This camera should cost more.

A big thank you to Squarespace for supporting this video. If you need a website or domain, go to squarespace.com/james

squarespace.com/james for 10% off your first purchase. I uh I have set up two a total of two I think

Google alerts in my life. Uh the first one quite embarrassingly was for my own name. Uh basically when this channel

name. Uh basically when this channel started growing I thought maybe people are talking about it and if they are I want to know about it. So I set up a Google alert for my name. Uh people

weren't really talking about it though, so I I got rid of it.

Yeah. All quite unseammly really. But

the second and much more relevant to this video Google Alert I've set up in my life is for the Fujifilm XPro 4, which I reckon I set up

I can check actually.

Oh my word. 23rd of December 2022 was when I first got a Google alert about the Fujifilm XPro 4. And here we are in

the what are we now? Fourth year of uh Google Alerts and we're still just at rumors. No sign of the camera yet.

rumors. No sign of the camera yet.

Better be good when it turns up. If it

turns up. Anyway, long long story short, recently I made the decision to revisit this. This is the Fujifilm X1006

this. This is the Fujifilm X1006 and it's a camera that I've used briefly before and didn't really gel with. I

made a video about it a couple of years ago. Please don't go and watch that

ago. Please don't go and watch that video. It was mediocre at best. But, uh,

video. It was mediocre at best. But, uh,

in the past year or so, I have shot with this, the Fujifilm GFX 100s 2. I think

I've got that right. Uh, and I've really enjoyed doing so. So, yeah, I thought I should revisit this. Now, if like me, you've never been on Tik Tok, you might not know that this line of cameras, not

just this one specifically, this line of cameras is very popular on Tik Tok, uh, which I suspect is why I had to pay pretty close to retail for a used one,

which was pretty painful. But I reasoned that if I didn't like it, I could sell it for pretty much what I paid for it.

The problem is, as we'll discuss, I I don't think I'm going to sell it because I well, I really like it second time around,

which is good. It's a good thing.

Yes. Uh, you can probably tell I don't have a script for this video. I'm just

sort of But um, and also, sorry about the cut on my nose if that's bothering you. Play fighting with my

you. Play fighting with my four-year-old. I thought I would have

four-year-old. I thought I would have supremacy in the play fighting arena for at least a decade after he was born, but um

no. Anyway, I went to Cornwall with said

no. Anyway, I went to Cornwall with said four-year-old and the rest of my family uh a couple of weeks ago, and I was told explicitly that it wasn't going to be a photography trip, but I took a camera,

and the camera was this, shockingly, and I'm going to tell you my my thoughts about it second time around after a couple of weeks of shooting with it. I didn't have loads of time to to do

it. I didn't have loads of time to to do photography on that trip. Again, it

wasn't a photography trip, but I did have some time and I had a little bit of time to eat quissants as well, which was lovely.

Anyway, photography. So, one of the first things that I think people talk about in camera reviews typically is image quality. The thing is, it's 2026

image quality. The thing is, it's 2026 and I shoot pretty much exclusively in the day. So, I'm kind of done talking

the day. So, I'm kind of done talking about image quality to be honest. Image

quality is great on all modern cameras.

End of. But, for what it's worth, this has got an APS-C sensor. It's got 40 megapixels of resolution. It's got a fantastic little pancake lens that's glued to the front of the camera in front of the sensor.

It's great.

Basically, this, like any modern camera, if it's not getting you results that you want, there's a good chance it's not the camera's fault.

And I have to remind myself of that all the time. Um, people ask me or have

the time. Um, people ask me or have asked me ever since I've been shooting with the GFX if I use Fujifilm recipes, um, and shoot

JPEG and just have those recipes stamped onto the JPEGs. Um, no. I for me shooting raw is the thing to do because

for me a big part of photography and the joy of photography is the editing.

That's um that's a big part of the opportunity to make your photos yours I think. So I love editing. That said I do

think. So I love editing. That said I do actually use recipes purely for uh the previews of what it is that I'm about to shoot and the reviews on the back of the

camera of what I have shot. Sometimes

when I'm shooting RAWs, which is what I always do, as I said, if I'm shooting on my Sony, for instance, I'll look on the back of the camera after I've shot a photo or I'll look through the EVF before I've shot a photo and I'll think,

well, that looks a bit kind of bland and lifeless. And in some ways, that

lifeless. And in some ways, that motivates me to go and edit the photo because I want to bring it to life. But

in other ways, it kind of dulls my excitement for the photos because they look dull, as you'd expect. It's it's

raw. Actually, I'm not saying a roar of the raw. saying a JPEG of the rule, but

the raw. saying a JPEG of the rule, but you know what I mean. But on Fuji cameras, there is a huge amount of latitude to play with the colors, even if you're not shooting JPEGs. And for

what it's worth, this is the recipe that I use so that I can see some nice bright vibrant colors in the EVF and on playback when I'm looking at the photos that I've shot, just to get hopefully a

bit more of a sense of what it is that I've captured rather than just looking at again a pretty flat file. Now, I

would say probably the biggest reason I've got the uh Fuji XPro 4 setup as a Google Alert and have done for getting on for 4 years now is the OVF or the

hybrid viewfinder that can be an OVF or an EVF. And that

an EVF. And that I think is genius. I think it's absolutely phenomenal. And if you've

absolutely phenomenal. And if you've shot with like a Leica M, for instance, or many film cameras that are rangefinders, I got one, my Texas Leica. Yes, there we go. If you've shot with anything like

go. If you've shot with anything like this, rangefinder style cameras, then you'll be familiar with the frame lines that you get around your frame. And it's

brilliant because if you're shooting something that's moving sort of in and out of your frame, birds for instance, then you can see what's about to come into your frame before it does and what's about to leave your frame before

it does. Now, that as a premise is not

it does. Now, that as a premise is not particularly unique. It's been around in

particularly unique. It's been around in cameras for I mean, yeah, a long, long time as you can see. But on these cameras, flicking a lever changes the viewfinder from an OVF to an EVF. And so

then, as I do most of the time, if you want to look at your exact frame and you want to see some nice colors, you can just keep changing between the two.

Phenomenal.

I can hear a baby. Can you hear a baby?

I assume it's mine, not just a random baby in the It sounds like mine. Uh, this camera also has

like mine. Uh, this camera also has pretty good video specs. I haven't

really used it all that much for video.

I'm going to link to a video uh by Erin who uses this camera all the time to shoot video and does so phenomenally.

So, if you're interested in what this camera can do for video, go and check out his stuff. But, uh, to be honest, my reliance on my stills cameras for video

has decreased a lot in the past couple of years. Um, I use my phone now quite a

of years. Um, I use my phone now quite a lot. I say past couple of years,

lot. I say past couple of years, probably more recent than that. But I

use my phone quite a lot for filming now. Um, and I use a DJI Pocket 3, which

now. Um, and I use a DJI Pocket 3, which I've used for I don't know, probably a year or so, and I've really gotten to know how to use it to get the best out of it. So, between those two, I I'm kind

of it. So, between those two, I I'm kind of set for video. I don't really need to rely on my stills camera all that much.

Uh, but yeah, for what it's worth, video performance on this can be fantastic.

Just going to go and check what the screaming is all about. All good. I

think uh negatives, I really don't have many, I don't think. One of them would be though that I think it's trying a little bit hard to look retro. I think

I'd prefer it if it looked a bit more modern. Just a little bit. I like the

modern. Just a little bit. I like the look, but I think it's Yeah, I think it's trying so hard to look retro that it looks a bit bit fake. And the other gripe I've got with it ergonomically is

that it keeps turning on my pocket and shooting in my pocket. And I think it's because the uh the shutter, not the shutter, the onoff switch, which like on

many cameras sits around the shutter.

Well, it's a tiny bit proud of the body.

And so if you slip it into a pocket, I think it's well, it could turn on.

Indeed, it does turn on and then takes loads of pictures, I have found. And it

maybe doesn't help that I've attached a soft shutter on top, but I don't think that would make too much of a difference. But yeah, they would be my

difference. But yeah, they would be my only two gripes. Overall though, I would say my thoughts on this camera could be summed up by saying that I consider myself a really enthusiastic

photographer. It's my job, but it's also

photographer. It's my job, but it's also my hobby. And I would say that 97 98% of

my hobby. And I would say that 97 98% of the time when I have to go out and shoot because it's my job, I actually want to go out and shoot. Uh but there are times

when I don't particularly want to go out and shoot. Not very often, but there are

and shoot. Not very often, but there are times when that is the case. And uh I think that is where using a camera that you enjoy really comes into its own because in

that two or 3% of the time, whatever the percentage is for you, a camera that you like can be the difference between getting out and shooting because you want to shoot with a camera and not

getting out and shooting. And very

obviously that can be the difference between getting photos and not getting photos. And it turns out that at the

photos. And it turns out that at the second time of asking, I really like this camera and it's getting me out more than when I shoot with other cameras.

Here's a bit of a hot take though when it comes to this camera and indeed this camera, this GFX.

I think Fuji's are too cheap.

And if you're a Fujifilm shooter, I know you'll be swearing at me now. Stick with

me. So, I spend a decent bit of time talking to other photographers, and I've heard on more than one occasion other photographers say to me that they wouldn't consider Fujifilm because they don't think it's good

enough for their needs. And a number of times, I've thought to myself, that is I mean, that's mad. And it must be a a perception problem. And I think the

perception problem. And I think the perception problem comes from things like build quality. Uh, this camera doesn't feel super sturdy and it doesn't

feel particularly well put together. If

you had this in one hand and a Leica M camera in the other hand, you'd be under no illusions about which was the more expensive camera just based on how they

feel in the hand. Now, you could buy five nearly six of these for one M11P.

And this comes with a lens. Also, you

could buy nearly four of these for the cost of one like a Q3. So, it stands to reason that they will feel like more premium products. The thing is, I think

premium products. The thing is, I think that bleeds into people's perceptions of image quality as well. People think that yes, I'm getting this item that feels more wellbuilt,

but surely it takes significantly better photos as well because it costs so much more and it feels so much better. And

that I think is where Fujifilm does themselves a a disservice. I mean they will know their market much better than me, I'm sure. But what I would say is

that this camera and indeed this GFX, they feel less well put together than their output deserves. And perceived

build quality is a strange thing. This

camera might last for decades longer than a Leica.

It just doesn't feel like it will. And

of course, you'd argue that it's not priced to either. I should have done a script. Sorry. Basically, what I think

script. Sorry. Basically, what I think I'm trying to say is that having gotten to know this camera and really quite like it. I think if Fujifilm brought out

like it. I think if Fujifilm brought out a version that was titanium and that had dials that felt a little bit more robust, for instance, that was more

expensive.

I'd have no problem buying the more expensive one. I don't think if it felt

expensive one. I don't think if it felt like it was going to last longer. Again,

I'm talking about feelings, not actual longevity. I'm not an engineer. I don't

longevity. I'm not an engineer. I don't

know how long this will last. I don't

know how long a Leica will last or any other camera. But in terms of feel, I'd

other camera. But in terms of feel, I'd pay for a camera that felt better because I think its output deserves for it to feel better.

Again, if you're a Fuji shooter and you like the low prices for what they can do, I'm sorry. Did that make sense?

Probably not. Uh, now, as for the competition for this camera, I've spent a decent amount of time with a Leica Q3.

I owned uh a Leica Q343 for a time. Um,

I own the Rico GR uh 3 X, the 40 mil version. Uh, having used them all for a

version. Uh, having used them all for a decent amount of time now, this is my favorite of all of them. And this is certainly the most fun I think of all of them. Uh, and I actually took my Sony

them. Uh, and I actually took my Sony down to Cornwall as well and I shot with this for an hour or so one morning and then I went back to the car, put this back in the car and got the Fuji back out because I just I was having so much

more fun with the Fuji. And technically

on every single level, this Sony A1 Mark II is a better camera, significantly better camera, but uh, this is more fun. And ultimately for

most of us, even if your job is to take pictures, that's what matters because that's what's going to get you out shooting. So

yes, there we go. Is it worth the Tik Tok hype? I mean, I've not really seen

Tok hype? I mean, I've not really seen the Tik Tok hype, but um no, I don't think so. It seems like it's gone a bit

think so. It seems like it's gone a bit crazy over the past number of years, but uh is it a fantastic camera? Yes.

Anyway, thank you for watching and a big thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Also, uh, all the photos

this video. Also, uh, all the photos that I've shown in this video, I've put on a page on my Squarespace website. Go

and check that out if you want. I've

also got a page running that is showing the progress, the photographic progress of my, uh, my out of office project that I'm doing here in North Wales this summer. Still only a couple of videos

summer. Still only a couple of videos into that. Go and check out those videos

into that. Go and check out those videos if you're interested. Uh, but

Squarespace and my Squarespace website has become integral to my business as I've been using it over the past decade.

It's where I have my portfolio. It's

where I sell my books, my prints, my presets. It's where I send my

presets. It's where I send my newsletters from to promote things like workshops and I can do all of that seamlessly without knowing a single line of code. I'm useless at technology and

of code. I'm useless at technology and with Squarespace, it just doesn't matter. It's all drag and drop. Very

matter. It's all drag and drop. Very

simple to use. I love it. So, if you're a photographer and you would like somewhere to showcase your work online or to sell your books or your prints or anything like that, definitely check out Squarespace with a free trial. And you

can start that free trial by going to squarespace.com. And after that, if

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thank you for watching. I'll see you next time.