 |
| Fujifilm X100 Front The Fujifilm x100 packs a 12.3 mp APS-C sized sensor behind a fixed 23mm F2.0 lens (34.5mm equivalent on a 35mm full frame sensor) all incased in a retro and stylish packaging. Priced around $1200 new or $800 used, It offers all the manual controls with a large sensor while remaining sleek and compact. This camera has a lot to offer and definitely fills a void in many photographers bags. |
 |
| Fujifilm X100 Back |
The Fuji X100 has been out for over a year now and is soon to be replaced by the new X100s. Basically the identical plus a few tweaks and improvements. Overall this is a great addition to any pros arsenal. Its a perfect travel, evening or everyday camera without packing a 20 lbs bag around or sacrificing for a miniature point & shoot with crappy results.
The 23mm, 34.5mm equivalent is a great range for almost any situation. The F/2 lens allows for lowlight photography and offers a shallow enough depth of field to keep me happy. It's well built of metal with solid weight and smooth turning dials. An electronic eye-sensor that activates it very cool and useful hybrid LCD / optical viewfinder.
 |
| Fujifilm X100 Top |
I really enjoy this cameras functionality with almost everything readily available with the turn of a dial. The aperture ring is especially nice, it allows for quick to change from F2 - F16 in full stop increments and then to auto.
As well as the large shutter dial on top which effortlessly allows you to go from bulb to 1/2 second up to 1/4000 in full stop increments then auto. The exposure compensation is right on top ranging from -2 to +2 in third stop increments. It works great on A,S or P. I often shoot manual shutter / aperture with auto ISO on and found that the exposure compensation doesn't work in manual mode. Whether or not Fuji will address this problem is yet to be seen but could definitely be in the form of a firmware update.
ISO is hidden in the menu, but you can simply set the function button to ISO which I would highly suggest. Only drawback is that the Auto ISO is not accessible from here.
You can also set the RAW button on the back of the camera to a variety of functions for fast access. I prefer it set to ND filter rather than the default RAW. I like to shoot wide open in full daylight where the ND is needed. Most everything else you need has a button on the back of the camera to open in the menu. The in camera menu is a little confusing at first, like any new OS, but becomes quite simple and easy to navigate once to get used to it.
I recently took nothing but the X100 on a trip to Vegas. No chance I was going to pack around a camera bag with all the activities associated with going to Vegas with friends. I literally wore the camera all weekend from gambling at the Cosmopolitan to clubbing at XS. Hung over my shoulder it never seemed to get in the way. The supplied strap is unassuming and comfortable, although a tad short. The built in flash seemed to nail the exposure at almost any light. Great as a daytime fill flash and never looked too harsh.
 |
| F2-F16 23mm Aspherical Lens |
The native ISO is 200-6400 expandable to Lo100 & Hi12800. Overall it performed about average. Not quite as good as I hoped and mostly unusable after 3200. Even at 3200 I was finding way to much noise and evidence of noise reduction for my liking.
Sharpness is quite good all around. Its a touch softer wide open at F2 with the slightest of vignetting. Nothing to complain about. The Bokeh is nice, no harsh edges in the out of focus areas. Distortion is minimal and not worth discussing on this type of camera. If you want super straight lines, draw them!
So far so good, although this camera is not for everyone. It does require a basic knowledge of photography ie: aperture, shutter speeds & ISO since there is no dedicated full auto mode or button. It also has a fixed lens which won't suffice for the zoom obsessed public. It also won't cut it for sports as the auto focus and trigger delay won't keep up with your needs. You'd also have to be on the field with the subject to get any type of usable framing with a 35mm equivalent focal range.
The auto focus is not quite as smart as some of the point and shoots but its very accurate on single point. I found it best to use the center point, focus and recompose. The focus time can be a little on the slower side and sometimes search even on single point, but seems to have sped up a lot with the latest firmware update 1.30. The manual focus ring located outside the aperture ring is not nearly as responsive enough and somewhat unusable. Rumour has it this is one of the upgrades to the X100s along with faster focus speed. Currently you have to spin and spin and spin it to even get a slight change in focus in manual mode.
In the studio it can be quite useful. Why would I ever choose the X100 over my D800 or D3s in a studio setting??? Shutter sync speed! Because its mirrorless its capable of syncing at 1/1000 when shooting with strobes compared to 1/250.
If your considering the Fujifilm X100 or X100s I'd say its a no brainer. The Pros far outweigh the Cons. If you pick up a new or used X100 first thing I'd recommend is updating the firmware.
No comments:
Post a Comment