Disappointing Encounter With The X100F

If a Fuji menu left you the most frustrated you have ever been in your life, you must have lived a very charmed life. Seriously, what menu settings did you have to change for a Christmas party?
I have lived a long and very charmed life -:). The X-Pro2 is something else. May go back to my X-E2. For example there's the OVP, EVF, ERF, Bright light simulation and worse of all the VF zoom for exact focusing. So every time I'd bring the camera up to my eye the VF changed. Worse the EVF would automatically zoom to allow very exact focusing, just what you need with an AF lens. Plus the AF with the 18~55 2.8 lens was very slow. I missed so many shots I was ready to throw it the garbage. Makes a great landscape camera but not what I bought a RF for. Should have took my $50 book with me.

I've tried making cheat sheets but they end up being 4 or 5 8x11 sheets of paper. Why do I need 9 function buttons? I can remember what one or two does but 9??? And with 9 buttons I can't remember what 2 I picked to do what I want them to do.
 
I have lived a long and very charmed life -:). The X-Pro2 is something else. May go back to my X-E2. For example there's the OVP, EVF, ERF, Bright light simulation and worse of all the VF zoom for exact focusing. So every time I'd bring the camera up to my eye the VF changed. Worse the EVF would automatically zoom to allow very exact focusing, just what you need with an AF lens. Plus the AF with the 18~55 2.8 lens was very slow. I missed so many shots I was ready to throw it the garbage. Makes a great landscape camera but not what I bought a RF for. Should have took my $50 book with me.

I've tried making cheat sheets but they end up being 4 or 5 8x11 sheets of paper. Why do I need 9 function buttons? I can remember what one or two does but 9??? And with 9 buttons I can't remember what 2 I picked to do what I want them to do.

Surprised you are upset by the EVF,OVF and ERF. Those are the reasons to buy the XP2. Pick the one you like, you do not need to use them all. Stick with one for awhile and then after you get comfortable with the camera explore the other options. Having them can be very handy for specific situations and I use them all regularly.

To turn off the auto zoom when using the OVF

menu-> AF/MF -> Focus Check OFF.

I find a much better way to check focus using the optical VF is using the ERF mode. You change what the little window displays by pressing the rear command dial. It can show the entire view (to check framing) or it can show a zoomed in view of the focus point.

You might not need 9 function buttons, but I use them all. If you don't need 9 different functions set multiple buttons to the same function or turn the buttons off.

Surprised you felt like the 18-55 focuses slowly. Put it in AF-S, single point focus mode (I uses the down button to change focus modes) and take it out of economy mode if you have it. Menu->Setup (Wrench)->Power Management->Performance-> Normal.

XP2 focuses faster than the XE2, I have both.

Shawn
 
I blame the forums ;) And internet reviewers. Seems like every camera review is marked by what the next wizbang feature the camera you have doesn’t have. Almost all are useful but they certainly add up.

I now have an X100F and love it. There wasn’t a learning curve for me but I’ve shot Fuji almost exclusively since 2012 and the XP1.

I would also note the ‘audience’ of the X100 series. I’ve always heard it called the “photographer’s point and shoot” or compact what have you.
 
That's why I love the Leica X1 and X2. Compact fixed lens cameras with not much complexity. Two dials to operate shutter speed and aperture. An ISO button, and a shutter release. IQ is great, but I've never tried a Fugi.
 
Pick the one you like (OVF,EVF), you do not need to use them all.
To turn off the auto zoom when using the OVF menu-> AF/MF -> Focus Check OFF.
Shawn

My point about the different Viewfinders is that my finger must touch the lever and it changes when I don't want it to. Push the lever left, push it right, push the button. It would be better to have the different choices in the menu selection.

I really appreciate your other advice though. I didn't know you could turn the zoom feature off. I'll also try the single focus spot too.
 
since x100 1st version went out, I really want to buy it

try the 1st up to the 4th version ..

after use on street > 30 minutes.. all 4 version give me a very sore pain in my right hand.. esp palmar and thumb area...

the fuji guys recommend me to use the grip.. I use it.. quite expensive grip... after 30 minutes.. the pain is back..

I love the fuji.. i just cant stand the pain it gave me to my right hand... funnily .. I can bring and shoot.. ricoh gr1v, leica M any kind, ikon, even 500cm with only my right hand on street.. for 3-4 hours straight.. and no pain what so ever to the right hand

i give up on the x100 ergonomic

Sincerely
William
 
since x100 1st version went out, I really want to buy it

try the 1st up to the 4th version ..

after use on street > 30 minutes.. all 4 version give me a very sore pain in my right hand.. esp palmar and thumb area...

the fuji guys recommend me to use the grip.. I use it.. quite expensive grip... after 30 minutes.. the pain is back..

I love the fuji.. i just cant stand the pain it gave me to my right hand... funnily .. I can bring and shoot.. ricoh gr1v, leica M any kind, ikon, even 500cm with only my right hand on street.. for 3-4 hours straight.. and no pain what so ever to the right hand

i give up on the x100 ergonomic

Sincerely
William
That sounds like an unfortunate isolated issue with your hand sadly.
 
My point about the different Viewfinders is that my finger must touch the lever and it changes when I don't want it to. Push the lever left, push it right, push the button. It would be better to have the different choices in the menu selection.

I think once you get used to it you will feel differently. I tend to use the OVF mostly. But if I have a shot where I want to get exact framing I just flick the lever and the EVF is right there. Ditto wanting to check exposure or shooting macro or with a long lens. To go back to the EVF is just another flick. Or if I am shooting an adapted lens I can jump to the ERF and keep the OVF while still manually focusing. I would hate having these function in a menu as it would seriously slow access down. Same reason I like this 9 functions buttons, my need to go into the menus is very low. Esp. with the customizable Q menu and the ability to make my own collection of menu items.

If you have other questions on the XP2 just ask. It is pretty flexible and when you master it is one heck of a camera.

Shawn
 
That's a good point and you're right. When I got my used D4 a year or so ago being my third Nikon DSLR I barely needed to look at the manual to be able to set it up the way I wanted but when I picked this X100F up confusion set in immediately!

In all fairness, your first Nikon digital probably felt the same way...
 
...but when I picked this X100F up confusion set in immediately!

I started using assembly language mini-computers for work in 1973. Between 1973 and 1985 I had to learn four different assembly language mini-computer environments to stay employed. I change jobs and learned DEC VAX. For home I transitioned from Apple IIE to Mac 0S 9. Then in ~ 1993-94 I my work environment transitioned to UNIX workstations.

I was comfortable adapting to new computer platforms. I actually enjoyed the process.

This changed in 1995 my workplace forced everyone to adopt Windows. It was truly use Windows or quit.

"confusion set in immediately! "

This is not a slam on Windows in the mid-1990s.

It is an example of how difficult adapting to a new computing environment can be. I was trying to force Windows to work as UNIX or Mac OS 9 worked. I slowly realized this was a goal only Sisyphus could endure. I was creating my problems more than Windows was. So, in order to keep my job I became assimilated. I used Windows as Microsoft wanted me to use it.

Cameras are no different. There is pain when you change systems. The issue is – are the benefits of a new system worth the effort?
 
I can empathize. Upon getting an XPro2 last month I was suddenly a newbie. Just downright confusing. Lots of buttons, lots of options, in what seems to be a different language. Even after going through the book and getting the camera “simplified” it took me several days to even be able to set the image proportions without looking at the book again. Shooting jpg on one card and raw on the other for simplifying my archiving, but can I see the jpg crops on the screen when I review? Sometimes. Can I remember how to switch between cards in play mode? Not yet. Do I have any idea why the camera sometimes plays from card one and sometimes from card two? No fecking clue. Having handled all kinds of cameras over the years when teaching, and being able to get a handle on any of them pretty quickly, I find this to have the least intuitive interface beyond the basic dials of any camera I’ve ever held.
 
I should ask Karen who owns the camera to post some pics and make her own comment here. She likes the camera a lot I think ... and has joined RFF, :)
 
I've speculated that digital camera interfaces (and VCRs!) are easier to run if you have video game experience... ? I don't, so cannot confirm. But I feel uneasy with digital interfaces, just not intuitive. If the digital interface replicated the feel and look of analog controls I think I'd be fine.

And yet I'm a digital early adopter, programming in Fortran and editing early Mac system files in hexadecimal. Back in the earlier digicam days I had a Canon G3 for documenting at work, no problem.

Being a Pentax guy I chose a Pentax dSLR and hit a wall. I held the camera and studied the manual, confused. Every month or two I'd work on it again and put it aside. A year went by and I got a Leica M8. This is more like it! I got a second one, and about this time I managed to get the Pentax working too, just the basics.

So I can sure sympathize with having trouble grasping a digital interface, with some equipment being worse than others. The navigation and entertainment controls on my new car? Forget it!
 
What's so complicated on today's DSLRs (I haven't really used a digital camera for a decade now)? Do they not take a picture at the press of the shutter button after you've taken them out of the box?


They may not take the pic the way you want it to.
e.g the default out of the box AF mode may be one that decides to focus on whatever is closest to the camera, when u just want single spot AF.
The camera may focus continuously when you push the shutter button, instead of locking focus so you can recompose.

And that's just dealing with the AF!
 
There is no valor in the easy shot!

B2 (;->

True, but the end result is the same. The bullet does damage.

Still, my intent was not to trash-talk an ancient version of Windows. It was to make the point that with copping change is unavoidable. Approaching a new system of any kind with flexibility lessens the pain.
 
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