At a glance
● 26.1MP stacked BSI X-Trans CMOS 5 HS sensor
● 15fps (mechanical shutter), 40fps (electronic shutter)
● In-body stabilisation rated at up to 7EV
● 5.76m-dot, 0.8x OLED EVF, up to 120fps
● 3in, 1.62m-dot vari-angle LCD touchscreen
● Weather-resistant body
● Fujifilm X mount
It’s a funny old world; one where perception and reality are so often worlds apart. Take press photography for instance. Imagine the reader, bingeing such films as The Bang Bang Club, Blow-Up and Minamata. By now, they believe that life in this universe is a dangerous, exhilarating and glamorous cocktail, an intoxicating combination of dodging bullets, bouncers, and annoying PR types, while romping through the Colorama alongside models juggling Leicas. As, flash, bang, wallop, one (conveniently) always seems to be at the right place, at the right time, to take ‘that’ photograph.
Now, I hate to burst such laughable bubbles of misconception, however enviable. Whilst I’ve had my share of excitement and some danger, the nearest I’ve come to Blow-Up is working alongside the brilliant Janet Street-Porter (who is in the film) when she was my Editor at the Independent on Sunday. Quite frankly, life as a press photographer is not nearly as exciting as you might care to conceive. Well, that is unless you have a masochistic imagination that conjures up thoughts of jogging to avoid losing the light, getting soaking wet, and suffering both backache and boredom.
No, here in the real world, working as Chief Photographer and Picture Editor on the newspaper is a complex personal dichotomy, comprising in equal measures: love and hate, passion and apathy, and monotony and variety. A stressful mix all of my own making, making
