Is the X100 the world's best small travel camera?

Depending on the destination and mode of travel I choose a different combination of cameras, lenses and accessories. A Nikon D700 with 70-400mm zoom may be right for shooting sand dunes in Siwa while the same camera with a 50mm f1.4 prime lens is ideal for aerial landscapes in Cappadoccia, Turkey.

However, the one travel camera I NEVER leave home without is the Fujifilm X100 (now superseded by the X100S). If you compare image quality to size and weight it probably ranks as the world's best small travel camera.

Here are five of my favourite photograhic travel locations:

X100: Brandenberg Gate: 1/1250@f2.8, 800ISO

1.     Terraced padi fields, Ubud, Bali
Just a  four hour flight from Australia, Bali has been a favourite holiday destination for Aussies for more than thirty years. Ubud is an hour's drive into the mountains where the air is cleaner and cooler. On the back roads between Ubud and Candi Desa the narrow roads wind between lush green padi fields which are best shot at sunset or sunrise.

2.     Boranup Forest, Margaret River, Western Australia
Ancient. towering Tuart trees, winding roads, quiet unsealed bush tracks make for idyllic forest landscapes. Here is one place where you have a chance of being the only person for miles. Tripods, overcast skies and maximum depth of field promise extraordinary forestscapes.  

3.     Sand dunes, Siwa, Great Sea of Sand, Egypt
Siwa is one of the most impressive dune locations in the world. Siwa is a small oasis on the edge of the Great Sea of Sand near the Libyan border. Its best to travel by 4WD into the dunes an hour before sunsrise and set-up. Tripods are essential and warm clothing recommended as it can be down to sub-zero temperatures.

The Bundestag, Berlin. Fuji X100 23mm fixed prime, 1/800s@f8, 1000ISO

4.     Aerial landscapes from hot air balloon, Cappadoccia, Turkey
The landforms and geomorphology of Cappadoccia are breathtaking and unique. The giant fairy chimneys are home to dwellings, boutique hotels as well as ancient hospitals and churches. This magnificent landscape is best viewed from a hot air balloon at sunrise. It is difficult not to get a stunning photograph. (Tip: Make sure you squeeze your body into one of the four corners of teh basket to ensure a 270 degree view).

5.     Architecture, Bundestag, Berlin, Germany
The Bundestag is the House of Parliament for the German Government. An impressive illustration of modern artistic architecture the building is home to an innovative sytem of rotating and cascading lenses which redirect light into the parliamentry chamber.
No visit to Berlin wouldn't be complete without a walk to the historic Brandenberg Gate which has become a symbol for a united Germany.

Check out my Travel and Street Photography workshop at UWA Extension.

Fuji X100 - In my top ten cameras of all time

Cycle track Germany. 1/110 sec f8 400 ISO 

Virtually every single time I pick up my three year old Fuji X100 people comment and ask me:

'Do you like the camera?'
'But it doesn't zoom, does it? 
'Its so small'
'Its so quiet'
Can you still get film for that camera?'

Yes its small, whisper quiet and it doesn't zoom. And it doesn't need film! It ranks as one of the ten best cameras I've ever owned and used in fifty years of photography. Its size, capacity and performance make it the 'Kylie Minogue' of cameras.

The one factor that makes onlookers screw up their noses is the fact that the Fuji X100 does not have a zoom lens. More than that, the lens is fixed to the body. You CANNOT change lenses. You CANNOT zoom. 'Oh, what a disadvantage' you say. In fact, just the opposite. The fixed 23mm (35mm equivalent) wide-angle lens is as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel and gives the red dot camera a run for its money. By having a fixed lens rather than a zoom teaches a photographer to think. Yes, think. A practice that is rapidly vanishing from the modern photographer's skill regime.

Fujifilm X100. (Now superseded by the Fijifilm X100S)

The responsibility for framing is clearly thrown back on the photographer. Image size is now controlled by your distance to the subject. You may actually get a little exercise in moving closer to your subject. You may even get to talk to your subject.

1/2200 sec @ f8. 1250 ISO. Near Dresden Germany. 8 Oct 2011. 6.42pm

The one thing the Fuji X100 will never do is intimidate the person you are photographing. In fact, just the opposite. Men and women are intrigued by the styling and are attracted to being photographed by a camera so quiet and unobtrusive.

Last week I upgraded the firmware on my three year old X100 and its now running faster than ever. And its still as quiet as a Rolls Royce.

Check out Dale Neill's photography workshops at UWA Extension by clicking HERE.