When I travel I like to be prepared for any kind of photo opportunity. This translates into bringing a pile of camera gear that would make a Nepalese sherpa’s knees buckle. On a recent trip to Italy, however, I brought the bare minimum gear: my small Fuji XE-1 mirrorless camera, one 18-55mm zoom lens, one battery, one battery charger, and a Lensmate thumbrest. That’s it. Non più. This trip, all my gear could easily fit onto a dinner plate with room to spare. I had to prove to myself that I could get the images I wanted with a minimum of gear.
Afternoon rest in a flower box.
I brought such a small amount of gear that I kept checking my carry-on bag (a medium-sized messenger bag) to make sure I had everything. There were no shoulder aches or grunts from lifting heavy gear bags at the airport–so far so good!
When I got to Italy and walked to the apartment in which I was staying, I was little concerned that I would have a hard time getting the shots that I wanted. I was surrounded by wonderful medieval buildings and beautiful natural lighting in San Gemini, but I thought that I might miss a lot of shots because my lens was only an 18-55 millimeter zoom. But my worrying was unfounded. I discovered that while I was a little limited by the narrow focal length range of the lens, this limitation was more than made up for by the freedom the gear gave me to move around and be inconspicuous with my camera.
One of the big challenges in San Gemini was the narrowness of the streets. Even when I backed up to compose a shot, more often than not a stone wall would stop me. This forced me to do other things that I ordinarily might not think of if I had my big bag-o-lenses and Canon camera: I pointed the camera up, down, left and right rather than take a shot head on. I created many satisfying images this way.
I also wondered how I would do with night shots. Again, I needn’t have worried. With my 8-inch-tall tabletop tripod, I could get plenty of long exposures and great results.
What about people and animal shots? Taking these shots means that I have to be quick and so does my camera. Once again, my Fuji performed flawlessly.
By the time I got to taking some landscape shots I realized that this camera could do pretty much everything I needed. A field of sunflowers on a rolling hill proved it, even in tough light with a handheld camera. And a trip to Italy without seeing Roman ruins is impossible, so I did well with that, too.
So if you have any doubts about what a mirrorless camera can do, doubt no more. It’s all about you; not the camera.
The butcher shop at night in San Gemini, Italy.
Children by a field of sunflowers.