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Veteran
By a remarkable coincidence, my local camera pusher had taken delivery of some X-Pro 1's this week, so I had a chance to play with one for a bit.
The camera was, as many have noted, fairly light and almost 'empty' feeling. The 35/1.4 was likewise light and 'empty'. But the overall feeling was very nice, with a good feeling in the hand and grip. Despite having nearly identical dimensions to the M9, it seemed a bit smaller, although I'm used to using the M9 in a leather half case that expands its size a touch.
Focusing was pretty snappy, although still not in the same league with a DSLR. More like the X10, which is faster than the X100, even with the new 1.20 firmware.
The EV dial is LOOSE. Much looser than I was expecting. The optical viewfinder isn't going to work too well for closer focusing, as tried it a number of times and it was focusing on the background. This may improve if I were to keep at it. The aperture blades do chatter a lot, too! It's rather intrusive and was one of the things that made me return the Leica X1.
But the image quality! My goodness! When I got the test jpegs into the computer, I was very surprised at the bokeh and sharpness. Hairs were perfectly visible and clear, pores of the skin were likewise, and the colour was very nice. The bokeh reminded me of a vintage lens, and the sharpness was very modern.
And then I checked the EXIF data and found that it had been set at ISO 3200! Now I want to know what the low ISO images are like, because the 3200 images were like the Ricoh GXR ISO 800 or maybe even lower.
I was vaguely tempted to slap down the plastic, but my card has taken a beating in the last few months and I REALLY don't need another camera! But Fuji have made a great product here, and I'm impressed. If I didn't already have others like the Ricoh GXR, Leica M9 or M7, I'd definitely be buying the X-Pro 1.
The camera was, as many have noted, fairly light and almost 'empty' feeling. The 35/1.4 was likewise light and 'empty'. But the overall feeling was very nice, with a good feeling in the hand and grip. Despite having nearly identical dimensions to the M9, it seemed a bit smaller, although I'm used to using the M9 in a leather half case that expands its size a touch.
Focusing was pretty snappy, although still not in the same league with a DSLR. More like the X10, which is faster than the X100, even with the new 1.20 firmware.
The EV dial is LOOSE. Much looser than I was expecting. The optical viewfinder isn't going to work too well for closer focusing, as tried it a number of times and it was focusing on the background. This may improve if I were to keep at it. The aperture blades do chatter a lot, too! It's rather intrusive and was one of the things that made me return the Leica X1.
But the image quality! My goodness! When I got the test jpegs into the computer, I was very surprised at the bokeh and sharpness. Hairs were perfectly visible and clear, pores of the skin were likewise, and the colour was very nice. The bokeh reminded me of a vintage lens, and the sharpness was very modern.
And then I checked the EXIF data and found that it had been set at ISO 3200! Now I want to know what the low ISO images are like, because the 3200 images were like the Ricoh GXR ISO 800 or maybe even lower.
I was vaguely tempted to slap down the plastic, but my card has taken a beating in the last few months and I REALLY don't need another camera! But Fuji have made a great product here, and I'm impressed. If I didn't already have others like the Ricoh GXR, Leica M9 or M7, I'd definitely be buying the X-Pro 1.