Terao
Kiloran
There's a huge photography show on for the next 4 days in the UK, and the X100 is one of the stars of the show, so thought it would be good to start a thread with first impressions from those who get to see it there.
Mine are:
Its a lovely bit of kit, the hybrid finder is exceptionally gorgeous with a huge amount of eye relief. First finder for years that I've been able to see the whole of with my glasses on. Beautifully sharp shooting information in there, I'm guessing its an OLED screen that's being projected. These two things are a huge plus in its favour for me.
EVF is a little bit laggy and exhibits tearing in low light, probably not as good as the G1 for example, but comparable to the current add-on EVFs available for the Pen/GF2/LX5 etc
Menu system is a hateful jumble of which Canon would be proud, and things are not helped by the command dial being nastily plastic and overly sensitive (reminds me of the S90 in that regard).
Fast shooting in RAW mode, and the film modes work well.
Nice approach to manual focus, you can use the AE button in MF mode to get a close focus from which you can fine-tune if you wish.
All the controls fall nicely under your fingers - easy to reach the OVF/EVF switch, Fn button, and AE/AE-L button by feel alone.
Output is most impressive if the Fuji prints are to be believed (although I suspect they'll be slightly tainted by marketing magic). Would say it matches my D700 up to ISO6400 and that's plenty enough for me.
Not completely convinced by it though, would need to spend some more time with it to see if it kept out of the way of shooting. Its overly-customisable in some regards, too many options to tweak.
Just round the corner from the Fuji stand was the Linhof Teknika stand, stocked full of MF/LF/Pano gear, which to be honest out-porned the X100. Particularly a gorgeous Alpa with twin wooden handgrips that oozed precision...
Oh and there appeared to be some very good deals on Wacom tablets - either available VAT-free or with a full version of Lightroom3 bundled. Worth a look at their stand.
Mine are:
Its a lovely bit of kit, the hybrid finder is exceptionally gorgeous with a huge amount of eye relief. First finder for years that I've been able to see the whole of with my glasses on. Beautifully sharp shooting information in there, I'm guessing its an OLED screen that's being projected. These two things are a huge plus in its favour for me.
EVF is a little bit laggy and exhibits tearing in low light, probably not as good as the G1 for example, but comparable to the current add-on EVFs available for the Pen/GF2/LX5 etc
Menu system is a hateful jumble of which Canon would be proud, and things are not helped by the command dial being nastily plastic and overly sensitive (reminds me of the S90 in that regard).
Fast shooting in RAW mode, and the film modes work well.
Nice approach to manual focus, you can use the AE button in MF mode to get a close focus from which you can fine-tune if you wish.
All the controls fall nicely under your fingers - easy to reach the OVF/EVF switch, Fn button, and AE/AE-L button by feel alone.
Output is most impressive if the Fuji prints are to be believed (although I suspect they'll be slightly tainted by marketing magic). Would say it matches my D700 up to ISO6400 and that's plenty enough for me.
Not completely convinced by it though, would need to spend some more time with it to see if it kept out of the way of shooting. Its overly-customisable in some regards, too many options to tweak.
Just round the corner from the Fuji stand was the Linhof Teknika stand, stocked full of MF/LF/Pano gear, which to be honest out-porned the X100. Particularly a gorgeous Alpa with twin wooden handgrips that oozed precision...
Oh and there appeared to be some very good deals on Wacom tablets - either available VAT-free or with a full version of Lightroom3 bundled. Worth a look at their stand.
Monz
Monz
I've just come back from the show too. Agree with Terao re the Fuji X100.
It was slightly smaller and lighter than I expected, but very well made and finished. The optical viewfinder with overlaid display is brilliant. The electronic viewfinder is not bad either although I also noted a slight jerkiness.
Regarding shutter delay: in auto-focus mode the delay is no worse than my Canon 5dmk2 DSLR ie very acceptable. In manual focus mode, there is virtually no delay.
In the default set up, I noticed that after a picture is taken, a preview appears in the viewfinder (even if you are in OVF mode) and stays there for 1-2 seconds. I was able to switch this auto-preview feature off from one of the sub-menus.
The built-in electronic spirit level was cool.
The rep confirmed that it had a Sony sensor inside.
They had lots of sample prints (A3 size) - they all looked really good. There were two shots of the inside of what looked like a church: one at ISO 200 and the other at ISO 1600 - the two prints looked indistinguishable.
I think Fuji will have a mega-hit with this one. £999 at present but that's bound to come down over the next few months.
It was slightly smaller and lighter than I expected, but very well made and finished. The optical viewfinder with overlaid display is brilliant. The electronic viewfinder is not bad either although I also noted a slight jerkiness.
Regarding shutter delay: in auto-focus mode the delay is no worse than my Canon 5dmk2 DSLR ie very acceptable. In manual focus mode, there is virtually no delay.
In the default set up, I noticed that after a picture is taken, a preview appears in the viewfinder (even if you are in OVF mode) and stays there for 1-2 seconds. I was able to switch this auto-preview feature off from one of the sub-menus.
The built-in electronic spirit level was cool.
The rep confirmed that it had a Sony sensor inside.
They had lots of sample prints (A3 size) - they all looked really good. There were two shots of the inside of what looked like a church: one at ISO 200 and the other at ISO 1600 - the two prints looked indistinguishable.
I think Fuji will have a mega-hit with this one. £999 at present but that's bound to come down over the next few months.
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tom in mpls
Member
Yes, now I do know I love this camera.
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andrew00
Established
Which companies have cameras for sale there? I'm going to Texas in a week and would love an X100 to take with me, but had thought it wasn't going to happen.
Monz
Monz
user237428934
User deletion pending
Your statement is not clear because Canon has a very usable menu system (at least in the non-consumer models)
Terao
Kiloran
*weeps*
I walked past Cameraworld three or four times, they were always 3 deep at the counters, can't believe they had it in stock!
Terao
Kiloran
Sorry, a joke from a confirmed "anything but Canon" user, I copied and pasted my impressions from a Nikon forum I post on.
It could well be worse than modern Canon menus, its been a long time since I was forced to handle one of their DSLRs :bang:
Terao
Kiloran
Couple of further things: it has a really nice set of playback modes, probably designed for direct connection to an HD display, but work in camera as well. Sort of like Mac Coverflow finder windows, plus a zoomable thumbnail view which displays dozens of shots.
The other thing is that currently there is no RAW support for Mac users; Silkypix is PC only. No doubt Adobe will be along with an update in due course, as will Apple for Aperture and iPhoto, but there is always a bit of a wait to endure.
The other thing is that currently there is no RAW support for Mac users; Silkypix is PC only. No doubt Adobe will be along with an update in due course, as will Apple for Aperture and iPhoto, but there is always a bit of a wait to endure.
_larky
Well-known
No Mac software? According to Fuji UK SilkyPix is Mac and PC.
http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/system_requirements.html
Are you sure?
http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/system_requirements.html
Are you sure?
user237428934
User deletion pending
No problem. I heard the same about crappy Nikon menus.
_larky
Well-known
They all have crappy menus. Like digital projectors, they too have crappy menus. And TV's. In fact, most things.
Terao
Kiloran
That's what it says in the official brochure. Viewer software is Mac-compatible, conversion software isn't...
_larky
Well-known
Better build a PC quick then for the time being 
Anthony Harvey
Well-known
Just got back from the show too. Went to see the X100 as soon as we’d arrived.
Very very impressed. The optical viewfinder is excellent, far better than I’d imagined it might be. To my mind, and in its own way, the viewfinder is as good as the Zeiss Ikon’s and better than the M7’s. (Of course, this view was formed in a state of great excitement and in the heat of the moment but I’m pretty sure I’ll still feel the same once I try it out for a longer period of time and in a calmer state of mind).
I was also struck, immediately, by what for me was the perfect combination of weight, size and balance of the camera as a whole and in the hands. And the engineering quality and aesthetic look and feel of the controls on the top panel and the aperture ring adds to the pleasure.
Sadly, and because I was so carried away by the camera, I forgot to see what its focusing speed was like in practice but the shutter is extremely quiet with a very pleasant and reassuring sound. I couldn’t try out the menu system cos of my untreatable aversion to such things, and in any case it’s the last thing I want to think about in such a camera. This was true of the electronic viewfinder too.
The senior marketing rep who helped me said that first deliveries should be made to the major UK shops “by the end of the month”.
I immediately went to another stand to compare it with the Leica X1 which I’ve no doubt is a great camera but it seemed a little too small and light to me, especially in comparison. Also, I can’t do without an optical viewfinder so to use one on the X1 one needs the excellent Leica attachment which although very nice unfortunately costs something like 270 GBP.
All in all the X100 is lovely camera of great beauty and charm. It’s gives you the completely irrational feeling that you want to have it and use it whatever its picture quality turns out to be. It’s got such visceral appeal - it just makes you want to wrap it in your hands and actively search out pictures.
Anthony
Very very impressed. The optical viewfinder is excellent, far better than I’d imagined it might be. To my mind, and in its own way, the viewfinder is as good as the Zeiss Ikon’s and better than the M7’s. (Of course, this view was formed in a state of great excitement and in the heat of the moment but I’m pretty sure I’ll still feel the same once I try it out for a longer period of time and in a calmer state of mind).
I was also struck, immediately, by what for me was the perfect combination of weight, size and balance of the camera as a whole and in the hands. And the engineering quality and aesthetic look and feel of the controls on the top panel and the aperture ring adds to the pleasure.
Sadly, and because I was so carried away by the camera, I forgot to see what its focusing speed was like in practice but the shutter is extremely quiet with a very pleasant and reassuring sound. I couldn’t try out the menu system cos of my untreatable aversion to such things, and in any case it’s the last thing I want to think about in such a camera. This was true of the electronic viewfinder too.
The senior marketing rep who helped me said that first deliveries should be made to the major UK shops “by the end of the month”.
I immediately went to another stand to compare it with the Leica X1 which I’ve no doubt is a great camera but it seemed a little too small and light to me, especially in comparison. Also, I can’t do without an optical viewfinder so to use one on the X1 one needs the excellent Leica attachment which although very nice unfortunately costs something like 270 GBP.
All in all the X100 is lovely camera of great beauty and charm. It’s gives you the completely irrational feeling that you want to have it and use it whatever its picture quality turns out to be. It’s got such visceral appeal - it just makes you want to wrap it in your hands and actively search out pictures.
Anthony
M4streetshooter
Tourist Thru Life
That's about the best statement I have heard about this camera ever.
Thanks, shooter
ChrisN
Striving
And I would note that the other camera I have most frequently heard comments like this made about is the Leica M. The wonderful thing about the Leica is the simplicity and the controls that are so logical and well placed that operating the camera soon becomes automatic - with sufficient practice the camera itself becomes almost transparent and simply "gets out of the way".
Some might suggest the comparison is ludicrous, but I have found a similar experience in using the vastly-more sophisticated and complex Pentax dSLR. Crazy? Perhaps, but the dSLR can be configured with the controls I want, where I want them. I shoot it in aperture-priority mode, with aperture set on the rear control wheel, and exposure compensation on the front control wheel. All my other options are long established and with little or no need to make changes for my purposes. In use I don't need to to think about the interface - from long practice my fingers know what to do. I just wish the camera weighed half as much and was two-thirds the bulk.
Enter the X100. From reading the manual I think I'll be able to configure the controls and the displays to give me a similar "user experience". I think that is the key for a lot of us - the prospect of a "user experience" that is similar to that of using a good rangefinder camera, but with good digital output, and at a relatively affordable price.
Perhaps it won't deliver the goods; not in technical terms but in terms of that user experience and the fun factor. Time will tell! And I hope it will encourage other makers to consider this little corner of the market, and wonder if the time-tested and proven basics of the best rangefinder designs are not still a good basis for a digital camera.
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andrew00
Established
Sounds good to me.
I just called Cameraworld and they said they didn't have it in stock, no idea how they can then sell them at the Focus event hehe, ahem, but either way no dice.
I just called Cameraworld and they said they didn't have it in stock, no idea how they can then sell them at the Focus event hehe, ahem, but either way no dice.
Monz
Monz
I left the show at about mid-day yesterday and took this photo as I was leaving:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5178/5506063744_fed3c169b7.jpg
It might be worth giving Cameraworld another ring and asking them to speak directly with the people manning their Focus stand.
andrew00
Established
I just called them up and had a pretty weird conversation with one of the guys there heh. He said it was news to him if/that they were selling them as he didn't/couldn't have contact with the guys at the show.
He also said if they were selling them then he'd be angry with them as he's got loads of pre-orders to fill (he said 'thousands' and that the demand was massive although when I spoke to Robert White who seem pretty straight up they said they'd had around 15 or so pre-orders).
I then said can he find out how many they've got in B'ham for sale b/c I'm going away on Monday and would love an X100 to take with me but obviously don't want to make the trip and find there's none there, and again he said he can't contact them they can only contact him.
All in all a pretty weird conversation - make of it what you will!
He also said if they were selling them then he'd be angry with them as he's got loads of pre-orders to fill (he said 'thousands' and that the demand was massive although when I spoke to Robert White who seem pretty straight up they said they'd had around 15 or so pre-orders).
I then said can he find out how many they've got in B'ham for sale b/c I'm going away on Monday and would love an X100 to take with me but obviously don't want to make the trip and find there's none there, and again he said he can't contact them they can only contact him.
All in all a pretty weird conversation - make of it what you will!