X100s: PROS and CONS at Brian Kraft

Brian Kraft continuously updates his post about the X100s with images and PROS and CONS here.

Here some PROS:

  • AF improvement… Is it what you’d expect from the latest and greatest DSLRs? Do you really expect it to be? In some respects it is as good, but probably not quite in all– as it’s very different. At least if I’m comparing to my Canon 5D Mark III cameras, which are quite sophisticated in tracking motion, etc. That’s what I have to compare to and probably an unfair comparison.[…]
  • Being able to preview your photo in the viewfinder for .5 seconds is like a fresh of breath air to me. On the X100, the shortest preview time was 1.5 seconds or not at all.[…]
  • A much shorter minimum focusing distance (with AF) in non-macro mode! Fuji says it’s been reduced to 21 centimeters or 8.25 inches at that seems to be what I’m getting.
  • The manual focusing ring is way more responsive.[…]
  • Switching between AF and MF, with the re-ordering of the switch on the X100s is wonderful.
  • You can now switch between photo previews in a zoomed-in state. If you want to closely examine photos for detail on the LCD or EVF, you can now scroll through various photos with that same view, whereas with the X100, you had to zoom all the way back out, proceed to the next photo, then zoom back in on that one–making it almost impossible to properly compare any photos in that way.[…]

The CONS:

  • This does not apply to RAW shooters, but for those that enjoy shooting jpegs, this may apply. Now, I say may, because this is very much an opinion and personal preference. I’ve noticed that when I had the X100s set to standard (0) noise reduction and I shot jpegs at 3200 and even more so at 6400, and even higher, that I was not wild about the way the camera was cleaning the image up. Less noise can be a nice thing oftentimes, but it’s  the trade off that I’m not quite loving–when set at 0. To my eye, it’s almost a smearing of detail–an almost plastic-y look–the way someone may heavy-handedly over-use the noise reduction in a program like Lightroom. It’s not something I initially noticed zoomed in at all. In fact, I think it’s even more apparent when viewing without zooming in. Now, the nice thing is the X100S allows you to set among 5 different levels of noise reduction +2, +1, 0, -1, and -2. I just did a test at ISO 3200 and 6400 settings and shot the same thing, using all 5 levels across the 10 photos and happily I can already tell that I will be able to find the happy balance that works for me. I need to spend more time with it, but I think I’ll keep mine set on at least a -1 NR. I don’t mind a little noise and, in fact, quite enjoy the quality of noise that the X100S has– at least at ISO 3200 and 6400. I’ll need to do further testing to see what my impressions are at the even higher ISOs and what effect the different NR settings do for me.[…]
  • […]On the X100, that button was called the RAW button and after a few firmware updates, it became customizable and was the perfect way for me to toggle the ND filter on and off. Now, with the X100S, you have to dive into the menus to toggle the ND filter on and off. I’m not happy about that and I do hope a firmware update can address that and add the ND filter to the Q button options. I do realize that the function button can be assigned to the ND filter, but I like that assigned to my ISO.[…]

X100s: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonDE / AmazonUK (will be shipped on March 11, according to R. Bachmann)
X20: AmazonUS (black – silver) / BHphoto (black – silver) / Adorama (black – silver) / AmazonUK (black – silver) / ebayITA /  / AmazonDE / AmazonITA /

image courtesy: Brian Kraft (PROS and CONS / initial photos / more photos)

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Lightroom 4.4 RC purple fringing effect

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Massimiliano Angeloni from riflessifotografici (website) is one of those who’s testing the latest release of Lightroom. He says that overall the new release is definitely an improvement! But, well, just look at the image where he compares the SOOC Jpeg’s, LR4.4 and C1.

Have a look at the water drops! The Lightroom 4.4 release candidate shows a purple fringing effect when processing images with strong sunlight falling on wet surfaces. And look at the bridge, where the whole surface that reflects the light is tinged violet!

Thanks for the image, Massimiliano!

Oh, and if you want to read an interesting “riflessifotografici-quality” review about three cameras that were taken out of production, the [shoplink 8428 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink], [shoplink 8426 ebay]Leica X1[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8427]Sigma DP2X[/shoplink], you should read the latest article of riflessifotografici here (translated version).

Fuji X100 [shopcountry 8428] Leica X1 [shopcountry 8426] Sigma DP2X [shopcountry 8427]

image courtesy: riflessifotografici

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climb up there with a DSLR… no way, you need an easy Fuji X100 ;)

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Fuji X-E1 tested at Dpreview (gets the Gold Award).

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The likely most famous digital photography website Dpreview tested the Fuji X-E1 (Click here to read the article). Here is the last part of their conclusions: “From the simple slab-sided design to Fujifilm’s enthusiast-friendly control logic, the X-E1 is tuned for the enthusiast photographer who likes straightforward controls and a no-nonsense emphasis on still photography. As such, despite it’s sub-par movie mode and less than stellar autofocus performance, it earns our coveted gold award, by a whisker.”

By comparison, the X-PRO 1 earned the “Silver Award”.

Check the price and in Stock status of the two X cameras:
Fuji X-E1 at [shopcountry 678].
Fuji X PRO 1 at [shopcountry 378].

ACR 7.4 RC conclusions at soundimageplus + X20 vs RX100 ISO comparison

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image courtesy: soundimageplus

Soundimageplus tested ACR7.4 RC over the last days and posted some conclusions here about the Fuji X-Trans files (and multi-image stitching) with the new update.

“The simple answer to that is that it’s very good indeed… Dynamic range is OK, Fuji claim a lot for it but its good not great in terms of the raw files… In terms of comparison with what else I use, these are clearly the best files from any of my mirrorless cameras, other than my DP Merrill files at ISO 100 of course… I also prefer what I’m getting now from these Fuji files to those that I get from my NEX cameras…  I want quick and efficient raw processing and I’ve now got that. Why this wasn’t done months ago is still a mystery and it has, I am convinced, affected how people view Fuji’s products and indeed sales of their cameras..”

In the meantime FR-reader Tom posted this ISO-comparison image in the comments to the previous post. You can find the article here at dslr-check (translated version). The comparison includes the [shoplink 8292]X20[/shoplink], [shoplink 8294]Sony RX100[/shoplink], XF1, and [shoplink 8296]Leica D-LUX6[/shoplink].

image courtesy: dslr-check

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miXed Zone: XF14mm review by Mike Kobal… and more

XF 14mm

Mike Kobal just received his XF14mm. After a couple of days shooting with it he says that:

“… I found AF speed to be right in between the 18mm and the 35mm. It sometimes struggles in extreme low light, just like the 35mm (latest firmware installed for all lenses and body)…. Capable of achieving insane depth of field when zone focusing: This is where this lens really shines, incredible depth of field already at f4 and it is possible to get everything “in focus” from 5 feet to infinity, the hyperfocal distance extends with smaller apertures. At f8, everything will appear “in focus” from infinity to about 2.5 feet.”

You can read it all (and I’m sure you’ll like some of his beautiful shots too) at his website here.

XF14mm in stock status check: AmazonUS/ B&H / Adorama / Amazon GERMANY / Amazon ITALY / or on ebay worldwide via slidoo

X-E1

Read the review of tech.blogsvoice.com: They liked  “the improved autofocus speeds that Fuji’s new firmware brings, coupled with the 18-55mm kit lens, make this a fantastic camera to easily take on its DSLR rivals” and  “there’s not many things to dislike about the camera, with just a few small niggles keeping it from perfection. It would be nice to have seen a touchscreen, while the autofocus speed when using other lenses could do with being improved.”

For the detailed digitalcamerainfo review click here.

X-PRO1

After six weeks with the X-PRO1, Rodney makes his considerations about it: “I know I had a few gripes, and most of them were things I knew going into this, but none of them are show-stoppers. None of them make me regret my purchase. At all. In fact, I absolutely love this camera and I want to use it as much as possible. It just makes me long for the day when these short comings don’t exist any longer and I can seriously consider delegating the DSLR for niche stuff (like shooting my kid’s soccer game, something I don’t think a mirrorless is going to handle for a long time).” Read it all and see his shots here.

“The styling is great, the handling is great, the autofocus is decent for a contrast detection based system, the sensor is relatively huge for such a small body and in my opinion packs just the right number of megapixels (16).  Crucially, the lenses are excellent (aherm, Sony) which makes the XF system such a great one.  To me, great lenses are the foundation of any system because they’re the pieces of equipment you carry over from one body to the next.  The JPG processing in-camera is good, but I’m still going to continue shooting raw because that leaves me the option of processing in-camera afterwards and because I believe raw support will improve.” Read it all and see the sunrise shots in Liverpool here at digitalrelish.

Read Tobias’ way to the X-PRO1 and his PROS and CONS in German here (translated version)

The winter in Montreal captured with the X-PRO1 at laroquephoto

XF1

Read the review of thephoblographer here.

online storage with bitcasa

Sylvain wrote me an email. He told me about bitcasa, a new online storage service. Bitcasa has no limit in space or number of files and no limits with file size. And if you subscribe in February you pay $69/year instead of $99/year. They have a free 10Gb limited account if one want to try. Take a look at the introduction video here or go to the bitcasa website here.