Porto, Volos

Before I left for Skopelos (Greece) last summer, I bought a camera. I thought about it a lot: for a long time I photographed very little and kept wondering if a new camera, different in concept from the one I was used to, would i was used to, would make any difference and give me the right push.

I found a Fujifilm X-M1 and brought it home a few days before the trip. I took a few shots here and there: it fit in a small bag that I started from the beginning to carry it with me all the time, because the weight is reasonable and for most of the time I don't notice I have it. The Canon 7D went into hibernation in the wardrobe, while the X-M1 immediately started to give me continuous satisfaction.

A few months apart I explored a corner of its possibilities: I shoot mostly in programme mode (P), measuring in spots. Everything has been different since i learned to photograph with a Fujica analogue, but the shooting experience is - finally - similar to what I felt then: the X-M1 instils confidence, it lets you know immediately where it can go and, even in programme mode, you are in control of the shot. The spot metering zone is just the right size and leaves room to play with the light.

The Fuji has a vaguely vintage feeling: the interface is based on a fair number of buttons, but also on control dials on the top. They are immediate in use. I would have preferred the X-M1 to have the specialised dials that characterise its higher-end sisters, but space is at a premium.

The vintage feel is also noticeable when it passes into the hands of the stranger-of-the-day whom, on holiday, you ask to take your picture. That sort of reverence that reverence that SLRs often inspire is not felt at all, and it happens that the stranger-of-the-day stranger-by-day gets a taste for it and keeps shooting.