videogamemaker
Well-known
I think it's clear to anyone who's browsed this new sub-forum that I have a serious case of the wants for the X100. I am addicted to checking the tweets, the youtubes, the rumor sites, and this forum multiple times a day. I can't remember a product in the past that has had me this excited, and I've been trying to think of why.
What has you excited about this particular product (if you are excited, that is)?
There really isn't anything it will enable I can't do now with my current gear, which is why I know I'm projecting heavily, but I think it's still fun to talk about, to pass the time between website tidbits and the product release. If you think this is a dumb exercise, close the thread, move on, negative comments aren't needed.
What has you excited about this particular product (if you are excited, that is)?
- Obviously the first reason is at some subconscious level I think it will revolutionize my photography and enable me to reach a new level. Bull**** and hogwash, but I can't deny that every new trip, photo shoot, or photo product elicits a little twinkle in this gland, however unreasonable the thought may be.
- The biggest reason is that I just don't carry my camera around enough. I prefer doing lit, planned photo shoots, and in those instances I have no problem schlepping around wheeled cases of lights, stands, tripods, multiple large lenses and a big honking dslr over my shoulder. Lately though, I've been wanting to do more casual walk around shooting. Capturing my home life, my friend's visits, the nights on the town, the little scenes around Reykjavik that I see as I drive and walk around. I've tried to make myself carry my dslr, but at some point it just becomes annoying. Too large to fit easily under the seat, heavy around my shoulder, bumping into things, etc. I tried buying a small ricoh film camera, and I've only shot 24 out of 36 exposures. The non-ability to suck off images as I shoot them is annoying, and film is ludicrously expensive here. (20 bux for a roll of provia 400x, 35 bux for processing to CD). I tried borrowing a friend's digital point/shoot, a canon s90. It was convenient, and I kept it on me, but I didn't like the quality of the files it produced, and I didn't like the everything-in-focus aspect of the tiny sensor. The X100 (and also the leica X1) seems to be the first camera that is both small enough to take with me everywhere, but will still deliver the image quality I am used to with my 5D, and give me shallow enough dof for the look I prefer. (something the Nex with it's slow, too wide for me lens cannot, and the m4/3 have too much dof and the image quality isn't quite what I'm after).
- Less obtrusive. We don't have the scare level of the US or UK with the police and government demonizing Dslrs as tools of terrorists, but they still give off an air of intrusiveness. Someone is trying to take your photo for a serious purpose. A little of it is cowardice on my side, and a little is the extra guardedness on the subjects side, when I bring a large camera and lens up to cover my entire face to snap a photo. I'm sure many here are familiar with the benefits of both the small size of a rangefinder, with the fact it only covers half your face. I feel like it will give me more confidence, and evoke less suspicion from my subjects.
- The hinted at 1/1,000 or even 1/4,000 sync speed. There are many times I'd like to balance my flash closer to the sun or ambient and with a top sync of 1/160 on the 5D with a skyport as the trigger, that leaves me only with ND filters, which are cumbersome and annoying. Being able to drop out ambient indoors completely, or tame the sun outdoors is going to open up a few creative looks I wasn't able to reach before.
There really isn't anything it will enable I can't do now with my current gear, which is why I know I'm projecting heavily, but I think it's still fun to talk about, to pass the time between website tidbits and the product release. If you think this is a dumb exercise, close the thread, move on, negative comments aren't needed.
