X100 Pics: The Mother Lode

Q

Quash

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Now here are a tonne of new pics, including lots of viewfinder and menu pics. If I only could read the Japanese menu screens.

Some quick things I noticed. Lots of VF options. The box. The youtube/facebook options (eye-fi card direct upload to these sites?), the bottom sticker which confirms it's made in Japan, the similarity in size to the Olympus EPL-1, which I just handled in a store last night (X100 is a bit smaller than my imagination thinks it will be), the weight on the scale.

What do other's notice?

http://bit.ly/hctCKd


* excuse the typo: mother load should be mother lode.
 
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It's a handsome camera, no doubt.
What I would love to see is - samples of pictures. And not the usual dpreview's pictures of Tower bridge, my iphone can do that, but rather real people's faces in different, preferably low light conditions, shots with lens open to see the bokeh, and so forth. Tricky conditions, where film normally outshines digital, at least digital point-and shoot...
We'll see, I guess.
 
Quash said:
Now here are a tonne of new pics, including lots of viewfinder and menu pics. If I only could read the Japanese menu screens.

Some quick things I noticed. Lots of VF options. The box. The youtube/facebook options (eye-fi card direct upload to these sites?), the bottom sticker which confirms it's made in Japan, the similarity in size to the Olympus EPL-1, which I just handled in a store last night (X100 is a bit smaller than my imagination thinks it will be), the weight on the scale.

What do other's notice?

http://bit.ly/hctCKd


* excuse the typo: mother load should be mother lode.
Click to expand...

You have been scooped.

See: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1536894&postcount=23
 
Surely they're going to give us a 'scratch and sniff soon!'

It's about all that's left. 😛
 
As much as I like the EV and the Fn buttons on the top right side, I wish they had put an ISO control up there, too. Something similar to the Canon G10~G12 arrangement would have worked and wouldn't have ruined the lines or the design philosophy.

I really like that Fuji is using the retro design/layout. Film cameras got to the point where there was some degree of standardization with regard to the placement of camera functional components. The only constant on most digital cameras is the location of the shutter release. This camera leverages film camera functionality, For example, the shutter speed dial, the on/off switch, and even the rewind release switch is there even though it serves a different function.

I have to wonder whether the aperture ring tangs will intrude with operating the top ring. Only usage will tell about the success of the ergos.

Next up the 360º and 3D viewer and the professional photographer testimonial. 😀


/
 
RayPA said:
As much as I like the EV and the Fn buttons on the top right side, I wish they had put an ISO control up there, too. Something similar to the Canon G10~G12 arrangement would have worked and wouldn't have ruined the lines or the design philosophy.

/
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I was thinking this too, but between the auto iso where you can set maximum ISO it should pick from, and the fact you can put the Fn button to control ISO with the jog dial, I think it's ok not to have it. I have shot with a camera with auto iso and I just set it and forget it, much nicer than having to manually adjust it.
 
videogamemaker said:
I was thinking this too, but between the auto iso where you can set maximum ISO it should pick from, and the fact you can put the Fn button to control ISO with the jog dial, I think it's ok not to have it. I have shot with a camera with auto iso and I just set it and forget it, much nicer than having to manually adjust it.
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Look at the ZI top deck layout.

They use a combined Shutter/ISO/EV dial, simple and elegant. All it's needed is an "A" setting in ISO...one could even make room for A-low, A, and A-high.

I do have a ZI and found that combined dial most intuitive in actual usage. The click stop to AE shutter setting is even firmer to avoid accidental selection.
 
I wouldn't complain if they included a real ISO dial, I was just saying I don't think it's lack will be as annoying as some think.

Anything is better than the 5D's implementation. No constant showing of ISO, no auto-iso, no ability to turn off 1/3 stops, and you have to memorize which top button to press, then which dial to rotate. Even after this long using it, when every other adjustment happens fluidly, changing ISO is an interruption.
 
videogamemaker said:
I was thinking this too, but between the auto iso where you can set maximum ISO it should pick from, and the fact you can put the Fn button to control ISO with the jog dial, I think it's ok not to have it. I have shot with a camera with auto iso and I just set it and forget it, much nicer than having to manually adjust it.
Click to expand...

Thing is, auto ISO doesn't work in manual mode, and one of the good things about this camera seems to be the effortless shifting between modes. also, it probably tends to make other decisions on when to bump iso or drop shutter speed / aperture than you would personally do. I wouldn't be surprised if it would bump iso when 1/60 f/2.8 results in underexposure, where i might have liked it to go to 1/30 f/2.

If Fn+dial works, I'd be happy. But I'm a little surprised I haven't seen any talk on what that dial does without the Fn button. It seems like a no-brainer to me to have one setting (say, ISO) toggled by the dial, and another available through Fn + dial. Another option would be to make Fn + dial to run through the options you could control with the dial, and the dial without Fn actually controlling the one you picked.


oh, i'm new here. I've been lurking since a few months because of x100 fever, and in the meantime, i've grown interest in rangefinders 🙂
 
But auto ISO can be enabled in manual mode, at least on some cameras.

Seeing as this camera doesn't really have a P mode, I am pretty sure auto iso will be enabled at all times if you so desire.

Most cameras have Aperture priority, shutter priority, and Program mode. Instead of this, the X100 allows the shutter to be put in auto mode, the aperture to be put in auto, and conveniently both if you desire. This is sort of like a P mode, but the way in which it works would be consistent to make ISO put to Auto in any combination as well.

You can choose the highest ISO it can pick as well as the lowest shutter speed. If you find you can consistently get 1/30, you just put that in as your lowest acceptable, and it will go there before bumping iso.
 
videogamemaker said:
But auto ISO can be enabled in manual mode, at least on some cameras.
Click to expand...

How would you call that manual if the camera decides on exposure through setting ISO itself?
I don't think the 'modes' on the x100 are special. Put both aperture and shutter on 'A', you're in P-mode. either one: aperture/shutter priority. Neither: manual mode. Same modes, different ways to get there.
It would be nice if you'd be able to set a minimum shutter speed before the camera would up the ISO, but so far I haven't seen that implemented anywhere. Well, there's always hope 🙂

Edit: Wait, I see what you mean with manual/auto ISO. It's what Pentax calls TAv-mode. Wouldn't be surprised if they have that patented though...
 
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urje said:
How would you call that manual if the camera decides on exposure through setting ISO itself?
I don't think the 'modes' on the x100 are special. Put both aperture and shutter on 'A', you're in P-mode. either one: aperture/shutter priority. Neither: manual mode. Same modes, different ways to get there.
It would be nice if you'd be able to set a minimum shutter speed before the camera would up the ISO, but so far I haven't seen that implemented anywhere. Well, there's always hope 🙂

Edit: Wait, I see what you mean with manual/auto ISO. It's what Pentax calls TAv-mode. Wouldn't be surprised if they have that patented though...
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Well I don't call it manual, and neither does (or hasn't yet) Fuji. It's an aperture and shutter dial that has an A setting, for Auto. It's not an Aperture priority or shutter priority in the traditional sense of an all digital camera with a P/A/S dial.

I could see it maybe being disabled with both on A because otherwise it might try adjusting ISO before shutter, but it could also just try to keep the ISO as low as possible till you hit the minimum shutter speed, then it ups the ISO.

I do not think an aperture priority with auto iso is patented by Pentax, because I just recently used a Canon S90 in this exact way. (aperture priority, an auto-iso). This is how I'm planning to use the X100, with the aperture almost always on f/2 unless I am doing a landscape image or the background is really important for the portrait.

There is a menu screen grab that I highlighted before from the OP that shows the ISO with auto, an iso setting, and a shutter speed. I take this to mean that iso setting is the maximum it's allowed to go, and the shutter speed the minimum it's allowed to go before upping the ISO. If I'm not mistaken, Nikon already has this on a few of their cameras, and so do a few other manufacturers, so the minimum shutter speed in conjunction with auto iso has definitely been done before. (here is a quote from DPreview forums: The Nikon D700 allows you to set the upper ISO limit and minimum shutter speed. Heck, my old Pentax K100D Super (entry level cam) allowed you to set this.)

Not trying to be contrarian, just clarifying my interpretation of what's been announced so far, with past technology in mind to help filter.
 
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For example in A/A/auto-iso mode, it tries to keep iso 200 (base iso without expansion turned on). If the scene gets really bright, it keeps upping the shutter, then starts upping the aperture. If the scene starts getting darker, it opens the aperture, then opens the shutter, till aperture is at f/2 and shutter is at your preset minimum. If that doesn't increase exposure enough, then it ups ISO to 400 and adjusts shutter around it.

I googled around a bit and it seems there are a few cameras with auto-iso available in M mode, and it works by adjusting ISO until your chosen aperture and shutter are a proper exposure. If you change either aperture or shutter, it alters ISO to match. Not saying it will work for sure like this on the X100, but I hope it does, since you can always turn it off.

Here it is explained on the d300.
 
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well, good to hear it's likely to work like that, but apparently for Nikon it's sort of a 'hack', while Pentax has a dedicated mode to do it. TAv is not Aperture priority-auto iso, it's aperture and shutter priority, auto iso. Basically manual + auto iso in the Nikon example, except you still have a manual mode with fixed iso to do something manually. I still wouldn't be surprised if Pentax has a patent on that mode, as it's really useful, and other brands don't seem to offer it in a straightforward way.

We'll see how it works. I like to have a true manual option handy, that's why I hesitate to embrace auto iso as perfect solution.

Anyway, the real reason I posted was the second part of my first post: why does it seem there's only a function for that dial combined with the Fn button?
 
urje said:
well, good to hear it's likely to work like that, but apparently for Nikon it's sort of a 'hack', while Pentax has a dedicated mode to do it. TAv is not Aperture priority-auto iso, it's aperture and shutter priority, auto iso. Basically manual + auto iso in the Nikon example, except you still have a manual mode with fixed iso to do something manually. I still wouldn't be surprised if Pentax has a patent on that mode, as it's really useful, and other brands don't seem to offer it in a straightforward way.

We'll see how it works. I like to have a true manual option handy, that's why I hesitate to embrace auto iso as perfect solution.

Anyway, the real reason I posted was the second part of my first post: why does it seem there's only a function for that dial combined with the Fn button?
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I was just posting the Nikon implementation (not sure it's really a hack, seems straightforward functionality to me) to illustrate how it works. I don't think the functionality can be patented by Pentax any more than basic shutter priority could be.

Auto ISO is a mode, it can be turned off so that it doesn't adjust.

I am not sure why you have to press the Fn (and it does seem like you do from what I can see). My only thought as to why is that they might worry it could get toggled if you wear the X100 bare around your neck if it swings back and forth across clothing. The other options all have more firm dials that won't move so easily.
 
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