I don't shoot weddings. I don't take portraits. In fact, my photography is generally in pursuit of avoiding humans. So why would I buy what is considered the top portraiture and people lens in the Fuji lineup? 

I use this lens for subject and self-isolation. 

I sold my X100T and replaced it with a used X-E3. Like the X100T, the X-E3 will live in my work bag or my coat pocket as a small, light, take anywhere camera. However, unlike the X100T, the X-E3 will give me the option to swap lenses. The perfect lens to keep X-E3 as svelte as the X100T is the Fuji 27mm pancake lens. 

I used to own the Fuji 27mm but sold along with my original X-E1 to buy the X100T which I sold to buy the X-E3 which would benefit the most from the 27mm. This is a vicious cycle with dangerous consequences. Repurchasing a lens that I sold would justify my wife killing me and this time I'd be playing on Permadeath mode. So for the sake of my health and marriage, I decided fly below the financial radar and purchase the small, inexpensive manual focusing, Pergear 25mm f1.8 lens. 

My obsession with the XPro3 took a left hand turn and I found myself picking up a used X-T3 instead. Even though I am late to the X-T3 party, and I may write about my experience with it in the near future, in summary, I love it!

New Camera Means its Accessory Time!

The first accessory I purchased for the X-T3 is the elegantly named FOTOMIX CW-LB-XT3 for Fujifilm X-T3 Camera Quick Release L-Bracket & Camera Mount Vertical Grip, Stranchable & Detachable Design.

For about four years now I've been happily acquiring Fujifilm bodies, lenses, and accessories. I have a pattern: I obsess and buy a new or used Fujifilm body, lens, or accessory from Amazon,  B&H, or Craigslist. I then get a new obsession and sell a Fujifilm body, lens, or accessories on Craigslist to offset my next purchase from Amazon, B&H, or Craigslist. When the X100 series entered my obsessive thoughts, I bought a used X100S from Amazon to test. I liked the X100S so much that I began obsessing over the X100F because it mirrored the familiar control layout of my XPro2. I found instead a lightly used X100T plus accessories from Amazon at a price I could not ignore, bought it, and sold my X100S on Craigslist (for less than I paid for it).

I've been shooting Fuji since I sold my Micro 4/3 bodies and lenses and bought a brand new new Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55 kit. Since then there have been a series of Fuji interchangeable bodies bought and sold along with a growing collection of Fujinon and adapted lenses. All this time I never owned any of the X100 series of cameras. It was time to address this deficiency. 

My new little travel buddy

Without the spring blooms, the summer sunshine, and the autumn colors, winter is the time to embrace black and white. With its black and white film simulations, Fujis produce beautiful monochromatic images. But sometimes I like to push the dark and moody even further by transforming my X-Pro2 into an infrared Vampire Cam to capture the unearthly darkness that surrounds us. 

There is a Fujifilm parade marching through my house. My first Fuji was a X-E1. Since I like having two bodies I bought a X-M1. I sold the X-M1 after I bought a X-T1. I bought a X70 as a daily carry and travel camera. I then bought a very used X-Pro1. I sold the X-Pro1 after I bought a X-T20 and then sold the X70 because the X-T20 was small enough. And then I bought a X-Pro2.

It started with the Huawei Honor 8, a phone with a camera good enough to make me question my Fujifilm obsession and collection of bodies and lenses. It continued with the Huawei Mate 9 with its higher specced camera and a screen that was large enough, bright enough, and color accurate enough to become primary device for image management, editing, and posting. Yes, the internal camera is great on its own, but combined with Fuji's film simulations and best in class jpeg output, the Huawei/Fuji combination has re-defined my photography.

I've developed an unhealthy fondness for my X-Pro2. Sometimes I just look at it and admire it from different angles. Sometimes while watching TV I hold the camera in my hands, navigate the menus, press the buttons, and fire off a few frames...just because. Now I've gone over the edge, and started playing dress-up with my camera and accessorizing.

Several weeks ago I added a grip to the diminutive X-T20. I liked the improved handling so much I thought I'd add a grip to my new (used) X-Pro2. However, as with the X-T20 grip, I could not justify paying full price for the Fujifim OEM grip, so I looked at the less expensive alternatives available for the X-Pro2.

X-Pro2 Hand Grips: Left Meike, Right Powerextra

For a year and a half I've been semi-interested in the Fujifilm X-Pro2. I'd watch Fujifilm's promotional YouTube videos of photogs moving in slow motion, X-Pro2 in hand, ambient music playing in the background as the voice-over proclaims the X-Pro2 as the instrument connecting personal vision to the infinite...or something equally pretentious. I'd dream my Fuji dreams but in the end the spell would break and I would realize that owning an X-Pro2 wasn't a necessity.

That is, until a Saturday Instameet and suddenly I had reasons to get an X-Pro2:

This is my short review for the Meike XT20G Aluminum Alloy Hand Grip Quick Release Plate L Bracket for Fujifilm X-T20 X-T10.