Well, I have just posted 3 days worth. I am struggling, not with the challenge per se, but with my choice of equipment. I have started a thread about this over on FujiXSpot, and I will replicate with your permission the bulk of my ramblings here:
A couple of years ago, back in 2013 I had my first brush with an X100. At the time I had my X-E1 as my main camera, and I was thinking that the X100 would be complementary. I struggled with it then, and couldn't quite work out why but a couple of months later I sold it on. Fast forward to just before Christmas this year. With the announcement of the X100T, the X100s could be found at decent prices very lightly used on the secondhand market. That, plus the release of the TCL-X100 made me seriously reconsider. I pulled the trigger twice - on a mint X100 and the teleconverter.
I decided to use the X100s for the Single in January 2015 challenge over on our sister site, Photographer's Lounge. I thought that it would help me to get to grips with the camera and learn it's quirks and foibles; I had done exactly the same back in 2012 with the Ricoh GRDIII. This time, however, it doesn't seem to be working. There are a number of things at work here, partly physical and partly mental. Physical first; I have large hands with long and slender fingers; I find it really hard to get a firm grip on the body on it's own. I have a grip, which helps, and a thumb-rest on the way. The grip helps in particular with the TCL-X100 and it's weight; the thumb-rest will hopefully help, whether the main grip is attached or not. BUT the problem with both these accessories is that they make the camera more bulky and even less pocketable than it is already. I think my handling problems have in turn contributed to one of my main issues, which appears to be camera shake. This is not something I have particularly had an issue with in the past; I have held Leica Ms to 1/15 and still got good results - but I think it is a factor of the unsteady hold I have on the camera body. I am also struggling with the optical viewfinder; this really surprises me because one of my other cameras is an X-Pro1 and I get on very well with that.
The net result is that I am not shooting my best stuff - have a look at the "Lightmancer SiJ15" thread and you will see what I mean.
Going forward, I am also struggling to see where the X100s will fit in "Billworld" - it is too big to slip in a pocket on it's own, let alone when grips and thumb rests are attached, let alone the TCL. If I can't fit it in a pocket I have to carry a bag, and if I have to carry a bag I may as well take one of my larger cameras in the first place. The TCL, which was one of the reasons for trying again, is a nice piece of kit but heavy, comparatively bulky and fiddly-diddly to slip on and off; it is reminiscent of the old screwmount lenses. Then there is the matter of the battery - most of my cameras - X-Pro1, X-T1 and X-M1 - take the same battery. The X100s is different. That means that I can't have one set of shared spare batteries and travel with one charger, as I do now...
What all this is leading to, I think, is that I will most likely part company with the X100s at the end of the SiJ - unless I have an epiphany in the next two weeks, I can't see it remaining as part of my photographic life. I feel as if I have somehow failed; I know it is a good camera, well-regarded by others, and that many other photographers have got it to sing for them - but, it seems, I just can't...
Dull grey weather today.
) each night after work and snap a picture or two. However, I am finding it hard to keep up with the commenting. I'm working my way though the gallery but you guys/girls keep adding more pictures in every day so just when I think I'm getting somewhere I find I'm really not! I am trying though and will get to all your pictures some time!!
