The X100s is already available in Japan. So here are some first impressions about the new Fuji-gem from the country of the rising sun! Ian posted on Google+ his considerations (click here).

“[..] ISO 2000 looks great, and I do find I need it a bit. It’s better than the [shoplink 8323]D90[/shoplink].  And it isn’t a noise factor, it is dynamic range.  Past 1000-1250 the [shoplink 8323]D90[/shoplink] files looked sickly and unnatural even when properly exposed.[…] Other thoughts, the manual focus ring still has the fly-by-wire limitations.  It is nowhere as responsive as a direct coupled lens. […] The AF-C mode on the other hand has impressed me so far.  For keeping the focus on a moving child’s eye, it works as well as a DSLR. […] Oh, one piece of bad news, I have managed to freeze the camera once.  I had to take the battery out to solve the problem.”

At the end Ian says you’re free to ask him questions. So, just visit his site here, read his first impressions, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask him.

Ah, and, if you want, join the Desperate Aperture User Facebook page of Fujirumor reader JasonChart (The Desperate Aperture Users page, is dedicated to a single cause. To revive the company’s interest in professional applications, Aperture foremost)! C’mon Apple… make your homeworks!

X100s: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUK / AmazonDE /

X20: AmazonUS (black – silver) / BHphoto (black – silver) / Adorama (black – silver) / AmazonUK (black – silver) / ebayITA /  / AmazonDE / AmazonITA /

image courtesy: Ian (Go0gle+)

We are all hungry for real X100s and X20 reviews. I check the web every day!

The good thing is, I’m not alone in my daily search. Fujirumors reader Jonti spotted this webiste (translated version) that seems to compare x100 and x100s shots.

thanks Jonti

_

Click here to see X20 sample shots on Flickr or click here for another X20 Flickr photostream.

P.S.: you can preorder the X20 in Belgium, at the PCH store in Brussels. They received a sample of the X20 and took some images of the camera here. For the unboxing video click here. Preorder in silver here, and in black here. They were told by Fujifilm Belgium, that the delivery estimation in Belgium would be March.

P.P.S.: FR-reader M. received an email from the main Fuji Dealer in Ireland. According to the dealer, they will get the X100s on Friday or Monday. Also at AmazonUK the X100s should be released on the March 1. And FR-reader G. emailed me this: “My mate is a fuji dealer and speaks to fuji uk a lot…he told me today that fuji wants us in the uk to have our x100s in our hands in time for the focus on imaging show.. That show runs march 3-6, he says this Friday they should ship and he would be surprised if I did not have cam for Monday.”

X100s: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUK / AmazonDE /

X20: AmazonUS (black – silver) / BHphoto (black – silver) / Adorama (black – silver) / AmazonUK (black – silver) / ebayITA /  / AmazonDE / AmazonITA /

image courtesy “just zis guy” on Flickr: “Noise is also pretty good up to ISO 3200 and 6400 is not great but usable if you crank the noise reduction up to the max (+2). 12800 is unusable and only offered so they had say they have it.”

Hi

First of all, let me say that the contest for the £50 voucher is closed. I’ll inform the winner as soon as possible.

Before I go back at work, here are the first links with feedback about the LR4.4 and ACR7.4 release candidates… now it’s your turn, Apple!

Soundimageplus (click here):

Thomasfitzgeraldphotography (click here):

“The raw conversion engine no longer suffers from the dreaded water-colour effect and is as good if not better than Capture One, and pretty much on par with the Fuji Jpegs. Where as previously any amount of sharpening would cause the raw files to fall apart, now you can sharpen away. Adobe have done a great job…”

comparison LR4.3 vs LR4.4 RC at thomasfitzgeraldphotography

frontallobbings (click here)

“I’m please to inform everyone that the dreaded watercolour, or colour smearing issue has been abated in this version which is very welcome… Although details are still not as good as some of the other RAW processors that I’ve thrown at it, it is improved over the previous versions. One of the more notable details is in the shadow details. LR4.3 lost a lot of micro details in the darker or shadier areas. LR4.4RC improves that dramatically. But as you can see, the Capture One details are still surpassing what both default settings are putting out in this case… Is it perfect? No it isn’t, but its improvements are dramatic“

image courtesy: frotallobbings

The source was right! Now start downloading and leave your feedback in the comments. Download LR 4.4 here. or Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw RC 7.4 here.

Rico Pfirstinger updated his RAW converter comparison with two samples that were processed with Lightroom 4.4RC. Click here, read the article, and see the images.

There is also the first dpreview test: “In the ACR 7.3 rendering, the foliage takes on a distinct ‘watercolor’ appearance, and the white text of the sign is ‘filled-in’ green. As you can see, the new processing approach in ACR 7.4 RC offers substantial improvements in both areas.” (thx MJr)

Lightroom 4.4 Release Candidate and Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 7.4 include a correction to the demosaic algorithms for Fujifilm cameras with the X-Trans sensor.  This specifically impacts the following cameras:

• Fujifilm X-Pro1
• Fujifilm X-E1
• Fujifilm X100S
• Fujifilm X20

Download and discuss on Fujirumors.

And many thanks to the source!