I love my job. I love my art. To the point where I’m obsessive and want to take my camera everywhere. To the point where my vacation becomes just a shot list and I start missing moments that I’m so worried about capturing.

So, when I got the opportunity to go to Hong Kong for my uncle’s wedding, I wanted something small, that could fit in my pocket, with no editing involved when I got home. That was the big thing. I didn’t want to have created a couple of days’ worth of work for myself worth of editing. I still haven’t edited all the travel photos I took from my Italy trip last October, because I’ve just been that busy with client work.

Enter a FUJIFILM. A big believer that your camera body is only as good as your light and your eye, I opted for a €400 model, the X-T1. And I stuck a €40 cookie lens on there. Made from a salvaged disposable film camera or something equally endearingly simple, this “cookie” lens has a set aperture of f/10 and the focus locked to infinity. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Fuji came with a tiny flash as well.

Here’s how it did!

Limitations: Low Light and Close Range

Because the aperture is set to f/10, this combination is pretty shitty in low light. Your aperture is how wide your camera opens, and a f/10 is fairly small. I normally shoot portraits at f/2.8 or f/3.5 for reference. I would only opt for an aperture of f/10 for landscapes or shots very far away.

Saving Grace: The Flash

We don’t usually dance around the living room with the cat and our friends, but they obliged me when I wanted to test the new camera. I was really pleased with these shots, even though the focus wasn’t sharp, they were a vibe.

Daylight Test

So, JD was in the shower and hears a ton of banging, he pops his head out to fuss at the boys (“We have neighbors!”) and they show him their empty hands while the banging continues. Then he starts yelling like mad, “It’s the parade, it’s the parade!”

Every year the Sikh community in Amsterdam parades past our house, handing out snacks. (Feeding people is a big part of the Sikh religion, and I won’t complain! More on a Sikh wedding later in this blog actually!)

So, we ran outside, and I of course, grabbed my new camera. Focus still isn’t tack sharp, but it did much better in daylight. And this is the fault of the lens, not the camera body.

Taking the Fuji X-T1 and the Cookie Lens to Hong Kong

This combo does phenomenal capturing bright lights at night. I was really happy with this.

Also, couldn’t be happier with these shots from the roof of our hotel. I love the coloring that comes with the film simulations, which means I don’t have to edit anything in post.

I brought out the flash and I loved the vintage look here. I love how they were blurry but happy. This camera is slow, there’s no burst shooting happening here. (I’m sure there is a setting, but that was the point, I take a shot and I’m done. Easy.) Would I deliver this to a client, no. Would I air drop it to my cousins so they can upload it to their IG story five minutes after the fact, yes.

The Biggest Pain in the Ass So Far

The Camera Remote App has got to be the biggest pain in my ass. This is how you are supposed to be able to seamlessly transfer photos from the fuji to your iPhone via wifi. It works half the time and takes way too long to connect. They have a newer app for newer models of the camera, and it may be worth the extra €1,000 just to not deal with this app. But honestly, not sure if the new one is any better.

Bridal Brunch and Sikh Wedding Ceremony

It was very dark in here, this is with flash. As you can see, the photos are blurry, but a vibe.

Right outside the brunch location was this gorgeous high rise, and I thought the cookie lens did fairly well here.

Likewise, the view of the water from the brunch location. It definitely has that old, film camera look to it.

Sikh Gurdwara Ceremony

The formal Indian outfits on the streets of Hong Kong is such a look. I caught one of my cousins, sisters, standing in the exact same way, leaning on one leg, dupatta around their waist, almost the exact height despite being 9 years apart.

I love this one of me and Anisha. And the colors in this one of Pooni and Anil are gorgeous. It really feels like all our old photos.

As you can see, even with the flash, the low light is still a problem when the subject is too far away. Funny side note, it was so funny how normal people would just walk up to the alter during the ceremony, in their blue jeans, next to a couple decked out in their best clothing getting married. Because the temple stays in normal use, even during weddings, it is common to be interrupted. My cousin said she once walked in, sat down, and then realized half an hour later that she was sitting in the middle of a funeral. I like the openness. Like, this is a big day for you guys, sure, but everyone else still needs their temple.

Visiting Buddha in Hong Kong

Cable cars, a giant Buddha, on his birthday!

The Peak of Hong Kong

Needless to say, the double exposures were a good party trick. The only downside, of course, was the inability of the cookie lens to focus on anything less than 10ft away.

Also, if I have to know this, so do you. Underneath the Peak of Hong Kong is a Bubba Gump Restaurant, based off the Forrest Gump movie. Roll Tide, I guess? But seriously???

The Wedding Reception

Again, a vibe, for sure. I also had my Nikon with a good lens and a godox flash, so I did get actually sharp images. Would I shoot a wedding with this combo, no. Would I bring it along and use it to deliver gimmicky “vintage” photos the next day, maybe? I am happiest during a wedding reception dancing on a chair with two cameras to work with.

Light Drag Photos on the Roof of Hong Kong

No idea if the official term for this is called a light drag, but no idea what else to call it. These were my favorite photos, of the trip, by far. And, of course, I will tell you how I got them!

So, a bit of science that I barely understand. Because a camera uses light to take a photo, when you use a direct flash on a close subject, it freezes your subject’s motion. So, while in daylight, I wouldn’t dream of shooting below 1/200 of a second shutter speed, and often have mine set to 1/250 or even 1/320, with a direct flash, like at a wedding reception I can have my shutter set to 1/30 or even 1/15. These photos were taken on the T setting (T for timelapse and the shutter stayed open for three whole seconds). And I used the direct flash to freeze the subject and then shaking the camera for the last 1.5 seconds. (For the middle images, I used a double exposure, once with the light drag and once normal. This isn’t necessary and I think I like the vibrance of the subject without it being overlayed with the darkness of the second image, but it does allow the lights to shine through your subject as well.)

Proof that gear doesn’t make the photographer, brains and creativity does!

Just by comparing at the first photos and the last, you can see, it’s the same camera, the same lens, but a totally different result. There is never a perfect camera or a perfect lens (albeit my €900 nikkor zoom lens is a hell of a lot better than my €40 cookie lens), but it’s what you choose to do with the tools that you have that really matters.

And, just to prove my need for this camera, the photos I took with my Nikon are still on my camera, unedited…