Pinphot
Established
Rather regretfully, after four months of X100 ownership, I'm selling up. I like the camera, and think the concept is great, but am finding that the cumulative quirks and niggles with the camera detract from the experience. I don't always trust what it's doing and find the sluggishness and handling quirks often turn what should be simple into a chore. As I've said before, I think we deserve something better from Fuji than a processing engine that appears to be scaled up from a p+s. The recent firmware update was quite a few steps in the right direction, but still left too many issues unaddressed.
I really wanted a camera that would finally give the digital equivalent of my old Contax G2's, (interchangeable lenses not withstanding), and had high hopes for the X100. After these four months though, I find that my old Panny GF1 with 20mm lens and a 35mm voigtlander or EVF finder still comes closest to that particular digital dream, and now that Olympus have announced a couple of interesting looking fast primes and what looks like very fast AF in the new EP-3, I've decided to sell my X100 and plough the proceeds into updating my M4/3 kit, probably an ep-3, EVF and 28/40/90 equivalent lenses.
It was fun while it lasted, and I remain interested in what Fuji might do in future with the platform, but for me, the x100 just didn't quite deliver on all it promised.
Mark
http://markpinder.wordpress.com
I really wanted a camera that would finally give the digital equivalent of my old Contax G2's, (interchangeable lenses not withstanding), and had high hopes for the X100. After these four months though, I find that my old Panny GF1 with 20mm lens and a 35mm voigtlander or EVF finder still comes closest to that particular digital dream, and now that Olympus have announced a couple of interesting looking fast primes and what looks like very fast AF in the new EP-3, I've decided to sell my X100 and plough the proceeds into updating my M4/3 kit, probably an ep-3, EVF and 28/40/90 equivalent lenses.
It was fun while it lasted, and I remain interested in what Fuji might do in future with the platform, but for me, the x100 just didn't quite deliver on all it promised.
Mark
http://markpinder.wordpress.com
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Renzsu
Well-known
cool story bro
back alley
IMAGES
are you selling the adapter/hood as well?
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Mark,
So it wasn't the Second Coming?
I look forward with interest to those who will take the opposite view to yours. I mean that in the strictest sense, without irony. You've given cogent reasons for getting rid of it, and I thank you: I look forward to others' cogent reasons for keeping theirs.
Cheers,
R.
So it wasn't the Second Coming?
I look forward with interest to those who will take the opposite view to yours. I mean that in the strictest sense, without irony. You've given cogent reasons for getting rid of it, and I thank you: I look forward to others' cogent reasons for keeping theirs.
Cheers,
R.
back alley
IMAGES
it's a fussy camera, no doubt, no argument...
Rogier
Rogier Willems
I always' said its an over hyped and prized P&S
back alley
IMAGES
it's not...the images it can create are phenominal, or they can be...the lens is fabulous, it is so sharp...i am fascinated by the details it picks up.
kshapero
South Florida Man
I appreciate that many of us have flayed on the sword. I did and have taken the dive on the Sony NEX. I sometimes wonder are these cameras experiments or real solutions? Thanks to all the interesting comments.
Thardy
Veteran
Isn't Panny coming out with "pro" MFT soon. That might prove to be very interesting, especially if it's a better GF-1.
back alley
IMAGES
bigger sensor wins...sorry!
LKeithR
Improving daily--I think.
I don't know about others but for me, every camera purchase is an experiment of sorts. You can do all the research you want but until you've actually held a camera in your hands and used it for a few days it's going to be hard to determine if it's really what you're looking for...
back alley
IMAGES
agreed!
i put off getting an rd1 for ages, wondering if it really was the camera for me...and i love it...
the x100 was a tough decision and i was very back & forth with it...would still be if it was not made available locally...it's a very fussy camera but i am liking it more and more...and only using it could have helped me make that determination.
i think most of the 'i told ya so' folks here have not used the camera.
rogerzilla
Well-known
Automation never works for me. It does have a great sensor though.
KM-25
Well-known
The camera is good enough in that you either work around the buggines / fussiness because you like / love what it has to offer as strengths or you don't.
For example, I love the image quality and operation of my Nikon 35mm 1.4G, but I hate the bulk & weight, so I don't use it all the time. But unlike the 200-400 VR I sold, I like it and need it enough to keep it in the tool kit. I rent the 200-400 now for the three weeks I need it...
When I need that 35 1.4G, I am gushy, teenage in love with it. When I don't, it simply sits unused, not thought about. Like the X100, it can't do everything and I don't expect it to.
My X100 has not been used much this week as I have been shooting more film like Infrared in panoramic and 120 and Tri-X in my Leicas. But when I need it for what I bought it for...man, I LOVE that little camera!
For example, I love the image quality and operation of my Nikon 35mm 1.4G, but I hate the bulk & weight, so I don't use it all the time. But unlike the 200-400 VR I sold, I like it and need it enough to keep it in the tool kit. I rent the 200-400 now for the three weeks I need it...
When I need that 35 1.4G, I am gushy, teenage in love with it. When I don't, it simply sits unused, not thought about. Like the X100, it can't do everything and I don't expect it to.
My X100 has not been used much this week as I have been shooting more film like Infrared in panoramic and 120 and Tri-X in my Leicas. But when I need it for what I bought it for...man, I LOVE that little camera!
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RayPA
Ignore It (It'll go away)
Thus far for me, the X100 is the one digital camera that comes closest to replicating the RF film camera experience, and really, with just a little bit of setup, it doesn't miss by much. Like a lot of folks here, I've run through my share of digital cameras in hope of replicating the RF experience. I've been through the Lumix LX series, the Canon G series, and the Lumix G1, but I think the search is finally over (until I can afford a Leica digital M).
As far as the X100 being a glorified p&s camera, well very often so are my film RF cameras. That's one of the reasons I like shooting with an RF camera: they can make great p&s cameras when you need that.
If it ain't for you, it ain't for you, but it works for me. I'm keeping it!
/
As far as the X100 being a glorified p&s camera, well very often so are my film RF cameras. That's one of the reasons I like shooting with an RF camera: they can make great p&s cameras when you need that.
If it ain't for you, it ain't for you, but it works for me. I'm keeping it!
/
Vobluda
Well-known
I also sold X100 for too many quirks from which the most annoying was terribly terribly slow AF.
Side by side my GF1 with first firmware was significantly faster.
I still cant believe that Fuji has released camera with so slow AF in 2011 (GF1 was released in September 2009!).
Side by side my GF1 with first firmware was significantly faster.
I still cant believe that Fuji has released camera with so slow AF in 2011 (GF1 was released in September 2009!).
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Keith,
Not so much so for me. Most of the cameras I've ever bought have done pretty much what I expected, the way I expected. If there's much of a learning curve involved, I don't usually want a new camera.
Now, the X100 would be an experiment, because there's nothing else quite like it, but that's why I'm almost never an 'early adopter'. I can listen to/read others' opinions; take a guess at how much their opinions are worth to me; and then buy something when I've got a good idea of its good and bad points.
Cheers,
R.
peter_n
Veteran
^ +1. Couldn't agree more!
Pinphot
Established
Thanks for such considered responses, and for recognising the spirit in which my original post was made.
Just to clarify a point, i think the X100 is a long way above any p+s, at least as far as image quality is concerned. I do however think that in respect to things like buffer implementation and AF lag, (for example), Fuji have cut corners by simply turbocharging and upscaling an engine from a p+s rather than giving us the kind of processors we have come to expect from even a budget DSLR or Panny GF1 for that matter. The implementation of the burst mode, I think, especially points to this conclusion.
My other issues have been with AF implementation. I've never been particularly bothered by the MF issues, but why won't the camera hold AF on the shutter button after an exposure is made, so as not to have to keep on refocusing and reframing after every shot? I know I can use the AFL button to hold focus, but I find the implementation unintuitive and often ties me in knots. I have generally used the camera in MF using the AF button to acquire focus, but the AF box in that mode is huge, leaving me feeling insecure as to knowing exactly where the camera has focused. Had Fuji implemented the auxiliary focus spots solution from the recent FW update in MF mode too, then I almost definitely would have kept the camera. I'm a newspaper and magazine photographer by trade, and often work in fairly fluid fast moving situations where the equipment I use has to hinder as little as possible and not flake out on me by not waking up quickly enough or leaving me worrying about acquiring focus quickly or reliably. The wake from sleep does seem far more reliable after the new firmware, but I still manage to occasionally forget to eject the disk properly from my Macbook when I'm in a hurry and effectively brick the camera, (as far as working is concerned), until I can get the card back into the computer and re-eject it properly.
I still might keep the Fuji, but expanding my M4/3 kit is almost definitely on the cards. A 28/40/90 lens spread would cover probably 65% of what I currently do with my Canon 5D kit and I used to reach regularly for the GF1/20, (with whatever viewfinder), on professional jobs alongside the Canon's, which is not something I have done so much with the X100. I'm just getting to the point where I have so much kit, much of it overlapping in function, that where this overlap occurs, it's got to be pretty darn reliable to justify staying in my arsenal, and I'm not quite sure the Fuji is quite there.
A couple of weeks back, I covered the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria which alongside my Canon 5D's I shot partly with my Panny GF1 a Voigtlander 15mm set to f5.6 at various hyperfocal distances and a 28mm bright-line finder. I missed almost nothing, it was probably the most fluid shooting experience I have had since giving up my Olympus OM1's and 2's all those years ago. An Olympus 24mm equivalent with a focus scale and hard stop's!! In the word(s) of Homer Simpson mmmmmmmmmmm. A 28 would be even nicer!!
As was said by another poster, the X100 can be fussy, but not as fussy as me!!
Mark
http://markpinder.wordpress.com/
Just to clarify a point, i think the X100 is a long way above any p+s, at least as far as image quality is concerned. I do however think that in respect to things like buffer implementation and AF lag, (for example), Fuji have cut corners by simply turbocharging and upscaling an engine from a p+s rather than giving us the kind of processors we have come to expect from even a budget DSLR or Panny GF1 for that matter. The implementation of the burst mode, I think, especially points to this conclusion.
My other issues have been with AF implementation. I've never been particularly bothered by the MF issues, but why won't the camera hold AF on the shutter button after an exposure is made, so as not to have to keep on refocusing and reframing after every shot? I know I can use the AFL button to hold focus, but I find the implementation unintuitive and often ties me in knots. I have generally used the camera in MF using the AF button to acquire focus, but the AF box in that mode is huge, leaving me feeling insecure as to knowing exactly where the camera has focused. Had Fuji implemented the auxiliary focus spots solution from the recent FW update in MF mode too, then I almost definitely would have kept the camera. I'm a newspaper and magazine photographer by trade, and often work in fairly fluid fast moving situations where the equipment I use has to hinder as little as possible and not flake out on me by not waking up quickly enough or leaving me worrying about acquiring focus quickly or reliably. The wake from sleep does seem far more reliable after the new firmware, but I still manage to occasionally forget to eject the disk properly from my Macbook when I'm in a hurry and effectively brick the camera, (as far as working is concerned), until I can get the card back into the computer and re-eject it properly.
I still might keep the Fuji, but expanding my M4/3 kit is almost definitely on the cards. A 28/40/90 lens spread would cover probably 65% of what I currently do with my Canon 5D kit and I used to reach regularly for the GF1/20, (with whatever viewfinder), on professional jobs alongside the Canon's, which is not something I have done so much with the X100. I'm just getting to the point where I have so much kit, much of it overlapping in function, that where this overlap occurs, it's got to be pretty darn reliable to justify staying in my arsenal, and I'm not quite sure the Fuji is quite there.
A couple of weeks back, I covered the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria which alongside my Canon 5D's I shot partly with my Panny GF1 a Voigtlander 15mm set to f5.6 at various hyperfocal distances and a 28mm bright-line finder. I missed almost nothing, it was probably the most fluid shooting experience I have had since giving up my Olympus OM1's and 2's all those years ago. An Olympus 24mm equivalent with a focus scale and hard stop's!! In the word(s) of Homer Simpson mmmmmmmmmmm. A 28 would be even nicer!!
As was said by another poster, the X100 can be fussy, but not as fussy as me!!
Mark
http://markpinder.wordpress.com/
Harry S.
Well-known
Im kind of feeling the same way. I like the images the x100 makes, and love how it looks and feels...but it feels clumsy to use and Im not at all confident with it.
I primarily bought mine to replace my 5D + 35mm when travelling. I think now I wouldnt be able to do that, the x100 to me just isnt nice enough to use despite how good the weight savings are.
I primarily bought mine to replace my 5D + 35mm when travelling. I think now I wouldnt be able to do that, the x100 to me just isnt nice enough to use despite how good the weight savings are.