X-Pro1: stay or go?

[Canyongazer]

Dante, do you use the Optical VF? If so, I'd sell XPro1 soon-ish while it's still worth some $$$ and get a (pending) XP-2 when it comes. It is more than likely to have much better AF.
If not using OVF much I'd sell the XP1 and buy a X-E2 right now.

Either case means keeping the Fuji lenses, a wise non-move, IMO.

 

[traveler_101]

A camera not used should be sold so that someone else can use it; alternately it can be put into storage if you want to save it as a collectible.

It appears that the earlier rumours that the X-PRO 2 will be a so-called "full-frame" camera ("full-frame": digi-speak for 35mm), have been retracted by "trusted sources". So you could sell the body now, keep the lenses and wait for the new camera.

Alternately, you buy a XE-2 now and get a smaller and better handling camera that you can use immediately 🙂

 

[MiniMoke]

Whatever happens at photokina, the X-Pro1 won't stop making good pictures.

I voted you keep it, but that's just my opinion

 

[jsrockit]

None of this stuff is hard to reaquire and it all goes down in value (yes, even the lenses), so... no harm in selling. You can always rebuy.

 

[Dante_Stella]

These are interesting comments, and I always enjoy thought exercises on RFF.

I'll preface this by saying that I don't believe that cameras are investments, except to the extent they are useful in producing salable output. But that I am also not so rich that I light my cigars with $100 bills. Except at that one club. 🙂

One comment I do want to make in relation to the "sell the body while it's still worth something" suggestors is that if you bought an X-Pro1 when it came out, it is already essentially worth very little compared to when you bought it. Fuji started bundling lenses a couple of months after launch and ultimately dropped the retail price 41% from its start (from $1,699 to 999). This pretty much caps the amount for which you could sell any used X-Pro1, no matter how nice, since you couldn't easily match the 2-year factory warranty. So keeping the body compared to keeping just the lenses is not as big a difference as you think, since it still has value for use as a camera.

Every indication is that Fuji's APS-C modus operandi is to introduce high and drop prices to keep up volume. While this is fairly normal for cheap consumer products, it is a cardinal sin in higher-end products, due to brand equity considerations. Specs might improve with succeeding models, but no price ever goes down. You might drop your production volume, offer post-purchase rebates, or dump product in other markets (Leica has done all of these), but you don't do things that make it look like your products were overpriced in the first place. Techniques like that also alienate those of your early adopters who perceive that they will get burned every time they buy a new camera. And tiny (and incremental - what, 6 cameras now on the same 16mp sensor?) changes that mostly serve to make older stuff less "new" and to depress the resale market don't increase the Fuji love.

The practical effect, though, is that it is highly unlikely that - post X-Pro2 - that the depreciation of an X-Pro1 would ever match the extent to which Fuji forces depreciation by slashing the retail price on new introductions. If you care about the financial end (and I'm not saying I do), you would conclude that you're better off selling the -1 now and buying the -2 when it does not set the world on fire (Fuji has no problem meeting its demand).

So at the end of the day, this may all really be a question of folding or going all-in.

Dante

 

[MaxElmar]

Dante- you are very right that a good thought problem can be great fun, especially amongst the RFF crew. This is a fine bunch - more thoughtful than most on the interwebs.

Theoretical considerations aside, it has been my observation (over many years) that I have never regretted selling a camera, but I have often regretted selling lenses. Hence my vote to sell the body and keep the glass. My finances are limited, as is appropriate storage space in my home so the calculus is different. I guess I should rethink, as Leica-type lenses are useful on many different cameras, Fuji lenses only on those cameras.

BTW - please keep writing on your site when you can - I find your style very enjoyable - and your command of the topic very solid.

Regards,

 

[JohnL]

If your main problem with the af is, that it does refocus when you take a picture, then there is a solution. Use backbutton focus. This way focus is not coupled to the shutter button.

+1. This is how I nearly always focus my XP1. If you suddenly want your live focus back again, just switch the MF off on the front dial, and go to C or S.
When using back-button focus, check the focus scale in the viewfinder to be sure you actually did focus on what you intended to.

 

[agoglanian]

I'm still using mine quite a bit despite the depreciation which I largely could care less about. I buy equipment to use it, not collect it. I bought my X-Pro a year ago and I've used it extensively for the majority of my personal work. I still plan on working with it until it pretty much stops working. I am curious to see what the X-Pro 2 will wind up being but I personally will probably just hold onto the 1 and keep it as a backup. I realize that in your situation the AF may not be fast enough for tracking the movements of sporadic children but as you are someone accustomed to rangefinder shooting you should be able to get pretty successful results with the back-button af method. I switch between using it and not but I generally find it works pretty well.

I still rely on my Canon EOS system for commercial work and all of my video work, but all my personal work is shot on the X-Pro or 35mm/120 film.

If it's not a financial burden for you to keep it, I would.

 

[noimmunity]

Since the X-Pro2 is rumoured not to have the new organic sensor, I think I will hang on to my XP1 and wait, maybe buy another lens in the meantime. The 56 and the 16 would be nice, but kind of stretch at this point.
I wouldn't be surprised to see an XP3 that is essentially the same as the XP2 except for the organic sensor.

 

[rivercityrocker]

Personally, I disliked the XPro-1. My vote is to sell, especially since you're getting good results with the M240. When the XPro-2 comes out the prices of the 1 will plummet. I think they are holding right now because although the XPro-1 is far behind the tech in the newest X cameras it's still the only interchangeable lens Fuji with a real OVF.

 

[Dante_Stella]

Noimmunity, what is the organic sensor supposed to do? Is it as exciting as backlit sensors were supposed to be?

Dante

 

[raid]

Keep the set and then get the XPro-2 when it comes out.

 

[dogberryjr]

Noimmunity, what is the organic sensor supposed to do? Is it as exciting as backlit sensors were supposed to be?

Dante

It's the same as a regular sensor, but it costs 30% more and comes in a hemp box. 😉

 

[Dante_Stella]

It's the same as a regular sensor, but it costs 30% more and comes in a hemp box. 😉

Is it free range?
Dante

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I'm with zleica here. Fuji needs to build an x-pro-like body with manual focusing aid in the optical viewfinder. And then they need to come out with smaller manual focus versions of the 23, 35, and 56mm lenses. Then I'd get back into the X system.

 

[f16sunshine]

I'm with zleica here. Fuji needs to build an x-pro-like body with manual focusing aid in the optical viewfinder. And then they need to come out with smaller manual focus versions of the 23, 35, and 56mm lenses. Then I'd get back into the X system.

It would be nice but those are some hefty demands! 😱
Maybe the focusing aid could happen.
With my 5Dii I use the AF emulator chips for adapted Contax and Zuiko lenses. It just goes a red Blip on the designated focus point when you hit "optimal" focus. Usually it's very good. ( I always use the center and re-compose.
If fuji could do that we would all be stoked!
Having a mini box with an enlarged area would be very distracting in my opinion. I would try it but Not like it.

The Manual lenses are not going to happen unless it's by wire and in that case what's the point?

I rather would like a non Macro "pancake" version of the 60mm f2.4 😀

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I've bought, sold and traded cameras since I got into photography in the early 1970s. It may be obvious to some but it takes others a while to realise that the cost of changing cameras is calculated the same way as changing cars:

1. what's the hard, monetary difference involved in trading X for Y?
2. Is Y (the new kit) really going to give you what you want / need or at least make some material improvement in your life / enjoyment?
3. Are there things aboyt X (old kit) that you will miss (maybe even can't do without).

It's not an easy formula to express scientifically but I bet we've all decided that "the grass is greener", bought into a new system / concept and regretted it - without really knowing why....

 

[Trooper]

Does the camera still work? Did the resolution degrade over time? Was there an inherent problem with any photographs taken by a flagship model in 2012?

 

[Dante_Stella]

Does the camera still work? Did the resolution degrade over time? Was there an inherent problem with any photographs taken by a flagship model in 2012?

That's an interesting counter-question that makes sense in a vacuum but less so where the question is whether the X system serves a compelling purpose (or might given trends in body improvements) given the presence in the house of (i) an after-acquired and now matured M typ 240 that has higher resolution and is marginally easier to keep focused and (ii) a D700.

This does give me an idea for exposition, namely, the Relative Irritation Factor (RIF), which might be a reason to change equipment that has nothing to do with its "not taking good pictures anymore."

RIF would be based instead on whether there is a less annoying way to do something (even if the technical end product is not different) and would be justifiable as a measure because life is short, and there is no value add in suffering. I'm not saying that's a Fuji X issue, but it is one way to rationalize why pro film cameras took on more and more features over time. It's probably also how Leica got feature creep in the M series.

Dante

 

[lxmike]

I would keep your fuji kit