andrew00
Established
Hey, so I posted some initial thoughts on the X100 a while back but here's a review a few weeks in, broken down every so slightly into sections but mostly just listing thoughts.
Overview
I, like a lot of us, was always checking online for info ever since I saw the first announcement as for ages I'd wanted a digital Contax G2 - something thats great quality, with a separate viewfinder (i.e. doesn't share a hotshoe so I can still use a flash) and isn't a DSLR/is compact enough to not seem imposing.
The later was important for me because in my day job I make music videos and am always getting bogged down in tech, all of which takes me from developing my relationship with the artist and so getting a better performance from them. When it comes to photography, whilst I'm still learning my way along, I decided I didn't want to focus on gear and wanted to focus on this relationship with the subject, to help them feel comfortable and really pay attention to them, often at the expense of 'gear' or at least technical perfection.
The X100 therefore, whilst not perfect, seemed good for me - small enough, high enough quality, with a viewfinder and free hotshoe for my flash. Oh and it was auto focus. I'd like a M9 but I get bad headaches if I strain my eyes so auto focus is a blessing for me.
The design and other manual control aspects are useful but were secondary to my goals of having something that worked how I wanted it to. I'll never claim to be a photography expert, but I do have a decent enough eye and this camera, on paper, at least seemed the digital camera that most fit how I wanted to shoot. It has no interchangeable lenses and isn't full frame, but one step at a time!
I was super pumped to find an X100 in stock in the UK a few weeks ago because I was leaving to go to SXSW in Austin, TX and was looking forwards to having the camera for that maelstrom of an experience. Last year I had taken a 5dmk2 and it was a massive bulky thing, this year I took only my shiny new X100 and also my Ricoh GRD3, which is my P+S snapshot camera that I adore and pretty much use these days exclusively in B+W (often at ISO 1600, max contrast, min sharpness for the curious).
As it was, I used the camera a fair amount but not a huge amount for two reasons. Firstly I wore jeans at the start as I was going to music panels in the day and wanted to maintain a degree of respectability, and secondly because when I would get out and about in the evening I'd leave my bag behind and just take the GRD3 in my jeans pocket. That being said, I used the X100 later in the week and in the few days I had after with friends as by then it was so hot I was onto the shorts and the X100 DID fit in my shorts pocket which was most appreciated!
Points
- The design fits well in my hand, I never felt I would drop it, although I think the raised grip should be more pronounced as it's a bit too slim to feel really secure. Again referring to the GRD3, the Ricoh has a strong and thick grip which is easier to get the bottom part of your fingers/top part of your palm around, whereas the X100 feels like it's held more with the top part of your fingers, so the grip you have on it is less firm. To put it in context, I'd imagine I could hold the Ricoh firm in a mosh pit but I wouldn't feel so safe about the X100.
- Having manual dials is super awesome and with auto iso bracketing setup I never felt I needed to change the ISO, I was always happy with the camera's selections. Admittedly I didn't use the RAW button at all, so that's a pointless button to me, having a Fn2 button like the GRD3 in that place would be more useful so I could setup the ISO button there would be significantly better.
- Again on that point one annoying thing was keep having to go into the menu system to turn the ND filter on or off. I'm 100% behind the leaf shutter and it's lovely quiet shooting, it's really cool, and I accept the limitation therefore of only being able to shoot at 1/1000 of a second at f2, it's annoying but I'll take the hit for the quiet shutter which let me be very stealthy even if I didn't need to be heh. However it was lame to have to go into the menu system to fudge with the ND filter. The functionality of the camera would be very much improved by having the RAW button customisable so I could turn the ND on/off with it, or the ISO and mapping the ND to the Fn1 button etc. SO much better is what it would be! For a camera designed to be a professional tool, to have to root in the menu for this is lame.
- Speaking of dials, everyone has said this so I'll reiterate - they need to lock! Again the GRD3, another simple but pro in feel camera has a really simple mode dial lock, it's so simple but it works perfectly. The Exposure Comp dial is so ridiculously easy to knock you really do have to check it every time you take the camera out your pocket, which again is easy to fix and lame that it wasn't thought out better. The shutter button can also move and should have a lock, but since it has a hard stop at the A selection it wasn't a big deal for me personally.
- Lack of 1/3rd settings for the aperture ring is a shame. I know you can use the jog dial but who wants to do that? Again it seems like such a simple thing to have thought about and I don't see why they didn't. That being said I shot mostly at f2 so I can't complain too much and they do cover the big bases, but it does seem an obvious thing to fix.
- Speaking of f2, the DoF is reasonably shallow which is good, at f2 with a full body portrait you can get a decent blurred background which is good. However I also don't think the Bokeh is that good, it is a bit noisy. It's not bad or anything, but for a 9 blade aperture lens I was expecting something super creamy like the Sigma 50m f1.4 lens for example and it's not that. That being said at f2 the images are decently sharp, not sharp as a tack, but not soft. (On default settings btw).
- Another slightly lame thing is that I'm left eyed so to take a pic I have to squash my eye right up to LCD screen, placing the natural oils of my nose on the LCD. I get I'm the minority but it's still a drag. I'd also saw the VF window gets dirty easily and isn't too easy to clean but this doesn't affect performance or your view.
- Focus is decent, I like that I can reduce the focus window in EVF mode but it's a shame you can't in OVF mode. OVF mode is SO GOOD and I only ever wanted to go to EVF mode when I had to (close subject/macro etc), otherwise it's OVF all the way, it really really is excellent! However the spot focusing window is pretty big and I couldn't reliably pick out the exact spot I wanted on someone. E.G. If you really need someone's near eye in focus you might need to go to the EVF, get the small focus window, and use that to ensure you get it right.
Also annoying is the focus window selection size you've chosen doesn't stay on the EVF if you switch to the OVF. It'd be much more useful if the EVF window would stay how you wanted it, so when you want to switch to the EVF it's ready to go. One thing is the OVF focus window isn't accurate enough for me due to it's size, I felt taking shots of people's faces sometimes focused on the background because the focus window was large enough to include both front and back elements, which leads to some oof images which is a shame. The EVF also has more focus points so is generally more accurate, esp in low light. It'd also be nice if you could reduce the OVF's focus window to get more precise focusing.
Focus speed is generally pretty fast, not lightning, but I never noticed it dragging and it never got in the way of my shooting.
- However one thing I didn't like was the camera startup time - it's like 3 seconds or so. I know you can go for a fast start which eats the battery and I might try that but on normal mode it's a slow starter so you have to be on your guard to anticipate. In fairness a lot of compacts with retractable lenses take a while too, it's in the fixed lens cameras like DSLR's when you don't have this going on. You also need to take the cap off before you turn it on as if you leave it on the projected display is often really opaque, as if it's judging the opacity/brightness of the display wrong w/the cap on. Not always, just sometimes and if that sometimes is when you need your shot etc...
- Battery life was decent, the camera lasted to all but the second to last day with medium usage throughout. I'd imagine I took around 600 shots in total of which around 450ish were from one battery. That's with my hitting the view mode button so I'm only using the LCD to review, it's off otherwise. Charging is pretty slow however and the battery indicator is pretty useless and doesn't show the accurate reduction in battery life - it shows you've got lots then the battery dies!
- The battery compartment is also pretty flimsy but I didn't have trouble with it. I did however with the lens cap which I'm not a fan of. A push on cap is asking for trouble imo and would much prefer an auto lens cap, hopefully someone 3rd party will bring something out asap.
- The rotating menu dial thing sucks, it's flimsy and the centre OK button is difficult to push, I have to almost use a nail which is fraught when shooting and despite being male I have thin, feminine hands (lolz) and even I have trouble. Y'all with piano playing hands will find it difficult to use. Unfortunately with the lack of a second FN button you'll be dipping into the menu quite frequently to change settings. It does remember where you were last at which is useful but if you have two things to change - e.g. ND filter on/off and AF assist lamp on/off it - it's annoying to have to ping pong when you could easily just customise if there was a bit more thought put into it.
- Despite the niggles above, which are really pointing out gripes, I really enjoyed having this camera with me. I felt I was getting DSLR shots from a tiny package, as I said, I could carry it in my shorts's pocket which was brilliant in an Austin that was easily 80 deg F +. The OVF esp makes shooting a lot of fun and the IQ is really really good, esp b/c of the great ISO performance (to my eyes at least) which means you can shoot in natural light a lot still at a decent shutter speed. I point out so many niggles only as to me they are that - niggles - speed bumps in the other wise fun drive of using the camera. But perhaps they're deal breakers for others so are mentioned.
- Speaking of ISO, ISO performance was excellent so I only needed the flash on two occasions - once when shooting after dark and two when shooting against a sunset and I wanted the flash as a fill for the subject, which worked great incidentally as the AE/AF Lock button is set to AE Lock so really useful for that job.
- The size/design also was great as there was no intimidation factor. I did some from the hip shooting, but more so the camera has the slim profile that Leica shooters are accustomed to vs a DSLR and is very quiet.
- The camera also draw a lot of admirers from anyone who saw/used it which is a big plus, not just the design but also the IQ.
To summarise
- The camera is pocketable with the right trousers, but even then it's pretty small/easy to carry around and has a low profile and is quiet.
- IQ is really good, not as good as my 5dmk2 but that's a given, it's good DSLR performance. I felt the dynamic range was good when not facing into the sun too. The ISO performance was really good so natural light photographers will like it, esp w/the auto iso customisation though you do need to always be checking your dials to ensure they've not nudged in your pocket/bag. However, you can still get solid results if you do push it a bit and can also easily correct in PS.
- The design isn't without flaws, e.g. locking buttons are needed as is a second Fn button and a better grip, but on the whole the design screams 'use me' and therefore provides a great photography experience, esp given the size/profile.
- The OVF is also a real stand out features and makes the money worth it beyond anything else, this will get copied soon and it'll be to all of our benefit.
I feel the X100 is like the 5dmk2 was - a great camera with some standout features you really come to appreciate. In the Canon's corner was it's awesome video mode that has been a real game changer. I mean, I went to SXSW last year too and everyone was using video cameras, now everyone was using DSLR's, it's the new world order of things.
The X100 I feel continues the trend of the last year of large sensor, relatively compact cameras but it takes things further by providing a real first class camera built around this concept, not just shrunken cameras without the required feature set.
I mean, I bought and sold a NEX-5 as I hadn't the interface, ergonomics and lack of hotshoe. I bought and sold a Sigma DP2S because it was awful to use but took great pics, so I told it and bought a 20 buck Mju II. I tried an E-PL1 but it just didn't get there IQ wise. The Leica X1 seemed great but I can't afford and has no VF.
The X100 therefore for me is the first camera that really nails it for this genre. The others to date have felt a bit like compromises, whereas the X100, despite it flaws, feels like the first real step in the right direction.
Well, perhaps the second step. As lets not forget how amazing the Ricoh GXR is too y'all!
Images
Here's some OOC jpeg images, no processing. There's are my snapshots from the conference and walking around, I put them up for people to see, not to judge, so please refrain from doing that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44388193@N06/sets/72157626353159386/with/5560171244/
Overview
I, like a lot of us, was always checking online for info ever since I saw the first announcement as for ages I'd wanted a digital Contax G2 - something thats great quality, with a separate viewfinder (i.e. doesn't share a hotshoe so I can still use a flash) and isn't a DSLR/is compact enough to not seem imposing.
The later was important for me because in my day job I make music videos and am always getting bogged down in tech, all of which takes me from developing my relationship with the artist and so getting a better performance from them. When it comes to photography, whilst I'm still learning my way along, I decided I didn't want to focus on gear and wanted to focus on this relationship with the subject, to help them feel comfortable and really pay attention to them, often at the expense of 'gear' or at least technical perfection.
The X100 therefore, whilst not perfect, seemed good for me - small enough, high enough quality, with a viewfinder and free hotshoe for my flash. Oh and it was auto focus. I'd like a M9 but I get bad headaches if I strain my eyes so auto focus is a blessing for me.
The design and other manual control aspects are useful but were secondary to my goals of having something that worked how I wanted it to. I'll never claim to be a photography expert, but I do have a decent enough eye and this camera, on paper, at least seemed the digital camera that most fit how I wanted to shoot. It has no interchangeable lenses and isn't full frame, but one step at a time!
I was super pumped to find an X100 in stock in the UK a few weeks ago because I was leaving to go to SXSW in Austin, TX and was looking forwards to having the camera for that maelstrom of an experience. Last year I had taken a 5dmk2 and it was a massive bulky thing, this year I took only my shiny new X100 and also my Ricoh GRD3, which is my P+S snapshot camera that I adore and pretty much use these days exclusively in B+W (often at ISO 1600, max contrast, min sharpness for the curious).
As it was, I used the camera a fair amount but not a huge amount for two reasons. Firstly I wore jeans at the start as I was going to music panels in the day and wanted to maintain a degree of respectability, and secondly because when I would get out and about in the evening I'd leave my bag behind and just take the GRD3 in my jeans pocket. That being said, I used the X100 later in the week and in the few days I had after with friends as by then it was so hot I was onto the shorts and the X100 DID fit in my shorts pocket which was most appreciated!
Points
- The design fits well in my hand, I never felt I would drop it, although I think the raised grip should be more pronounced as it's a bit too slim to feel really secure. Again referring to the GRD3, the Ricoh has a strong and thick grip which is easier to get the bottom part of your fingers/top part of your palm around, whereas the X100 feels like it's held more with the top part of your fingers, so the grip you have on it is less firm. To put it in context, I'd imagine I could hold the Ricoh firm in a mosh pit but I wouldn't feel so safe about the X100.
- Having manual dials is super awesome and with auto iso bracketing setup I never felt I needed to change the ISO, I was always happy with the camera's selections. Admittedly I didn't use the RAW button at all, so that's a pointless button to me, having a Fn2 button like the GRD3 in that place would be more useful so I could setup the ISO button there would be significantly better.
- Again on that point one annoying thing was keep having to go into the menu system to turn the ND filter on or off. I'm 100% behind the leaf shutter and it's lovely quiet shooting, it's really cool, and I accept the limitation therefore of only being able to shoot at 1/1000 of a second at f2, it's annoying but I'll take the hit for the quiet shutter which let me be very stealthy even if I didn't need to be heh. However it was lame to have to go into the menu system to fudge with the ND filter. The functionality of the camera would be very much improved by having the RAW button customisable so I could turn the ND on/off with it, or the ISO and mapping the ND to the Fn1 button etc. SO much better is what it would be! For a camera designed to be a professional tool, to have to root in the menu for this is lame.
- Speaking of dials, everyone has said this so I'll reiterate - they need to lock! Again the GRD3, another simple but pro in feel camera has a really simple mode dial lock, it's so simple but it works perfectly. The Exposure Comp dial is so ridiculously easy to knock you really do have to check it every time you take the camera out your pocket, which again is easy to fix and lame that it wasn't thought out better. The shutter button can also move and should have a lock, but since it has a hard stop at the A selection it wasn't a big deal for me personally.
- Lack of 1/3rd settings for the aperture ring is a shame. I know you can use the jog dial but who wants to do that? Again it seems like such a simple thing to have thought about and I don't see why they didn't. That being said I shot mostly at f2 so I can't complain too much and they do cover the big bases, but it does seem an obvious thing to fix.
- Speaking of f2, the DoF is reasonably shallow which is good, at f2 with a full body portrait you can get a decent blurred background which is good. However I also don't think the Bokeh is that good, it is a bit noisy. It's not bad or anything, but for a 9 blade aperture lens I was expecting something super creamy like the Sigma 50m f1.4 lens for example and it's not that. That being said at f2 the images are decently sharp, not sharp as a tack, but not soft. (On default settings btw).
- Another slightly lame thing is that I'm left eyed so to take a pic I have to squash my eye right up to LCD screen, placing the natural oils of my nose on the LCD. I get I'm the minority but it's still a drag. I'd also saw the VF window gets dirty easily and isn't too easy to clean but this doesn't affect performance or your view.
- Focus is decent, I like that I can reduce the focus window in EVF mode but it's a shame you can't in OVF mode. OVF mode is SO GOOD and I only ever wanted to go to EVF mode when I had to (close subject/macro etc), otherwise it's OVF all the way, it really really is excellent! However the spot focusing window is pretty big and I couldn't reliably pick out the exact spot I wanted on someone. E.G. If you really need someone's near eye in focus you might need to go to the EVF, get the small focus window, and use that to ensure you get it right.
Also annoying is the focus window selection size you've chosen doesn't stay on the EVF if you switch to the OVF. It'd be much more useful if the EVF window would stay how you wanted it, so when you want to switch to the EVF it's ready to go. One thing is the OVF focus window isn't accurate enough for me due to it's size, I felt taking shots of people's faces sometimes focused on the background because the focus window was large enough to include both front and back elements, which leads to some oof images which is a shame. The EVF also has more focus points so is generally more accurate, esp in low light. It'd also be nice if you could reduce the OVF's focus window to get more precise focusing.
Focus speed is generally pretty fast, not lightning, but I never noticed it dragging and it never got in the way of my shooting.
- However one thing I didn't like was the camera startup time - it's like 3 seconds or so. I know you can go for a fast start which eats the battery and I might try that but on normal mode it's a slow starter so you have to be on your guard to anticipate. In fairness a lot of compacts with retractable lenses take a while too, it's in the fixed lens cameras like DSLR's when you don't have this going on. You also need to take the cap off before you turn it on as if you leave it on the projected display is often really opaque, as if it's judging the opacity/brightness of the display wrong w/the cap on. Not always, just sometimes and if that sometimes is when you need your shot etc...
- Battery life was decent, the camera lasted to all but the second to last day with medium usage throughout. I'd imagine I took around 600 shots in total of which around 450ish were from one battery. That's with my hitting the view mode button so I'm only using the LCD to review, it's off otherwise. Charging is pretty slow however and the battery indicator is pretty useless and doesn't show the accurate reduction in battery life - it shows you've got lots then the battery dies!
- The battery compartment is also pretty flimsy but I didn't have trouble with it. I did however with the lens cap which I'm not a fan of. A push on cap is asking for trouble imo and would much prefer an auto lens cap, hopefully someone 3rd party will bring something out asap.
- The rotating menu dial thing sucks, it's flimsy and the centre OK button is difficult to push, I have to almost use a nail which is fraught when shooting and despite being male I have thin, feminine hands (lolz) and even I have trouble. Y'all with piano playing hands will find it difficult to use. Unfortunately with the lack of a second FN button you'll be dipping into the menu quite frequently to change settings. It does remember where you were last at which is useful but if you have two things to change - e.g. ND filter on/off and AF assist lamp on/off it - it's annoying to have to ping pong when you could easily just customise if there was a bit more thought put into it.
- Despite the niggles above, which are really pointing out gripes, I really enjoyed having this camera with me. I felt I was getting DSLR shots from a tiny package, as I said, I could carry it in my shorts's pocket which was brilliant in an Austin that was easily 80 deg F +. The OVF esp makes shooting a lot of fun and the IQ is really really good, esp b/c of the great ISO performance (to my eyes at least) which means you can shoot in natural light a lot still at a decent shutter speed. I point out so many niggles only as to me they are that - niggles - speed bumps in the other wise fun drive of using the camera. But perhaps they're deal breakers for others so are mentioned.
- Speaking of ISO, ISO performance was excellent so I only needed the flash on two occasions - once when shooting after dark and two when shooting against a sunset and I wanted the flash as a fill for the subject, which worked great incidentally as the AE/AF Lock button is set to AE Lock so really useful for that job.
- The size/design also was great as there was no intimidation factor. I did some from the hip shooting, but more so the camera has the slim profile that Leica shooters are accustomed to vs a DSLR and is very quiet.
- The camera also draw a lot of admirers from anyone who saw/used it which is a big plus, not just the design but also the IQ.
To summarise
- The camera is pocketable with the right trousers, but even then it's pretty small/easy to carry around and has a low profile and is quiet.
- IQ is really good, not as good as my 5dmk2 but that's a given, it's good DSLR performance. I felt the dynamic range was good when not facing into the sun too. The ISO performance was really good so natural light photographers will like it, esp w/the auto iso customisation though you do need to always be checking your dials to ensure they've not nudged in your pocket/bag. However, you can still get solid results if you do push it a bit and can also easily correct in PS.
- The design isn't without flaws, e.g. locking buttons are needed as is a second Fn button and a better grip, but on the whole the design screams 'use me' and therefore provides a great photography experience, esp given the size/profile.
- The OVF is also a real stand out features and makes the money worth it beyond anything else, this will get copied soon and it'll be to all of our benefit.
I feel the X100 is like the 5dmk2 was - a great camera with some standout features you really come to appreciate. In the Canon's corner was it's awesome video mode that has been a real game changer. I mean, I went to SXSW last year too and everyone was using video cameras, now everyone was using DSLR's, it's the new world order of things.
The X100 I feel continues the trend of the last year of large sensor, relatively compact cameras but it takes things further by providing a real first class camera built around this concept, not just shrunken cameras without the required feature set.
I mean, I bought and sold a NEX-5 as I hadn't the interface, ergonomics and lack of hotshoe. I bought and sold a Sigma DP2S because it was awful to use but took great pics, so I told it and bought a 20 buck Mju II. I tried an E-PL1 but it just didn't get there IQ wise. The Leica X1 seemed great but I can't afford and has no VF.
The X100 therefore for me is the first camera that really nails it for this genre. The others to date have felt a bit like compromises, whereas the X100, despite it flaws, feels like the first real step in the right direction.
Well, perhaps the second step. As lets not forget how amazing the Ricoh GXR is too y'all!
Images
Here's some OOC jpeg images, no processing. There's are my snapshots from the conference and walking around, I put them up for people to see, not to judge, so please refrain from doing that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44388193@N06/sets/72157626353159386/with/5560171244/
