September 23, 2026
Earlier this year, I was browsing photos on Flickr from the early aughts and found a collection of photos that struck me with an indelible feeling of quality and nostalgia. It's hard to describe what it is about these photos that stood out to me beyond the sum of the parts. I've included the images here with links to the original author, Kiel 🡵, on Flickr, which hopefully falls under fair use. I'd encourage you to check out the rest of his photos, there's a lot of really good snapshots in there, especially of life in the early 2000s.
"you know it's almost time for the turkey when you start seeing the disposable cups break out at the sink." -Kiel 🡵
The first thing I noticed is the quality of the colors. They have an incredible film-like essence to them, and there's a sharpness that goes beyond the resolution of the image itself. Everything in focus looks crisp and clearly rendered, with backgrounds and foregrounds melting into a creamy blur.
"can you hear me talking to you?" -Kiel 🡵
Unlike most digital camera pictures I see when browsing early Flickr photos, these had a warmer hue to them, capturing scenes without the typical blue tint and flatness I usually see in photos from this era. Between this and the excellent depth of field rendering, these photos have level of depth to them that really stands out.
"zoom test one" -Kiel 🡵
The zoom performance was also surprising, combining with a shallow focus area to isolate a subject from its background. The high noise levels adds more of a pleasant grainy texture than any distracting hues or blotching, and further adds to that film-like quality.
So, what was the camera behind all this? Some kind of DSLR? An expensive specialty camera? Turns out, these were all taken on an early Fujifilm bridge camera, the FinePix S5100. A 37 – 370mm equivalent lens provides incredible range, and a super speedy f/2.8 – 3.1 aperture range allows for excellent light even at full zoom—plus excellent background blur for subject isolation. Expecting a high price tag, I searched for used models on eBay and was pleasantly surprised by the low prices. Picking one up for around $20, I set out to try this camera out for myself.
I will never get tired of photographing infrastructure.
Sunbeam through the windows of a diner lobby.
Rainbow over the highway.
The sprawling model train set at the Wilmington Railroad Museum is a telephoto photography playground.
It's every bit as magical as I expected. I have no idea what kind of lens magic Fujifilm put into this thing, but it's as if every photo comes out gold. The depth of field, the low distortion, the color rendering, all as excellent as I hoped for. More than that though, it was the zoom that really stood out to me. I could isolate any subject I wanted to, and the speed of the lens allowed me to cleanly pick out a subject from its background. Everything came through crystal-clear, and I found myself having a preference for telephoto shots.
It was at this point that I realized a two things. First, I really didn't mind carrying around a larger camera. If I was going out to take photos, I didn't mind the extra size or weight—especially since I carried the X70 in a bag the same way anyway. It was around this point that I began to think about getting a proper interchangeable lens camera.
Turns out, my dad was right the whole time.