FujiFilm updates the X100 website.

[gavinlg]

I've heard much about the Hexar af and it's AF, definitely on my "got to try list".

With your 5d - put an EE-S screen in it and it's much much easier to manual focus. I use it with my zeiss 35mm and it works well.

 

[Spyro]

I have an ee-s and a 1.3 magnifier permanently on because I only use OM lenses on it these days. But its a camera built for AF with a half-silvered mirror, it will never let the same light through as a manual SLR or an RF, or a hybrid cam like the Hexar or hopefully this x100 🙂

 

[sepiareverb]

Huh? I don't understand the point of your post. The engraving on the top plate says "Fujifilm".

Fujifilm has a pretty good track record of not thinking about much but the bottom line when it comes to analog. Velvia 50 is the one real exception I remember.

 

[Jeff Charles]

I don't know where I saw it but I think there was a distance scale on the screen. So when you want to preset a certain distance, then you can do this with the camera down.

You are right. There is an image of the screen at http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Fujifilm-FinePix-X100-First-Impressions-Review/Hardware.htm.

Jeff

 

[dcsang]

What concerns me more than anything right now is the proprietary RAW format.

According to the site: "The X100 captures 12-bit RAW images using the RAF file type that can be converted using customised Silkypix software; a copy of which is provided with the camera. Please note Fujifilm is co-operating fully to ensure that X100 RAF file support is added to third party applications as soon as possible. This compatibility is expected to be offered via a firmware update within a few months of launch. "

So I won't be able to import the RAW files into Lightroom until some unknown number of months after the camera is released? That's a major problem in my book. Just make the RAW file a DNG.

Exactly.
I'm not interested in this camera however I'm not going to "*** ***" anyone that is.

That said, I recall that the Lumix LX-3 shipped with Silkypix as well and that was about the only program (till Lightroom eventually supported it) that could perform the RAW conversion. Now, of course, many programs support it.

The concern isn't so much how long one has to wait for support of conversion.. the concern for me would be; what aberrations, if any, does the lens have - It was shown, when the LX-3 was released, that there was some distortion in that lens which had to be corrected, if you shot RAW, through adjustments in the conversion software.

I don't doubt Fuji but that would be a concern for me...

Cheers,
Dave

 

[zumbido]

Do you know what zone focusing is?

How are you going to focus SLR-style when not looking through the lens in optical focusing mode? Your statement might be true for focusing in the EVF mode, but definitely not in OVF mode!

Please read my post again!

Okay. I did. You didn't specify very clearly that you were talking about the OVF, but more importantly, a distance scale is not "zone focusing". Look up the phrase.

Also, your conclusion is premature. We don't know what the "distance indication bar" will look like, precisely.

Also also, even if your assumptions are correct your assertion basically amounts to: "If you choose to zone focus, you have to zone focus!" Well, yes. Conveniently enough, there are other ways to focus the thing. 🙄

 

[rxmd]

I love how some people are disregarding it as a capable camera for not having an RF patch.

It's very easy, actually. People's capability for irrational disappointment without factual basis is as great as that for irrational enthusiasm without factual basis.

It must be tough to do camera marketing these days if your product is even a bit original. You present this camera which looks really cool and has some interesting features, and initially everyone is all enthusiastic. Then some nerd will begin to speculate how the camera could also, say, be used to make scrambled eggs; and from then on people will start to expect scrambled eggs, and your camera will be the Scrambled Egg camera. Then the camera actually comes out and of course there's no scrambled eggs anywhere near it; and inevitably some of the discussants will forget that the whole scrambled eggs thing was pure speculation to begin with, and will be disappointed that they have to go hungry, vocally spreading their disappointment everywhere.

Substitute "hybrid rangefinder patch" or "M-mount" for scrambled eggs and you have a fairly big chunk the X100 discussions.

In other words, you can't escape disappointment, because people are inflating their expectations to the point where they are simply begging to be disappointed. I guess even if the X100 actually had a rangefinder patch and M mount, people would still be disappointed because it has an LC display and lacks an advance lever.

 

[rxmd]

Also, your conclusion is premature. We don't know what the "distance indication bar" will look like, precisely.

Actually we do. It will look like this:

Fuji has a pretty informative site at http://www.finepix-x100.com that answers a lot of questions like this.

 

[Spyro]

Now I have this sudden craving for scrambled eggs 😡

 

[zumbido]

Actually we do. It will look like this:

Fuji has a pretty informative site at http://www.finepix-x100.com that answers a lot of questions like this.

Actually, we don't. That is a preview as of September. The camera is, according to rumors, to be released mid-March. A lot can and does change in six months, especially in the details of user interfaces.

More to the point, a static image like that doesn't (and can't) tell you everything relevant about the functionality.

Even more to the point, again, this is all aside from the fact that the post I replied to said, in effect: "If you turn off all focus assist mechanisms, you're left with zone focus!" This is trivially true, and barely that since "zone focus" generally indicates something like three icons for different ranges of distance, not an actual scale that corresponds to manual lens settings. That has other names depending on the exact mechanism being employed, because it's useful when words, you know, mean things, and stuff.

 

[craygc]

I havent bothered to comment on this camera in any related thread previously. But since it was announced to everything Ive seen up until today, this has the makings of an extremely impressive camera.

Yes, an interchangeable lens mount that allowed Leica M could be nice, but I also understand why it wasnt done. A fixed lens of fixed focal length is really only an issue if its an extreme focal length (at either end) and you expect it to be a "generalist" camera - its not! Personally, I couldnt be happier that its a 35mm equivalent, something that allows close work - and not something more akin to the typical 50mm. ...and the absence of a true rangefinder focusing capability is just life these days, which really only exists as an extrmely small niche market segment.

The appearance, in the available images, looks very similar to the build of the Fujifilm Klasse W camera - and I find that an impressively built camera in today's markets. And finally, that viewfinder - in OVF mode, and assuming is not too small - is a clincher...

This just might be my first digital camera... 😀

 

[rxmd]

That has other names depending on the exact mechanism being employed, because it's useful when words, you know, mean things, and stuff.

Well, if it's all that important to know precisely in advance whether there's little pictures of mountains and people and flowers in the distance bar, or figures "1-3-5-∞", I agree that a months-old preview may be of limited utility. Then again, don't forget that all you guys do here is speculate about an unreleased camera. So the whole argument about terminological precision seems a bit uncalled for to begin with.

I suggest you guys calm down and take it up again when the thing is actually released; in the meantime the discussion will have little point (arguably, it won't have it then, either).

 

[Broke]

I got to thinking about the lack of image stabilization in this camera. Do you folks think that a lens element or sensor shift (with all these angled microlenses) would be really difficult to deal with? Presumably there is some complicated correction going on to reduce vignetting, colour shifting etc. -- these might be difficult to correct in real time with the shutter open.
However, presumably the lens element or sensor shifts are quite small...
I'm sure this would apply to the M9 also.
Some food for thought (for me anyhow).

JB

 

[__--]

When you have eminently usable ISO 1600 and 3200, it's not clear to me why need image stabilization for a 23mm lens that you should be able to handhold at a shutter speed of 1/20 sec. I have not been impressed with the usefulness of in-camera IS on small cameras, although the in-lens VS system of the Nikon telephoto lenses is excellent.

Much more important for me is whether there is an AA filter: I would prefer to have none, or at least a very thin one.

This could be a great camera, but I'm not crazy about the retro look, although that can be to some extent mitigated by a black camera option. I don't know whether I'll buy this camera because, after shooting only digital for almost five years, I'm now going the other way, in a partial return to film, by picking up on the 27th in Paris a Hasselblad 903-SWC, a camera without light meter or rangefinder.

Here in Bangkok, using film is somewhat easier in that developing a roll cost $3.30 and a 20x24 inch custom silver print costs about $20 to have made by a printer who will make a proof and burn and dodge to your instructions. I'll probably develop my own film but have it scanned at a cost of $3.00. What I have to decide is whether I'll go analogue all the way and have lab prints made or whether I'll make high-resolution scans with my old Imacon Precision III and print on an Epson 9880. As I contemplate all this I get the itch to start shooting with the M6 again — but I digress.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

 

[jsrockit]

When you have eminently usable ISO 1600 and 3200, it's not clear to me why need image stabilization for a 23mm lens that you should be able to handhold at a shutter speed of 1/20 sec.

I agree... people are getting spoiled.

 

[Bobfrance]

I agree... people are getting spoiled.

Or perhaps people being overly led by spec rather that waiting to see what it's like in the real world.

Have you read some of the comments? My favourite was along the lines of "...this camera looks great but 12MP isn't enough I will only buy it if it is 14MP."

for the sake of 2MP - really? 🙄

 

[jky]

Or perhaps people being overly led by spec rather that waiting to see what it's like in the real world.

Have you read some of the comments? My favourite was along the lines of "...this camera looks great but 12MP isn't enough I will only buy it if it is 14MP."

for the sake of 2MP - really? 🙄

Yep - that's the deal breaker righ there... forget it if it ain't 14mp.
😉

 

[bensyverson]

Ugh... I'm sick of thinking about this camera. I bought a Hexar AF and a ton of film instead.

This is why Apple tries to announce products right as they're ready to ship. If the X100 had been available immediately, I would have whipped out my credit card on the spot. Instead, they lost a sale.

 

[ampguy]

yup

yup

That's what sold me on a NEX over the M9, plus no funky color edge fringing with wides 😉

Yep - that's the deal breaker righ there... forget it if it ain't 14mp.
😉

 

[jsrockit]

This is why Apple tries to announce products right as they're ready to ship. If the X100 had been available immediately, I would have whipped out my credit card on the spot. Instead, they lost a sale.

Yeah, shame on Fuji for announcing a concept and then asking potential customers for their input... 😉