I receive a lot of messages from photographers who made the big jump from the DSLR to the X-series and rediscovered the passion and joy for photography! For example Mel, who told me about his experience when he switched from Nikon to the X-PRO1:

“The X-PRO1 has brought pure creativity back into my photography, not only that but it inspires me to keep being creative. In short, the X-PRO1 has brought photography back to me just when I hadn’t even realised I’d lost it. I take photos in situations where I never believed I could take a photo due to the low light limitations of every other camera I’ve ever owned. I experiment more, I enjoy more, I do more.”

Thanks a lot for sharing all this with Fujirumors, dear readers. News, rumors, stories… keep it up!

P.S.: And if you plan to switch the to the Fuji X, you should check this rumor here.

all the best
Patrick

1) Sabino:

After evaluating other brands and models I chose the [shoplink 10259]Fuji X-E1[/shoplink] because I had already tried the [shoplink 11336 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink] and I immediately felt in love with the fuji “touch”, but still i was not that sure to success using that camera for street or travel reportages. Is not an easy camera, is like a beautiful woman, you need to spend some time with her and be patient, to conquer more and more intimacy, but then, when you know all about, all the little secrets, you would never leave her!
So I went to Thailand, a road trip from Bankgok up to Chiang Mai and Laos, and for the first time I left the Canon 5D, the 17-40 and the 85mm lenses at home and travel within only the brand new X-E1 and the [shoplink 10279]18-55[/shoplink] kit lens. That was a big jump into the darkness!

But my insecurity has disappeared as quick as I started to use that small beautiful camera. Finally I had the possibility to completely concentrate in doing photography without almost feeling the camera in my hand, i could finally do a better relaxed photography and maximum discretion, I could do portraits and street photography without scaring or inhibit people. Even the performance at high ISO, during night time, and the battery life was positively surprising! I did a lot of photos at night street market and you won’t see bad noises even at 1600 ISO!
At the end of the trip, once I have downloaded all the pictures and viewed on a big screen i could admire the quality, the sharpness and clearly say that have the same quality of the full frame, maybe even better.
To proof the hi quality level of this camera I have also published three books out of that travel, Thailand, People and Lifestyle , Thailand, Art&Culture and Thailand, Street Market, this last one choosen by Blurb as example for their marketing campaign and to show to customers and fairs. So now i have now doubts about how good is the Fuji X system and the Canon 5D mk II could stay at home and work just for studio pictures, on tripod, as an old good lady.

Finally, if you want to see the quality of the X-E1 pictures, printed on 50x70cm frames, I will have my first public exhibition, PORTRAITS, a collection of 11 portraits out of my travels. The exhib will take place in Amsterdam, at De Peper from Friday 3 May to Friday 31st of May. More infos at www.sabinoparente.com/portraits). Now I am expanding my X equipment and I bought the [shoplink 11322]Fujinon 35mm[/shoplink], and some old M42 lenses that I can use with an adaptor. I just tested the Super Takumar 55 f1.8 and it works really good, and I am looking forward to try the Zeiss lenses that are coming.

So, not only an hi-quality and professional camera but also a high versatile system.

Sabino

2) Jonas:

” […] I have not that long experience with photography – I only started a couple of years ago. However, I am fast learner and absolutely love the creativity photography brings. I am 100 % self-taught and that is something I’m quite proud of actually. I started of with DSLR:s from Canon as well as Nikon, and was pleased with the results. However I started to leave the camera more often at home due to inconvenience of the weight and size of the system, leaving me to wonder if there was a way I could have the same (or better) photographic results with a smaller and lighter system. I tried the M43 system with great lenses from Olympus, but soon Fuji caught my interest with their new X-series of cameras. When the [shoplink 10259 ebay]X-E1[/shoplink] hit the market I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Long story (very) short, I’ve now been using the X-E1 with the [shoplink 10279]18-55 zoom[/shoplink] I would like to share a couple of my shots with the Fuji community and everyone interested in trying it out. I shoot pretty much everything, but I prefer urban/street/landscape/architecture angles. I live in Gothenburg (Sweden) and most of the shots are therefore winter-influenced this time of the year. Overall I am extremely pleased with the performance of both the camera and the lens – top quality compared to anything else I’ve tried. As I Design Engineer-to-be obviously I am also quite fond of the design and look of this camera. But I am sure you already know that.

Please enjoy the photos and feel free to follow me at my website (www.tamaramaphoto.com) or via 500px (http://500px.com/tamaramaphoto). I will be happy to answer any questions or comments.

Thanks for a great site, Patrick.

Best Regards, Jonas Jacobsson”

Jonas

3) Phil:

“Hello Patrick, I’m an architectural, installation documentation and art reproduction photographer in the San Francisco bay area. I really enjoy visiting your site so thought that I would like to contribute something. I just returned from a brief trip to Japan for cherry blossom season. I spent a little time between Osaka, Kyoto and Nara and I’m pretty sure I hit the season at it’s peak. This was my first travel outing with the X-E1 (my last trip was with an [shoplink 11210]OM-D E-M5[/shoplink], which the Fuji replaced.) I’ve included a link to a handful of the images here at philbondphotography. Best regards, Phil”

Phil

4) Robin:

“Hi there , just wanted to let you know my story of switching to the fuji X system for about a year now : I’ve been active as a concert and documentary photographer for the past 7 years and got tired of walking around with my heavy gear bag ( [shoplink 11318]nikon d3[/shoplink] + [shoplink 11330]D300[/shoplink] with 24-70 70-200 12-24, sigma, fisheye and some flashes). Since I stopped my activity of live concert shooting the idea of having this great but heavy gear made me think about switching to something more compact.

First I made the switch to a “lighter” [shoplink 11332 ebay]canon 5d m2[/shoplink] body with some prime lenses, but at the end it was still nog what I was looking for …

And there was fuji suddenly with the X100 , which I bought and this camera blow me away instantly. In the beginning I really had to get used to it cause coming from a speedmonster like a [shoplink 11318]D3[/shoplink] the [shoplink 11336 ebay]X100[/shoplink] me made nervous more then often, but after more then a half year of use I have no problems anymore with the speed of the camera, or the “slow autofocus” .

I often have people asking me to help them choose a camera or compact camera, and most of the times they want the one which auto focus is the fasted, while in my honest opinion a lot of people would take better picture if there camera was a little bit slower, and they have to think a little bit more before they take the picture.

In the meantime I completed the kit with a fuji Xe1 with the 35 and 18 lenses , and past weekend I had my first full wedding covered only with the X system. The fuji sensor’s IQ is great for black and white stuff , which is most of my work these days …

Here you can see the samples of the wedding day …

Now the [shoplink 10075]X100S[/shoplink] is there I was tempted to change it , but the X100 is still more then I would ever need in a compact camera ,
I even dropped it and it bounced from the stairs at past weekend’s shoot , and that small thing is still doing fine !

Keep it up with the site

Robin

VSCO Film 02 now supports Fujifilm’s X-Trans files. Check it out here.

“We’ve updated VSCO Film 02 for LR 4 and ACR 7 to include Custom Camera Profiles for Fujifilm professional cameras, including the X100S, X-Pro1, X-E1, the X100 and the X10.

If you are an owner of VSCO Film 02 for LR 4 or ACR 7, this update is FREE. […]

If you don’t own VSCO Film 02, it is 15% off till end of day Friday, May 3rd, 2013. Additionally, as an owner of VSCO Film 01, Film 03 and or VSCO Keys, you are eligible to receive an additional 25% off with your VSCO Loyalty Discount.

We’ve also updated the Film 01 and 03 for LR4 and ACR 7 to include support for Fujifilm’s outstanding X100S. […]”

image courtesy: Zeiss/ Touit 32mm f/1.8

The Zeiss lenses for Fuji X-mount will be announced on May 7th (follow Fujirumors that day). But now Zeiss published PDF’s, sample shots, and specs at blogs.zeiss.com.

1) The name of the new Fuji X Zeiss lens family will be “Touit“! “We decided to derive the future names of the lenses from the Latin names of birds. That fits well, as birds usually have excellent eyesight and can take unusual perspectives… Touit stands for good visibility, agility, mobility and diversity, qualities which also aptly describe the new ZEISS lenses for mirrorless camera systems.” But read this post at blogs.zeiss.com to know more about it.

2) The first two focal lenghts will be the 12mm f/2.8 and the 32mm f/1.8. Zeiss posted a Brochure here (PDF).

3) If you want to know more about the 12mm f/2.8 lens, visit this website here (with gallery) and read the technical specs in this PDF.

4) For the 32mm f/1.8 visit this page here (with gallery) and read the data sheet here.

image courtesy: Zeiss/ Touit 12mm F/2.8