Travel-X: 700 days + 54 countries with the X-PRO1 + 18mm: “The Fuji hasn’t skipped a beat with all weather conditions”

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I’ve reported about the story of Nate, who’s travelling non-stop around the world with just one lens 18mm and one camera (X-PRO1) here. Well, it’s more than 700 days now that Nate is on the road and his blog (yomadic.com) is full of impressions and images of his endless travel. Today I’m glad to post a reminder to his blog and to share Nate’s feedback about the X-PRO1 as a travel camera… after 700 days of travel and 54 visited countries. Nate wrote:

“Hey Patrick,

Thought I would contact you again – I have now been travelling for 700 days, with my Fuji X-Pro, and just an 18mm lens. My latest set of photos show some great “ruin-porn” from Sarajevo – the abandoned Bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics. I’ve now visited 54 countries, and all weather conditions, and the Fuji has not skipped a beat.

Feel free to share some of these photos, and report to your readers the incredible reliability of the X-Pro 1 …I don’t even have a case, and I never carry an umbrella ;)

Take care, eagerly awaiting all news on the X Pro 2

http://www.yomadic.com/sarajevo-bobsled-track/ Nate Robert

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New firmware for X-T1, X-E2, X-PRO1, X-E1 adds 18-135 compatibility and more. XQ1, X-A1 and X-M1 get direct Instax Printer support

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It’s Kaizen again!  Today you can download the new firmware for X-T1, X-E2, X-PRO1, XQ1, X-A1 and X-M1 from Fuji’s support site here.

X-T1 firmware ver. 1.10

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Improvement of “Exposure compensation/exposure indicator” in EVF – Values are added to the scales of the indicator for better visibility.
  • 3. Improvement of Movie-record button operability – To avoid an accidental movie shooting, the delayed time will become longer between the moment you press the button and a movie shooting starts or ends.
  • 4. The phenomenon is fixed that images are not recorded with the set interval when “INTERVAL” in “INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING” is set to 5 sec or less. In this case, the setting of “IMAGE DISP.” in “SCREEN SET-UP” will change to “OFF” automatically.

X-E2 firmware ver. 2.10

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

X-PRO1 firmware ver. 3.30

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

X-E1 firmware ver.2.30

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

_ _ _

Some fixes and improvements also for the X-M1, X-A1 and XQ1. And if you own the [shoplink 23847]Instax Share SP-1 printer[/shoplink], you can now send images directly via WiFi to this little printer without having to send it first to your iPhone. If you own the best sellers in the X-lineup, X-T1 and the X-E2, then you still have to continue to upload your images to your smartphone first and from there send it to the printer.

X-M1 ver. 1.20 / X-A1 ver. 1.20

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “instax SHARE SP-1” – Images can be directly transferred to the “SP-1” from a camera and then printed.
  • 2. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 3. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.
  • 4. Improvement of recorded sound – Sound quality of a movie shooting is improved.
  • 5. The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, gray stripes could appear in highlight portion of images with a standard viewer of a smartphone (only Android).

XQ1 ver. 1.20

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “instax SHARE SP-1” – Images can be directly transferred to the “SP-1” from a camera and then printed.
  • 2. The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, a camera could stop working during image transfer when starting “PC AutoSave” function by pressing the Wi-Fi button.

And now, lucky XQ1, X-A1 and X-M1 shooters, download the firmware at Fuji’s download site here (X-M1 / X-A1 / XQ1)

Instax Share SP-1 printer: [shopcountry 23847]

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Bags for your X… The perfect bag for adventurous X-shooters? The MindShift Rotation180°!

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It’s summer (at least here in the northern hemisphere), and it’s time for holidays and travels. Everybody has its own perfect body/lens travel kit combination to bring with (as you can see from the poll).

But today it’s not about lenses or cameras, no, it’s about a really amazing bag where to pack your X-gear: the MindShift Rotation 180. A paradise for adventurous X-shooters because it gives you quick access to your gear thanks to the rotating beltpack! Photographer Trenton suggested me to try it out and said in the comments to this post:

This thing is very comfortable, and camera deployment speed is unbelievable; it usually takes me no more than 3-5 seconds from “let’s photograph that” to the actual shot (starting with the gear inside backpack). However, it’s absolutely not suitable for “street” photography – the very moment you slide around that beltpack, you’ll see a lot of attention and jaws will be dropping all around you. As in, “WTF you just did with your backpack?!” :)”

There are some versions of this bag, the Panorama ([shoplink 25507 ebay]find offers on your eBay[/shoplink]), the Professional ([shoplink 25524 ebay]find offers on your eBay[/shoplink]) and the Professional Deluxe ([shoplink 25525 ebay]find offers on your eBay[/shoplink]).

See all Mindshift Rotation bags & prices at [shoplink 25526 ebay]your eBay[/shoplink] – BHphotoAmazonUSAdorama / MindShift website

the Mindshift Professional

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Those who don’t need a backpack but prefer a roller should check out the Think Tank Photo’s new Airport Roller.

And now, which 3 lenses would you pack into this bag for your travel?

Between an X-Pro2 and X-E3 I'd buy...

View Results

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The Big Rumor Check-Up 2014: The right, the wrong and the still to come (with reliability rating)

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Hi there,

2014 is almost 6 months old, and I thought it’s time to check back the rumors I’ve published in order to see what turned out to be correct, what was wrong, and especially to tell you how reliable the remaining rumors are.

For me, this is a good opportunity to make a rumor overview of the past half year and to answer to all those readers who dropped me an email asking me how reliable rumors published in the past months are.

Rumors NOT included: rumors from other sites and blogs, as I simply reported about them and never confirmed them with my sources (like digicame-info saying the X30 would come in February/March, the 18-135 price [it was published by a store], Fujifilm Bangladesh announcing a new X-mount camera, the freepatentsonline stuff, Dominik Fusina publishing his fake X-W1 and a few more).

And here they are. I added very low, low, medium or high rating to the rumors. I hope this helps you to get an orientation in the rumor jungle.

enjoy your day,
facebook, google+, RSS-feed and twitter

HIGH RATING

X100T successor of X100S

XF16mm 1.4

XF120-400

X-PRO2 with APS-C sensor

No more X-PRO1S, all R&D placed into the X-PRO2

X30 coming in summer (so there is time until September 20)

MEDIUM RATING

XF 35mm MKII (As Fuji has first to complete its lens lineup, it could take a while before the 35 MKII hits the market… and Fuji can change plans in any moment regarding this lens.) PLEASE NOTE: This rumor was not reported accurately by other sites (as petapixel and mirrorlessrumors). They quote FR, but say that the lens is “coming soon”. Which I never said. None of my sources ever told me a release date. In fact I said on May 5th: “I do not know when it will be launched nor which improvements we can expect, but, as you may guess, I’m restlessly working on it.”

Faster AF for the 35mm MKII (This rumor is separated from the first 35MKII rumor, as it comes from another source and was posted in another article)

X200 with 24MP, tilt screen, improved AF and wider detection area (Medium rating as I think that some, but not all the specs will be correct. The name has changed almost for sure to X100T).

Button Upgrade for the early produced X-T1’s with mushy buttons.

X-PRO2 available in 2015

LOW RATING

X-T1P release with 4K viewfinder in July [An upgrade (or special/limited edition) is possible, but not anytime soon. And, as soon as also drphotorumor says that this rumor is not correct, I’ll downgrade it to “very low rating”. As soon as/if the top trusted Japanese source and/or the good old source tells me that this is wrong, I’ll move it into the wrong rumors 2014 list]

XF 90mm (same as the 35 MKII here, the release of this lens is everything else but imminent, so a lot can change. Plus: I do not have any confirmation until now about it from trusted sources or sources who were right in the past)

VERY LOW RATING

Sigma X-mount coming at photokina

Medium Format Fuji (there are several anonymous sources telling me that this rumor is wrong. But I will post an update only when a trusted source speaks. And if they say, as to expect, that it is not correct, I’ll move it into the “wrong rumors” list)

_ _ _

And now let’s check the 2014 rumors

NOTE: You will see for example some X-T1 rumors (and others) listed sepratately. This is due the fact that there was, for example, a source telling me of a tilt screen, while another told me at a different time about the price and so on.

It’s fair towards my sources not to put everything together in the same pot and simply say “X-T1”, as every rumor listed here comes from a different source and was posted in different articles and could have been right or wrong.

Obviously the same goes for the wrong rumors. I don’t simply say “18-135 announcement”, but shared all 3 wrong release dates separately, so that they result as 3 errors and not as one.

CORRECT RUMORS IN 2014

– XF 18-135 coming June 16th

– X-E2 deal

– X-E2 firmware update with X-T1 EVF refresh rate coming soon (correct, it came a few days later)

– TCL-X100 will be out end of May (correct. It’s available since then in Japan, now also in Europe. Still out of stock in USA)

– TCL-X100 will cost €250 and be a bit cheaper than the WCL (correct. AmazonDE sells the silver version for €249, while the discounted WCL still costs €269)

– TCL-X100 will cost $350/400 (correct, it costs $350 at Bhphot & Co)

– TCL-X100 coming second half of April (correct, announced April 22)

– Lightroom 5.4 coming next week

– February/March lens deals with confidential Fuji document

– With the next update, Adobe will support X-Trans film simulation

– X30 won’t come in February/March as rumored by digicame-info

– Image and size comparison of the 10-24 with a protype 18-135 (real image)

– XF 16-55 and 50-140 will be weather sealed

– X-T1 announcement in January 28th at 4:30 AM London Time

– Improved WiFi for the X-T1

– UHS-II SD card slot, but no double SD-card slot + 8fps with AF tracking (Fuji originally planed a dual SD-card slot. When the first X-T1 image leaked here on FR, it even looked like a dual SD-card slot, but the Japanese source said it has just a single SD-card slot)

– X-T1 will cost $1300 / €1200

– First images of a prototype X-T1

– Firmware update for Zeiss will add PDAF support

– Tilt screen for the X-T1

– The name of the weather sealed X will be X-T1

– X-T1 will have the best EVF on the market

– black X100S will have a retail price of about £1000, about the same as silver version (the final retail price in UK is RRP £1099.99 for the black and £1049 for the silver version, according to wexUK. But now both are sold cheaper).

– XF56mm announcement at January 6th

– black X100S will be the only “new” X-camera presented at CES

WRONG RUMORS IN 2014

– XF 18-135 announcement on Memorial Day (wrong, but, as Rico said in his first look, the announcement has been postponed at least two times, so actually the date could have been origianlly correct, but the source did not know about the updated release date. NOTE: I excluded the rumor of an 18-135 f/3.5-4.8, as this was a typo by Fujifilm at the CP+ (see this image), and I just reported about it.

– XF 18-135 will come in May (I’ve shared this in Janaury. But what was right in Janaury, is wrong now. As we know from Rico, the release has been pushed back at least two times. Announcements are a very tricky part of rumors).

– XF 18-135 in stores in February

– X-PRO2 with FF sensor (wrong, and corrected a few weeks later by the top trusted Japanese source)

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