Archiver
Veteran
I got mine yesterday, which was a surprise as the shop had told me that Fuji Australia wasn't expecting them until the 17th, and that the shop wouldn't have them until the 20th. So imagine my delight when the shop called yesterday to say it had come in!
I do my personal shooting with the Ricoh GXR, GRD III, and Leica M9, so I have a certain expectation for build quality and ergonomics. The X10 sits fairly well for me, but it will take a little getting used to, due to the different button positions and haptics. It feels very well made, although I have a few preliminary quibbles:
- the responsiveness of the aperture to sudden lighting changes is quite slow, so taking photos from inside a car means that unless you wait for the aperture to catch up, scenes can be very overexposed.
- I NEED a filter so I don't have to mess with this darn lens cap (which is beautifully made, though)
- the battery door seems a touch thin, but the sliding lock makes almost impossible to open accidentally
- you cannot turn off the LCD screen when the camera in continuous AF mode. It has to be in Shot Only or Manual Focus. This drove me crazy at first as I thought I had a dud camera! I was on the verge of ringing the shop to exchange it for another one, until a helpful soul on DPReview mentioned this little quirk.
- the power-on method of turning the lens doesn't actually work sometimes! On a fairly regular basis it seems to miss activation; the lens will reach detent at 28mm but the camera will still be off. I have to turn it back and then on again for it to work properly. This bothers me as it is either a design quirk or a sign of things to come in the long term. It also means that unless I leave the camera on while walking around, there is the chance that I will turn the lens but the camera won't turn on, and I will miss a shot.
I have set up P mode to bring up the shadows, tone down the highlights, and use Auto DR to manage highlights even more. Picture quality seems decent but I haven't played with the setting enough to make it the way I like.
AF is nice and fast, and shot to shot time is excellent for a compact camera. When you turn off the LCD you can almost take photos as fast as you can focus and shoot.
The shutter is very, very quiet, one of the most quiet cameras I've ever used. I love this!
I am about to download some photos I took today in bright daylight. We'll see how the DR function worked, as well as the high-res mode.
I do my personal shooting with the Ricoh GXR, GRD III, and Leica M9, so I have a certain expectation for build quality and ergonomics. The X10 sits fairly well for me, but it will take a little getting used to, due to the different button positions and haptics. It feels very well made, although I have a few preliminary quibbles:
- the responsiveness of the aperture to sudden lighting changes is quite slow, so taking photos from inside a car means that unless you wait for the aperture to catch up, scenes can be very overexposed.
- I NEED a filter so I don't have to mess with this darn lens cap (which is beautifully made, though)
- the battery door seems a touch thin, but the sliding lock makes almost impossible to open accidentally
- you cannot turn off the LCD screen when the camera in continuous AF mode. It has to be in Shot Only or Manual Focus. This drove me crazy at first as I thought I had a dud camera! I was on the verge of ringing the shop to exchange it for another one, until a helpful soul on DPReview mentioned this little quirk.
- the power-on method of turning the lens doesn't actually work sometimes! On a fairly regular basis it seems to miss activation; the lens will reach detent at 28mm but the camera will still be off. I have to turn it back and then on again for it to work properly. This bothers me as it is either a design quirk or a sign of things to come in the long term. It also means that unless I leave the camera on while walking around, there is the chance that I will turn the lens but the camera won't turn on, and I will miss a shot.
I have set up P mode to bring up the shadows, tone down the highlights, and use Auto DR to manage highlights even more. Picture quality seems decent but I haven't played with the setting enough to make it the way I like.
AF is nice and fast, and shot to shot time is excellent for a compact camera. When you turn off the LCD you can almost take photos as fast as you can focus and shoot.
The shutter is very, very quiet, one of the most quiet cameras I've ever used. I love this!
I am about to download some photos I took today in bright daylight. We'll see how the DR function worked, as well as the high-res mode.
N
Nikon Bob
Guest
Changed my mind and decided to try one so have been playing with it a little tonight. I'll have a better go at it tomorrow. I can say that I have not had any failure of the camera to start up so far touch wood.
Bob
Bob
DerrickC
Member
I did a Fuji X10 first impressions writeup for Invisible Photographer Asia. It is at the following link : http://invisiblephotographer.asia/2011/11/15/first-impressions-of-the-fuji-x10/ if the camera interests you. 8)
abumac
Well-known
Great shots. Could you say something about F-stop, Iso, f-length, mode ....?
Thank you
rw
Thank you
rw
DerrickC
Member
Hi rw,
for the series of images of my grandparents:-
Images 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 had a focal length that was approximately equivalent to 35mm (around 8.6mm) while Images 4 and 8 were approximately 50mm.
All were shot at F2.2 which was wide open at the chosen focal length.
All were ISO 1600 except for Image 2 (ISO 400) and Image 7 (ISO 1250).
Shutter speeds were around 1/60 to 1/80 sec. Image 2 was at 1/15sec.
I should have been on aperture priority mode with the ISO set to AUTO ISO (1600). Film simulation to B&W. Shot in RAW + JPEG (Fine) but used the JPEG files as the RAW files are still not supported by the RAW processing softwares that I normally use.
Cheers, Derrick
N
Nikon Bob
Guest
Derrick
I fully agree with your comments on the ergonomics of the X10 with the exception of the operation of the manual zoom. That is just a personal preference for me and I like the operation of the on/off on the lens. I can't say much about the image quality as mine was returned as it was having some sort of metering fault.
Your grandparents long standing and loving marriage is truly something to cherish and keep a record of. Your photos do show that realtionship very well.
Bob
I fully agree with your comments on the ergonomics of the X10 with the exception of the operation of the manual zoom. That is just a personal preference for me and I like the operation of the on/off on the lens. I can't say much about the image quality as mine was returned as it was having some sort of metering fault.
Your grandparents long standing and loving marriage is truly something to cherish and keep a record of. Your photos do show that realtionship very well.
Bob
ajuk
Established
£500+ for a camera with a 8.8x6.6mm sensor.
N
Nikon Bob
Guest
£500+ for a camera with a 8.8x6.6mm sensor.
Looks like you are paying 100 GBP + too much over there. Even so they are not cheap but not much is anymore.
Bob
Archiver
Veteran
A few more impressions: while I have found the jpegs kind of soft, I have also found the colour accuracy to be superb, and the dynamic range a cut above that of the Canon G10.
Last night I shot test images at the same aperture, shutter speed and ISO. The X10 had much broader dynamic range than the G10, with nicely lifted shadows even at DR100. At DR400 the highlight recovery was far better than anything the G10's jpegs could show, even using i-Contrast which is Canon's version of DR expansion.
The images were shot under mixed natural and artificial light and the X10's colours were much more accurate. The G10's colours were dark and muddy. The tests against the G10 made me much more happy with the X10 than before, as shooting with aps-c and full frame sensor as primaries gives unrealistic expectations for small sensors.
The power-up issue has almost solved itself due to me turning the lens completely into the off position each time.
Last night I shot test images at the same aperture, shutter speed and ISO. The X10 had much broader dynamic range than the G10, with nicely lifted shadows even at DR100. At DR400 the highlight recovery was far better than anything the G10's jpegs could show, even using i-Contrast which is Canon's version of DR expansion.
The images were shot under mixed natural and artificial light and the X10's colours were much more accurate. The G10's colours were dark and muddy. The tests against the G10 made me much more happy with the X10 than before, as shooting with aps-c and full frame sensor as primaries gives unrealistic expectations for small sensors.
The power-up issue has almost solved itself due to me turning the lens completely into the off position each time.
Ken Ford
Refuses to suffer fools
I'm still trying to get used to mine, I haven't been able to do any serious shooting yet. I have tinkered a bit with the in-camera JPEG settings which seems to help the slight softness. I haven't been able to process any of the RAW files yet.
I think the default settings are biased to easy post-processing rather than ultimate out-of-camera JPEGs which makes sense given the market to which the X10 is aimed.
I think the default settings are biased to easy post-processing rather than ultimate out-of-camera JPEGs which makes sense given the market to which the X10 is aimed.