I've been on the look out for a new camera, something small and light, that I could chuck in the top of a rucksack or coat pocket, but still with great image quality.
Having looked at a few compacts, from Canon, Sony and Fuji, I decided to go with the Fuji X100T.
With it's APS-C sized sensor the reviews and sample images from it looked promising.
I was drawn to it's retro looks, as it reminded me of one of the first cameras I got my hands on, an Olympus Trip, and like the Olympus Trip it has a 23mm fixed lens, which paired with the crop sensor is a 35mm equivalent.
I went for the T model, even though it isn't the newest in the X1oo series as you can pick up a second hand one fairly cheap and knowing I would be stuffing it in packs and pockets, thought a used one would suit me better.
I found one on eBay for less than £400 and once I had my hands on it, could tell it was a really well made piece of kit and I couldn't wait to test it in the real world.
All the dials for settings are easily accessible, with the menus easy to navigate through.
With a spell of settled weather after Storm Erik I decided to head to the Lake District National Park, chucking it in the rucksack alongside some winter climbing gear and a Gorrilapod.
I wanted to test it out for the purpose I bought it for, which is to have a camera on me, that's better than my phone, not to go out looking for a photograph, but to have the means to capture one if a scene catches my eye while out on my bike or hike.
With blue skies overhead, I headed out from Patterdale towards Helvellyn and as the snow covered hills got closer, my hopes were high for a good day out.
With no photo distractions to slow me down, I took a couple of snap shots on my phone and I was at the Red Tarn in 2 hours, with Helvellyns head wall looming over me.
On the shores of the tarn, I was pretty close and couldn't fit Striding Edge and Swirral Edge in the frame, so flipped the camera to portrait orientation and took a series of images of both ridges and the head wall, blending them together for a panorama in Photoshop.
I put the camera in my pocket, strapped crampons to my boots, put an ice axe in each hand and headed up Gully 2.
The climbing was good, with the snow conditions getting better the higher I got and I soon topped out of the summit cornice.
The summit was shrouded in cloud and with the freezing wind, I didn't hang about for summit photos, choosing Swirral Edge for the descent.
At the top of the ridge the cloud lifted as I picked my way down, I stuck the camera on the Gorrilapod and decided to jump in front of the lens to add a bit of interest. With the lack of contrast, the camera struggled to focus on the point I'd chose to stand, but a neat feature on the X100T allows me to zoom in to the place I've put the focus point and manually focus or check you've got it dialled.
The snow was hard packed and made for a quick and easy descent, leaving me with the few miles back down to the van.
Once back home, I loaded up the photos on the big screen and quickly edited them up.
I was really impressed with the quality of the files, the colours seem to really pop in the image.
It's certainly not going to be replacing my DSLR's for commercial use, but I can see this camera getting some serious use in the future and I'm already looking forward to my next non photography trip.
https://www.instagram.com/alcphotosleeds/