Chapter 3: Designers tell their X100 story

By the way - I actually saw an x100 in the flesh in Roppongi fujifilm building in Tokyo end of 2010... It's a lot smaller than it looks in the photos. It looks a fair bit smaller than (say) a hexar AF.
 
As exaggerated as I find this all to be, I find that they are talking about the real things that matter to me. Are they intentionally pressing my buttons, a la Leica marketing? Yes! But you know what? Leica has shown that they market to me what I want of them. If Fuji has found this, I welcome it. More companies should know what I want and like, and should strive to give it to me...

Fuji should continue to celebrate that which we love in small cameras...
 
By the way - I actually saw an x100 in the flesh in Roppongi fujifilm building in Tokyo end of 2010... It's a lot smaller than it looks in the photos. It looks a fair bit smaller than (say) a hexar AF.


So ... about Leica screwmount size then?

I am starting to get horribly tempted ... my trusty old Canon A620 is playing up! LOL
 
So ... about Leica screwmount size then?

I am starting to get horribly tempted ... my trusty old Canon A620 is playing up! LOL


As an extremely rough comparison, I'd say it's about the size of an Olympus om1n with the 40mm pancake, but the 35mm fujinon is much smaller in depth (from mount to filter ring) than the zuiko 40mm. It looks very svelte in the flesh.
 
Last edited:
I'd much prefer it if Fuji chose to tell us very little about this new camera, perhaps even cryptic and allow early adopters to beta test their $1000 digital camera instead :p

+1!

Do the updates have marketing fluff? Yes

Do they also contain new and interesting information about the camera itself? Yes

I'll gladly read through a bit of marketing BS to get some new information. It's not like it's out yet and I can read real experiences, so this is the next best thing, even if it's coming from a biased source, several things they mention are objective facts rather than just marketing talk.

I've already pre ordered an x100 here in Iceland, and I'm probably more excited for this camera than for any other product in recent memory. These piece by piece story updates are great for keeping the excitement up and making me feel justified in my decision.
 
Well hopefully it won't be one of these: :D

58foed04.jpg
 
its marketing people. they have to sell cameras somehow.

i dont care how they market it or what hype is surrounding it.


im still buying it.
 
Lol, whole piece kind of reads like an artists statement.

Looks like a nice camera, and personally, will reserve judgement until I have a copy in my hand.
 
This is definitely the most eagerly anticipated item I can ever remember on this forum ... and that includes the digital M. As boring as it's all been at times it's damned impressive that Fuji has touched a nerve so successfully ... totally out of left field!

I now also want one! :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Why there's written "Fujinon lens system" if camera has fixed lens? Well, Fujinons (were) are made for 135 and MF format in different mounts but what this means on X100?

Probably Fuji tells this isn't just a lens but whole mechano-optical system? That's true, as with most of lenses beyond fixed aperture, fixed focus.

All I know Fuji knows something about cameras and lenses but I will not let them pull out my nerves and veins one by one. This type of marketing is more appropriate to Apple and other gadget-makers who hook kids and torture them with announcements until they are ready for purchase. I'm not playing this games. Your camera, my money and enough talk.
 
Average 1970s Japanese camera fit and finish would suit me just fine.


THese days, that is luxury styling.

That's part of the poit of the X100. What, in the old days, would be a simple, decently but not ravishingly-crafted tool that takes decent photos, today has to be sold as a luxury item. In the same way, decent boots or shoes that working men wore 50 years ago, are now marketed as fashion items. Today, simple=aspirational.
 
I enjoyed the part about how difficult is was to figure out how to put the aperture ring on the lens. That's never been done before, in the 100+ years of making cameras. Must have been quite a challenge.
 
The "lyricism" of these statements is because they're translated from Japanese. You say things differently in Japanese than in English, and when it's translated it sounds a little funny. Different metaphors, that sort of thing.

All the talk about "hype" is funny. If they had a national TV advertising campaign with walk-in spots on talk shows, that would be "hype." All they did is update their website. You don't have to read it you know.

Although I also thought the bit about the front of the case was a bit over the top, nevertheless, I see people here at RFF going on and on for YEARS about the teeniest detail, like whether the M9 should have the raised edge around the rangefinder that the M3 has. Or the ENDLESS discussions about the "build quality" of Leica lenses vs. Zeiss, or the M7 vs Zeiss Ikon. Let's put it this way: if they didn't geek out about this stuff, it would be a black plastic blob like a Nikon D7000, in a bag made of "ballistic nylon."
 
Last edited:
Let Fuji have their fun with this, I think they are on the right track with the X100. Fuji appears to be trying to give a segment of the photographic community what it wants and part of that same segment now whines about how it is being marketed. I am just happy that someone is even attempting to introduce a camera like the X100 at this point in time. I think I'll just wait for it to come out to see if it measures up to the hype.

Bob
 
In part 9 there is a typo in the first sentence, "A snap-type lens cap of made of plastic was specifically rejected..."

When you're trying to sell a luxury item, at least proofread the brochure.
 
After reading this latest article, X100 is veering off from my radar. For one I'm not into precision engraved leather holster cameras. Secondly I have no romantic notions of how touching the camera feels to me, not to mention the lens cap and how removing it will give me an orgasm... But backing a bit to more concrete stuff, if the sensor in X100 is truly the same as the one on Nikon D90 tweaked to go up to ISO12800 even though its pictures at that ISO would be useless and hence pushing the default ISO100 base to 200 then the deal is really on the shaky side for me.

I had already planned taping up the the silver parts of X100, so all that fluff does not mean anything to me. If i was after engravings and leather holsters, there are much more erotic film cameras out there with a lot of pedigree to satisfy me... In the end it will come to the price, so Fuji might as well tell us how much it costs because i feel as if i'm in a pressure sales scenario where the salesman is holding back on the price until the end in order to sizzle me into making an irrational decision. Its not that Fuji is really trying to do that, its just that I'm beginning to feel like that.
 
Back
Top Bottom