Shooting with a Fuji X100
ISO 2000, ƒ/2 at 1/60th. This is portrait bokeh with a 23mm ƒ/2 lens.
By Robert Plotkin
When the Fuji X100 was announced at Photokina 2010, the trade show held in Germany, it was as if a supermodel walked into a Japanese lederhosen convention. Mouths gaped, the band’s instruments clattered to the floor, and hands collectively grasped at the Fuji’s shiny dials.
Our dates jabbed us in the ribs and we looked down at their cheap, black plastic and for the first time saw the piratical eyepatches covering the disfigurement of their missing viewfinders. We looked at them and said: where is your magnesium chassis, your knurled aperture and shutter rings, your gazonga sensor? You have let yourself go, happy in your K-Mart sweats, opiating me with cotton candy settings and cheap, slow glass.
You’ve made me lazy. I’m not the photographer I used to be, the dashing, crouching, hanging, contorting, backward-running man of my youth. Now I zoom in and out, flatten the light with pop-up flash, my depth-of-field neither narrow nor wide, my photographs as indistinct as a beige Camry.
We look back at our idealized selves holding Olympus OM-1's, Canon F-1's and Nikon F2's, manually follow-focusing fast, prime lenses. That’s what we need: a small, high quality camera with manual controls and a 35mm-equivalent ƒ/2 lens. When the Fuji walked into the room it was like our college girlfriends had time-machined into a Ferrari 358 Spyder, pulled up alongside us on the freeway, flashed us a smile and asked us to open the sliding doors of our minivans and leap.
I leapt in May and fell asleep cradling the Fuji. The next morning she refused to wake. I was worried that she was dead, until a mechanical whirling began, like someone pulling the sheets over their head and turning over. Then it began clicking at me like a Xhosa princess demanding a quad espresso. It finally lit its optical viewfinder 2.3 seconds after I first turned her on. The viewfinder was so magnificent that I temporarily forgot her morning breath.
I peered through the Fuji’s viewfinder with the same expression as a voyeur approaching a keyhole. Few of us are willing to carry around an SLR. So for the last eight years we have been forced to experience much of the best of life through a flickering electronic viewing screen or EVF, like a torture victim seated in a dark room, eyes pried open watching a badly scratched reel of experimental film.
My son Max took this photo of the East River at ISO 1000, ƒ/4 at 1/200th.
Well, now we are liberated, and free to stabilize the X100 against our face and mediate the world through a clear hunk of glass–most of the time. For the viewfinder suffers from a multiple personality disorder that Fuji kindly refers to as "hybrid." With the flick of a switch on the front of the camera a blinder covers the viewfinder and it alters into a conventional electronic viewfinder.
The electrical viewfinder is necessary because the optical focusing is imprecise. The huge focus patch makes it impossible to tell if it will focus on the nose or the pupil during portraits. In essence, Fuji has scored a PR coup in characterizing the hybrid viewfinder as a boon. It is a crutch for wobbly optical focusing. The X100 would be well served by incorporating Olympus's pupil focusing or offering parallax corrected spot focusing.
The imprecise focusing takes an unusually long time. It is like waiting for a cashier to incorrectly manipulate an abacus and hand you the wrong change. So most of the time I keep the camera in manual focus mode and use the AEL button on the back to lock focus on the subject.
The shutter fires with a dainty click. Some prefer the quietude but I find it out of character with the mechanical ethos of the camera. It sounds like a compact camera, and lacks the machine-gun recoil of the Micro 4/3 motor-drive sounds. In fact, it really doesn’t have a motor drive. If you hold down the shutter button it fires one shot and you have to wait about second before it will fire again. In order to shoot a burst, you have to go through a cumbersome procedure: press the flimsy disk on the back toward drive, click it from single to continuous, choose three or five per second and then hold down the shutter until the 8-shot RAW buffer fills. Once it fills, you have to wait about 14 seconds until you can shoot again. Very often, a decisive moment taunts you during this interregnum and flits away un-captured.
ISO 3200, ƒ/2 at 1/1000th, since I was shooting action at a bowling alley. The X100 has excellent automatic white balance.
So one must ask—why not shoot with a fast-focusing Micro 4/3 camera instead? The answer lies below in the photograph of my son Otto jumping on the bed. I did have to manually lock the focus and then consumerishly button-press it into continuous mode. I missed many potential shots waiting for the buffer to clear. But I got the shot, and the ISO 3200 results are clean, luminous and detailed, with deep, rich color that converts into unusually good black-and-white tonality. There is nothing like a big sensor married to a sharp, prime lens. The image quality is a magnitude better than Micro 4/3 sensors and on par with all but full-frame cameras.
3200 ISO, ƒ/5.6 at 1/125 using 5-fps continuous mode. All photos have been adjusted in Lightroom 3.
Fuji makes the H system lenses for Hasselblad, which are used by the most demanding commercial photographers in the world. The X100 is not as sharp as a Leica Summicron wide open, but stop it down to ƒ/2.8 and it crystalizes. One must remember that the lens has the field of view of a 35mm lens but the depth of field of a 23mm lens. Shot open and close, the background is pleasantly de-emphasized but not bokehlicious.
Ballooning shot at ISO 400, ƒ/4 at 1/250th. The Fuji has a wide dynamic range as illustrated by the highlighted clouds and shadowed face.
Five-year-old Otto took this portrait of me at ISO 500, ƒ/5.6 at 1/500th. The smooth transition from highlight to shadow is lacking in smaller sensors.
Until recently, the compact, large sensor, fixed-lens cameras were maddeningly slow. The Sigma DP1 and Leica X1 produced exceptional image quality but after about 15 minutes I wanted to grab them by the strap, swing them over my head, and smash them to bits. The Fuji X100 straddles the threshold of usability. Some people will be taken with her platonic form, optical viewfinder, and fat pixels. Others will resent Beta-testing the slow autofocus, cheap control wheel, and dyslexic menu.
Shooting the Fuji X100 is like driving a vintage Ferrari: bugs in your teeth, pebbles ricocheting off your goggles, double-clutching straight cut gears, applying opposite lock to correct a slide—and coming out of the corner neck-and-neck with a soccer mom in a black Escalade of an SLR. The X100 invites conversation about your good taste and photographic acumen. You can spend vacant moments staring at its lens hood, turning its aperture ring, and chimping the sharp, richly colorful, smooth-toned images.
ISO 1000, ƒ/5 at 1/2000th. The X100 again shows a rich color palette and excellent transition from highlight to shadow.
ISO 400, ƒ/5.6 at 1/125th. The X100 held the highlights in the dog fur yet was able to retain detail in hollow of the felled tree.
Action shots require locking focus and exposure and waiting.
ISO 800, ƒ/8 at 1/1000th.
Sweaty dawn. ISO 200, ƒ/4 at 1/30th.
DJ shot ISO 1600, ƒ/2 at 1/60th.
No, mine's not for sale.
Robert
Robert Plotkin is a former prosecutor who graduated from Columbia Journalism School. He has written for the New York Times, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and New York Observer, and is a former newspaper and magazine editor and publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
Featured Comment by Mani Sitaraman: "It's quite simple. Fuji/Smuji. I want a Leica M10 instead. Until the M10 comes out. After that precise moment, I'll want a Leica M11. P.S.: Terrific review, by the way."
Featured Comment by Ted Zimmerman: "Well I've had mine for about a week and, having read seemingly endless complaints about the camera's idiosyncrasies and faults prior to purchase, I braced for a qualified shooting experience with it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"The X100 is an absolute delight to use. Its design, size, and ergonomics are tailored to enhance the creative process. Sure, the AF could be faster (I had a GF1 kit so know that camera's strengths) but honestly, the positive attributes of this little gem far outweigh the occasional workarounds required to achieve focus.
"Amazingly, the image quality is on par with that of my D700. As the reviewer has rightly noted, tonal rendition (and transition) is superb. I can shoot uninhibited at ISO 3200 and still retain highlight detail. And the color! What a refreshing step up from the drab output of the Panasonic.
"Say what you like about 'retro' and 'old guys.' This camera delivers on enough fronts with a style and class unmatched by the competition. Fuji deserves accolades for bringing a risky product to market, and I haven't had this much fun shooting in years."
Featured Comment by Steve Rosenblum: "I owned an x100 for a month last spring and then sold it. It was tantalizingly close for me, but no cigar. I took it to the Turnley Paris Street Photography workshop, but found the autofocus delay and difficulties put me in the position of capturing the moment after the 'decisive moment' all the time.
"From a street shooting perspective it could easily be fixed with a firmware upgrade that would implement a straightforward hyperfocal distance or 'snap focus' mode such as is found on Ricoh cameras. It seems like that would be simple to implement, it is a single focal length lens. In that mode you would just choose the aperture and it would place the lens at its hyperfocal distance and you could blaze away without worrying about autofocus using the wonderful optical viewfinder just like we did by a quick twist of the lens barrel in the old days. It would be the perfect street shooter—small, discreet, quiet, quick, great lens and sensor—but, alas, nope!"
Wonderful writing, great photos, and thanks for defusing my need to buy an X100!
Posted by: Bob Keefer | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 12:39 PM
Thanks for this review. I especially enjoy the sample images. Several of them are quite amazing.
Posted by: Terry Manning | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 12:49 PM
I feel bad for your wife or girlfriend.
Posted by: mark | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 12:56 PM
A classic camera which Fuji will build upon
http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/fuji-interchangeable-x-system-leaked/
Posted by: Andy | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 01:03 PM
Awesome piece. I say this as much because of the way it cuts across the grain of most camera "reviews" as its content, which is punctuated by images that tell me everything I need to know about image quality. I am an X100 non-owner and was more excited about the possibilities suggested by this offering than by the prospect of actually purchasing one. But like a movie review that changes your mind about a picture you haven't thought of seeing, Robert's piece casts the camera in a new light. I still don't want to buy one. But its inevitable upgrade? Now you're talking. . .
Posted by: Benjamin Marks | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 01:12 PM
Very clear and accurate reflection on a unique product. I've had my X100 for three weeks and it has rapidly become one of my few "you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands" possessions (right up there with my Fuji GA645 MF cameras, another inspired but not-quite-perfect Fuji classic). The focus thing is situational: it is too slow for a party in tight quarters but just perfect for a walking tour of San Francisco. It's also MUCH faster than any digicam I've ever picked up under all conditions. It's not for beginners, but it isn't the miniaturized view camera operating problem some reviewers have claimed it is.
The important thing is: Fuji is going in the right direction with this camera. Its successor could be amazing...if Fuji doesn't act like Fuji and lose interest before they reach an optimal design.
Posted by: Paul De Zan | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 01:32 PM
A wonderful review - thank you!
Posted by: Gerry Morgan | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 01:37 PM
I like the shots you're making with that camera. And, for that matter, the ones your son makes.
Several of them show what seem to me unnecessarily high shutter speeds (I'll exclude from that the ones where you handed it to your 5-year-old son; a lot of safety margin there is probably appropriate, both to get the picture and to make his experience a successful one) and high ISOs. Is this your idiosyncrasy, or something the camera has lead you to consider desirable, or "just how it comes out" sometimes?
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 02:06 PM
Great pictures. Thanks. Mine is not for sale either.
Posted by: Peter Wright | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 02:07 PM
Nice writing but let's not get too carried away with the revolutionari-ness of it all.
The Internet chatter would have you believe that the Leica X1 was so slow it was unuseable except for landscapes. That's just not so, the AF is OK once you figure out how it works and MF is dead simple. I am hard-pressed to see how the Fuji is any faster in real life. The author's own shots of his jumping boy prove the point; they were done in MF because the AF cannot keep up with that sort of movement with any degree of consistency. Fuji didn't get the Oly/Pany AF wizardry yet, and neither obviously did Leica. But when you look through a brightline finder and get the little green dot focus confirmation, which comes not much slower if at all than lining up the old M rangefinder yourself, it sure feels nice.
The Panasonic G3, ugly and utilitarian as it is, and boy is it, does not make substantially inferior images up to about 1200ASA. But if you're working a bit of a crowd and want to do some wide-angled shooting, the ugly lump sure works well. And the EVF? Eh, it does the job. You can see what's there just fine.
So I've had a hard time figuring out just why the Fuji is such a lust object beyond the retro styling. It sounds slow in operation, and in terms of IQ is no better than the X1. Hmmm.
Posted by: andy | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 02:26 PM
Thanks - in its idiosynchratic way this review (if thats what you want to call it) told me more, in fewer words and pictures, than I have gleaned from everything else I have read. And it it entertained me to boot. I'm going to wait to see what Canon come up with in the mirrorless market, but the Fuji is still a strong contender.
Posted by: Ian Loveday | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 02:51 PM
O-M-G!
What a great post! Thank-you for doing the eminently rare thing of bringing a fantastic sense of humour to the passionate discussion of photography. Only Dante Stella has made me laugh like you have. You are in rare company indeed. Well done.
Posted by: Aaron | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 03:17 PM
A good review, nice idea for the analogy and well chosen photos that for once really demonstrate the capacities of the sensor and software. Some beautiful photos there. I don't find the auto-focus so bad at all and this is the experience of many on rangefinderforum (when will it be up and running again?) who have spent time working out the ideal settings for a rangefinder like quickness with this camera. There is a quick way to lock the focus when in AF mode, allowing a Leica-like capture of the peak of the action like your son jumping, without having to pursue the menu tedium of burst mode. The size of the unit is such an advantage. Mine is in for repair - faulty switch between A and 1/4000s on the shutter speed dial. The size and weight of my M5 makes it a very different prospect for an every day camera. I hope the X100 proves durable as it is simply the best thing there is at the moment for a convenient go anywhere camera that reliably gets fantastic images in any light.
Posted by: Richard G | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 03:19 PM
Nice review and photos, although I have to ask if Robert has upgraded the camera's firmware in order to have the AF-frame parallax correction and better camera responsiveness.
The slow startup can be easily resolved too with a in-camera formatted fast SD card. Since I bought one the slow startup is gone.
There's also a thing that I've been noticing that many X100 users don't know about: you can change the size of the AF frame making the AF significantly better. The problem is that the steps to do it are not exactly intuitive - actually many menu-driven aspects in this camera aren't intuitive, this was the first camera I had that I felt the need to read the manual.
The comparison to the m43 system is inevitable and being a former E-P1 shooter I can say that they are very different systems and many dSLR users will feel more at home with a m43 setup: it's a more well-ballanced system made to satisfy a broader audience, I just felt it just didn't really excell at anything in particular - it was like every aspect was "good enough" but not trully "excellent".
But I have to confess that it still hurts when I remember I've sell that lovely Panasonic 20mm f/1.7...
But the review it's spot-on: after getting used to it's little quirks and finally configuring the camera to your liking, to use the X100 is all about the shooting experience and image quality.
Let's all hope Fuji will continue to support the X100 users with more firmware upgrades regardless of this new camera system they're working on.
Posted by: Ricardo Cordeiro | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 04:10 PM
What a wonderful review! Like a good road test, it dispenses with boring statistics and gives us the feel, the flavour, the spirit. And yes, I love this camera, for all the reasons so eloquently described.
Posted by: Ron Preedy | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 04:20 PM
I love mine. Especially when I shoot in b/w. It gives me different tones than the Ricoh GRD 3, yet, the magic is different also.
Posted by: Boglev | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 04:41 PM
Now this is camera review!
What fun.
Posted by: Jim Dobbins | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 04:56 PM
This is a lovely article Robert. I concur with your experience of the X100 - it is a wonderful camera when it wants to behave. I discovered that I have to half press the shutter button to avoid shutter lag, even when using manual focus mode. The auto focus is pretty hopeless in low light too. I've installed the official Fuji lens hood and filter holder, and this conveniently blocks the AF assist light and built-in flash.
Apart from these little problems I am loving the camera. I can't remember when I last used the SLR.
Posted by: Kelvin | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 05:02 PM
The timing of this article is a nice coincidence for me. I received my X100 in the mail this morning. After having read numerous complaints in various reviews and forum discussions about the X100's quirky controls I was prepared for a day of reading the manual. But I'd also purchased the Fuji X10 recently and already paid my dues with its manual. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the two cameras share a lot of software code, so I have become reasonably proficient with the X100 in short order.
The x100 may be contemptuously labeled a camera for "men of a certain age", i.e. guys like me who began our passion for photography over a quarter century ago with a fully mechanical Nikon F or Leica M3 hanging around our neck. All I can say is "the thrill is back"! The X100 captures the feeling of a 20th century mechanical camera and combines it with thoroughly modern digital qualities in a very delightful way. Perhaps most importantly, its superb prime lens insists that you interact with your subject matter in a way that kit lens zooms attached to auto everything dSLRs do not.
Posted by: MHMG | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 05:15 PM
Brilliant. Describes the highs and lows of ownership perfectly.
Posted by: Patrick Dodds | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 05:15 PM
A new high (or low) in hyperbole. (Loperbole?)
Posted by: Dave Jenkins | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 05:31 PM
What a great review--so much more interesting and, quite frankly, more insightful than the usual techno-babble, self-appointed internet guru crap.
But the author forgot one important aspect I discovered about the x100. Its social aspects.
I call my x100 the "big chest" camera--no offense, I hope--since when I wear it around my neck in urban areas certain people will stare at my chest, strain to get a better look as I walk by, and talk to me "face to face" with their eyes locked on to some point well below my mouth. I'm a guy and at long last I really "get" the complaint some females make about some males.
Regarding another commentator here, who didn't "get" the revolutionariness of the X-100: When it was announced I gasped "at last!" and was one of the first to receive a copy. See review, above, for details.
Posted by: Darin Boville | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 05:50 PM
What a great post. Thanks.
Posted by: JK | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 07:02 PM
Wow. That's nearly as nice as the Canon S95 for only a thousand bucks less.
Posted by: Jim Rohan | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 08:12 PM
ahhh. all I want for Christmas is...this.
Posted by: ian | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 08:28 PM
This review is a breath of fresh air. Great imagery, both verbally and pictorially. Thank you.
Posted by: Caleb Courteau | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 09:29 PM
Dear Readers:
Your affirmation has put a strut in my step and rouged my cheeks with the faintest hint of a blush.
I am presently reviewing the Olympus EP-3 with 12mm, 17mm, and 45mm lenses and will lend you my thoughts next month.
Posted by: Robert Plotkin | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 09:37 PM
I crave your tonalities. m4/3 owner here. In good light, I can get them too. In low light, hardly. But I held the X-100 and didn't emotionally connect. Strange. I wanted to. It didn't happen. I had a Yashica T4. I wanted the X-100 to be what the T4 was to me. I compare and compare reviews and find myself in Andy's camp - the ugly utilitarian functionality of a G3 (in my case a G1) is hard to explain away.
Posted by: mbka | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 10:27 PM
"There is nothing like a big sensor married to a sharp, prime lens. The image quality is a magnitude better than Micro 4/3 sensors and on par with all but full-frame cameras."
I thought the myth about the "magnitude" of difference between the image quality (especially in prints) of 4/3 sensors and the various APS-size sensors had been debunked long ago. Other than that quibble, this was a very interesting and entertaining article. As usually happens, I learn more from "real life use" reviews like this one than all the technical mumbo-jumbo that often tries to pass as a camera review. Good job!
Posted by: John Roberts | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 05:18 AM
I am hoping that at the other end of the spectrum in addition to the X100 and X10 there will also be a compact camera (XF10?) as a worthy successor of the F10/11/30/31s series.
Posted by: Steve Hoffmann | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 10:33 AM
I would have to ask... Is this sensor available in any other cameras? I'm impressed with the dynamic range implemented in this camera. For the price I can't imagine myself buying one.... unless the interface were much more user friendly and a little more engineering to speed up operations a bit. Oh yeah, (I know all the purists will hate this)a tilt rear display so I can street shoot with it in me lap. :)
Posted by: Walt | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 01:58 PM
I like your review and the photos too. Thank you Fuji for making a real camera! I know (hope) this is just the beginning of more cameras like this. Bring on the interchangeable lens too. And, bring us a full size sensor rangefinde to complete with the Leica's which are soo expensive.
Posted by: Ann Arbor homes | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 03:00 PM
Dear mbka:
A T4 is one thing, but did you ever use an Electro? I think the X100 appeals especially to people fond of classic rangefinders. It may take more than holding the X100 to understand it. Shoot with it for a month or two to discover how different it is from a DSLR (even a tiny one) or an EVIL cam.
Sincererly, J
Posted by: Jeff Hohner | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 04:12 PM
"I had a Yashica T4. I wanted the X-100 to be what the T4 was to me."
I think that would be a very different camera--but one that I would want.
Posted by: Robin Dreyer | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 07:06 PM
What a fresh and entertaining piece! I wish there were more writers with such talent and wit.
Posted by: Tony Rowlett | Saturday, 03 December 2011 at 08:07 PM
Really love the photos. Great processing and colors. I too own an X100 and it has become my main camera since March. It is really a great camera.
Posted by: Account Deleted | Sunday, 04 December 2011 at 01:17 AM
Hi Jeff, Robin, re: T4: Maybe I should explain. What the T4 was to me is this - pocketable, only one focal length but one I could easily live with (35mm eq like the X-100), and one of the few film cameras with an optical periscope finder to shoot overhead. And the image quality was superb, especially contrast, less so the vignetting. So I see some parallels with the X-100. Even the AF was slow!
When you say the T4 is different you probably mean that the T4 lacks rangefinder-ness. I can see the point here. But strangely, coming from a G1, the X-100 finder did not awe me. It's certainly OK but the only finder I was ever totally in awe of was my friend's M4's finder. Now the Leica THAT is a rangefinder finder. It's huge and so bright and the parallax focusing is super precise. I already thought microprisms were so-so back in the days of MF SLRs but manual focusing on screens made for AF is horrendous, and magnification is just too disruptive of the process for me. The parallax system to me really would make a difference. When I held the X-100 though all I thought was "Now how is this so different from anything I know?" and nothing struck me. Except that camera operation was unintuitive. The finder didn't feel so huge or so bright, manual focusing doesn't seem to be easy, AF is slower than on m4/3. The eyepoint seemed less adapted to eyeglass wearers than on the G1 or any dSLR. Wasn't the main selling point of rangerfinder-ness to make the camera operationally superior? I didn't see that on the X-100. So I stopped lusting for one.
Posted by: mbka | Sunday, 04 December 2011 at 08:19 PM
Dear John,
I think you are reading too much into Robert's comment. He's not making a blanket statement about sensor size versus quality, he is merely using the typical quality of 4/3 cameras and full-frame cameras as reference points to try and give you an idea of how good he thinks the image quality is from this. In other words, all he's really saying is that this particular camera is much, much better than the 4/3 cameras he's seen and approaches what he's seen in full-frame cameras.
pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
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-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com
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Posted by: ctein | Sunday, 04 December 2011 at 08:27 PM
Well I gotta say I think the camera, as I commented in an earlier post, is severely lacking. It could be a great camera, but just isn't. But I did like reading Robert's review, though he didn't convince me to try it (again!)!
Posted by: Charles Mason | Monday, 05 December 2011 at 02:22 AM
Great article - I don't remember when I had read such a beautiful camera "review" before. I also love your selection of photos - they are all very good examples of the excellent image quality the X100 can deliver. Great dynamic range, great low light performance, great color depth, and a somewhat "analog" look.
Meanwhile, the quirks you describe don't bother me a lot anymore. The X100 feels great. I love how quiet it is, and find the dials and aperture ring so pleasant to touch and turn. I hardly dig into the menu any more. It wakes up within 2 seconds, and SD write speed is pretty much OK with high quality fast and in camera formatted SDHC cards. The only wish I had for the successor is a better manual focus feel.
And no, I will not give my X100 away.
Posted by: Karsten Seiferlin | Monday, 05 December 2011 at 03:34 AM
"Then it began clicking at me like a Xhosa princess demanding a quad espresso." Robert, BLOCK THOSE METAPHORS!
Loved the technical stuff and illustrative photos. Good work.
Posted by: Ralph Donabed | Tuesday, 06 December 2011 at 09:01 AM
Wow what an absolutely beautifully crafted review. Enjoyed every word!
Posted by: Jude | Wednesday, 07 December 2011 at 09:58 AM
Thanks for sharing the nice photos and your clear and interesting opinions on the camera.
However, as a X100 owner I tend to think that in a certain way your review also seems to reflect the opinion of a first time user of this camera, expecting it to behave the ideal way without any user settings or prior experience on manual and range focusing.
OK, the Fuji is not as fast as a DSLR, the buffer is limited to 8 shots, but if think that after the firmware revisions, most of the initial reasons for complain are mostly gone and some people continues to talk more based on their issues than the camera one's.
Just take manual focusing as an example: sure the ring is slow as it can be to achieve focus, but I think the camera is built to use it just for micro adjustments not for the all focusing process. If you use the AFL/AEL button to pre-focus and the ring for the precision adjustments you will find no reason for that much complain. And on the top of it, you have a DOF indicator in the viewfinder that allows you to use it for street photography the way range finders and other manual focus cameras were mostly used (I'm sure this is not new to you, but it can be for some people less familiar with the X100 and manual focusing in general, so the reason for this paragraph).
As a matter of fact, for other kind of photography I use a full frame DSLR that focus faster, shoots faster and has not the same buffer limitations, but for the purposes I bought the X100 I'm with you and mine it is not for sale either.
REgards
Posted by: António G | Monday, 12 December 2011 at 06:44 AM