A huge thanks for your amazing generosity … and an impending challenge for the X100.

[barnwulf]

Keith, congratulations and I was glad to be part of it. Enjoy the X100. I had a D700 and I know what you say is true it's amazing for a lot of things but I sold mine. I will be getting along with my D300 and M8.2 just fine. Looking forward to seeing your results with the new camera. Jim

 

[Keith]

I fail to see how a crop sensor could be as good as a D700 unless you don`t use The 700 to its full potential, ie large prints.

Certainly it will be a darn site easier to handle and more quiet.

That's it exactly ... the potential of the D700 for me is it's ability to nearly shoot in the dark. The images it supplies seldom make it past the web stage or printed in magazines and in house publications.

 

[__--]

Or possibly focusing with the EVF ... I was reading the manual earlier and they do warn that the EVF won't react as fast as you may need in some circumstances but I generally have plenty of time for my shots so who knows?

Time will tell no doubt ... and maybe the autofocus will be able to cope but that seems unlikely as the Nikon's certainly didn't with an AF lens when I tried it initially before resorting to manual focus!

Seems to me that focus is the main issue of all of the mirror-less cameras. It will be interesting to see how the X100 compares to the Ricoh GXR/A12 50mm and 28mm camera units in this respect. Ricoh has improved the AF speed greatly though firmware upgrades, but the AF is still not fast enough for "street" (or "gallery") photography. On the other hand, using the superfast AF of topline DSLRs for street photography is also problematic because the camera ends up often focusing on the wrong subject when shooting closeup, say, 1-2m, in a dynamic situation. That is why the MF pre-focusing of the Leica-M cameras is so effective as a basis for zone-focusing.

On the GXR the manual focus using the enlarged rectangle on the LCD is virtually useless, as pointed in the Sean Reid's review, because it's so difficult to judge what is in focus. What I do with the GXR is to use AF to pre-focus on what I want to be the plane of focus and then, using on the function-assignable buttons, switch the camera form AF to MF, which locks the focus on that plane. I wonder whether this method can be used with the X100.

Keith, it seems to me that this is a gift horse into whose mouth you will look.

—Mitch/Pak Nam Pran
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

 

[Keith]

Seems to me that focus is the main issue of all of the mirror-less cameras. It will be interesting to see how the X100 compares to the Ricoh GXR/A12 50mm and 28mm camera units in this respect. Ricoh has improved the AF speed greatly though firmware upgrades, but the AF is still not fast enough for "street" (or "gallery") photography. On the other hand, using the superfast AF of topline DSLRs for street photography is also problematic because the camera ends up often focusing on the wrong subject when shooting closeup, say, 1-2m, in a dynamic situation. That is why the MF pre-focusing of the Leica-M cameras is so effective as a basis for zone-focusing.

On the GXR the manual focus using the enlarged rectangle on the LCD is virtually useless, as pointed in the Sean Reid's review, because it's so difficult to judge what is in focus. What I do with the GXR is to use AF to pre-focus on what I want to be the plane of focus and then, using on the function-assignable buttons, switch the camera form AF to MF, which locks the focus on that plane. I wonder whether this method can be used with the X100.

Keith, it seems to me that this is a gift horse into whose mouth you will look.

—Mitch/Pak Nam Pran
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

Due to the way I've come by this camera I have little to lose Mitch ... if it doesn't cut it in the environment my D700 excels in, so what, I'll still have a very nice compact digital that people are currently tripping over themselves to own. 🙂

I think that provided I can achieve focus one way or the other consistently in a dim gallery environment it'll be perfect ... time will tell. 😛

 

[Contarama]

I think the hybrid viewfinder and manual functions are what is gonna define this camera...I bet it will be good in the right hands!

 

[rxmd]

I bet it will be good in the right hands!

Then again, a cardboard box with a hole in it will be good in the right hands.

It would be nice if Keith could give us something of a solid user review once he's been using it for a few weeks or so (just please not another "I just unpacked it and took eighteen shots with it and here's my glowing review" type of thing.)

In both questions I have full faith in our antipodean colleague, though.

 

[Keith]

Then again, a cardboard box with a hole in it will be good in the right hands.

It would be nice if Keith could give us something of a solid user review once he's been using it for a few weeks or so (just please not another "I just unpacked it and took eighteen shots with it and here's my glowing review" type of thing.)

In both questions I have full faith in our antipodean colleague, though.

But I'm not going to bang on about fall off of sharpness in the corners, or purple fringing, or numerous other painful issues that people obsess over with every new digital camera that hits the market. I admit there has been some stinkers and the M8's ability to turn blacks into purples was a fine example. This won't be an issue with the Fuji though because a big highly successful Japanese manufacturer is not about to rush a product to market to save it's arse the way Leica did. (ducking sightly)

The IQ from the X100 will be fine IMO provided you're not expecting it to be a D700 or 5D MKll. The bits that interest me are how quickly I can focus it, how many shots I get from a battery, how intuative the controls are and numerous other issues that deal with actually using it and not obsessing over quirks that don't actually cripple it! 😀

 

[rxmd]

But I'm not going to bang on about fall off of sharpness in the corners, or purple fringing, or numerous other painful issues that people obsess over with every new digital camera that hits the market. [...] The bits that interest me are how quickly I can focus it, how many shots I get from a battery, how intuative the controls are and numerous other issues that deal with actually using it and not obsessing over quirks that don't actually cripple it!

Don't worry - I was thinking about a user review, not a gearhead review, so I think we're in agreement 🙂

 

[Contarama]

Then again, a cardboard box with a hole in it will be good in the right hands.

Photography as a challenge! That is my motto... 🙂

I'm sure Keith will give it a good run for it's money. I hope so can't wait to see the pictures!

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I'm interested only in how well it works as a point and shoot. I don't care about manual focus or tricks with optical/electronic viewfinder or extreme IQ... How boring trying to make it just another slow camera... It should be kept simple, fast in use, and a lot of fun, 'cause that rhymes well with small latest technology and shiny beautiful looks and design.

Cheers,

Juan

 

[KM-25]

I have quite a few jobs per year that I shoot candids in much the same arena, D700 at ISO 3,200 with the Zeiss 35 F/2 ZF. I just replaced it with the new Nikon 35 1.4G and the whole show is now leagues better with the Nikon easily beating the Zeiss at F/2 due to no vignetting and great AF.

That said, the D700 is the loudest DSLR I have ever used with that atrocious "Clack" instead of the D3's short and refined click. So I can not wait to get my hands on the X100, I bet it proves perfect for what many of us need it for, Keith included.

*Edit* Holy crap! I had no idea everyone did this for Keith, that rocks guys! Have fun with it mate, I think it is gong to be a game changing camera for a lot of folks.