X100 or X10 as backup for M?

X100 or X10 as backup for M?

  • Fuji X100

    Votes: 30 46.9%

  • Fuji X10

    Votes: 16 25.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 18 28.1%
  • Total voters
    64
  • Poll closed .
R

ramosa

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All,

I have had an M8 for about three years and have never had a true backup camera or partner for it. (Next year, I'll move up to FF.) But, currently, I'm pondering adding a Fuji X100 or Fuji X10. My goal would be to have a solid backup, but also a camera that I could tote along with me at times when I normally wouldn't be carrying my M body, etc. (I would not want an interchangeable lens camera for this purpose.)

What would you get? And why?

Thanks,

R
 
I use a Fuji X100 as a backup to my M9...but then the X100 has shown that it is great in its own right, so now it is a camera that I use side by side with the M9. The X100 gives me the easy access to high ISO the M9 doesn't have. I'm not sure the X10 would give you the quality you expect from a back-up in all situations.
 
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I have an X10 inbound to supplement my M6. The X100 is interesting but out of budget, and I should start putting money away for a digital ILC...
 
Hmm, as a backup to a digital M, maybe. To a non-battery-dependent shooting style with manual M bodies, no.
 
Hard to answer this poll. Pro? Amateur? It all depends how much money you have and are willing to blow on a back-up and other criteria.
 
Backup (in the event the M fails sort of backup): X100

To complement the M: X10.
 
I just was in this situation myself. I also needed a camera that other people could use when out on trips with friends or family. Handing someone the M8 to take a picture of me with family just never worked unless I zone focused outdoors. Indoors...forget it!

I ended up with an Olympus E-pm1 and the 17mm f/2.8. Thought the 20mm 1/7 would have been a good choice as well.

The Olympus is tiny next to the M8 and weighs a lot less. I can actually put the camera in a jacket pocket. Fast autofocus, decent file quality, and very few buttons works for me. Actually, I prefer less buttons. I can control WB, ISO, shutter, Aperture, focus point, exp. comp. and switch between auto and manual focus with my right thumb. It is surprisingly pretty easy to manually control the camera. It also came with a decent zoom lens. Not the best...but its something. I much prefer the 17mm 2.8 pancake. Sharp, great character, and beautiful blur. Just not super fast, but the 20mm is the one for speed.

Honestly you getting 95% of the E-p3 in the E-pm1, but with a much smaller package.

You might want to check it out. I found it compliments my M8 much better than other cameras out there at the moment. I find I also sometimes just take a 75mm lens on my leica and that way I can just pull out the olympus for my 35mm view. It also has a much quieter shutter than the M8.
 
My M8 is the backup for my M9.... And the Digilux2 the backup for the backup.
 
I find the M8 and X100 work together quite well - merge the two and you would have a superb camera. However, it is no problem to carry both or use each in isolation.
 
I can't really see the point of a X100 as a backup, unless you want simply to duplicate a 35mm angle of view.

My idea of a backup camera is that its smaller than the main camera, and does things the main camera can't do. So a zoom lens and AF seems like a good idea, video seems like a good idea, and in fact all the other things an X10 can do 'just in case' seem like a good idea. A backup camera to earn its keep has to be able to offer options, not just replace another camera should that fail, and which if you think about it is a pretty pessimistic way of looking at life.

Steve
 
In general the concept of backup means 'more of the same' so functionality remains seamless (i.e. interoperable). Its very personal of course, but if I am shooting street or documentary with a full frame M, I won't be able to continue the flow if I suddenly start having to use a little compact with a slow zoom, tiny sensor and AF. On my last trip I used a M and a X-Pan and considered the latter close enough to stand in as the main should the M die. I was shooting very simply and not using much by way of FLs.

I have just gotten my paws on my X100 so cannot fully comment yet, but I think it will be able to act as a fair replacement as long as 35mm is your main FL (it is for me and I just shot 90% of my last project with it). The added bonus is that high ISO is quite breathtaking. Ideally I would have bought a M9 to compliment and back up my film Ms (and vica versa) but could not afford it. I think the X100 will turn out to be a good choice from what I have seen so far and the $5800 saving


250swb said:
I can't really see the point of a X100 as a backup, unless you want simply to duplicate a 35mm angle of view.

My idea of a backup camera is that its smaller than the main camera, and does things the main camera can't do. So a zoom lens and AF seems like a good idea, video seems like a good idea, and in fact all the other things an X10 can do 'just in case' seem like a good idea. A backup camera to earn its keep has to be able to offer options, not just replace another camera should that fail, and which if you think about it is a pretty pessimistic way of looking at life.

Steve
Click to expand...
 
A real backup with slightly smaller sensor with better dynamics and higher ISO capability will be the GXR with M mount. All lenses are fine, the ultra wides are even better (15 & 12mm), the body is smaller and when the eyes become tired, just add a AF 28 or 50mm.
 
Turtle said:
In general the concept of backup means 'more of the same' so functionality remains seamless (i.e. interoperable).
Click to expand...

Yes its what professional photographers do, have duplicate kit. So in this instance is that meant to be like living the life of a pro, needing backups, dreaming about the day you can tell the world you needed your backup camera and how serious you are that you need a backup camera? It sounds more like an affectation to me, given very few people ever need that sort of backup.

The bottom line is that if more of the same is a serious supposition then it should really be 'more of the same', and show your seriousness to the cause by buying another M9. After all an X100 is not even close to replacing an 'M' camera simply because you are stuck with one focal length, or hadn't you noticed? :D

Steve
 
250swb said:
Yes its what professional photographers do, have duplicate kit. So in this instance is that meant to be like living the life of a pro, needing backups, dreaming about the day you can tell the world you needed your backup camera and how serious you are that you need a backup camera? It sounds more like an affectation to me, given very few people ever need that sort of backup.

The bottom line is that if more of the same is a serious supposition then it should really be 'more of the same', and show your seriousness to the cause by buying another M9. After all an X100 is not even close to replacing an 'M' camera simply because you are stuck with one focal length, or hadn't you noticed? :D

Steve
Click to expand...
Dear Steve,

For a given value of 'need'. Did I 'need' the other M2 I used when one M2 jammed? Probably not. But I'd have missed the pics I've used, both for hard cash and for 'soft' cash (on the web-site, where hardly anyone pays).

On my most recent trip to the Pyrenees (I'm sending two articles out tomorrow) I had an M9 and an M8 -- and there were times when the M8 was more useful than the M9 (close-ups of an on-the-road repair, using a 75 Summicron).

Yes, I could live with just the 35mm equivalent on an X100 -- if I could live with the X100. But it's easier to use a second M body, very similar (so I don't have to think hard about using it), even with the crop factor. I carried 18-35-50-75-135, or, as equivalents, 24-47-67-100-180.

Even when I was a pure amateur, I found it easier to adopt professional approaches (two similar/identical bodies) simply because it made it a virtual certainty that I would be able to get the pictures I wanted. That's not the same as saying they'd be any good (any more than it's saying the same thing today), but at least it's saying that if I screw up, I can't easily blame it on having the wrong cameras/lenses.

Cheers,

R.
 
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