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Why I Let Go of One of the Best Fujifilm Lenses and Cameras

Chris Gampat
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10/11/2021
4 Mins read
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The staff at The Phoblographer adore their Fujifilm camera. Three of us own products for the system. Two others are considering switching over. And for the past decade, I’ve basically bought new Fujifilm lenses or cameras each year. I’ve accumulated a lot. Over the past year, I decided it was time to pare down. We all do it! We all end up buying a new lens or sometimes a new camera that we don’t use often. So, I got rid of them. Well, I didn’t get rid of everything; I paired it down to just the necessities.

This is a sponsored blog post by Adorama. Trade-in camera gear you’re no longer using. Want to upgrade to a weather-sealed lens? Or do you want to get the latest GFX series camera and trade in an older one? Well, eBay can be a bit of a pain, but Adorama makes it pretty convenient for you to sell to them. Just tell them about the equipment you’re selling to get a quote.

Let’s go through this first. Here’s everything I used to own from Fujifilm:

  • Fujifilm XT2
  • Fujifilm XH1: One of the best cameras for documentary photography. It was used to shoot the 2020 World Press Photos Award Winner.
  • Fujifilm X Pro 1: The image quality is still, even to this day, very unique.
  • Fujifilm X Pro 3: Probably my favorite camera of the past decade.
  • Fujifilm 23mm f1.4 R: A very versatile lens
  • Fujifilm 16mm f1.4 R WR: A staple for many photojournalists
  • Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 R: Come on, the character from this lens is wonderful
  • Fujifilm 50mm f2 R WR: This lens survived some serious rainfall a few years ago when we tested it
  • Fujifilm 56mm f1.2 R: A favorite of many photograpehrs.

Let’s be honest; that’s a lot of Fujifilm gear! And I realized that I wasn’t using a good bunch of it. To be honest, some of it just didn’t bring me joy. I know photographers who adore some of these lenses, but they just didn’t do much for me. I like getting unique image quality from a lens and not needing to do any post-production. Arguably, it’s the reason why you buy into Fujifilm to begin with. So, I got rid of the gear that didn’t serve me.

  • Fujifilm XT2: I got rid of it because I realized more and more that I’m not a fan of SLR-style camera bodies. And if Fujifilm does anything well, it’s rangefinder style cameras.
  • Fujifilm XH1: The biggest reason to have the XH1 is the image stabilization. However, I’m a photographer trained to handhold a camera to super slow shutter speeds. And with the X Pro 3, I rarely get blurry photos. That, and of any Fujifilm camera, it has the strangest ergonomics.
  • Fujifilm 56mm f1.2 R: I’ve always been in awe of the images photographers shoot with this lens. But it never worked for me. If you shoot photojournalism, you’ll understand.
  • Fujifilm 50mm f2 R WR: This is a beautiful, small lens. It’s great for portraits and street photography at a distance. But Fujifilm has better lenses for street photography.

Look in your camera bag. Are you truly a minimalist? If you’ve shot for a long time, there are probably items that you rarely ever use. This is a thought process that’s changed over the years. Your grandparents still probably have old film cameras sitting around somewhere. But those continue to work almost like the day they got them. Digital is different. Unlike what your grandparents did, it doesn’t make sense to hold onto most digital cameras for that long. There’s no point in storing a bunch of those cameras in your closet in camera bags. I say this because it’s literally become the case for me. Why should I hold onto a camera that I don’t use anymore? Unlike something like a Sony a7, it doesn’t really make sense to repurpose a Fuji camera. By that, I mean to do something like convert it to infrared. The X Trans sensor and the processor are so unique to begin with. Why would you mess with something completely unique?

This year, pretty much our entire staff switched over to using Fujifilm cameras. One of our writers is considering an upgrade to the GFX system from her aging Canon DSLR. In her mind, the Fujifilm GFX 50S II is around the same size, but lighter and more durable. It boasts a larger sensor, image stabilization, and a lot more technology on the inside. The face detection works well, and there’s even a skin-softening ability that helps you avoid editing. Combine this with the Fujifilm Film simulations, and you’ll pretty much never need to edit. It’s incredibly liberating for her, especially after she reviewed it.

I’ve personally shopped at and used Adorama for years. Trust me, I used to work at a camera retailer. It’s hard to beat what Adorama does. They’re also a very ethical choice since and that is important to folks these days. I know our readers care. A friend of mine came to me asking where the best place to sell his old Mamiya gear is, and I often see this question on various message boards. I can’t recommend Adorama enough. When you’re ready to purchase new gear, come back to them. They’ll probably have a truly fantastic bundle deal that you can’t turn down.

This is a sponsored blog post by Adorama. Trade-in camera gear that you’re not using anymore. Want to upgrade to a weather-sealed lens? Or do you want to get the latest GFX series camera and give in an older one? Well, eBay can be a bit of a pain, but Adorama makes it convenient for you to sell to them. Just tell them about the equipment you’re selling to get a quote.

adorama Cameras fujifilm Fujifilm GFX fujifilm gfx 50 s ii gear lenses medium format Trade In
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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