My New-To-Me Classic Digital Camera

I am still working on learning all I can about my new-to-me classic digital camera, the Fujifilm X30.  Each day I'm learning a bit more...  mostly good but I'm also finding its limitations.  No matter the tool, you must always know that tool's limitations and cameras are no exception.  Finding this camera's limitations is a good thing.  I want to know its limitations.

I've saved seven custom profiles that I might prefer in various situations and environments.  I still need to get out to test these custom profiles but I now have a starting point for each.  One of the things that makes Fujifilm cameras so desirable to many photographers is the amount of customization you can do to each shot.  There is an uncharacteristically wide choice in choosing the perfect dynamic range, color, sharpness, shadows, highlights, noise reduction and white balance.  This camera provides more control for shifting the white balance than any other camera I have ever used whch is incredibly useful for getting the desired color tone of your photography.

For now, I have customized profiles for a standard Provia film to be used as a general starting point, Astia film to be used for portraits, a toned down Velvia film for landscapes, a custom deep autumn profile with a copper tone that creates very warm landscapes and cityscapes, a basic filmic black and white profile, an Eterna film profile, and an Agfa Optima custom profile that provides rather bright and colorful images leaning toward a colder neutral tone.  This is all in addition to some of the other in-camera film simulations like Pro Negative Standard, Pro Negative High Contrast, and a Classic Chrome profile.  

I've tried some video but, honestly and unsurprisingly, so far I prefer my Sony cameras for video.  The video from my Sony cameras is quite a bit sharper and cleaner.  This classic Fuji camera's purpose will likely only be to save some weight when we are out and about walking for long periods.  My Sony gear isn't nearly as heavy as dSLR's but it still gets too heavy for my spinal injuries, bone pain and joint pain when we are out and about walking for a whole afternoon or a whole day.  This Fuji camera will be nice for some of those times instead of carrying around heavier gear.   

This morning, the light coming through our living room window looked good for some photos so I shot a few more photos of this camera.  These photos turned out significantly better than all my previous photos of this classic camera.  My previous photos had some lousy mixed lighting and annoying resulting color casts so they weren't as nice as I would like.  Consequently, I was waiting for better lighting and this morning happened to have some good lighting shining through our window.

All of these photos show how pristine this very lightly used nine and a half year old camera is today.  I really lucked out in finding this camera!  

This first photo shows the camera from the front.  This camera came with a leather Fujifilm neck strap but I prefer wrist straps on small cameras so I added the black rope wrist strap...

I also added a brass and black soft shutter release button.  The shutter release button on this camera is a threaded button that can be used with a remote cable shutter release.  While this is a useful feature to have, it also makes the button a little harder to press because it is semi-recessed.  Screwing this larger brass button into the threaded shutter button of the camera makes it much easier to use...  plus, it looks nice!

The rear LCD is also pristine just like the rest of the camera.  This rear LCD is articulating making it easier to view from above like a waist level viewfinder or from below when shooting over your head (which I need to do more often than you would think).  In this photo, I tilted the LCD upward so I could lean the camera backward to capture a photo of the full top plate of the camera...

This camera has a lot of buttons and dials for quick control of the camera...  well, only if you are familiar with the particular buttons and dials.  If you are not familiar with all of these controls, it can be a bit frustrating.  I am now familiar with all of these controls so I'm really liking all of these buttons and dials.  It is really nice to be able to avoid having to dive into the menus.  

On this top plate in the photo below, we have the Exposure Compensation dial, the Movie function button (red), the shutter release button and the Mode dial.  You can also see the thumb rest I have added to this camera.  The thumb rest makes it much easier to hold with one hand...

The next photo of the rear of the camera shows more of the dedicated function buttons.  Incidentally, many of these buttons can be assigned custom functions if you prefer to change the default functions.  Of note, there is a dedicated button for WiFi connectivity to my cellphone which is impressive for such an old digital camera.  After learning about this old Fuji camera having this WiFi button, I just realized that my two Sony camera bodies also have dedicated WiFi buttons!  Until now I had been diving into the menu to connect to my cellphone for wirelessly transferring and printing photos on Instax film!

Below is a close-up of the sharp and fast Fujinon lens.  It is an f2-2.8 lens on the fast end.  It has a really nice focal length range equivalent to 28-112mm in full frame.  It is a sharp fast lens with a very nice moderate zoom.  

I had been testing this camera with an assortment of lens hoods that I have on hand and, unfortunately, I didn't like any of them.  Most of them were too large for this small camera and a couple of the smaller lens hoods created some vignetting.  While deciding which type of lens hood to purchase, I switched gears and searched for some step-up rings so I can add filters as well as a lens hood whenever necessary.  

In the photo below, I have two step-up rings on the lens.  It turns out that using these two step-up rings seems to be working very well as a wide-angle lens hood.  That was a happy coincidence.

The first ring steps the lens' threads up from an odd 40mm thread size (not the usual 40.5mm) to a 49mm thread size.  The purpose of this step-up ring is so I can use my 49mm filters when necessary (I already have a few on hand that I want to try with this camera).  

While looking at my step-up rings, I noticed that I have a 49mm to 58mm step-up ring too so I screwed that on the front too.  I immediately realized that this might just be enough of a lens hood to be useful!  So far it seems to be working just fine...

I have an old lens cap that fits on this step-up ring configuration so that is good too.  I have to say that it has been really handy having spare parts and accessories stored here at home!  This has made a lot of this customization of this camera very easy.  

As you can see in all of these photos, this little Fuji X30 camera from 2014 is looking very clean.  Actually, it looks brand new!  When I can get outside for a short walk, I'll add some sample photos shot with this camera.  

My health is still too unpredictable to be out walking.  I'm still experiencing intermittent breathing problems as well as some other mast cell related issues.  Don't get me wrong, I am ever so slowly improving but it is taking a very long time. 

In the meantime, I have a classic-style camera case on order for this camera and I hope it will be here sometime in the coming week.  I want this camera to stay in pristine condition! 

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POST EDIT:  27 February 2023 - I've been thinking about all the times I recommended this Fuji X30 to friends who asked for my advice.  Back in the 2015-2018 timeframe, I highly recommended this camera to quite a few people who weren't big photography enthusiasts but simply wanted a nice, easy-to-use, small camera for capturing their travels and family events.  This camera would have been perfect for them!

Now that I, myself, do have this camera in my possession, I am shaking my head whenever I think about how correct I was in that recommendation yet none of these particular people heeded my advice.  

I've even had quite a few people ask for my recommendation for a piano while I was teaching piano.  None of them listened.  Instead, I was teaching piano at these peoples' homes on piece of crap instruments that did nothing but hinder the student's progress and interest.  Then again, most of these piano lessons were really more about babysitting than actual education in fine arts so I'm not sure anything was lost there.  I've dropped many students over the years due to this.

I did recommended a Sony a6000 to one friend a few years ago and she did heed my advice.  What is even better is I believe she is very happy with that little but powerful camera.  I'm very happy that she took my advice and ran with it and, as I said, I see her posting photos on Facebook quite often so I am fairly confident that she likes her decision to purchase one of those small Sony cameras.  For that, I am thankful but, really, she is like one tiny needle in a large haystack.  

I suspect that the rest of the people I recommended cameras to probably went to a local Best Buy and were accosted by a salesman upselling a crappy entry-level Canon or Nikon digital SLR (pronounced Nee-kon...  bastardized pronunciation is another little pet peeve of mine and this particular mispronunciation drives me crazy... see here...  I believe we can blame Paul Simon for this particular bastardized pronunciation).  Don't get me wrong, Canon and Nikon make some nice high quality cameras but their lower end, entry-level digital SLRs are garbage and the same holds true of their low end lenses.  Nikon, especially, has a very convoluted menu system in their entry-level digital SLRs that is horrendous for any beginner or non-enthusiast.  These entry-level digital SLRs are simply very poor choices for someone who just wants a simple, easy-to-use camera in a compact form factor for family events and travel. 

The crazy thing is I will still offer my advice when asked just like in the past.  I know...  that is close to insanity.  The question is...  Who will heed my advice over instead going with the flow of popular misconceptions that are completely opposite of my advice?  That was a rhetorical question...  I know the answer is the same as always...  very, very few.  

Rant over.  (I think this little rant is a clear sign that I am still feeling rather crappy.)