Catto
Photographer
Hey folks - just FYI, I've posted a few observations of the X100 to my blog just now, based on a pre-production sample that came through town today.
I had a bit of hands-on time with it, but killed the battery and had to wait for it to charge in the shop before I could do more. So, it's definitely nothing like a comprehensive review (lemme make that really really clear - just a bit of user experience!
Have a look if you've got a sec - http://robertcatto.tumblr.com/post/3323199711/a-brief-visit-with-the-fuji-x100
Highlights for the RFF folks -
- focus is VERY quick. Much more so than my Canon S90 - I’d have said the X100 was in the same league as my 500D, though I didn’t have that with me to compare. This was shooting indoors only at the camera shop, under mixed discharge & fluorescent lighting plus some window light (at a distance) - so very quick, and not just in broad daylight.
- focus with optical viewfinder is interesting; of course, you can’t see what’s sharp through there, since you’re looking straight through a window; but I would say that the focus point you’re being shown is about as accurate as the framelines. That is to say, it’s a rough guide to where the actual focus point has landed, but won’t tell you precisely - and I did try tweaking the size of the focus point using the jog lever, but the box in the optical viewfinder remained the same. Obviously, in the EVF, you see a more accurate guide of what’s in focus.
I didn’t try manual focus, but I couldn’t actually see a mark on the scale in the optical viewfinder showing me the focus distance - and I didn’t see in the menus how to turn that on, if that’s what was needed. So I can’t comment on that, really. (Did I mention PRE-PRODUCTION SAMPLE?)
- very little lag in any form, by my standards. Apart from the battery dying, of course! I wasn’t really pushing it, but at no stage (shooting RAW + .jpg to a Sandisk Extreme III) did I feel like I jammed up the buffer and slowed the camera down, or was waiting for focus, or mashing the shutter and wishing it would fire. I would rate the camera as very responsive, and very consistently responsive.
- 6400 ISO is pretty darn impressive (that was as high as I pushed it); some signs of noise reduction, but I would put it in at least the same class as my 500D or 1D MkIII (and - maybe even - the MkIV), just based on the in-camera .jpgs I’ve got. Naturally, the RAW files may be even better - but Adobe don’t support them yet, so we’ll have to wait to find out about that! That said, I did see the same kind of noise reduction at 2000ISO as well - to a much lesser extent, but I did notice it. Again, that would put it on a par with my 1D MkIII, though not the MkIV.
- the files have some pretty impressive detail, noise reduction notwithstanding. When it’s sharp, this baby’s SHARP. Highlight transitions in the .jpgs (and note this is in Provia mode, I believe) are good, too - what I remember from my brief ownership of a Fuji F11 (which lost down a river in ‘06) was that the transition from blown highlights to bright white was marked by odd colour changes to green for some reason, which I’d wondered about in current Fuji cameras, but in this case I’d have to say they’re looking good.
- the lens is NIIIIIIIICE. Maybe not as nice as my Summilux 35mm pre-ASPH, but still - it’s half the price of my used mid-70s lens, and comes with a camera body! Out of focus areas are very nice (to my eye), and (at f/2) it gives a really pleasant overall look to the image.
More at the blog, obviously - and a few (resized) .jpgs. I don't think it's fair to post full-res files from a pre-production sample shot in less than optimal conditions (though lord knows that's when I'll be using it!); but I'm pretty impressed with what I saw, and that's with firmware 0.69. If it gets even better, or if the RAW files improve it further, I'll be really REALLY impressed!
R
I had a bit of hands-on time with it, but killed the battery and had to wait for it to charge in the shop before I could do more. So, it's definitely nothing like a comprehensive review (lemme make that really really clear - just a bit of user experience!
Have a look if you've got a sec - http://robertcatto.tumblr.com/post/3323199711/a-brief-visit-with-the-fuji-x100
Highlights for the RFF folks -
- focus is VERY quick. Much more so than my Canon S90 - I’d have said the X100 was in the same league as my 500D, though I didn’t have that with me to compare. This was shooting indoors only at the camera shop, under mixed discharge & fluorescent lighting plus some window light (at a distance) - so very quick, and not just in broad daylight.
- focus with optical viewfinder is interesting; of course, you can’t see what’s sharp through there, since you’re looking straight through a window; but I would say that the focus point you’re being shown is about as accurate as the framelines. That is to say, it’s a rough guide to where the actual focus point has landed, but won’t tell you precisely - and I did try tweaking the size of the focus point using the jog lever, but the box in the optical viewfinder remained the same. Obviously, in the EVF, you see a more accurate guide of what’s in focus.
I didn’t try manual focus, but I couldn’t actually see a mark on the scale in the optical viewfinder showing me the focus distance - and I didn’t see in the menus how to turn that on, if that’s what was needed. So I can’t comment on that, really. (Did I mention PRE-PRODUCTION SAMPLE?)
- very little lag in any form, by my standards. Apart from the battery dying, of course! I wasn’t really pushing it, but at no stage (shooting RAW + .jpg to a Sandisk Extreme III) did I feel like I jammed up the buffer and slowed the camera down, or was waiting for focus, or mashing the shutter and wishing it would fire. I would rate the camera as very responsive, and very consistently responsive.
- 6400 ISO is pretty darn impressive (that was as high as I pushed it); some signs of noise reduction, but I would put it in at least the same class as my 500D or 1D MkIII (and - maybe even - the MkIV), just based on the in-camera .jpgs I’ve got. Naturally, the RAW files may be even better - but Adobe don’t support them yet, so we’ll have to wait to find out about that! That said, I did see the same kind of noise reduction at 2000ISO as well - to a much lesser extent, but I did notice it. Again, that would put it on a par with my 1D MkIII, though not the MkIV.
- the files have some pretty impressive detail, noise reduction notwithstanding. When it’s sharp, this baby’s SHARP. Highlight transitions in the .jpgs (and note this is in Provia mode, I believe) are good, too - what I remember from my brief ownership of a Fuji F11 (which lost down a river in ‘06) was that the transition from blown highlights to bright white was marked by odd colour changes to green for some reason, which I’d wondered about in current Fuji cameras, but in this case I’d have to say they’re looking good.
- the lens is NIIIIIIIICE. Maybe not as nice as my Summilux 35mm pre-ASPH, but still - it’s half the price of my used mid-70s lens, and comes with a camera body! Out of focus areas are very nice (to my eye), and (at f/2) it gives a really pleasant overall look to the image.
More at the blog, obviously - and a few (resized) .jpgs. I don't think it's fair to post full-res files from a pre-production sample shot in less than optimal conditions (though lord knows that's when I'll be using it!); but I'm pretty impressed with what I saw, and that's with firmware 0.69. If it gets even better, or if the RAW files improve it further, I'll be really REALLY impressed!
R
