Fuji X100 & X1 Pro for street photography

[furcafe]

Now I think you may have lost me. If your RF is working properly (calibrated, etc.), once you've focused on something, it should be in focus. In my experience, the problem in street shooting, etc., w/a traditional RF is that what you want to focus on is often moving so fast that you might not be able to focus @ all in time. If that's what you're saying, totally agree, & that's when you use(d) DoF & zone focusing to cover your ass.

What I'm talking about is when you put the focus patch (on the G2 or X-Pro1) on someone's face, for example, & activate AF, the camera can end up focusing on the person next to them, or a sign or tree behind them because they also happen to be inside the focus area. Again, not a dealbreaker, but something that does happen to me when I forget to check the distance scale (just a couple days ago, in fact, while shooting the 18/2 @ f/2 @ night). I blame myself, not the camera; the camera is just doing what comes naturally to it, but it was my decision to take the photo.

FC, its not just a matter of focusing on the wrong thing. RF focusing is simply not accurate when focusing on the 'right thing' in certain situations. perhaps the same is true for you with the x100. that would the make it no worse than a trad RF. honestly, that has not been an issue for me with the x, and may not be for others.

 

[edge100]

What I'm talking about is when you put the focus patch (on the G2 or X-Pro1) on someone's face, for example, & activate AF, the camera can end up focusing on the person next to them, or a sign or tree behind them because they also happen to be inside the focus area. Again, not a dealbreaker, but something that does happen to me when I forget to check the distance scale (just a couple days ago, in fact, while shooting the 18/2 @ f/2 @ night). I blame myself, not the camera; the camera is just doing what comes naturally to it, but it was my decision to take the photo.

This is certainly a problem when using the OVF. With the EVF, the focus point can be made quite small, such that focusing errors are much less likely.

For this reason, I tend to switch between the OVF and EVF quite a lot, depending on the context. It's great to have that option, and this is one of the brilliant aspects of this camera.

 

[boomguy57]

But for the OP's initial question...I have used the X100 for street photography fairly extensively and it has yet to let me down. I can't speak for the other Fuji models, as I haven't used them.

The X100 is small, silent, and the AF is as quick (if not quicker) than I can manually focus a Leica M or other RF. But it works best when one realizes what it is; it's not good at manually focusing, though you can zone focus it as others have said. It's an AF camera, really. If you want to manually focus, get a different camera.

 

[koven]

Love my x100, its a lot smaller and more portable than an M9 and the images are pretty good for the money.


Chinatown by MrEllis, on Flickr

 

[furcafe]

Agreed on both points. I did shrink the AF point in EVF mode to its smallest size, but I don't know whether that carries over to the OVF focus patch.

I don't object to EVFs on principle (to the contrary, they are the perfect VF in theory), but all of the ones I've seen thus far, including the X-Pro1, have flickered too much for me to use all of the time. I do like the fact that the X-Pro1 has the EVF option to cover for the OVF's occasional shortcomings.

This is certainly a problem when using the OVF. With the EVF, the focus point can be made quite small, such that focusing errors are much less likely.

For this reason, I tend to switch between the OVF and EVF quite a lot, depending on the context. It's great to have that option, and this is one of the brilliant aspects of this camera.