X-E1 and 18-55mm

bertstephani.com, X-E1 and XF 18-55 lens (click here). Read why says, at the end of his post: “The 18-55 does everything I could reasonably expect from it and even exceeds my expectations. Let’s hope Fuji can continue like this and give us many more great lenses in the (near) future.”

cnet.com review: the good: Superb image quality and low-light performance; faster AF performance than X-Pro1; good ergonomics; versatile pop-up flash. the bad: Lack of a dedicated movie button; AF accuracy needs to be improved; pricier than competing models.

The ePhotozine review can be read here. For some sample pics click here.

The X-E1 and XF 18-55 dc-watch review can be read here (translated version).

The EVF is superb, and my worries over no OVF are unnecessary. Read the first impressions of photomojomike here.

This review is basically a translation of the digitalliving review, and also picutres are from this review. So I will extract just a few things in addition to what I have already translated for you:  Read the whole review here. “The EVF provides outstanding, high contrast images. All effects, settings and depth of focus are displayed before exposure. The high frame rate ensures that virtually no delays or stuttering are experienced… Good news for fans of polarizing sunglasses: The image in the viewfinder is visible in both portrait and landscape formats (with the X-Pro1, the viewfinder turns pitch-black). In contrast to the X-Pro1, a locking button which is depressed to release the shutter speed from the “A” position is missing in the X-E1. That’s good news because, in practice, it is almost impossible to turn these dials accidentally — in stark contrast to the exposure compensation button. There’s a subtle change in the remote release. The X-E1 features an electronic remote release along with the mechanical release. Fujifilm provides the RR-80 (click here) which is connected via USB port. The X-E1 offers single shots and sequence shooting with 3 or 6 fps. A panorama function automatically shoots a series of pictures and then puts them together on a widescreen. Auto bracketing is not used to its full potential, unfortunately. It shoots three images with a maximum deviation of plus or minus an aperture — definitely not enough for HDR photography. But there is the hope that Fujifilm will follow up with new firmware. The body alone weighs 350 grams (including battery and card), 100 grams less than the X-Pro1. Eliminating the electronic viewfinder means, however, that the X-E1 is not a rangefinder camera like her big sister but a mirrorless system camera, as the Sony NEX range or the Olympus OM-D E-M5.”

A comprehensive ISO performance test of the X-E1 can be seen on pixinfo.com

X-F1

The popular German newspaper Spiegel.de posted his review about the X-F1. Click here to read it (translated version)

Read the first impressions of thephoblographer here.

dcwatch posted his super-comparison between the X-F1 Olympus XZ-2, Canon PowerShot G15, Sony RX100, Nikon P7700, Panasonic DMC-LX7. There are many sample pics to compare. So take a look and declare your winner!

X-PRO1 (and Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 and XF18-55)

Some beautiful X-PRO1 XF35mm sample pics can be seen here at johnnypatience.

Tests, specs, quirks, bugs, deals… apart this, the X-PRO1 can shoot pictures. And one of those photographers out there that enjoyed shooting with it during the music festival in Telluride is mikelyonsphotography (click here to see X-PRO1 shots).

aboutphography.blogspot posted his XF18-55 lens review. The conclusion: “This lens is a winner.  Not perfect, but for the price and purpose it is an excellent option particularly if you only want to carry only one lens for your X-Pro1.  It may be an even better match for the Fuji X-E1.”

Some pics and one complaint: “I have about the camera is the autofocus in really backlit situations.” Click here to see the shots of  alexanderolsson.com.

There are people that are disappointed with this camera. On of these is clearingthevision (click here). Read the reasons why he sells his X-PRO1! Yes, it’s the focus. The focus speed on this lens, but more: “It came to a head in a well-lit cafe in Taos with my daughter. She was sitting across the table from me and had her back to a window about ten feet behind her. I lifted the camera to photograph her, and I got the red box of uncertainty as I tried to focus. I moved focus slightly, got it again, and then I tried an area of greater contrast, and then the lens went back and forth a couple of times, before it finally focussed for me. But by that time, whatever fleeting expression I’d wanted to capture had gone, and I didn’t want to take the photograph any more. I wanted to throw the camera on the floor.” So the focus isn’t fast and reliable. But “if you’re slower and more methodical in your work, or excellent at manually focussing, or maybe all around a better technical photographer than me, then the X-Pro1 might be perfect for you.”

X-PRO1 and the autumn… see some images here.

Fuji X-100

Some people still love the X-100 more than everything else. So I got an email, and the person said: “I know that the X-E1 is the hot camera right now, but the X100 is still the most compact and an amazing camera too.” He send me another “real world” review. The review is not the newest, yes, but it’s well made, and you can see shot taken from Spain to Morocco. For everyone who’s interested, click here to the X-100 review of stuff review.

Do you wanna know why martincastein.com loves the X-E1? Read his nice review. How is it if you come from a DSLR, what are the main differences?

He likes the EVF: “What you see is what you get viewfinder. When you look through the viewfinder you see the image exactly how it will come out before you take the shot. White balance, exposure and even film simulation mode are all simulated in the electronic viewfinder so you know what you get before you take it. You can see the image after you have taken it in the viewfinder as well, looking at the back of the camera is no longer needed… lets say you are taking a portrait of someone, you no longer need to do that DSLR thing where you get them to look at the camera, then you take a shot, look at the back of the camera, adjust it, say “just a couple more” and two shots later you have it. It works like this. Raise the camera, see the exposure in the viewfinder, couple of clicks on the exposure compensation, take the shot.” In addition to that you also have a live histogram in the EVF. In fact, the entire menu system in the viewfinder. His EVF verdict is: “To sum up the viewfinder it is excellent in many ways and makes the X-E1 truly wonderful to use. It does suffer from lag though in low light but is fast and snappy in reasonable light. Once you get used to this its not an issue but I would expect anyone who buys this camera to wonder if they did the right thing at first because of this lag.”

There is just a part of his extended review and comparison. If you’re coming from a DSLR you’ll have a bit of a learning curve. So take a look at this review, and prepare yourself for this new way of shooting! And once you get used to it, enjoy shooting!

mikekobal review

After all that reading, look at the mikekobal review. There are al lot of images, shot with the following lenses: Rokinon 85mm, (“I love this lens for portraits, especially outdoors when I have enough room to move around, it acts like a 128mm on a full frame sensor and produces incredible bokeh wide open and up to f2.8.”) and the Fujinon 35mm (“It’s an incredible lens. The center sharpness wide open was already mind blowing… Great for environmental portraits and detail shots, the shallow depth of field this little lens produced on the APSC sized sensor can truly rival the bokeh-ness of full frame cameras-if you know how to use it.“)

And compared to the Nikon D800E ? “After this session I am confident to say I would do it again. I didn’t miss my usual portrait kit, the Nikon D800E with a 50mm 1.4G lens, the Rokinon 85mm 1.4 and the Nikon 180mm f2.8. I preferred the 128mm equivalent I got from the 85mm over the 180mm. I did not miss the optical viewfinder and I will miss it even less once manual exposure will be correctly displayed. And then there is of course the weight issue, the Nikon D800E body weighs in at 2200 grams. The X-E1, the 35mm 1.4, 18mm 2.0, 85mm 1.4 with X mount adapter, weighs in at a total of 1288 grams!“