X Pro , a step too far ?

[dee]

The M8 was instinctual , with few settings to concern me ... Maybe there is too much choice for an admitted ASDee snap shooter .
I have reverted to auto exposure (checking speeds v aperture ) with the easy compensation dial .
Also adopting the rear screen to avoid cousins myself over lost frame lines on OVF and if the EVF is set
It wil come I know that I am slow .
Dee

 

[Ken Ford]

I've found there's always a learning curve with new digital cameras - you'll adapt.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I've found there's always a learning curve with new digital cameras - you'll adapt.

Dear Ken,

But why should it be so long and so steep? Pick up a Leica M9 or a Nikon Df and all the major controls are in much the same place as they are in film cameras. Pick up a digibox and they're all over the place, depending on which camera you buy.

Cheers,

R.

 

[willie_901]

Just find the menu and camera settings that work for you and forge ahead. Loss of OVF frames lines is not capricious.

For non-OVF cameras the LCD and EVF display settings and look can be different if different display menu options are set for each display mode. The OVF does add a third set of independent menu display options. It took me a while to figure out how to set the parameters for each display to meet my needs. Once these parameters are set switching between the EVF/OVF is fast and convenient.

 

[willie_901]

Dear Ken,

But why should it be so long and so steep? Pick up a Leica M9 or a Nikon Df and all the major controls are in much the same place as they are in film cameras. Pick up a digibox and they're all over the place, depending on which camera you buy.

Cheers,

R.

Good point.

It's long and steep because camera manufacturers are way behind when it comes to implementing a user friendly, intuitive graphics interface. The GUI is stuck at the stage that caused 90% of all the VCRs to blink red date displays for most of their service lives.

In Fujifilm's case they started from scratch. The most expedient way to get in the market was to use menu-based technologies that were obsolete at least a decade ago. The downside was locking future cameras into the same obsolete firmware based system.

 

[jsrockit]

Format the memory card, pick an ISO, and then a shutter speed and aperture. I don't see how it's that hard. 😉

 

[nongfuspring]

You can set up and use the XP1 exactly the same way as you would an M8, albeit with autofocus. The XP1 has to be one of the easiest cameras to adapt to, 90% of the controls are physical and located in traditional locations.

There's a lot of information online, just google it.

 

[shawn]

The M8 was instinctual , with few settings to concern me ... Maybe there is too much choice for an admitted ASDee snap shooter .
I have reverted to auto exposure (checking speeds v aperture ) with the easy compensation dial .
Also adopting the rear screen to avoid cousins myself over lost frame lines on OVF and if the EVF is set
It wil come I know that I am slow .
Dee

Seems a shame to use the rear LCD instead of the OVF. What problem did you have with lost frame lines?

Did you press the "Display" button on the rear of the camera while in OVF mode?

Shawn

 

[daveleo]

Camera designs these days try to be all things to all people to keep sales volume up and costs down. So they are overloaded with selectable variables.
You need to spend some time on that learning curve and decide for yourself what controls you personally need to deal with shot-to-shot. That will boil the "problem" down to almost nothing at all. My guess is you will need to check/confirm only 3 or 4 variables (in the Q menu) before each set.
Piece of cake.

PS .... "slow" is not a bad thing.

 

[kshapero]

Dear Ken,

But why should it be so long and so steep? Pick up a Leica M9 or a Nikon Df and all the major controls are in much the same place as they are in film cameras. Pick up a digibox and they're all over the place, depending on which camera you buy.

Cheers,

R.

The Leica M9, yes, the DF was not so easy. Me thinks it is a D610 with dials (except for that wonderful sensor). now what's that new Leica without an LCD, etc.?

 

[Ken Ford]

Dear Ken,

But why should it be so long and so steep? Pick up a Leica M9 or a Nikon Df and all the major controls are in much the same place as they are in film cameras. Pick up a digibox and they're all over the place, depending on which camera you buy.

Cheers,

R.

Roger, I've found my XP1 to be very instinctive - almost as basic as my M-P. Shutter speed dial, aperture ring, shutter button - art was spewing from mine within five minutes of charging the battery. Bad art, true - but I was functional.

 

[dee]

Thanks all
For the most part ,I seem to be Ok ,then somthing throws me .
I guess it's because I got the camera a week before my wife's family holiday in Malaysia , so they all expect the instant ability of the typical rear screen based zoom point and shoot.
I do love the camera having dedicated fm to film modes colour to mono and , during learning , using auto with exposure compensation.
Got caught out with wide family pic with OVF instead of EVF oops missed those on the end , this threw me as it was just about the most crucial photo also taken by someone from family with simpler camera . Just got foci X those OVF frame lines as the reason I prefer the XPro is being able to see around the frame as with the M8 !
Struggling with new I phone to post here AND most using phones and negating cameras altogether !
Dee

 

[dee]

Maybe I am a bit stuffed cos the 27mm does not have an aperture ring, so is otherwise from the M8.
I also went into the M8 knowing all the parameters whereas the Fuji was a bargain basement once only £168 body plus 27mm via eBay , not the easiest entry into a professional camera !!
dee

 

[Darthfeeble]

What's to learn? It has a shutter button, aperture and speed controls, ISO setting, what else do you need?

 

[daveleo]

Thanks all
For the most part ,I seem to be Ok ,then somthing throws me .
I guess it's because I got the camera a week before my wife's family holiday in Malaysia , so they all expect the instant ability of the typical rear screen based zoom point and shoot.
I do love the camera having dedicated fm to film modes colour to mono and , during learning , using auto with exposure compensation.
Got caught out with wide family pic with OVF instead of EVF oops missed those on the end , this threw me as it was just about the most crucial photo also taken by someone from family with simpler camera . Just got foci X those OVF frame lines as the reason I prefer the XPro is being able to see around the frame as with the M8 !
Struggling with new I phone to post here AND most using phones and negating cameras altogether !
Dee

Yeh, I got my X100 just before a big Christmas family thing few years back. Not smart at all.
I looked like the clown that day, having hit the "drive>3fps" button not even knowing there was such a thing and not understanding what the camera was trying to do.
Takes time.

 

[mdwsta4]

Are you seriously saying that the M9 and DF are similar? In what way? If anything, I'd say the DF is exactly like the 'digi box' you refer to while the XP1 is much closer to the M9.

Pick up a Leica M9 or a Nikon Df and all the major controls are in much the same place as they are in film cameras.

Dee - Set the aperture on lens, set shutter speed on dial, set ISO in-camera (you can always assign the Fn button on the top plate for an ISO shortcut) on the XP1 and you're good to go. Exact same process as on a digital M. With the XP1 you have the benefit of framing via the OVF and frame lines or the EVF with the flip of the front switch. Or, if you prefer the rear LCD with the press of a single button on the rear of the camera. Not sure how anyone coming from a film camera would have any difficulty with a Fuji. Once you set it up the way you like it, you really never even need to dive back into the menus.

 

[jsrockit]

Are you seriously saying that the M9 and DF are similar? In what way? If anything, I'd say the DF is exactly like the 'digi box' you refer to while the XP1 is much closer to the M9.

Yeah, I agree with Roger. Not many cameras with dedicated shutter speed dials and optical VFs in which the user can ignore the menu completely (add the X-Pro and X100 series as the others). In this way, they are similar.

 

[FrankS]

It's over-whelming ... at first. Just give yourself time to become used to it.

 

[Dogman]

Most digital camera makers want to be all things to all people so they put dozens of features in their cameras that many people never need or want.

First digital camera I owned scared the hell out of me. I had been a photographer for 35 years but I was afraid to touch that camera for fear I would set it up in some unknown mode and never be able to figure out what I had done. It felt like a camera, looked like a camera and yet I viewed it as an F16 control panel and if I touched the wrong button I would launch a missile. But I worked through it eventually and even felt comfortable with it. Then I bought an early Olympus micro 4/3 with those crazy Olympus menus. Another period of frustration and bewilderment. But I figured it out and found every subsequent Olympus was pretty much the same layout.

My first Fujifilm camera was also the XP1. And it was also frustrating because it wasn't like the digital Canons, Olympuses and Panasonics I had used previously. But by this time I wasn't afraid to make mistakes with the camera while learning. So, dee, don't despair. We humans are marvelous creatures with an uncanny ability to adapt to various conditions. Make mistakes, press the wrong buttons, flip the wrong switches and be frustrated. You'll get there. The X-Pro1 is a sweet camera once mastered. The instruction book is useful. There are other books available as well. And, of course, there's always the Internet for assistance.

 

[dct]

I was used for years with a Konica Hexar RF as my main camera (somewhat an M7 clone, if you don't know it). Then I bought a Fuji X100 and - reading and testing - I set the controls to be used as similar to my Hexar RF as it was possible and forgot the menu system completely.
Same for the X-Pro1 I got a year later. Now I can pick one of the cameras and - using the OVF - the only different handling is using mostly AF versus RF with M lenses. Very instinctive meanwhile!