My name is Emmett Henderson and these are my photos.
Getting Started
I started mainly due to COVID. My main hobby is partner dancing which was shut down.
I'm sitting at home not getting any exercise and watching a lot of YouTube. I chanced on some videos about street photography. I had just never considered going out just to take photos. For me taking photos was just a tourist thing. Something you did while on a trip.
So I decided to give it a shot and have been enjoying it. I feel that is like playing the slots. You go out and take a couple hundred pictures. If I'm lucky maybe one or two photos are worth keeping. For me that's enough to keep going.
Camera
Once I decided to get a camera I did a lot of research on what would be a good camera for me.
- Inexpensive: In any hobby there are tons of people that start by buying expensive gear and then have it sit in the closet.
- Big sensor: I wanted a big enough sensor which give you more detail and lets you shoot in low light.
- Compact: I did not want to lug around a camera bag. I wanted something that would fit in my pocket.
- Manual Mode: I wanted a Manual Mode in order to learn the basics of photography.
I ended up with a FujiFilm XF10. I spent $500 for the camera and accessories. I would not call $500 inexpensive. But, it is the cheapest compact camera with an 24 mega pixel APS-C sensor. It has a manual mode and even shoots in RAW format
This camera had terrible reviews. The reviewers complained the auto focus was too slow and misfocused at times. Some called it unusable. FuljiFilm did release a firmware update that made the auto focus a little better. But the auto focus is still not as good as most cameras. Most of my photos are taken of stuff that is not moving. I tend to use manual focusing so auto focus is just not an issue for me.
The only other camera I seriously considered was the Ricoh GR III. It's the only other compact camera with an APS-C sensor. It got way better reviews. But it cost $900. Overall I am very pleased with the XF10 and have no plans on upgrading any time soon. I plan on using the XF10 till it breaks.