10 Years of Fuji: was it worth it? Those upgrades over time? Mostly full res pics

There are many reasons we upgrade, and how or why we justify it at the time doesn't really matter. At least to me.

For me, a camera has to do to things. It's been said a thousand times, but the first thing is not getting in the way. This means different things to different people, but I think it essentially boils down to speed of operation with minimal or no annoyances. As for speed, as long as a camera gives me direct or fast access to the basics (ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and EC), I can move pretty fast. It may sound silly, but even innocuous subjects like landscapes can be fleeting, and speed can be important. Annoyances could be anything from hard-to-reach buttons to short battery life. There I just have to suck it up or devise a work around, as I would with any other brand. But in the upgrade decision factors, getting rid of current camera annoyances are usually further down on the list.

The second thing is producing the results I want. Again, this can be different for everyone, but this seems to be as much a function of post-processing as the in-camera processing. So as long as the camera can get me close (in JPEG) and produce a RAW file, I'm happy. I'll take it from there. Some are still chasing the megapixel war, but for me that ended somewhere around 20+ MP (since I down-sample everything to around 13 MP - and still gives me some cropping room).

That leaves me to really be able to use almost any system, and I have. All major brands over my almost 50 years of doing this. So why Fujifilm? Or at least why Fujifilm for the last decade (like you!)? For me it's very simple: It does both things well (doesn't get in the way and produces results I like. But on top of that, Fujifilm has several other things I value, like solid build quality (closest to Leica in my opinion - that built-like-a-tank feeling - that also applies to their XF lenses), willingness to think out of the box (e.g., X-Trans, XPro3 screen, XE4 minimalist approach, etc.), willingness to listen to customers (reverse course on the XT5 screen), and finally a healthy dose of nostalgic design.

I can look back at other photos taken in the last 20 years with Sony, Olympus, Canon and Nikon, and instantly recall each moment. Would Fujifilm have gotten me a better photo on that day? Maybe. My S1P all the way through S5P photos still look darn good.

Unless something happens to Fujifilm, a la Olympus or Pentax, I can't see any reason to be concerned about my current or future gear. Although I will admit... Leica beckons once in a while. And I suspect Leica handles points one and two above just fine

Oh, and if you're thinking about an XT5, this evening on Klamath Lake in southern Oregon...