Why I sold my X100

[willie_901]

If one doesn't enjoy using the X100, then of course they will be disappointed. No camera will please every photographer. I did not enjoy the Canonet G-III (focus) and the Lumix G-1 (IQ) ... so I sold them.

I enjoy mine. I accepted the fact that the X100 is an autofocus platform and moved on. I use mostly focus and recompose. I use AF-S sometimes and MF other times (with the AF button) depending on the circumstances. It's about as fast as a analog rangefinder (I useded to a ZM body for a couple of years). It is much slower than a DSLR. My keeper rate (focus wise) is similar to what I experienced with the ZM. I don't mind glancing at the exposure compensation dial when I take it out of the bag.

I take it with me wherever I go.

 

[gavinlg]

I am not sure what people expect of this camera. I love mine so much I bought it twice. If I want to manually focus I will use my M9, I bought this back again for the ISO performance and for when I require AF. I think the AF assist in recent firmware upgrade has certainly helped AF performance for me. It to many functions/buttons etc in menus for me as well but it is the result that counts and I just use it the functions that I require and ignore the rest.

Agreed - I absolutely love mine. The best thing is that the metering and the auto-iso are so good that I can just leave them on auto and shoot aperture priority and it works perfectly.

What do you guys use the jog dial for? I've never had a reason to use it?

 

[Keith]

Agreed - I absolutely love mine. The best thing is that the metering and the auto-iso are so good that I can just leave them on auto and shoot aperture priority and it works perfectly.

What do you guys use the jog dial for? I've never had a reason to use it?

And you can now lock it!

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I've never used the jog dial. And my modified Thumbs Up pretty much covers up the jog dial anyway. I'm sure there's something cool you can use it for. Maybe I'll read the manual someday. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Speaking of ergonomics, I use a modified older Thumbs Up and it improves the hold-ability IMMENSELY! And now there's a Thumbs Up built specifically for the X100. I covered the Thumbs Up in gaffers tape for even more 'grip'.

 

[bhop73]

Agreed - I absolutely love mine. The best thing is that the metering and the auto-iso are so good that I can just leave them on auto and shoot aperture priority and it works perfectly.

What do you guys use the jog dial for? I've never had a reason to use it?

I use mine mostly for adjusting iso. I haven't really used auto iso, as I like to keep it as low as possible and adjust up only if I have to.

 

[back alley]

i miss mine...it would have been nice to be able to afford it and a second rd1...i hope to get another someday...

i found that once i set it up for my way of doing things that it responded quickly and surely...maybe the second gen will be more user friendly for folks.

 

[Rogier]

Yep I was disappointed the moment I handled it in person at B&H earlier this year.
Wish we could load our own software greatly taking all the BS out...

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I missed many with the Hexar. That camera often wouldn't lock focus fast enough for quickly changing street opportunities. Capabilities of these two cameras really do feel about the same to me.

 

[Keith]

I don't think I was disappointed in the X100 as such ... more just came to the realisation that it couldn't do what I was asking of it.

It was a stunning little camera and that viewfinder was absolute heaven.

Paul is using the RFF X100 to great effect IMO ... but he's not into blundering around in the dark trying to take photos as much as I am! 😀

 

[kanzlr]

Very similar to my GXR experience (prior to the M Mount announcement). The GXR is the perfect camera, but the AF was so slow, that it was unusable for anything non static.

If I knew the mount module was coming, I would have kept it, alas I haven't...

Manual focus is unusable. Auto focus was always an issue especially anything within 3 feet. If both the subject and I were moving AF sucked. I always had to plant myself and let the subject come into view and then fire, even then it could miss 30% of the time. And shooting f/8 all the time is not my idea of fun.

 

[Richard G]

And you can now lock it!

That is 'rock it' in official Fuji documentation.

 

[intheviewfinder]

My biggest disappointment is with the focusing. At that price point I expect more. The camera cost as much as a Nikon D90 yet cannot comparably focus. Also I bought the camera for the OVF not that nightmare they call EVF.

I used the jog in aperture priority mode to get 1/3 stops. And if I remember correctly I could use the Fn button and jog in combination to change ISO.

 

[gavinlg]

My biggest disappointment is with the focusing. At that price point I expect more. The camera cost as much as a Nikon D90 yet cannot comparably focus. Also I bought the camera for the OVF not that nightmare they call EVF.

I used the jog in aperture priority mode to get 1/3 stops. And if I remember correctly I could use the Fn button and jog in combination to change ISO.

Thats right the jog + ISO. I use auto ISO so that slipped my mind!

Could you elaborate on the focussing issues you had though? I've used mine in street parades with people moving and found the focussing different, but really no worse than my 5d, which I use center point/recompose. (I use a d90 for work too, so it's not that just that the 5d is crap!)

edit: After enabling the corrected AF frame (for parallax) I don't get mis-focussed shots anymore, even up on minimum focus distance.

 

[v_roma]

Yes, definitely agree. I have an X100 and have no plans to sell it. I just love the IQ too much. But focus (in general) is this camera's biggest flaw. AF is not all that fast (slower than m4/3) and MF is poorly implemented. Even if you use the AFL button, it still has to rely on the camera's AF. I would've loved fast AF and poor MF implementation OR slowish AF and good MF implementation (i.e., mechanically-coupled focusing ring with distance scale). Oh well, no camera is perfect. And you can't fault this camera's pictures.

My biggest disappointment is with the focusing. At that price point I expect more. The camera cost as much as a Nikon D90 yet cannot comparably focus. Also I bought the camera for the OVF not that nightmare they call EVF.

I used the jog in aperture priority mode to get 1/3 stops. And if I remember correctly I could use the Fn button and jog in combination to change ISO.

 

[elmer3.5]

Hi, no fuji, but i sold my leica x1 because of similar "issues" by the way i just never get used to the fact of having a 23mm lens (super wide) in order to achieve 35mm fov!
No fun at all @ 2.8 and 10 feet you get 13 feet of dof, with my m9 or other m cameras i focus way faster than these small P&S digital miracles!

I shoudn´t have sold my contax t3!!!
It is faster and better in everyway than my x1 or sigma dp2, and i think better than the x100 too.

Bye, i´ll et some t3 right now!!!😀

 

[umcelinho]

the X100 made me remember why I went after rangefinders: quick low light focusing. it's a bit ironic that it struggles to focus (or just won't focus at all) in very dim lit situations and yet its high ISO is superb... tried many different focusing techniques (including MF with AEL/AEF button) but still I find myself trying and trying to get focus in places like bars and streets at night and it gets lost.

I realised I just am too used to manual focusing and not leaving much for the camera to think.

 

[LTN]

The X100 is basically my poor-man's version of the M9. Quality images and optics. Fuji is not producing cameras with quirks intentionally. The quirkiness is related to the complexity of operation of a camera as advanced as this and one must take the time to let this system grow on you. I am amazed by the number of people who claim to dislike this camera. It certainly motivates folks to comment though and that in itself indicates the impact this has had on digital photography. What happened to us that we demand such perfection in products such as this? The essential function of this camera works absolutely perfectly - it takes wonderful photographs in the right hands.

Tom

 

[intheviewfinder]

Could you elaborate on the focusing issues you had though? .

As someone else said "it struggles to focus (or just won't focus at all)." My pet peeve is the slowness of the thing. If you're standing still and shooting f/4 or better you've got a chance. But if both you can the subject are moving forget it.

BTW I got this camera very early on. Mine was number 755. I made sure to update the firmware. I shot ~3k photos with it. It wasn't like I didn't give it a fair chance. There were just too many misses for my style of street photography.

Nice shot but she's sitting down and almost posed. I actually came up behind her and she turned as I was composing. Note the DOF. I can get this sort of shot with any camera.

It couldn't get this one. Never. I'm moving. She's moving. I'm in her face with a 20mm wide open. The X100 couldn't get this.

This is what I want it for, hanging off a wrist strap and ready to fire a moment's notice.

--Rich

 

[Gid]

I struggled to really like the X100 for quite some time - nothing to do with functionlity or focusing or IQ. However, I have come to really like it and happily use it along side my M8. It isn't necessarily low light that produces focusing problems, but low contrast (which often accompanies low light), so if you can find a bit of contrast it will lock on. It does take some time to get it set up and this requires you to RTM from front to back. This may be part of the reason why some people have struggled with it. I have no plans to sell mine.