Fuji X-T1 The return of the king

Long ago, before what my friends and I refer to as the Great Cheapening of the 80's, photographers of yore used significantly different tools to create their art then we do today. Small, jewel like metal boxes with intricate brass springs and gears hung weighty about their necks. Finely crafted tubes filled with glass and metal and unicorn horn adorned the front of these mystical devices. And nestled deep inside a roll of silver halide parchment waited to receive that most elusive of phenomenon....light.With years of learned study the wizard photographer was able to bring all of his skills and tools together in an almost alchemical melding of art and science and magic to do the most amazing thing. That is, he was able to do nothing short of capturing a small, precious sliver of Time itself.

Throughout the Twentieth Century the makers of old tried many different patterns and arrangements of knobs and buttons on their cameras to give the photographer a quick and easy way to control that mystical triangle known as the Three Properties. Shutter, Aperture, and ASA. Simple in theory, but needing years of study and practice to master, these three fulcrums of knowledge and their interactions between each other are what allows the wizard photographer to bend light to his will.

classic 35mm camera

While there were many different schools of thought and application of this art one of the most common forms, and the one that mainly fell to Man, was the 35mm format. Dwarves or course prefer the slow and ponderous Large format school of photography which befits their slow, mountain dwelling lifestyle. Elves on the other hand were masters of the Medium format, as ever choosing the practical and powerful path as befits their race. This type of photography was also appropriate to accurately capture all the detail of their lovely forest homes. But Man, with his bustling and busy lifestyle ever on the move, needed something smaller. Something faster. Thus 35mm and the One Hour Photo fell nicely to our hand.

Dont get me wrong, there were Men who went and studied with the other races in those bigger formats and became masters of the craft. Today their names are legend and their creations are testaments to what Man can achieve. But this discussion is not about them.

This discussion is about the 35mm SLR camera. The tool of the artist, the wizard and the every man. The evolution of this design reached its peak toward the end of the 70's (in the reckoning of Men that is). The great Makers of the time, Minolta, Canon, Pentax, Nikon, had all pretty much come to the same basic design on how to allow the photographer to input his calculated variables easily and quickly for the creation of a successful photograph. Using metal knobs and dials, turned with solid and sure 'clicks', the camera could be quickly and easily set up to get the shot. There were variations of the theme to be sure, but you could pick up any of these devices and quickly understand its use.

But then something changed.

As the end of the 70's drew near and a new decade was fast approaching new technologies were being discovered at a frightening pace. Flush with his success at landing on the moon at the end of the previous decade Man understood and embraced the idea that Technology was to be subjugated to his will. And done so for a profit. Brass and other metals were being replaced with poly carbonates, simple springs and light meters were replaced with circuit boards and silicone. The idea that the machine could do all the complicated work for Man took hold and flourished. Suddenly automation was the key to success. Auto exposure, auto program mode, auto everything...

For the purposes of our story you can trace everything back to a single event. That singular, momentous act that began us down the path we trod today. In 1978 one of the great Makers introduced a device that would change the design of the camera forever. It was Canon, and the camera was the A-1.

the shape of things to come (internally)

So innocuous at the time, so ingenious. So misunderstood how things would not be the same afterword. The camera itself, full of circuit boards and Auto features and logic circuits, was already a poster child of things to come. If you don't believe me then go here and read page 5 of the A-1 users guide. I cannot say it better then Canon can itself. Read that page with the weight of History behind you and you will understand.

But even with all this new automation and forward thinking there was that one little feature, that one little thing on the front of the camera that was the true herald of a new path for camera form factor.

The AT dial.

A simple spinning dial, easily withing reach of your finger, would change everything. It was so basic...why had nobody thought of this before? An easy way to input data to the camera depending on which 'mode' you were in. Revolutionary for the time, commonplace today, it was a paradigm shift from which there was no going back. Big metal dials? We dont need not stinkin' dials!

It was, incidentally, one of the main reasons the Elves and Dwarves began to retreat from the world of Men. But that is also another story.

After this our beloved tools began to loose the elegant and classic forms it had taken so many decades to achieve. The Makers embraced plastic on a grand scale and seemed to try every conceivable blocky shape under the sun to clad their new miniature computer cameras with. Truly, while probably viewed at the time as 'modern' and 'space age' these designs now are simply horrible. At least to this users eye.

how not to stand the test of time

That moment in time, that tumultuous decade where analog became digital and plastic ruled, is what is known as the Great Cheapening. There was a fundamental shift in product design, not just in photography but all areas dealing with consumer goods. Mass production, global markets and a search for profit at any cost led to the world we live in today. Things were not designed anymore with years of use and repair in mind. They were designed as disposable commodities that were to be used up, thrown away, and replaced with a new one.

The Elves were nowhere to be seen.

It was during this time ('86 to be exact) that the great Maker Canon unleashed another camera upon the world that would change things in a much more fundamental way then even the AT Dial from a few years before. It was nothing less then the fore father of modern camera design. The Progenitor. From the loins of this device would spring countless multitudes of SLR's and DSLR' and for the longest time it would hold sway over the minds of Men as the singular answer to the question of how should a camera fit to your hand. The age of the melted blob of plastic was upon us. It was, and ever shall be, the Canon T90.

the shape of things to come (externally)

The metal dials are gone. Film advance lever forgotten. AT dial firmly in place. Buttons adorn the body and an LCD glows proudly with what etched metal once showed. It was proof positive that the long line of Kingly cameras from yore, those intricate metal boxes full of magic and wonder, were dead. An ancient lineage going back to some of the earliest years of photography was simply no more.

For some photographers it wasn't an issue. The camera is simply a tool, an item used to create the true reason we shoot...the photograph. Photography should always be about the creation of a compelling and moving image. But some photographers yearned for the old designs. They missed the feel of solid metal under their fingers and the joy that comes from using a finely made and pleasing tool. Why, they wondered, cannot someone make a new modern camera in the style of the old?

Years passed...

Over time the weight of the disposable world began to wear thin. Everything in peoples lives had very little significance as a finely made thing anymore. People responded with a growing desire for the way things were, for items with more permanence. Retro became a catch phrase for anything, old or modern, that hearkened back to an older time. For something solid that was meant to endure. In other words it worked fine back then, it works fine now, and I can have confidence that it will keep on working in the years to come.

Vinyl has made a resurgence (never died really), Flickr is awash with people who enjoy shooting with old manual lenses and Hipster chic is alive and well. Okay, that last really isn't a positive.

But as for our story, it seems that maybe Makers are starting to listen (some of them). They seem to understand that not everyone wants to shoot with the latest techno bauble DSLR but would rather have in their hands a quality made tool from the old days. But with modern photo making capabilities. A blending, shall we say, of everything good from the past along will all our technology has taught us until now.

Enter the Fuji X-T1. In its way, though many do not yet understand it, this little gem will have just as much impact on camera design as the fateful T90 all those years ago. A paradigm shift has occurred yet again. While Fuji has done great things with other cameras from the X line and the classic Rangefinder design they have done something I have been waiting a very long time for. You see the X-T1 isnt retro. Its not a styling exercise. It is, simply, the re-emergence of a line of cameras that I thought long since dead. The SLR has returned.

It was going to happen sooner or later. Others have tried and come close. Some of the Micro Four/thirds evoke echoes of the old line but they are at best pretenders to the throne. And the DF...ummmm, yeah I wont go there. Sony has glimmers in its modern retro chic NEX and A7 designs. But no one has just nailed it. Nobody has just put all the elements together correctly for a true rebirth of the line.

Until now. Like Aragorn walking into Gondor to claim his birth right the X-T1 will begin the line afresh for a wondrous new age of Man. And just as Narsil was reforged into Anduril so has the 35mm SLR been reforged into the Mirrorless camera. But its heart and soul are intact. It is the same ancient weapon remade and ready to fight new battles in a new time. The wizard photographer (while never truly gone) can ply his trade again amidst the joy of using a finely made tool with little metal dials that go 'click click click...' 

And its the camera Ash would use. :)