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First actual Fuji X100 sample images

I tried the X100 at the UK 'Focus on Imaging' show today.

Mixed views about it really.

On the positive side, it's a good size - compact but not too small. It looks great - controls on the top are solid and the rear LCD is good. Focus seems pretty quick and the optical viewfinder is great. Ergonomics are fine - feels good to shoot with.

On the negative side, the back feels a bit plastic, overall it's pretty light and certainly doesn't have the heft of something like a Leica (it feels more like a P&S than a rangefinder to be honest). I really didn't like the LCD viewfinder - seems poor contrast, too small and low resolution.

When you take a picture with the optical viewfinder, the LCD viewfinder 'swings in' to show you your just-taken shot. It really shows the contrast between the great optical viewfinder and the poor LCD one.

Obviously I didn't get to study results in detail - but from the look and feel of the camera I definitely wouldn't want to pay the current store price. If they simplified it by dropping the dual-viewfinder (just keep it optical) and reduced it to say a 50% premium over the canon G12, then they would have something interesting. For a 150% premium over a G12, it just 'aint worth it!
 
I've read you can turn off the image that 'swings in'.

As long as I can see a good exposure on screen, I don't care how the image looks within the camera.

Amazon UK have the X100 for £899 already, available April.:D
 
CrackedButter said:
Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.
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You seem to be building up a lot of expectation and buy-in to the idea based on stuff you've seen online (and I'm not saying that to be critical, this is how it is for every technology enthusiast! :)).

I'm just saying that for me, it didn't live up to the 'mini Leica' type hype - so I'd definitely caution against buying it sight unseen from somewhere like Amazon.

Of course you may love it - and I may have misunderstood your intentions from your last-but-one post.
 
I have one!

Just bought it in a camera store in Chester -- they had one demo model (which Fuji apparently want back) and one model for sale.

Spent almost two hours playing with it in and outside the store and I think it will be pretty-much perfect for me. £999 with the official leather case thrown in (when the case arrives in stock).

If anyone has specific questions I'll do my best to answer. I'm up for real-life tests, but not things like test charts flat on walls with tripods and levels and measuring distortion.
 
jdavtz said:
I have one!

Just bought it in a camera store in Chester -- they had one demo model (which Fuji apparently want back) and one model for sale.

Spent almost two hours playing with it in and outside the store and I think it will be pretty-much perfect for me. £999 with the official leather case thrown in (when the case arrives in stock).

If anyone has specific questions I'll do my best to answer. I'm up for real-life tests, but not things like test charts flat on walls with tripods and levels and measuring distortion.
Click to expand...

Nice! Enjoy it. I don't have questions, but if you take some pictures and put them online anywhere then post a link :)

Edit: looks like it was a good time to buy: this has just been posted on dpreview

Fujifilm Japan has announced a shortage of its FinePix X100 large-sensor compact camera and accessories because of higher than expected demand. The company says it is attempting to boost production to meet demand. The latest word from Fujifilm USA is that cameras will be available in the US during the last week of March or first week of April.
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There's no chance anything like that will happen in Australia. It's Australia. :eek: I'll probably get mine at the end of March, possibly April.

I only have one question about the camera: Can you reprogram the RAW button so that it does something else? I'm always going to shoot in RAW, so it seems like an awful waste of a button. Actually, I believe that it's a poor choice by Fuji to give you such a button. It really should be a FUNCTION (FN) button that could be set to shoot RAW if a JPEG shooter really wanted your camera to do this on the fly.


And I want this camera because my Nikon D300 and Sigma 30 mm f/1.4 are my favourite combo. It's a very nice combo, but it's a heavy combo. As long as the focus speed and EVF is decent, I really don't care about anything else. The EVF is just for composing, so I don't see the big deal.
 
OreoCookie said:
how large is the viewfinder compared to a recent crop dslr (~ Nikon D300, Nikon D7000 or Canon 50D)?
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Well it's larger than a 550D and nearer a 5D2. It's quite difficult to judge. Looking through the 550D feels like looking through a tunnel compared to the Fuji. The Fuji does make its viewfinder feel bigger than it "really" is because you can see around the edges of the frame lines. I like the superimposed histogram (and my wife will love the spirit level function) and it does clever things like after taking the shot, the EVF activates to show the picture, then zooms in on the focus point area so you can instantly judge sharpness.

ISO 3200 is looking good, though I hardly need to use it here in the house (had to turn out all lights but one bulb in the room, then getting ISO 3200 f/2 at roughly 1/40s.

The on-board flash balances itself beautifully with the background lighting. The on-board red-eye reduction is impressively accurate.
 
firestarter said:
You seem to be building up a lot of expectation and buy-in to the idea based on stuff you've seen online (and I'm not saying that to be critical, this is how it is for every technology enthusiast! :)).

I'm just saying that for me, it didn't live up to the 'mini Leica' type hype - so I'd definitely caution against buying it sight unseen from somewhere like Amazon.

Of course you may love it - and I may have misunderstood your intentions from your last-but-one post.
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I think you have misunderstood me. I was just posting somebody else's review. I wasn't thinking of it as a mini Leica. I'd rather have a digital Contax G2 Rangefinder :).

What do you have against this particular Amazon listing? FujiFilm themselves are selling it via Amazon.


jdavtz said:
Well it's larger than a 550D and nearer a 5D2. It's quite difficult to judge. Looking through the 550D feels like looking through a tunnel compared to the Fuji. The Fuji does make its viewfinder feel bigger than it "really" is because you can see around the edges of the frame lines. I like the superimposed histogram (and my wife will love the spirit level function) and it does clever things like after taking the shot, the EVF activates to show the picture, then zooms in on the focus point area so you can instantly judge sharpness.

ISO 3200 is looking good, though I hardly need to use it here in the house (had to turn out all lights but one bulb in the room, then getting ISO 3200 f/2 at roughly 1/40s.

The on-board flash balances itself beautifully with the background lighting. The on-board red-eye reduction is impressively accurate.
Click to expand...

I heard very bad things about the viewfinder, but I think it will fall down largely on people's expectations. Yours is a positive interpretation however. :)
 
CrackedButter said:
I think you have misunderstood me. I was just posting somebody else's review. I wasn't thinking of it as a mini Leica. I'd rather have a digital Contax G2 Rangefinder :).
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That would be a great camera to see. I'm hoping we'll be seeing a Nikon 'EVIL' camera soonish.

What do you have against this particular Amazon listing? FujiFilm themselves are selling it via Amazon
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.

Nothing at all against Amazon... save that you don't get to try before you buy at an online store (although you can return it of course).
 
It's kind of interesting reading strong opinions, both positive and negative, about a camera nobody has actually seen, much less touched or used at any length. It all makes for good conversation, though. I withhold my judgement on this camera, but find it very appealing. Leicas aside (can't afford the M9, which is the only one I'd go for) I don't think the Fuji X100 is trying to be a Leica. I'd like it to be priced a bit lower, but in a world of supply and demand, it probably won't drop in price, and will likely keep it's resale value fairly high. I don't see a big risk in buying one for this reason.
 
firestarter said:
That would be a great camera to see. I'm hoping we'll be seeing a Nikon 'EVIL' camera soonish.

Nothing at all against Amazon... save that you don't get to try before you buy at an online store (although you can return it of course).
Click to expand...

I get what you mean now regarding amazon :), good point. I would feel guilty walking into a real store to get a hands on only to buy it online.
 
jdavtz said:
Well it's larger than a 550D and nearer a 5D2. It's quite difficult to judge. Looking through the 550D feels like looking through a tunnel compared to the Fuji.
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The this is that the triple- and quadruple-digit Canons have a very small viewfinder (more akin to the D70 or D40 in terms of size), but it's good news that it `feels' big.
jdavtz said:
The Fuji does make its viewfinder feel bigger than it "really" is because you can see around the edges of the frame lines.
Click to expand...
I think this is touted as an advantage of rangefinders over dslrs by aficionados.
jdavtz said:
I like the superimposed histogram (and my wife will love the spirit level function) and it does clever things like after taking the shot, the EVF activates to show the picture, then zooms in on the focus point area so you can instantly judge sharpness.
Click to expand...
Another quick question: if you manually focus, is there an overlay of the electronic image (100 % zoom) over the optical viewfinder so that you can immediately judge whether you have focussed correctly or not?
 
OreoCookie said:
Another quick question: if you manually focus, is there an overlay of the electronic image (100 % zoom) over the optical viewfinder so that you can immediately judge whether you have focussed correctly or not?
Click to expand...

I need to use it more this evening when I'm home from work, but what I figured out last night in the couple of hours I had to play with it was that to do manual focusing, it's best to hit the autofocus button on the back to get you near the target, then press and hold the middle of the rocker-switch which gives you digital 100% in the EVF, then fine-tune the focus point. I need to try it a bit more to see whether that's going to be a useful setup (it sounds more complex than it is in reality), but I rarely use manual focus.
 
X100 Initial Review

My X100 arrived this morning here in the UK. I've been shooting rugby all day so haven't had much time to play with it just yet, but I've written a write-up of some of my initial thoughts over on my blog:

http://www.tony-hart.com/blog.php
 
Alchemist said:
My X100 arrived this morning here in the UK. I've been shooting rugby all day so haven't had much time to play with it just yet, but I've written a write-up of some of my initial thoughts over on my blog:

http://www.tony-hart.com/blog.php
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That's a nice writeup, Tony - with some good images. At the end of the day they're definitely 'DSLR quality' from a smaller camera, which is all good.

I see there's quite a bit of lens flare you're getting in the picture of the coke can illuminated by your iMac screen. You can see some flare artefacts along the bottom edge of the screen, and there's an overall lightening/reduction of contrast in the rest of the photo. Does the camera come with a lens hood?
 
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