My Tiny Buddy

In 2017 I began selling off the Canon EOS camera system I had been using for 26 years (both film and digital) and began buying Fujifilm X-series cameras and lenses. I was 80 that year, still actively doing wedding, commercial, and travel photography, and felt it was time to change to smaller and lighter cameras and lenses.

One of my first purchases was a Fuji X-T20 camera which I bought in used but like new condition through an on-line photography forum. When I received it, I was surprised to find it was actually too small. A nifty little black leather half-case with red stitching fixed that problem, and soon the X-T20 paired with a 16-50mm lens became my daily carry camera, going with me whenever I left the house.

It's 2026 now, and the X-T20 is still with me and still the camera that goes over my shoulder when I go out and about. The combination of small size, light weight, and photographic capability make it just right for most of my work. I've even used it to work weddings as a second shooter and the primary photographer, a Canon user, praised my X-T20 files as "pretty." 

The 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 XC (24-75mm equivalent) lens has a very useful range and is plenty sharp. (I have the pictures to prove it.) I mostly work at apertures of f5.6 to f11, and as Kirk Tuck says, all lenses are sharp in that range. After eight years of good service the lens has developed a mechanical problem and will have to be replaced -- probably with the Fuji 18-55mm XF lens.

The 24-megapixel sensor of the X-T20 is sufficient for my work. I have no difficulty making 24x36-inch prints from my files. I know there are later models in this series, but I've never felt the need to upgrade.

The X-T20 is not my only camera, of course. I currently have a Fuji X-Pro1 and an X-T3. In the past I've also owned an X-T1 and an X-H1, both good cameras. I like to use the X-T3 when working with flash or my 50-200mm zoom because I feel the heavier body balances better with those tools. But for casual, everyday out-and-about photography my tiny buddy, the X-T20, will probably be over my shoulder or in my hands.

Azalea and butterfly in my back yard. Fuji X-T20, Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens. a 24x36 inch print of this photo hangs in my living room each summer.

 

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2026 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography      digital photography   Fuji X-T20 camera      Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens     Fuji X-T3 camera    Fuji X-T1 camera   Fuji X-Pro1 camera     Fuji X-H1 camera     Fujinon XF40-200mm lens

The Pentax 6x7 at Work

The Landmark Diner. Buckhead,Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1998 I received a commission from Fortune-Johnson Construction Company of Atlanta to photograph some of their projects, including a large condominium complex still under construction and one of their smaller projects, the Landmark Diner in Buckhead.

I used several different cameras for the project, including my Calumet-Cambo 4x5 view camera and a Hasselblad. My workhorse for architectural photography, however, was my Pentax 6x7, which, paired with the great 45mm Takumar wide-angle lens, was used for the above photo of the diner.

Big and heavy, the Pentax was nonetheless a great camera for travel and location work. I have always believed the 6x7 gave me the highest percentage of "keepers" of any camera I have ever owned. That doesn't seem important in this era of digital photography, when we often fire off a barrage at every subject because "it doesn't cost anything."

Actually, it does cost something. It costs the careful look, the study of your subject to determine the best, most expressive way to render the subject. When your camera only holds ten exposures, each one costing well more than a dollar for film and processing, one becomes very careful indeed before pressing the shutter button.

Of course, one can work carefully with a digital camera. But the temptation is always to "spray and pray." Digital photography has fulfilled George Bernard Shaw's dictum: "A photographer is like a codfish, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity."

 The clubhouse at the condo complex. Another Pentax 6x7/45mm lens shot. This scene was lit with three commercial-size flash units.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2026 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography      architectural photography   Pentax 6x7 camera      PentaxTakumar 45mmlens     film photography   Georgia     Atlanta    Buckhead     4x5 Calumet-Cambo view camera    Hasselblad camera

The Old Mill at Stone Mountain Park

Surely the most visited old mill in Georgia is the mill at Stone Mountain Park. It was built near Ellijay in Fannin County in 1869 and moved to its present location and carefully reconstructed in 1965. 

The overshot wheel is 13 feet, 8 inches in diameter and is an exact copy of the original. Water to power the wheel comes from a dam on a small creek on the hillside above the mill.The water is carried to the wheel by a wooden flume. Inside the mill building two large millstones do the grinding and can be adjusted to regulate the speed of the millstones and the texture of the meal. 

Stone Mountain Park is a beautiful place. In addition to the spectacular mountain itself, there are many varieties of plants and flowers and also an historic, 151-foot-long covered bridge on the property. Built by legendary covered bridge master Washington W. King over the Oconee River in Clarke County, it was purchased for one dollar and moved to Stone Mountain Park in 1965.

About the photo: Made on Kodachrome film in the early 1970s. I don't remember what camera I used, but I didn't have much money in those days, so all I had were a few small (and cheap) fixed-lens rangefinder cameras. 

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2026 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography      travel photography   Stone Mountain Park      Old grist mills    Kodachrome film   Georgia     covered bridges