmick that worked so well with the 28 mm. All in all, I like the change.

However, one thing annoys me, but it’s not to do with the 35 mm, but with the Fujifilm X100F. People see me in the street. Yes, OK, I know I’m not invisible. It’s normal for people to see me. What I mean is that people pay attention to me. The Fujifilm X100F attracts attention. Its retro look doesn’t go unnoticed. For someone who shoots almost exclusively with a Ricoh and wants to keep a low profile without being noticed, it’s pretty annoying! So what can I do? I could use my Ricoh GR3, which I don’t like, and shoot 35mm on it, but the temptation would be too great to also shoot 28mm… Or else get a GR3x, but the 40mm scares me a bit about zone focusing. According to my app, for a focus at 3m, the zone of sharpness is only 6m instead of the 19m of the 35mm…

In any case, learning to use 35 mm with the Fujifilm X100F is shaking up my habits a bit, but for now I’m enjoying it. This focal length isn’t ‘natural’ for me yet, it still requires a lot of resources in the street to frame and I haven’t yet mastered my distances to think about shooting blind with it. But it took me a number of years to master the 28 mm perfectly. I need to give myself some time…

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Even though I recently acquired a Fujifilm X100F, I can’t say I’ve used it much so far. Not many Street sessions and for the last 2 weeks I’ve been at home with Ronan, my youngest son, as he’s on school holidays. What have I done with the older one? Well, unlike me, he has permission to travel… He went to South Africa for 15 days as part of a language trip. Since then I’ve disinherited him to make him pay! I suggested to my wife that I should go off on my own for a few days or weeks to satisfy my need for street photography. Of course, she turned me down! But it’s also important for my mental health! I’m going to see if I can’t get my health insurance and social security to reimburse me for a trip. They do reimburse Thalasso therapy, don’t they?

Yes, the first third of 2024 is already well underway and I feel like I haven’t done any street photography yet. I’ve got a new camera to get to grips with and I’m not even bothering to go out and take any photos. There are no secrets to successful photography. You have to take photos, and lots of them! I don’t think that with experience the keepers/photos ratio will increase. Quite simply because our standards are also rising. What was barely acceptable a few years ago now goes straight into the bin.

Over the last fortnight I’ve uploaded all my Street Photography work from 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 to my cloud. That’s a lot of photos. I’ve been storing them on Amazon’s Cloud since 2020. For those looking for cheap storage, Amazon photo which is coupled with the Amazon Premium subscription is ideal. I can see some of you telling me that Amazon is crap etc … Yes, it’s a GAFAM. But I haven’t found a service that offers me unlimited photo storage for this price. I also have Amazon Prime Video. In short, 4 years of photos to upload. I’m not telling you the number of GB of data … It allowed me to revisit my beginnings in Street Photography and frankly I’m not a fan. Far too much high contrast B&W, light/shadow … There are a few nuggets for sure, but for far too many photos, it’s like a lousy cake with sugar paste on top to hide the misery. From 2018 onwards my style changes quite radically and looks more like what I do today.

But I don’t want to re-process these photos, which are now nearly 8 years old. They bear witness to an era and also to my early days in Street Photography. I’m not ashamed of it, it’s just that I’ve changed now. It shows how far I’ve come since I started in 2016. Maybe in 10 years’ time, I’ll think the work I did in 2024 was crap!

What do I consider a good photo today? For me, it has to be a captured moment. A bit like walking down the street with a remote control and being able to pause what you see in front of you. This remote control exists and it’s the camera. The ability to freeze a moment. A moment is a gesture, an interaction, an emotion or a reaction to an event. It can also be a character whose attitude attracts my attention. In short, content is more important to me than form. What I’m looking for above all is simplicity. To make a photo that anyone can say to themselves “he could have done the same”! That’s the very essence of Street Photography from my point of view. I sometimes take more mysterious, graphically polished photos. That’s when the form takes precedence over the content. But then I lose the energy of the street in my photos. They’re beautiful photos but there’s something missing for me.

What’s certain is that I’m having trouble getting excited about what I’ve produced so far for the start of 2024. Are you sure that 2024 has really begun?
All the photos were taken with the Fujifilm X100F.

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€ 860 – That’s how much I paid for this camera. I think that’s already a big investment for a second-hand camera. I didn’t hesitate with the V, which was twice more expensive on the second-hand market. I even saw a guy on Reunion Island selling his for €2200! So what makes the IV different from the V?

• More MP: 26 instead of 24 (For a guy who had a 10 MP camera, the gain is negligible)
• Faster AF (the thing I couldn’t care less about…)
• Tilt screen (another thing I couldn’t care less about …)
• A new X-trans sensor (the arms race)
• A new lens (interesting but still opens at f2…)

So there’s probably lots more, but I’m not very interested in all that. Even though I talk about GEAR quite regularly on this Blog, I don’t know much about it. In fact, the first thing I do with a new camera is to set it up so that it’s as easy to use as possible. All I need is access to the shutter speed, aperture and ISO. That’s all I need! In a pinch, I like to have the exposure memory somewhere. It’s quite useful when I start doing light & shadows. I’ve been doing it quite infrequently for a while now, but I like having the option of exposing the highlights quickly.

My Street settings for the X100F are fairly simple:

• Manual focus at 3m or 2m depending on the situation, but preferably at 3m
• Aperture f8
• AutoISO with 12800 max and minimum speed of 1/500s

Yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s just zone focusing. I don’t use AF at all in the street. I used to do so with the Ricoh GRD IV because the system allowed me to use zone focusing at a predetermined distance at the same time.

So I had a few mishaps with the Fujifilm X100F … Nothing too serious, but it’s the kind of thing that didn’t happen to me with the Ricoh GRD IV.

I had engaged the ND filter (3 stops!) on my X100F by mistake. I did a session without realising it and it was when I got home that I saw that all the photos had been taken at ISO 12800 (!!!). The weather wasn’t great that day and that’s why the ISOs were set so high … I was quite disgusted because I’d taken some interesting photos and it was clear that the quality was very poor. Big beginner’s mistake.

The second problem I had was with the aperture ring. I don’t have one on my Ricoh GRD IV. Here I’d set it to f8, but I’d taken a break and put the camera in my bag. Of course the ring moved and I should have checked all that when I took the camera back to take photos. But no, it was when I got home that I realised that I’d shot with a MAP at 3m but at f2.5! in other words, everything had to go in the bin. Except for one photo where the people photographed were actually 3m away. That was my second big beginner’s mistake.

Well, apart from that, I lost my invisibility cloak with the Fujifilm X100F. It’s clear that this camera is more noticeable than the Ricoh GRD IV, which was very small and looked like a toy. The grip is pleasant despite the weight of the camera. I wear it on my wrist rather than around my neck. The camera is very responsive and it’s a nice change from the Ricoh. I shoot with the LCD because that’s also an old Ricoh habit, but it also allows me to adjust the framing by stretching my arm or bringing the camera towards me. This gives me an arm’s length of latitude (~ 0.7 m). Getting to grips with the camera was easy because I’m already familiar with the Fujifilm ecosystem. I tried the OVF and found it very interesting. I’m saving it for the photos I’ll be taking of my family. For street photography, I’m keeping the LCD.

So much for my first steps with the Fujifilm X100F. Nothing revolutionary. All the photos were taken with the Fujifilm X100F.

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