For those of you that have followed my reviews, you may be a bit surprise by this new acquisition of mine.  Funny enough a year ago so would I have been.

About a year ago one of my former students (one of the best) and now friend , told me he had not been shooting of late.  Of course I was a bit shocked by this announcement of his as it seemed like such a waste of his vast talent.  However he told me that he found his D700 too cumbersome to carry around and was leaving it at home most of the time.  He thought perhaps a Leica M9 would be a better choice.  Wouldn’t many of us?

But a D700 too big, was my first thought.  Having mostly used the big Nikon  pro F’s and D’s camera for the past thirty, the D700 seemed almost small to me.

Well a year goes by and this past February after dropping my daughter off at her school, I decided to go and grab my camera.  In the woods near my house was a wonderful scene of the winter sun penetrating some early morning mist.  Now equipped with my D700 and an old AIS 50mm lens I tried to find some nice shots before the mist burned off.  Didn’t really get anything that I liked, so figured I might as well pack it in. While getting back on my bike it dawned on me what my friend had meant.  The camera had just suddenly became too much.

Now do not mistake this as a life changing decision on my part.  Or that I wanted to rid my self of my D700 or D3’s, only that I decided it was time to find something less cumbersome, more discreet.

Thus began my intensive research into just what this new camera would be.  Like many of you, I had been dissatisfied with the image quality of most of the small sensor sized cameras available.  However Sony had come out with the APS-C sized NEX series, Fuji the X100 and maybe some others that I did know about.

The Sony NEX7 looked promising and became the “most likely”.  Then Fuji announced the X Pro 1.  Many of the early comparisons (and still do) favored the Sony.  Then the Fuji files started to appear on the internet, along with the shooting experiences.  Those early comparisons (at least form my stand point) began to pale.  A cursory look and hand holding of the Sony at a local store convinced me that the NEX7 was not for me.  Don’t get me wrong it has a very nice feel, but it just doesn’t seem like a camera to me.  To put that in the proper perspective, bear in mind, that I am very “old school” .

Other then files that I was seeing and the look of the Fuji, the idea of using that sensor with some of my Nikon glass was the deciding factor.  In truth be told I ordered a Kipon adapter before I had actually made up my mind or had I already?

It has been over a month now since the Fuji has been in my hands.  Still learning and my confidence with it has not yet been realized.  It will take some time.  It is not a replacement to my Nikon DSLR’s just a different tool.  Thus far I am very pleased with the Fuji and I seem so more as the time goes by.

As I said earlier my intentions were to use the camera in combination with my nikkors.  So as I was getting ready to order the camera (believe me this took some time) there was the “should I or should I not” get one of the Fuji lenses.  And if yes which one?  In the end I did get one the 35mm f/1.4.  Despite my earlier intentions, the 35mm has made it difficult to examine my nikkors.  It is that good.

For the next weeks or months, I will endeavor to use each of my Nikkors with the Fuji and report my feelings and findings in their use together.  For this purpose I will for the most part be posting these reports on a newly developed blog site.   “http://gambofoto.blogspot.nl/” .  Later I will also give my general impressions of the Fuji X Pro 1 itself .