Most of you reading this will notice that I have been posting quite a bit about photography, and specifically Fujifilm, as of late on this blog. I’ve always tried to post only things that are interesting to me on the site, because I really don’t want to fake my commentary in order to seem “up to date” in the tech/Apple blogging world.
So I’ve been posting a lot about Fujifilm and photography in general, because both have really been on my mind.
More than anything else I have really started diving into Fujifilm since getting the X-E2. I’ve spent sometime thinking about why this is, why I am so drawn to the brand, and the best I can figure is that the reason is similar to why there are so many Apple bloggers out there.
I tried, bought, and own a thing that has connected with me in such a way that I want to share, and be shared with, stories of that connection. Maybe in an attempt to convince others, or largely in an selfish attempt to find more products which react with me in this way, but I feel like this connection is worth diving into. Worth exploring.
The first day I used my first Mac, a 2004-ish 12″ Powerbook G4, I had to setup up my printer on it. This was back in the days of “you dare not plug in your printer until you have installed at least the first 6 CDs of drivers” on Windows. But all I did with my Mac was plug in the printer, and it was ready to go, working perfectly.
It just worked — like so many people that I thought were brainwashed Apple users had been telling me it would — my did it just work. It was astonishing, and from that moment forward the technology was no longer a tool I fought with, but something I trusted — it became a part of my philosophy for working with technology.
Things should just work.
I always loved computers before I switched to Macs, but now I had found a reason to be passionate about computers. This distinction between loving something and being passionate is much larger than people often credit and speaks mountains to why there are so many people wanting to write about it. ((That and the foolish notion you can easily make money doing it.))
It’s a similar feeling that I had with my X-E2 from Fujifilm. I’ve always loved photography and cameras, and I’ve had tons of them over the course of my life, but it wasn’t until that first hour of playing with the X-E2 that I felt that same thing. The camera became a part of my philosophy — and photography a passion.
I won’t say that Fujifilm is the “Apple” of cameras — that’s just not a comparison that I think any company can live up to. What I will say is that of the Fujifilm cameras I have spent time with, they have made me far more connected and apart of the photography than I have ever felt before.
Is that corny? You bet, but it is also the truth. It’s not easily verbalized or understood. Like telling people that Macs just work (or did), you have to experience it first hand.
With the X-E2 I can ignore the fact this is a digital image for the most part and capture imagery. I don’t have to worry about learning the tool because it just works. I’m not constantly in menus, or fiddling with software controls. I am shooting and trusting my tools.
Like Apple, though, Fujifilm is full of unexpected surprises. When Apple announces an impossibly good new OS, and then also tells you it is free, and works on devices they haven’t sold in a good long time, people’s loyalty is rewarded and you feel taken care of. Fujifilm updates the camera and lens firmware more than any other company I know of and they add features because they can add them, not withholding them to encourage you to buy new models of their cameras. They eschew profit hungry practices so that they can instead build loyalty and trust.
In that sense, the comparison of Fujifilm to Apple is apt — but I’d limit it just to that comparison.
So, in a nut shell, you can expect to see continued posts from me on this matter. I’ve found something that turns my love into a passion once again and I think that is something worth sharing.