In our first post entitled 13 Amazing Professional Photographers Who Use Mirrorless Cameras on the Job, we met a wide range of professional photographers who all have one thing in common: they use one of the Fuji X, Olympus OM-D or Sony NEX system for work. These photographers either made the decision to drop their DSLRs for good, or chose to use mirrorless cameras in tandem with their other high-grade cameras in the professional sphere.
In this post, we’ve decided to specifically hone in on great professional photographers who use Fuji X series cameras for work.
Why? Because they appear to make up the largest group of converts from DSLR to mirrorless – an intriguing fact as the Fuji X series is still relatively new, has a less-varied lens roadmap than Olympus and Sony, and certainly isn’t without its flaws in terms of speed and autofocus.
So, where does the attraction lie when qualitatively speaking other mirrorless brands are just as good or even better?
There is no doubt that the sweet retro rangefinder design of all its models has something to do with it. After all, photographers are primarily visual creatures!
Fuji’s dedication to customer service and satisfaction, and its keen interest in user suggestions also help to create a strong bond between the company and its followers.
Furthermore, though the Fujinon lens range is still small compared to other mirrorless brands, the quality is superb.
Finally, we have that delicious X-Trans sensor combined with Fuji’s Film Simulation Modes which together manage to produce out-of-camera JPGs and raw files that really resemble film.
These four points make Fujifilm a tantalising option not only for the large community of long-time professionals who reminisce about the days of analog but also for the new generation of photographers who want to get back to the basics.
I hope that you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed making it. The talent out there is phenomenal – Fujifilm should be proud to have such an artistically gifted and loyal following!
Sam Burton
“I use the Fuji X-Pro1 with the 35mm lens. I’m hoping to add the 14mm and recently announced 23mm to my kit soon. I did shoot with a Canon (5D mk2) with 24-105mm and 50mm lenses previously but slowly got fed up with the size and weight of the kit. After a recent trip to Vietnam lugging my Canon gear around I decided to switch to the smaller Fuji system. My passion is for travel, street and landscape photography. The X-Pro1 suits my needs perfectly. It is small and light enough to carry as an everyday camera, meaning I shoot a lot more than I did with my heavier Canon gear.”
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Nathan Elson
“I use the Fuji X-Pro1 w/ the 35mm f/1.4 & the 18mm f/2. I’m a portrait shooter, and the Fuji gets mixed in use with the Nikon D800. I also use it as my every day camera for traveling and photographing my kids.”
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Don Craig
“I work for the government of British Columbia in Canada as a photographer and graphic designer. I also shoot freelance jobs, whenever time permits. For government, I shoot a variety of subjects, including protocol events, press conferences, official portraits (individual and groups), trade missions, scenics from around the province as well as documenting education, jobs and industry. Although I have access to two full-frame DSLRs for my work photography, I use my Fujifilm X-Pro 1 and X100s whenever I am able. A recent exception was for a recent trip to document the natural gas industry in B.C. I used the work cameras as I didn’t want anything to happen to my equipment! I would estimate that I use my Fujifilm cameras and lenses 80% of the time for work photography.
For my freelance and personal projects, I use the X-cameras exclusively. A few years ago, I moved away from DSLRs to film and digital rangefinders. My last rangefinder was a Leica M9. After picking up the X-Pro 1 to use as a second body, I soon realized that I preferred the Fujifilm camera for a number of reasons. The image quality is superb, the Fujinon lenses on par with any other lenses and the X-camera was way more versatile than the M9. I sold the Leica, and eventually all of my M lenses, and have happily been using X-cameras ever since. I am a Fujiflim X-Photographer and I teach long exposure and Lightroom workshops at Lúz Studio in Victoria.”
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Jeff Seltzer
“Currently, I use the Fuji X-Pro1 with 18mm, 35mm, and 60mm primes. Most of my photography is still life “urban landscapes” (the stuff on my website). For that work, I use the Fuji 100% of time. However, I do occasionally shoot people. For that work, I tend to use my Canon DSLR (5DII) more often, but I’m getting more comfortable with the Fuji on those types of assignments.”
Robert-Paul Jansen
“I use the X-Pro1 with several lenses for landscape photography (prints). I am also part of Stocksy.com where I sell my work as stock photography.”
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Charles Le
“The Fuji X100s is my main wedding camera. It’s always one of the two cameras around my neck. The other is either the XPro1, the Ricoh GR, or the Olympus OMD, depending on what I need to suppliment the 35mm of the X100s. I also have two 5d Mark 3’s that I take to weddings but more and more they now serve as backup cameras and for speciality purpose, like long reach or fisheye. More and more I find I don’t need them as much. The Fuji X100s has It’s become my main camera because of it’s deadly silent shooting, high flash sync speed and build in ND filter so I can shoot wide open outdoors. One of the most important feature to me is the focus peaking. It is so effective that I rely on for most of my low light reception shooting where autofocus is slow even on the Canon 5d Mark 3. It’s a great camera and I hope Fuji makes a 2nd version with fixed 85mm lens. That would be a great pair!”
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Dan Bailey
“My Fuji X20 sees heavy rotation in all of my photography work. I use it for shooting aerials, travel, people and landscapes, which I sell for stock and I use it as a second body while on assignment, sometimes giving it to an assistant or art director to grab environmental shots of the location. It’s so light, that it always goes with me, especially on outdoor adventures. The quality on these little X cameras is really getting up there, and my method is to try and make the camera invisible. In other words, I’ll shoot with both my Nikon DSLR and my little Fuji, but come at it with a similar approach, so that it’s not so apparent which camera I used. If the light is good, the X-Trans sensor really hold up well, even against bigger cameras. Of course, in the end, it’s the image that matters anyway, clients ultimately don’t really care what camera you used as long as you get the shot.”
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Giulio Limongelli
“I’ve been a professional photographer since 1985. I have a complete training from shooting to printing. In my professional life I have used almost every anagogic format, from 35mm film to 6×6 to optical benches in large format. With the arrival of digital technology, little changed for me. I place more importance on the person than the medium. And it is for this reason I use various Fujifilm cameras on the job from the X-E1 to the wonderful compact X20. For me photography is all about focus, shutter speed and aperture. It is also heart and substance, and I never miss the chance to print my images on real photosensitive paper. For me, Fujifilm has allowed me to think in a simpler manner … of the few things I have just listed.”
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Robert Vinet
“A few years ago I was getting tired of lugging 40 lbs of gear whenever I traveled to some remote corner of the world. I was becoming intrigued by the mirrorless systems and started investigating what was being released to the marketplace. The first camera I purchased was the Fuji X-E1 which I love. Yesterday I received my new X100s. Fuji listened to their user base and corrected all the issues they had with the X100. Since the days of film, Fuji has always been about wonderful colour and image quality. And they have again nailed it again with these new X-Series cameras. Their X-Trans sensor technology produces outstanding images and their low light performance beats any DSLR I’ve used. I couldn’t be more please with my Fuji kit.”
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Adam Riley
“I use the Fujifilm X-Pro1 on its own for my street and travel photography, and I use it alongside my DSLR for my wedding photography. I love the light weight, discreetness and superb image quality of the Fuji X system!”
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Do you know of a Fuji X photographer who you think deserves a mention here? Are you a professional photographer who shoots with Fuji X camera? If so, do not hesitate to let us know in the comments section as we’re planning to create more of these lists in the future! Remember, the more we make ourselves known, the more other professional photographers will hop onto the mirrorless bandwagon as well! 😀
