Oh lawdy, let me fan myself to prevent myself from passing out. Oh yes y'all, I done bought myself a new camera system and I am about to faint.

Let me back up here. First of all, I'm not Southern. Well, maybe a little, I was born in Virginia. But in the Yankee quarters of Virginia.

I have been a Canon DSLR shooter for a long time. My first Canon DSLR was a Canon 10D. That is practically prehistoric in DSLR terms. I went on to a 20D, a 5D, a 5D II (two of them) and now a 5D III. I have a lot of lenses. Love lenses. So when I got into pet photography, I upgraded all of my lenses and got a 24-70mm L2.8 II (mmm, love that lens), an upgraded 70-200mm 2.8 IS II, and, new for me, a 16-35mm L 2.8. I also picked up a 35mm Sigma Art Lens because it's supposed to be magic. Honestly, I haven't used it enough to see the magic yet but I'm hopeful.

That's quite a bit invested in lenses and that was only in the last year.

But we decide to go on our first vacation in, I don't know, five years or so? It's been a long time. Oh sure, we travel here and there but mostly for work or to see my mother in Arizona. Not really vacation. But we jumped on a chance to go to Thailand for nine days. Thailand! So exciting! I've never been to Asia before! I could afford the trip! Yay! Vacation!

So a friend was saying she couldn't wait to see my pictures from Thailand. Hmmm. I was only planning to travel with my iPhone. Not my big DSLRs. They're too heavy. And my little Lumix just doesn't have the image quality. I think my iPhone takes better pictures.

I began investigating little lightweight cameras. You know, what's out there these days. I had to go to a camera store to pick up some things for a shoot. The sales clerk was helping a customer at the Fuji counter. There were three Fujis on the table. I'd read a little about them but was a little confused. Didn't know an XE2 from an X-T1. Well, my dears, I found out. That little X-T1 fit my hand like Cinderella's slipper. It felt so good. Light. Stylish. Nearly perfect form factor. I was smitten, I will tell you that.

And so I got the Fujifilm X-T1. And the kit lens, 18-55. And the 55-200. Then the 56mm. Followed by the 10-24 and 35mm. Yes, my friends, I am in it. In it hard. Fortunately, I am just about out of lenses to buy, totally out of money to buy, and there is no longer an attractive rebate on those lenses, which I caught the tail end of. Thailand, here I come! Perfect little system.

Now, what does this have to with pet photography? To be honest, I'm not sure. The X-T1 is a mirrorless camera and it doesn't have an optical viewfinder. An optical viewfinder shows you exactly what you're seeing before you snap the shutter. It has an electronic viewfinder -- arguably the best on a mirrorless camera -- and it shows you an digital image of what you're seeing. And it has a tiny bit of shutter lag. Very little shutter lag, it's been measured to just have a tiny, tiny bit of shutter lag. Press a shutter on a DSLR and it's instant. Press it on the X-T1 and it isn't quite.

So I'm not exactly sure I can use it on pets unless maybe it's a studio setting. Pets are quick. You really have to shoot fast. That's where DSLRs excel, especially, I hate to say it, kind of expensive ones with fast, expensive lenses.

Now I've only had one pet shoot since Christmas and it's for Little Red Dog to get Evie a home. She's been in foster care for three years and she needs her own home. Her foster mom is moving. So I took photos of Evie with my Canon and then asked if I could practice with my new camera. Oh my, it made me so nervous. I know the Canon inside and out. The Fuji is a foreign little thing to me. On the plus side, Evie wasn't moving too much and was a pretty good little poser.

So now, for your review, is an X-T1 image and a 5DIII image. Can you tell the difference?

BEST Pet Photography

​