FR-readers zone: “Go get yourself the X100S and let the love affair begin.”
Todays FR-reader roundup is dedicated to the X100S. I receive a lot of beautiful images and great feedback about this camera and I’m happy to share it with you. And yes, I know, this post could make it even harder for you to wait for your pre-ordered X100S… but I think this camera will be worth the wait. Keep up sharing your stories via email at fujirumor@gmail.com, facebook and twitter.
enjoy your weekend
Patrick
Fuji X100S: Amazon, Adorama, B&H, eBay WCL (Wide Conversion Lens): Amazon, Adorama, B&H, eBay
Meeno
“Thought you might enjoy my ramblings to a pal who asked why I just bought the X100s instead of the X-E1:
Jon Alain Guzik: Why the X100s over the X-E1?
Meeno Peluce: X100s definitely for a few definite reasons: I already own the XPro-1, which is the big daddy, feels-less-like-a-toy version of the XE. The analogue range finger – the GLASS, baby! – and then that glass mixed with the electronic, is the whole genius one-up that the X cameras have over Leica. Loosing the glass on the XE seems positively Sony. Plus, my impulse to shoot a range finder, is as a purist to shoot a range finder, not a quasi-DSLR. It’s about one eye, one lens (or two), one voice and the entire world to witness.
For a system camera where I have all my professional bases covered, my 5DMkIII, 2 of them and all the compliments and a bag of lights, is my Pro Go-To. But for walk around the world I want something simple and perfect in its simplicity. So until I own that new Leica M, the question becomes, X100s or XPro-1 in my daily shoulder bag? And the satisfying answer is: Both. The XPro-1, as a version 1, is fraught with frustrations. (So many of which have been whisked away by firmware updates. It’s a totally different camera than when I bought it a couple years ago.) But it still often irks me, primarily because it’s so good, and yet not a Leica.
That is, it’s not quite good enough. It makes it’s prettiest pictures with the “50mm” on it. But 50 is often a bit too tight for a photojournalism-of-your-daily-life lens. And the next step wider is the “28mm”. But being actually an 18, it’s pretty useless for blowing the background out, thus making it less useful as a people camera, which I so often want it to be. The Canon with the 28 opened up and its great auto-focus really lets you get in people’s faces, in and out of their spaces, in the critical moments it takes to get a human shot. (Conversely, I just tried the 12mm Touit on the XPro, and it’s very intriguing to go the opposite way of the 50, fully wide, and shoot it square. You know I love my Mamiya 6 squares…) But what’s really been missing for me on the XPro is that sweet spot of a 35mm lens.
In walks the X100s to my life. And it’s smaller! So perfectly formed and sturdy in your hand, yet around your neck and shoulder all day it weighs nothing. That’s the trade off I’m looking for when it comes to losing the image quality of a full frame. When Fuji catches up to the Sony RX1 and puts a full frame XTrans in the X100s with that sweet range finder – and makes an even more Leica-like manual focus – then we’ll really have a marvelous machine on our hands.
In the meantime, Bindi [admin: Meeno’s 12 year old daughter], being on summer vacation, came with me to an editorial photo shoot yesterday. I had only brought the 2 X cameras with me as an experiment. She picked one up while I shot the other and I delivered the shot as a collage made up mostly of her frames. That’s so wonderful to me! That’s exactly what I want out of the simple perfection of these little machines.
The 50 on the XPro and the 35 on X100s allows for all the human story telling I’m looking for. And because they’re unobtrusive, it was nice to really get friendly moments with my subjects as we chatted and clicked away. The image quality is a wee bit less than the full frame Canon I’m used to, but on the other hand, I’m mucking my shots up with VSCO Film filters these days anyway so it doesn’t really seem to matter.
Go get yourself the X100s and let the love affair begin. It’s really quite perfect for always having a super camera with you. The screen and Electronic View Finder are more up to date and better than the XPro and thus much sexier to use in conjunction with the glass finder. And with your love of good retro style and masculine design, this machine will fit well in your cosmos.
My blog, www.meenophoto.com/blog, is almost entirely shot with my XTrans cameras.
The pro work is at
www.meenophoto.com.
Meeno (from the pro work)
Sascha
“hey patrick. i discovered your blog 4 months ago and became addicted to any news concerning fuji and your blog actually got me to buy the fantastic X100S. since i got my new little friend i enjoy walking around taking pictures once more and it is just so much fun to go outside the whole day (even at night) taking pictures and develop them afterwards in lightroom in a matter of minutes. it became such wonderful and rewarding workflow with stunning results.
the enhanced x100s is a just joy to use. in daylight she provides great color rendition, contrast and sharpness and at night she brings light to places where there actually is no light (i can take iso up to 6400 without any hesitation, because the noise is almost film-like and the loss of detail is totally acceptable) – of course for most of the benefits of this little beast you have to take RAW-road. i haven’t tried jpg yet, because i like to get in touch with the pictures once more after taking them. i guess this kind of concentration, commitment and admiration for the actual picture is a direct result of the having such a pure and unconditional little camera like the x100s.
but i have to admit that there are some flaws as well: the auto-focus works better but is definitely far from perfect, the auto-exposure does some crazy stuff from time to time, the LCD could use a bit more resolution (esp. when the EVF almost got 4 times as much – by the way the new enhanced EVF is simply amazing), i don’t like this awkward wheel-thing on the back to browse menus and your pictures (it just seems a bit cheap), as well as this other knob thing right above it (it doesn’t seem durable and feels a bit squishy) and some other minor things they could have done better or will do in the future.
beside all the good and bad things about this camera and maybe some “ressentiments” against fuji (because fuji isn’t canon, nikon, sony or leica etc…) this camera is a diamond which acts and looks like one but thinks of itself humbly as a plain piece of coal. of course all imho … and if you want to check out some pictures taken with my new love in athens, in and around berlin over the last weeks. http://500px.com/simsalonaut
i appreciate your work and all the efforts you put into this blog and i just want to say thank you and keep up the great work. have a good day
all the best
sascha
sascha
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Jack (website)
Dear Admin,
I have a very simple but important suggestion for Fuji to improve its firmware for the X100s. Could you post it on your rumor site to let Fuji take notice of this issue? Or could you point me to the right place to post this suggestion?
I am a big fan of my Fuji X100s. This camera has naturally become part of my everyday life. Many people have said this but I just have to say it again: this very special camera has helped me reignite my passion in photography.
But this camera has one thing in its design that keeps on bugging me. This is a rather minor thing to some, and I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere. In my opinion, this little glitch really takes away the snappiness of the whole experience. It keeps the camera from becoming an extension of my body.
That is, the camera always refocuses between each shot even when I keep half-pressing the shutter button. I know I can use the AFL button to lock the focus, or I can simply go MF. But this extra step is exactly what takes away the snappiness for me. I like to shoot in spontaneity, making decisions on the fly. I want my camera to move with me as I shoot.
It should be an easy fix in the firmware. My Nikon D90 does just that. I can choose to keep my focus locked as I click away, as long as my finger keep the shutter botton half-pressed. When I want to refocus I just left my finger. It is simple. It is elegant. Fuji should do it.
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George
“Hi Patrick, I had the good fortune to spend some time in Nanjing this month. I shot almost exclusively with the X100s, and found it brilliant to work with (click here). […] I finally edited down the shots from Nanjing and produced a photo essay” click here
[…] “Using the X pro 1 in the studio for an ice cream shoot” click hereGeorge (Nanjing photo essay)
Kaushik
“Hi! This is Kaushik Parmar from Ahmedabad (India). I am proud owner of great little camera the X100, I have one exlusive page wherin my alll photos were taken by X100/ X100S. I hereby invite you to see my work, if you and would like to share on your page would be great.
And one more thing you are doing great job, I se your website 5 times a day even some time 10 times, I always get latest information on Fujifilm by you, keep doing great job. And this is my page, please get some time and try to see all photos, I do much editng on photos but they all are from X100/ X100S (facebook)… And my 500px link is here!
Kaushik
