It’s not often I get excited about photography equipment, I keep my camera gear up to date but never rush out and buy the latest must have gadgets. Usually I wait until everybody else has tried and tested a camera before purchasing one myself. A couple of months back that all changed when I heard about a new camera from Fuji, the X100. As soon as I saw this camera I wanted one and I have been lucky enough to get one of the very few available in the UK at the moment.
My usual workhorse is a pair of Canon 5D mkII’s and a Canon 1DmkII. The 5DII’s are great for low light work and are small enough to not shout “look at me, I’m a photographer”. As a documentary photographer I am always looking for ways I can record a scene without my presence dictating what happens. This is where the Fuji X100 comes in, with a leaf shutter and no mirror it is almost totally silent. There have been many times in a quiet church I have cursed the sound of my shutter going off. Compact cameras have never offered the same image quality and low light ability as the Canon 5DII. The X100 camera is very small and doesn’t look as intimidating to the subject as a DSLR. This allows the photographer to carry on working in situations that the subject would normally become camera aware.
This camera isn’t a replacement for a DSLR, rather it’s another tool to allow photographers to capture the moment with the least amount of disturbance. That is what makes it the perfect camera for a documentary wedding photographer. 
The Fuji X100 doesn’t look out of place next to my vintage camera collection.
Update: 5th April 2011
I have had the camera for a couple of weeks now and have been putting it to test photographing personal work. I like to thoroughly test my equipment before using it on a wedding, that way I don’t have to think about how the camera works and can concentrate on the composition of photographs. Almost all of my personal work is in black & white, a medium I really love.
Photography forums have contained negative comments about the Fuji X100, many it seems by people who haven’t even used the camera , I also don’t get why people judge a camera by how well it photographs a test chart (who really takes technical photographs of test charts?). I can tell you that I really love this camera, nothing gets in the way of making the photograph and I’m really very happy the image quality. I still can’t believe how quiet the shutter is, sometimes I have wondered if it actually took the shot, this is really refreshing compared to a DSLR. Did I mention I love this camera?
you might also like – Fuji X100 for wedding photographers