How will you test your new Fuji X100?

Test it? I think I'll hit it with a brick, and then whine that it wasn't built very well on RFF. I think I'll find the best ISO results from any camera made and then compare it to those, just to show its not up to the job. I think I'll try it underwater so I can once again whine about sit leaking on RFF. In fact, when I get mine I think I'll just whine about it all the time on RFF because there is bound to be some tiny detail that means I can proclaim in total authority that I'm disappointed!

There will be many people missing the point about this camera, and if you need to go on and test it (or wait for tests by other people) after reading the initial blurb so far published, then you are one of them.

Steve
 
Very Disappointed

Very Disappointed

I recently posted this question on the Rangefinder forum and a similar one on the PopPhoto forum.

http://forums.popphoto.com/showthread.php?622245-How-do-you-test-your-new-camera-and-or-lens

I was very surprised that the Rangefinder responses were filled with ridicule and sarcasm.

I do not mind being ridiculed for my anal approach to equipment testing. I will be the first to admit that it is probably overkill. All I can say is that it is based on experience.

When I first started working as a photographer for a newspaper, I used a 35mm SLR camera that was highly recommended by Consumer Reports. However, that highly rated camera broke three times within the first two years of its three-year warranty. The third time it broke was when I was hundreds of feet in the air covering the maiden voyage of a new aircraft that the local university had just acquired. Thank goodness a backup twin-lens reflex camera that I carried allowed me to complete my assignment. As a result of this bad experience, I learned to rely on my own equipment tests more than the test reports of others.

When I worked at a wedding studio, I was assigned photographic equipment that had been used and abused by someone else the weekend before. I never knew if the equipment would work or not. Problems with the film transport mechanism, electrical shortage in the sync cord, and failure of the slave unit were common problems. Even if I had no problems with the equipment, I still had to worry about competing photographers sabotaging my equipment like one guy who managed to switch my flash sync setting from electronic flash to bulb flash.

Needless to say, suffering numerous equipment failure while on assignments has made me very paranoid about the functional status of my photographic equipment. As a consequence, I try to avoid being surprised when I use a new piece of equipment on an important assignment by thoroughly testing it. All I can say is that this testing procedure works for me and I only shared it with the hope that it may be of value to someone else.

I was very disappointed in the Rangefinder responses.
 
bobby_novatron said:
Actually, I've got all of you beat already.

I traveled to the future .... I can use all my LTM, M-mount, Contax-mount, Nikon-mount, Fisher Price mount, and medium format lenses -- at the same time!

Ain't technology grand? :)
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This is fantastic news! I will be able to use all my Contax lenses again! Hang on...you are talking Contax N Mount, right?
 
I usually tie a heavy rock to the camera and throw it into a pond or lake. If it sinks, then the camera is ruined but I can declare it would of been safe and fine to use. If it floats, then it is obviously a witch in the service of Satan.
 
I'll test mine by wearing it as a necklace in the streets of NYC and if a pretty girl compliments me on my choice of camera, then I know it is a keeper.
 
narsuitus said:
I recently posted this question on the Rangefinder forum and a similar one on the PopPhoto forum.

http://forums.popphoto.com/showthread.php?622245-How-do-you-test-your-new-camera-and-or-lens

I was very surprised that the Rangefinder responses were filled with ridicule and sarcasm.

I do not mind being ridiculed for my anal approach to equipment testing. I will be the first to admit that it is probably overkill. All I can say is that it is based on experience.

When I first started working as a photographer for a newspaper, I used a 35mm SLR camera that was highly recommended by Consumer Reports. However, that highly rated camera broke three times within the first two years of its three-year warranty. The third time it broke was when I was hundreds of feet in the air covering the maiden voyage of a new aircraft that the local university had just acquired. Thank goodness a backup twin-lens reflex camera that I carried allowed me to complete my assignment. As a result of this bad experience, I learned to rely on my own equipment tests more than the test reports of others.

When I worked at a wedding studio, I was assigned photographic equipment that had been used and abused by someone else the weekend before. I never knew if the equipment would work or not. Problems with the film transport mechanism, electrical shortage in the sync cord, and failure of the slave unit were common problems. Even if I had no problems with the equipment, I still had to worry about competing photographers sabotaging my equipment like one guy who managed to switch my flash sync setting from electronic flash to bulb flash.

Needless to say, suffering numerous equipment failure while on assignments has made me very paranoid about the functional status of my photographic equipment. As a consequence, I try to avoid being surprised when I use a new piece of equipment on an important assignment by thoroughly testing it. All I can say is that this testing procedure works for me and I only shared it with the hope that it may be of value to someone else.

I was very disappointed in the Rangefinder responses.
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Whenever I get or borrow a new camera, I like to go out on a photo walk, (or drive out into the countryside) with my main camera, and the new one. I shoot them both in rotation, and if I see a really great shot, I'll try to replicate it as closely as possible between the two cameras, so I have something to compare to when I get back to the digital darkroom.

I did this recently in Vienna with a borrowed pocket camera (the s90) and my 5D with 50mm 1.8. Of course I knew there wouldn't be a strong comparison, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy to handle and shoot with the s90 was. None of my keepers came from the s90, but I got several I was really pleased with.

I love night and evening shots, and this is unfortunately where the s90 fails a bit. This was the only one I really liked from the s90.


IMG_0158.jpg by mr-chompers, on Flickr

The highlight areas are a little blown in the cathedral, and there isn't much detail to speak of in the dark areas. But the noise isn't too offensive at ISO 800

Conversely, this image from my 5D at ISO 1600 not only held onto highlights much better, but has better detail in the shadows too.


IMG_6249-Edit.jpg by mr-chompers, on Flickr

Now maybe in print these differences wouldn't be all that apparent, but this test showed me I wouldn't be happy with the s90 as a walk around camera enough to buy one, but it was fun to have on the trip. I plan to do something very similar (*edit* with the x100, that is), including at least one shoot with my lighting equipment, and if I can't see a noticeable difference in file quality, my 5D will be relegated to when I need an 85mm for portrait shots.
 
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narsuitus said:
I was very disappointed in the Rangefinder responses.
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Sad but true: Only three out of 52 responses had not been poking fun at the OP.

That's group dynamics at work - if the first three replies are negative, you could just as well ditch the entire thread.

We should be able to muster a little more courtesy for questions whose background we don't agree with (or maybe we don't understand). Like e.g. questioning the background instead of ridiculing the inquirer.
 
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My test is quite simple, would it allow me to take pictures, which I cannot take with my other cameras, if it does that then it has passed my test.
 
GSNfan said:
My test is quite simple, would it allow me to take pictures, which I cannot take with my other cameras, if it does that then it has passed my test.
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I think that's a bit harsh... I mean it is still a camera with a 35mm equiv lens... it isn't a entirely new magic camera.
 
jsrockit said:
I think that's a bit harsh... I mean it is still a camera with a 35mm equiv lens... it isn't a entirely new magic camera.
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For me, that is the point exactly. Way too much is being made of it and all that it can do. Point it, press the button. Pretty simple stuff if you can get an image out the other end then it works. Everything else is just fluff.

But, can you imagine if someone points it at a brick wall or newsprint and it back focuses or there is focus shift like every other digital camera? Oh my, months more of threads....
 
I'll test mine by heading to the nearest, most god awful stretch of street and see what happens. Discovered some new shooting spots today, really rough areas, be interesting to see how the Fuji handles when I need to be fast. :)
 
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