Why I moved from Canon to Fuji

Why I moved from Canon to Fuji

I had already written a post regarding my purchase of the Fuji X-T2 camera (bought last October with the 18-55mm lens and vertical power booster grip) bought from Jessops in Derby who very kindly price matched for me (great shop and staff by the way!)

Well 9 months on here is an update on my experience so far and why I will not return to Canon for the foreseeable future. A shame as the kit I had was virtually perfect – it just became too much of a chore to lug around a heavy camera and lens combo.

My reasons are simple – bear in mind my aim is always to attain the highest image quality I can:

• Lighter gear, more transportable especially with more overseas trips planned by plane (or train for that matter)
• Exceptional image quality
• Great lens choice (more of this later as there are still gaps to be filled.
• Continual updates by manufacturer instead of having to buy newer cameras.
• Lower cost (potentially!)

After buying my X-T2 and getting used to the differences between Canon and Fuji the first lens I bought was the Fujinon XF100-400mm F4.5-5.6 LM OIS WR with 1.4 extender – this would theoretically give me 150-600mm equivalent (Fuji has a 1.5 crop factor) and with the extender a 225-840mm lens with image stabilisation). Thus replacing my Canon 500mm lens which even on my Canon 1D Mark IV and 1.4 extender only gave me 910mm so I wasn’t giving up very much length.

I will review this lens in another post but just let me say it has exceeded all my expectations and allowed me to get clear shots where I would have struggled before. Just bear in mind a Canon 1D MkIV with 500mm lens weighs over 5kg (11.5 lbs) while the Fuji and lens weighs less than 2kg (4.3 lbs) so over 2 and a half times lighter! The review will also include some shots.

My lenses now consist of the original 18-55mm zoom (which is a remarkable kit lens), the 100-400 zoom, 55-200mm zoom, 10-24mm zoom (awesome for landscapes), 16mm and 56mm prime. I have really replaced all my Canon lenses (17-40mm, 24-105mm ,70-300mm ,300mm and 500mm) with the exception of the 100mm canon macro for which there is no equivalent in the Fuji line up yet although an 80mm (120mm equivalent) is rumoured to be coming this autumn.

I have retained my 300mm Canon with a Canon 1DX (which replaced my Canon 1DS mkIII and canon 1D MKIV) and both extenders just so I have the capacity for birds in flight shots and quicker focus attainment – although having said that my Fuji is pretty quick with the booster and the changes to auto focus which the last firmware upgrade gave me. I just need time to adapt to it – don’t forget I had 6 years learning the Canon system and only 9 months so far with Fuji!

I sold all my Canon gear with the exception of the above mentioned as I found whenever I went out I always picked up the Fuji as it was so easy.

There are two areas lacking for Fuji at the moment – flash and macro. I will buy the 80mm macro when available (and possibly the long zoom which is rumoured for next year 2018) and have just got a bargain from Wex for the EF500 flash which I will be using shortly.

I will review separately each of my pieces of Fuji kit over the coming weeks (real life opinions and not just MTF charts as I find they don’t really mean that much in reality.