I’ve been thinking about the Fujifilm X-H2S a lot recently.

Not in a nostalgic, romantic way. More like trying to understand something I can’t quite put my finger on.

Because if I strip it back, I think I’ve felt quite uninspired for a while now.

And I didn’t really clock it properly until I started writing this.

Since moving over to the Sony A7 IV last year, everything has been… fine. That’s probably the best way to put it. The work gets done. The videos go out. Clients are happy. There’s no real friction.

But there’s also no pull.

Nothing is asking me to go out and make something.

When I had the X-H2S, it was different. I didn’t have to think about it. I’d just go. I remember being out in Southeast Asia a couple of years ago and there wasn’t really a day where I didn’t shoot. It felt natural. Like it was part of the day rather than something I had to decide to do.

Now it feels like a decision.

And that feels like a small thing, but it’s not.

The Sony is everything I thought I wanted. It’s sharp. It’s reliable. It does exactly what I ask it to do. I’ve got one lens, the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II, and I don’t need anything else. For the first time in years, I’m not looking at gear. I’m not thinking about upgrades. That whole noise has gone.

I thought that would feel freeing.

But it’s left a bit of silence instead.

And in that silence, I’ve realised that a lot of what used to drive me wasn’t just the work. It was the feeling around it. The curiosity. The slight obsession. That sense of wanting to see what happens if you just go out and shoot something for no reason.

I don’t really feel that at the moment.

I even notice it in small ways. The Sony sits there and I don’t pick it up. Not because it’s bad, but because it feels like effort. The menus, the setup, the whole experience of it. It feels like I’m about to do a job rather than follow an impulse.

So I reach for the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 instead. It’s easier. It gets out of the way. Or the Fujifilm X100VI, which is probably the only thing recently that’s made me feel even slightly like I used to.

And that’s what’s been playing on my mind.

Because I don’t think this is about switching back to Fuji. It feels too simple to say that. It’s not like the X-H2S had some magic in it that the Sony doesn’t.

But at the same time… it kind of did.

Or maybe I did.

Maybe I was just in a different place when I had it. Maybe everything was newer, or I had more to prove, or I was just more open to making things without thinking about the outcome.

Now it feels more considered. More intentional. More… controlled.

Which sounds like a good thing, but it might not be.

Because somewhere along the way, I think I’ve traded a bit of that instinct for structure.

And sitting here now, back in Southeast Asia, I can feel the difference.

Same kind of places. Same kind of light. But a completely different relationship with the camera. Two years ago I couldn’t stop shooting. Now the Sony sits in the room and I have to talk myself into taking it out.

That’s probably the clearest sign.

Writing this, I thought I was going to land on something practical. Maybe a decision. Maybe a plan.

But I don’t think that’s what this is.

It feels more like just noticing it properly for the first time.

That something shifted.

That I don’t feel the same about it right now.

And that the X-H2S… for whatever reason… reminds me of when I did.

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Back to the X-H2S?

2 Years with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3