Tokyo – Fuji XPro3 – Voigtlaender 15mm

After many, many analogue cameras, I ended 2022 with the Fuji XPro3. This camera was my last attempt at photography. For the last three years, my shooting was scarcer and scarcer, to the point where I was using my phone instead of my beloved Contax G1. The ultimate insult. I thought it might be due to the fact of using film and increasing difficulties related to it, proper developing and printing where I was living. After considering many options, I chose the XPro3; what really attracted me was the absence of a visible back-screen (which, by the way, now is not working). I imagined it would give me the most analogue experience possible. After five years of usage, I am happy to attest my experience with the camera has been fruitful in all senses. My love for photography is still there, and the shooting experience is very much alike to a film camera. Recently, somebody, looking at my camera, was surprised to find out I was using the same camera for “so many years.” The surprised one was me because, at that point, I had only had the Pro 3 for four years, but then in digital times, such a brief period becomes a long one. It’s good to use the same camera for a while, especially when there is no need, as in my case, for more.

I will not bother you with the particularities of using the XPro3; there are many articles related to it. Just to underline that I wanted my camera to be as manual as possible, and to that effect, I bought three manual lenses, a 15mm and 21mm from Voigtländer, and a 35mm from 7artisans. These are Leica M-mounted lenses. I bought them like this because they are small, and… because I always think about buying a Leica. They are beautiful machines. But then I went to a camera store and tried the Leica M10. It did not work with me. The 35mm lens I am attracted to because it’s beautiful and a pleasure to use, but the 15mm (full frame 22mm) is the focal length I feel more comfortable shooting with now. Again, when I use the Fuji, I switch to the EVF, and there is no need to use an external viewfinder.

This is my second time in Japan. I brought with me the 35mm and the 15mm lenses, and I ended up using the 15mm the whole time. Next trip, only one lens. Oh, I forgot! Shooting Fuji film recipes does the trick; images always look great when it comes to colour rendition, and the black and white, which I use with a digital red filter, looks very filmy. When shooting colour, I used to shoot classic negative, more punch, but lately, I am using “Eterna.” Its more subdued colour rendition reminds me of Kodak’s neutral portra. I also bought a diffuse filter, but don’t use it anymore.

The 15mm SW Heliar is a slow lens, f4.5, but then nothing is perfect. What bothers me is that with this lens, everything is always focused, unless I go to the extremes of the lens, so in practice, it’s a manual lens that I don’t focus with… I miss focusing. On the other hand, for street photography, it’s very handy; I use my XPro3 as a point-and-shoot camera focusing hyper-focally. My street photography approach is not what it used to be. Before I could throw myself in front of a train if I thought that way I would achieve the “shot.” Nowadays, I am much more calm, more into scenes than into characters; I like to put things into the frame.

When looking at the pictures I shot about 10 years ago in Japan with the Contax G1, I cannot say if they are that different. Maybe then I was shooting more into characters, and this time more into scenes, maybe. I think I prefer the ones I shot this year. As per the quality of the shots, well, 35mm film was never my forte. Even with the legendary G1 lenses, my shots did not look especially sharp; in that sense, I don’t miss film. My current shots look to me how my 35mm film should have looked like, if this makes sense. The XPro3 with the lenses I use and my shooting style, always on the move, don’t look “too” sharp. They just look the right way to me : )

Please enjoy these photographs from Japan. These are casual street shots while walking with my family around Tokyo. When shooting, I did not intend to follow a specific direction or style. But then our way of seeing things reveals itself and impregnates our shooting. It’s not Tokyo anymore what we are looking at, but a particular vision of it. I would say that as a Westerner, Orientalism plays a big role, but then this is a topic for another time.

Carlos

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