The last time that I used my Fujifilm X-T30 was in early December. Yesterday was the first instance I had made any pictures with it in over six months, the longest time in-between use. Once it was my most-used camera; there was a time when I really, really liked the X-T30.
I purchased my Fujifilm X-T30 brand-new in 2019, right when it was announced in February. I used it extensively for about 15 months, until my wife gave me an X100V for my birthday. I still regularly photographed with it for awhile (although not nearly as much as before the X100V), until I purchased a Fujifilm X-E4 in March of 2021. Ever since then, my X-T30 has mostly sat on the shelf collecting dust. Every now-and-then I still capture some images with it. At first it was once every few weeks, then once every couple of months—the time gap has been growing longer and longer. Finally, it surpassed six months.
You might think that it’s time to sell it. If I’m not using the camera, perhaps someone else could. I’m sure there are people contemplating a used X-T30 right now. But I kind of want to hold onto it awhile longer. I have a lot of memories with the camera. In fact, just today my wife was showing me some family pictures from 2019 and early 2020, and in a number of them I have an X-T30 in my hands or around my neck. Maybe I should consider parting ways with it, but I’m not ready to do so just yet.
Especially after yesterday. I dusted the camera off, attached a TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 lens, loaded it with my Kodacolor Recipe, and captured a bunch of pictures—I’ve included four of those images above. It was so much fun! My kids enjoyed being photographed, too. I’m not a portrait photographer, but I sometimes pretend to be one. The X-T30 is a great little camera, and I particularly appreciate the diminutive size and weight of it. The Kodacolor Recipe is one of my favorites, especially for a 1980’s vibe.
While I’d prefer a Fujifilm X-T30 II or especially a Fujifilm X-T50, the X-T30—the original one from 2019—is still very good. Just because some new camera comes along that’s “better” doesn’t mean that the camera you own and use is somehow not good. The Fujifilm X-T30 is still worth owning and using in 2024, and will be for awhile to come. I definitely need to use it more often than I have recently, and not allow so much time to go by in-between picking it up.