Arizona holds a piece of my heart. After seven years, returning there felt like stepping into a dream. I was filled with anticipation to revisit the familiar places: South Mountain, my beloved Mexican restaurants I used to frequent, What A Burger, enchanting Sedona, Cesar Chavez Park, and of course, the majestic Grand Canyon. These places are more than just locations; they are symbols of cherished memories and the beauty of the past. Fun fact: I started my photography journey here, so of course, having the right photography gear for me was as important as packing shoes. I knew I needed to pack light, bring film and a good digital camera just in case.

My gear options are a bit over the top i will make you a list:

Pentax 645N 75mm 2.8

Canon Eos 3 50mm 1.2

Canon R6 28-70 f2 – 35mm 1.4 II – 135mm f2 – 85mm 1.8

Fuji x100V- equivalent of 35mm 2.8 and the adaptor equivalent of 50mm ish

Olympus mju II zoom 115

As a last-minute buy, I decided i needed to add a point-n-shoot, which is why i ended with a Olympus mju II zoom 115. This little camera would be my first point-n-shoot and i really had no idea how it would work out as i am used to having control over all settings since I always shoot manual, with all of my gear, I found it for $200 got it directly from a camera shop in Japan Allforome-camera.pg customer service was amazing they shipped within 12 hours and answered all questions I had so they definitely deserve a shoutout.

i received the Olympus a week before my trip to Arizona which didn’t give me time to get any scans back from my test rolls I took after getting the camera, I took a leap of faith and still took it with me as a main film camera right besides my Fuji x100v.

Here are the photos I got back from lab, I used Kodak Gold & Fujifilm 400. Some were shot at night while the car was moving and they all turned out beautiful.

I usually bring along my Fuji x100v as a casual camera for personal projects, and I absolutely adored it. But now that I have the Olympus, I genuinely can’t see myself reaching for the Fujix100v unless I require the photos within 24 hours.