30 Days with the Fuji X-Pro3: Day 20

This is the last photo from this series that I took while on a proper hike, so I want to revisit the X-Pro3’s place in nature. As a hobbyist photographer who intentionally doesn’t have a single style or niche, I struggle with finding gear that works well across a wide variety of scenarios. When I picked up the X-Pro3, I envisioned it being meh street and documentary camera but I didn’t plan on taking it on many hikes. The form factor of the camera certainly isn’t optimized for landscape photography…the only scenario where the hidden LCD drives me crazy is when it’s attached to a tripod…ugh that’s obnoxious.

But, after taking it on several casual hikes during this project I now feel perfectly comfortable using it in this context. I still think I’ll opt for the GFX 50R for serious shoots when I’m using a tripod, doing focus stacking, wanting the best possible image quality, etc. But for the casual hikes where I’m more interested in documenting the experience than I am in getting some portfolio images the X-Pro3 certainly holds its own. The fact that it’s so lightweight (especially with the f2 primes) makes it easy to carry even if I’m not bringing a big camera bag. And the fact that I associate it with a deliberate, patient style of documentary shooting means I don’t get drawn out of the moment of being in nature when I pause to grab a shot. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to take the X-Pro3 along as my primary hiking camera when this project is over, but I’m quite glad I gave it a shot and I now know it can perform really well in that context.