Fuji X100 first look - has the hipster camera got real?

[Andrew Reid]

This article mainly deals with the X100S from a photographic perspective. Video is coming in the full review next week.

The old X100 was fatally flawed in my view. Manual focus with a massive lag between moving the focus ring and the clunky focus stepping itself. Very sluggish AF and a long minimum focus distance. We're not talking macro here but just basic portrait stuff. Entering macro mode for portraits or even not particular close close-ups was a hassle.

All this and more is fixed on the X100S, which is a major upgrade that totally belies the similar external appearance.

[url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/11271/fuji-x100-first-look-hipster-camera-got-real]Read the full article here[/url]

[tttulio]

I wish Fujifilm would name itself Fuji once and for all. I love the Speed dial on top and aperture on the lens, like a real Manual Camera should.

[jojo]

The emotion most corporate work tries to communicate is ‘grandeur’ and ‘awe’. Not for me really… I want to feel deeper and darker things… empathy with the subject, anger, vulnerability, happiness and despair.

do you have any links to such work of yours. would love to watch. thanks.

[Andrew Benton]

I wish Fujifilm would name itself Fuji once and for all. I love the Speed dial on top and aperture on the lens, like a real Manual Camera should.

If they do so, it's not happening until they stop selling film, and as the news comes about how the new "Kodak" will continue to sell film to consumers, how much longer will this all last? (higher pricing for film will be the best bet to killing it off though, which is what Fuji's doing)

But, with the likes of the X100s especially, getting great colors straight out of the camera is around again, and so nice~
I'm jealous of my friend, whom I suggested he get an X100, and as we go out shooting, me with the 5DII, image quality, noise performance and "look" are on par or better than my 5D. And I stopped nagging him to shoot RAW because the jpegs shot in Velvia look awesome, often better than what I can achieve in PP with my 5DIIs RAW files...
well, time to upgrade to the 5DIII I guess (stuff about raw video too)

[Andrew Reid]

do you have any links to such work of yours. would love to watch. thanks.

 

You don't have to look very far. vimeo.com/channels/eoshd/videos

[Chris White]

The best advantage I found with the x100s is the leaf shutter to be able to synch with strobes at higher speeds, my 5D maxes out at 200 so shooting in direct sunlight has been a nightmare for me on many occasions. This thing earned its keep over the last couple of jobs, I do a lot of prospectus shoots for schools and colleges having the options going from the 5D to the x100s really made a difference this season since using it as a second cam over my 7D. Sorry, tried attaching the images from flickr but didn't work here are three used by clients:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9518594348/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9670838745/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9921683836/

[Andrew Benton]

The best advantage I found with the x100s is the leaf shutter to be able to synch with strobes at higher speeds, my 5D maxes out at 200 so shooting in direct sunlight has been a nightmare for me on many occasions. This thing earned its keep over the last couple of jobs, I do a lot of prospectus shoots for schools and colleges having the options going from the 5D to the x100s really made a difference this season since using it as a second cam over my 7D. Sorry, tried attaching the images from flickr but didn't work here are three used by clients:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9518594348/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9670838745/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeacus/9921683836/

1/1000 sync AND a built in ND filter, doesn't make much sense to not have this on me...

[zephyrnoid]

Great lens and sensor choices!
Wish it focused close to 2" in Macro ( esp with fixed lens) but I imagine close-up lenses will fit.
This drew a chuckle out of me... >"Velvia film mode."
Fuji Velvia  film was purpose made by Fuji to compensate for the brutality of the old film > printed color paradigm - which resulted in lost saturation in final repros especially of the greens, blues and reds.
In an ideal film mimicing world it's Kodachrome25  film stock that we really want in a Digital compact preset not Velvia!

 

USB 2.0 (Hi Speed) ?
Isn't this an outmoded interface by now ? Ought to be USB3.0 at least

[zephyrnoid]

If they do so, it's not happening until they stop selling film, and as the news comes about how the new "Kodak" will continue to sell film to consumers, how much longer will this all last? (higher pricing for film will be the best bet to killing it off though, which is what Fuji's doing)

But, with the likes of the X100s especially, getting great colors straight out of the camera is around again, and so nice~
I'm jealous of my friend, whom I suggested he get an X100, and as we go out shooting, me with the 5DII, image quality, noise performance and "look" are on par or better than my 5D. And I stopped nagging him to shoot RAW because the jpegs shot in Velvia look awesome, often better than what I can achieve in PP with my 5DIIs RAW files...
well, time to upgrade to the 5DIII I guess (stuff about raw video too)

I just wept the other day as I read news that Ilford ( owners of Cibachrome ) would cease operations. That's the same pain some of us felt when Kodak got out of the biz and Kodachrome25 was no more.
The latest hype to revive 'film' ( AKA CHEMICAL photography ) is just that- Hype to capture the imagination of the Hipstagram Generation, who ought to be focused on content and style instead.
I hope it doesn't take off as chemical are as bad today as they have ALWAYS been in the history of photography.
 

[jgharding]

I've been shooting 400ASA UltraMax recently, I love the unrealistic colours!

 

I definitely get more keepers with film...

[nilssanders]

Hi Andrew, are you still plan to write something about the video capabilities (full review) or isn't it worse it at all? ;-)

 

I'm very interested in this camera (for serious travel photography and for a little bit of movie making (sure not seriously) just because it's so sexy! Shame on me but I couldn't walk around with a Nikon d5200 for example.