A weekend in Madrid is guaranteed sun and sangria, right? Well, that’s what I thought, but the weather had other ideas when I recently headed to the Spanish capital to celebrate my best mate’s hen do. Luckily, we Brits did what we do best: had fun despite the weather.
And I was able to document it all on my Fujifilm X-A3. Having tried out the camera for a couple of weeks before I went (read my thoughts on it here) I was keen to discover how I would get on with it, out and about in a cloudy city and in dimly lit restaurants and bars.
We stayed in a gorgeous apartment with a terrace which overlooked Madrid’s Gran Via – one of the busiest shopping streets. Even on a grey day, I was impressed by how the Fujifilm X-A3 captured so much detail in the street down below.
It stopped raining long enough for us to drink some cava on our terrace – and toast the bride-to-be. I took this snap with the camera on the SR+ setting, and it captured a lovely depth of field without any effort on my part.
Our evenings were spent eating tapas and drinking wine, and I thought that the Fujifilm X-A3 coped well taking photos in low light. Oh and the tapas was delicious too! Top tip for tapas in Madrid: Viva Madrid is a great little place and not too pricey either.
During the days, we mostly wandered around cobbled streets and squares, stopping for coffee, churros or little cones of cheese and ham. Madrid is a great city for meandering – around every corner is a treat, whether it’s a brightly coloured building, a beautiful door or a gorgeous cake shop.
Being a large group, there was a lot of selfie action going on, trying to get all of us into one shot. The X-A3 came into its own here, with me being able to flip the screen up and take shots of the group.
Having the touch screen function switched on while I was taking selfies, however, meant that I ended up with a lot of photos like this, thanks to my hands touching the screen while I was flipping it down again…
If I was being super critical of the camera, I’d say there were times that I was taking shots of streets or buildings, where there was plenty of light, yet the shot came out very dark. I’m sure I could fix this by playing around some more with settings, but since I was usually stopping to take a quick snap and then rushing to catch up with my friends again before I lost them, I didn’t have time to play around too much.
Overall though, the camera was perfect for quickly capturing moments on the trip – small enough to pop into my bag and able to take great shots of the city. So much better than lugging around a heavy DSLR camera or relying on my smartphone to take photos.
And as someone who likes to post photos to Instagram as I go, the Fujifilm Camera Remote App is a total game changer. It’s so easy to connect your phone to the camera using its in-built wifi, and transfer images from the camera to your phone.
So, both the Fujifilm X-A3 and Madrid (even rainy Madrid) left me feeling very impressed. If you ever go, be sure to go to Chocolateria San Gines for churros. SO GOOD.
If you want to read more about the Fujifilm X-A3 and what it can do, check out my review.
I’m working with Fujifilm and BritMums in a paid relationship, showcasing the new X-A3, a mirrorless digital camera perfect for people who love taking pictures. Find out more here.
Wow you certaintly know how to have fun and capture every moment
Looks amazing
Looks like a fab time was had and love the sharpness of the camera! x
This looked like such a fantastic weekend away, Alison! And perfectly captured here in these snaps x
Oh how fabulous, it sounds like you had the most brilliant time exploring Madrid. The photos look great too, really sharp given the shot variation and I love the pops of colour. Well done getting so many of you in one selfie!
Looks like a lovely place for a foodie and the camera looks snappy
Wow what a fabulous trip and what fabulous pictures. Can I go on your next one? I’ll bring my Fujifilm X-A3 too! 😉
Love the shot of the churros – I think thanks very similar to my experience. When it’s good, it’s very very good. But it definitely needs a bit of practice and playing with settings especially if there’s a big light contrast.