New York Trip/Fujifilm X-T1 Field Test

At the end of April, I decided to take a short trip to New York City to see my friend Prudence and explore the area. I'd only been to New York once 8 years ago, and that trip didn't amount to anything, so I wanted to go back and get fully immersed. A lot of the people I follow on Instagram are based in New York, and I was always impressed by their shots.  I had a bit of time to plan out my trip, so one of the things I did was buy a new camera setup: the Fujifilm X-T1 Graphite Silver Edition and Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS Zoom Lens (whew, that's a mouthful). I didn't want to take my Canon setup because it would have been way too heavy for all-day sightseeing. The following will be both a summary of my travels and my impressions of the Fuji kit from using it in the field.

I had done some research, and the general consensus was that the X-T1 was the best X series camera from Fujifilm yet, and the 18-55mm lens was an outstanding performer. I was fortunate enough to snag each of them for pretty sweet used prices. Normally the graphite silver X-T1 is quite a bit more expensive than the black version, which I find kind of ridiculous, but I must admit that the color combo does look pretty. 

When I arrived on Wednesday, I met up with Prudence and we immediately started traveling around the city for 4 days. This is Prudence:

As you can see, she's a lot of fun. Over the course of my trip, I got more used to the camera, and I was able to configure it for easy shooting. First, I enabled back button focusing, which allows for more accurate autofocus. I also set ISO and shutter speed at auto, while keeping the lens wide open at 2.8.  The 18-55mm focal length (29-83mm equivalent on the X-T1's APSC sensor) is perfect for the vast majority of applications I need it for, especially street photography.  I usually kept it at 18mm unless I wanted to get closer and couldn't use my feet. Here are some miscellaneous shots I took with the X-T1. Can you recognize all of the places?

New York is awesome, and the weather during my trip was perfect. Each day we walked over 12 miles, despite also taking the subway everywhere.  Because of that, I was really thankful for the lightweight form factor of the X-T1. And I'm very satisfied with the image quality.  I want to go back to New York again soon!!