Two weeks have gone by and still no more details on focusing manual lenses.
The details remain the same. The X-Pro1 is, like the X100, first and foremost an autofocus camera designed to work best with the company's AF lenses. Manual focus, even with the company's own lenses, is an afterthought.
Current firmware provides no other focus assist other than zoom. There is a button on the back of the X100 and X-Pro1 you can depress to toggle the zoom on and off. The EVF in the X-Pro1 is said to be the same as the EVF in the X100. That being the case, my opinion is that only providing magnify as an assist will not be sufficient for the dedicated manual focus M lens shooter, based on my own experience with the X100. The current EVF has insufficient resolution to provide fine detail when zoomed.
I'm not even convinced the current EVF provides enough resolution on which to overlay a focus peaking display, should Fujifilm get around to implementing one.
Given that the X100 still doesn't have a firmware update that moves the Auto ISO toggle into the ISO menu for quick and logical access, despite widespread calls from the user community to code up this very simple change, it seems foolish to me - or perhaps "false-confidence" is a better way of putting it - to purchase an early X-Pro1 with the hope that a firmware update will deliver a focus peaking feature down the road. It seems safer to wait.
Or buy the X-Pro1 with no expectations other than using it as an AF camera with the company's AF lenses.
Well, I guess we have established beyond a reasonable doubt that the X-1 Pro does not have a split-beam rangefinder!
There was never any expectation that this camera had such a feature. Probably you can safely rule out any digital camera having this feature other than Leica's digital Ms.
And is there any kind of focus confirmation using the OVF?
No.
The benefits of the OVF to manual focus lens users will be limited. Here's a workflow:
- Before using the lens(es), input your focal lengths into a table in the camera.
- Mount lens, select from table the lens you've mounted. This will cause the frame lines in the OVF to adjust to the calculated field of view. It'll probably also cause the OVF magnification to kick in to one of its three positions.
- Switch to EVF and focus. Either remain in EVF and make the image, or,
- Switch to OVF and recompose and make the image.
- Return to EVF for next focus.
Or you can use zone focus when that is appropriate.
Users will probably find that they remain in the EVF more than not, unless they need the specific properties of the OVF to make their photographs, namely a view greater than the frameline for the focal length as an assist for timing; and an optical viewfinder many will enjoy simply because it isn't a limited rendition.
That said with my X100 I used the EVF more often than not - subject dependent - because I like to frame more accurately when I can. The framelines in the OVF were not that accurate despite parallax correction in a fixed single lens camera and I don't expect them to be any more accurate in an interchangeable lens camera.
When I need to see outside the frame with an electronic finder camera (like the NEX or GXR) I pull my eye away from the EVF and use the rear live view display. Despite being a viewfinder die-hard and something of a curmudgeon on the topic, I've found that using the rear display actually works quite well - a window on the world if you will - that does give me the opportunity to time shots where a subject will enter the frame thanks to the heads up you get seeing beyond the frame, just as with an optical viewfinder.
