X-E1: the perfect travel companion? on tour in Copenhagen

image courtesy: www.25daysoff.com

Beautiful, compact, great lenses  and outstanding image quality. The X-E1 could have everything what it takes to become the perfect travel companion. 25daysoff sent me an email, and I’m glad to publish his review.

25daysoff.com made a week end trip to Copenhagen with his X-E1. He likes it to travel light, put the X-E1, the 35mm and 18-55mm lens, 2 spare batteries and a circular polarizer in his leather bag. He wanted to know if this camera is a good travel companion! All in all less than 1 kg. So he starts his trip.

You know, great handling, great images, good built quality. The usability is much, much better than the E-M5.

If you are used to the DSLR, you will notice the differences with the autofocus of a DSLR, and you have to get used to it. “If you try and treat this camera’s focus system like you would a DSLR, you will be disappointed.” And “the contrast detection AF system of this camera is very different to the system that DSLRs use. You really need to understand how CDAF systems work in order to get the most of it. I suggest reading the manual if you don’t already know. Once you know the limitations of the AF system, you can work around them with ease.”

He also made a list of bugs and suggestions. Many of them are also in our X-mas wish list to Fuji (keep on voting the poll at the end of this post… choose three options)

There is more to read. But there are also many images. So look at the sort of background blur you can get with the 35mm and 18-55 lens. He “used the zoom’s optical image stabilisation to shoot this at 2 sec, f/11, ISO 200. Surprised it came out so sharp given the long exposure. I was braced against a wall.” He also “shot in aperture priority mode, and auto ISO chose this stupid minimum shutter speed. The photo could have done with 1/125 – Fuji please let us choose the minimum speed!” And the 35mm is almost perfect (apart from the focus speed). Look at how the zoom renders the out-of-focus areas, how is the bokeh with the zoom lens, at the great job of the OIS and more here!

From the conclusions: “As a street shooting camera, the X-E1 excels mostly thanks to its stealthy appearance. Not a single person noticed or cared what I was doing… For quick landscapes and indoor/static scenes, the zoom is an excellent choice which is sharp across the frame even from the widest aperture… As a portrait camera, the X-E1 coupled with the 35mm f/1.4 lens (53mm equiv) is absolutely outstanding… The reduced size and bulk made a massive difference… The loss of the OVF is not such a big deal because the EVF is very good. I actually prefer the 100% accuracy of the EVF over the loose framelines on the X-Pro 1.”

“Overall though, the camera passed the main test during this trip: I didn’t miss the D800.”

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