Here recently I have been getting out and taking photos just for the heck of it, and it has been nice to do photography without any reason, purpose, or payment to worry about. If you know me you know that for almost 7 years photography was part of my income, doing portraits, weddings, and events for Flip Flop Foto as well as some real estate photography on my own. I found that when your creative juices are all squeezed for paying gigs, there really isn’t much left for going out and having fun.

Here recently I have had two things that have helped me get back into shooting for the sake of shooting. First, is the desire. I see things and am ready to photograph and not just with my phone. It has been a while since I have had that desire. Second is in the photo above, my Fuji Film X70. This little guy has been going with me almost everywhere I go for the last month.

Now I won’t go into detail about the ends and outs of this camera. There are more than enough blog posts on the interweb (just google fuji X70 review) that give you the specs, details, and thoughts on this little camera so I will not bore you with those details. What I will say is why I chose this camera over the famed x100 and why it replaced my X30.

My first foray with Fuji x-series cameras was the Fuji X20. I loved that little guy. And loved to carry it to all sorts of places. It had that vintage look, took great photos, and was compact. Just not compact enough to not have to carry with a strap. I also loved that it was a point and shoot with the ability to run full manual AND had knobs and dials to turn. Sadly I made the mistake of leaving my X20 in a hotel in Toronto. Not to self, thoroughly check the hotel before you check out. Once I realized I lost the X20 I replaced with the updated X30. It had a few upgrades from the X20 but honestly I just wanted to have my old camera back.

The x30 stayed with me for a few years. I would use it from time to time. It would stay with me at the bike shop to do basic product shots and social media images for James Bros Bikes. I even took it on a couple bikepacking trips. The funny thing is I would take it places but more often than not I would take 1 maybe 2 photos. It wasn’t the camera, I just felt uninspired. But then, seemingly out of no where I felt inspired again. I started using the X30. Taking photos at places, and including it on rides. Once I started to use the camera I began to notice a few things that I would like to have improvements over. Thus the exploration for a new camera began.

In steps the X70. Smaller than the x30 and could easily fit in my jacket pocket or Camelbak while riding. Bigger sensor (ASP-C same as my DSLR) and more megapixels (16mp) plus a prime lens. When shooting professionally I loved shooting prime and its nice to go back. Size of the camera was the biggest determiner for me. I wanted it to be small but still have great image quality. The X100 is small but still bigger than the X70. Plus the X100 is almost double the cost of the X70, which I couldn’t justify.

So here I am, an X70 shooter and stoked to have it. I like the simplicity, quality, and portability of this camera. It’s fun to shoot with; snap a photo, turn on the WiFi, upload to my phone, edit in Lightroom, and share on my instagram. Thanks Fuji for making photography fun again.

P.S. If anyone is looking for a used X30 mine is for sale. $350. Holler.