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Remember when you bought your first digital SLR camera? You thought, “What a piece of engineering!” You opened the box and took the first glance as excitement and joy ran through your veins. No more film, no more limitations and the ability to take as many photos as you want. The world was your oyster. You went through the manual and the number of options, menus and settings left you gasping. While the battery was still charging you were already planning your first photo endeavour. Then you ran outside with your shiny new camera and started shooting like mad. After all, with digital there are no limits. In the evenings you hit the Internet. You were sure you had the best camera on the market. You read all the reviews that were proving your point. But wait, you thought, “Maybe I should get a better lens, a better-rated lens.” You scratched together all the money you could and bought a huge, beautiful pro-rated lens. “Now I can take really stunning photos!” you cried. You drove to the nearest park and photographed everything around you: benches, trees, leaves, people, even hydrants. You uploaded your photos, looked at them at 100%, and admired sharpness and dynamic range. Again, you went on the Internet, hit the blogs, forums and ratings and thought, “If only I had a telephoto lens, I could take even more amazing photos.” The next day you visited your local dealer and came back with a massive telephoto 2.8 pro-rated. WOW!
But wait! Another question hit you. “How I am going to carry all this equipment?” You ran back to the store and picked the largest and best camera backpack you could afford. Daily you carried the backpack with your expensive SLR and superb lenses and took hundreds of photos. Sure the bag was heavy and the camera overwhelming but you told yourself, “This is the price I have to pay for top quality.” You justified an inconvenience. You kept uploading your photos to the computer, then processing and uploading them on the Internet. Next, you repeated your mantra about your camera’s superiority. You followed this sequence religiously every day. But despite your best efforts, photography had become an almost robot-like endeavour. Then it hit you. Something was not right! You noticed that others were taking much more interesting photos that were more engaging, more powerful. You went through them, you counted every pixel and you compared. Sure their photos were not as sharp as yours, the resolution was lower, the dynamic range was nowhere near yours but somehow their images were so much better and more interesting. You grumbled to yourself, “It is not possible! After all, I spent thousands on my equipment and I feel I am going nowhere!” You nervously studied the 300-page manual and asked yourself, “Maybe I am missing some settings? If only I knew how to set up…” You fell asleep with the manual as your pillow. Next day in the field you set up a tripod, put your brand new, huge, super-fast lens on your camera, went through your settings, played with all the buttons and you came back home… with even more mediocre photos. Your frustration was growing. Where is the joy? Where is the passion? Should I buy a better lens? Should I change my in-camera settings? Weeks and months passed and you left your heavy backpack at home more often. You became unengaged and uninspired. You started avoiding photography. What a chore it had become! You think, “Maybe that’s just how it is. Maybe I am overreacting. Maybe this is the new normal.” The following day you bumped into a kid next door and he showed you a few photos he had taken with his iPhone. You immediately dismissed the quality and told him to buy a real camera but deep down you admired his images, creativity and passion. You went home depressed and discouraged. Then, one day you came across your old friend who was holding a small and interesting camera. Out of respect and curiosity, you took it, looked through the viewfinder and played with the controls. At first, you felt hostile towards this tiny camera. After all, at home you had whole backpack of expensive gear. But deep inside you had a strange feeling. Something drew you closer. It was the strange but familiar feeling you had when you shot Leica or Contax film cameras. You could not stop thinking about the little camera you held in your hands today. After a few days of internal struggle you decided to go for it. You realized what had been missing.
How many of you have had a similar experience? I did.........
Via Thomas Menk
Here are some images I took with the Fujifilm X100S that was loaned to me by my camera vendor in Vietnam. I have used the X100 and am looking to see if the X100S does indeed have the improvements. I tested this camera to see if I should sell my Carl Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 that I use on my Sony NEX-7 and buy this as a second camera. The two will produce the same 35mm equivalent with the aperture almost the same. If I did not have the CZ 24mm, then I would buy the Fujifilm X100S immediately, no doubt. Overall, the Fujifilm X100S produce beautiful and pleasant images right out of the camera, the colors are amazing as all Fujifilm cameras are. The AF is now very fast. Metering is accurate. Noise is one-stop better than all camera I have used and the same as my Canon 5D Mark II images, and this is amazing for APS-C sensor. The .jpgs are absolutely clean with great details. I set everything at 0, no NR, no sharpness, no saturation, vv...
I use 1600 ISO on all the low-light shots as I have no need to go higher. Also, did some macro and fill-in flash toward the end. Yes, that is me, my wife and daughter as models. The camera is easy to use, even my amateur friend took the image pin-sharp. Hope this helps anyone thinking about this camera. Pros: - 16mp sensors is awesome, just like the X-E1 I have tested
- ISO & noise control is supreb, one-stop better than my NEX-7
- AF is definitely faster. I sold my X100 because of slow AF, no more problem in the AF department
- colors rendition is beautiful and better than my Sony
- lens is exptremely sharp with details rendition in dark shadow area
- dynamic range is totally awesome, make me want to sell my Sony gear
- on-camera flash is superb as you can see in some of my fill-in images
- silent shutter makes shooting a joy
- aperture ring on lens is the best way to control aperture
- auto-iso setup is well thought-out and much better than the Sony implementation
- good battery life but not great, you will need several extra battery for one day shooting
- the Q button implementation is superb offering quick glance and setting changes
- ND filter built-in is awesome as I found myself using it on several occasions for f/2.0 shooting
- EV compensation dial is the most used dial and every camera should have one dedicated dial
- Hybrid OVF/EVF is excellent, though I used EVF 90% of the time
- build is excellent and all Fujifilm are "Made In Japan" Cons:
- EVF still have lags, Sony NEX have better EVF
- LCD is still primitive compare to my Sony NEX
- 6fps as compared to 12fps on Sony NEX
- only +-1EV for AEB, not good for hand-held HDR
- cost $1300, I think about $1100 is the best
- screw on wide-angle adapter is not quick
- using it with filter, you have to buy adapter
- lens cap will drop and lose if you are not careful
Via Thomas Menk
I’ve read a few reviews of the X-Pro1 dismissing its use in the studio, confining it purely to the realm of event and documentary photography. Obviously this a genre at which it excels and the core of the system’s philosophy. But as most of you know these cameras have now become my main system, not merely a fun add-on. Which means they ARE used for studio jobs. All kinds of studio jobs. I recently did a shoot for Serdy Media, a production company which owns several specialized TV stations in Quebec — namely Zeste and Évasion, the french food and travel channels. This was a studio product shoot for their new online boutiques. After thoroughly testing the setup, I decided to again forego my Nikon kit and do the entire session using only the X-Pro1 and the 35mm Fujinon XF f/1.4 lens. It worked beautifully. The X-Pro1 actually has several things going for it for this type of work: - The ability to use the rear LCD for live view without changing how you usually work with the camera. - The two zoom levels with built-in sharpening to pinpoint the focus. - Large focus point coverage. - Horizon line and framing guides. - The ability to switch the same lens to macro mode for detail shots. - No mirror to deal with. Combined with the timer function this is as stable as it gets. All of this makes for a very easy going experience and allows for extremely precise work. The two points of contention when it comes to shooting this camera for studio and/or flash photography are 1) sync speed and 2) tethering. The sync speed obviously wasn’t an issue in this case. As for tethering, I’ve discussed my solution in another post already: an Eye-Fi Pro X2 card. To be honest this was definitely the weakest link in the chain, and I was very fortunate to work with a client who didn’t mind the glacial speed at which photos were getting transferred to the computer. But I didn’t like it. I made jokes about it but it bugged the hell out of me the entire time. I’m glad further testing has revealed an ad-hoc network to be exponentially faster. I won’t get caught with this problem again.
Via Thomas Menk
This lens and the Nikon D700 were my first choice to take along on a trip, when wanting to travel light. The 50mm angle of view being the most versatile of fixed focal length lenses. So it was my feeling that on the Fuji with it’s APS-C sized sensor, that this would become one of my favorite lenses to use with the Fuji XP1, as I also use an 85mm on the Nikon FX cameras.
As we all know “great expectations” can be just that. In this case it did not happen. Don’t get me wrong I still like this lens very much. Unlike it’s more modern counter parts (i.e. the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G) I actually like some of it’s “un-corrected” aspects. However my first impression on the Fuji were not great. http://www.jimgamblin.com/blog/
Via Thomas Menk
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What I like about the Fuji X100s
- Wonderful design, excellent build quality - The aperture ring on the lens, the shutter speed dial like old film cameras - The hybrid viewfinder - Amazing quality of the RAW files - Beautiful colour rendition, especially with the Astia Film Simlation mode - Great dynamic range - Tiny, lightweight, quiet, it is a perfect tool for street photography
What I don’t like about the Fuji X100s - Autofocus still needs some improvements - Poor battery life. I highly recommend buying a second battery if you plan to be out all day. - Video mode only automatic, quality could be better given the great X100s sensor; - The lens isn’t extremely sharp at f/2 (but is still usable) and has some distortion. I had hoped that Fuji would have improved on it. Despite a few weak points, I really enjoyed using the X100s and it is definitely a camera that I will bring with me for day-to-day photography. It is fast, silent and discreet, and you can even choose to silence the shutter button. No one will notice you when you use it. However, at the same time, it will never become my main camera system. The reason is probably personal, but if I were to visit a place for the first time, I would probably miss a wide angle lens and a medium telephoto lens as I like to diversify my shots and represent a place from different angles and perspectives. I liked shooting with it in Venice as I had already visited the city. Moreover, thanks to the Fuji X100s’ fixed lens, I was able to concentrate on one single type of photography (street photography), and this proved to be a very good exercise. As I said before, it is a niche camera – you have to know why you are buying it and for what you intend to use it. If street photography isn’t your genre of choice, the x100s probably isn’t the best camera for you. I have to admit that I am not an avid street shooter, and sometimes all I wanted was to be closer to my subject (I did some cropping in a few pictures). The RAF (Fuji RAW) files are another aspect that really impressed me. The dynamic range is huge and the amount of detail you can recover in both the shadows and highlights is stunning. I rarely work with such good RAW files coming from a camera like this one. You can really see the quality of the X-Trans sensor. High ISO images have little noise and an overall filmic “look” that is quite pleasant to the eye.
Via Thomas Menk
I am loving the new 14mm lens!! This is a winner and with it's smooth focusing in both manual and auto-focus modes it has a great feel. I am going to try and pump a bunch of images out this weekend and show off the performance of the lens.
Via Thomas Menk
Fuji has been on fire with its mirrorless cameras. Starting with the ground-breaking X100, and carrying through to the unique X-Pro1, Fuji has been pushing the bar in compact, rangefinder-style devices. Now, with the release of the X-E1, the company is aiming to bring their line to a broader, more main-stream audience. I recently had a chance to spend a couple of days with a production-level sample. Much The Same But So Very Different. On its face, the X-E1 is the X-Pro1 without the hybrid viewfinder. But the reality is more complicated than that. The X-Pro1 is the recent pinnacle of ‘look ma – no hands!’ technological achievement. In it, Fuji managed to integrate multi-point autofocus and a variable magnification optical viewfinder into a rangefinder-style camera with interchangeable lenses. To cap it off, they slipped in the best APS-C sensor in the business. All was goodness and light, right? Well, mostly. As I noted in my comprehensive review here in March, the X-Pro1 is an amazing camera, but at a not-insubstantial price and at a size pushing the limits of “rangefinder style”. For some users it is the ultimate solution. But for the masses interested in a more economical solution, with more flexibility of use, the X-Pro1 might have been more camera than they needed or wanted. So enter the X-E1. The X-E1 is basically the same camera as the X-Pro1, but with only an EVF. The optical window is gone. With it too is gone a surprisingly amount of bulk. The X-E1 is much closer in size and girth to the X100. While on paper, and even to the eye, the differences are not that large, the effect in the hand is noticeable. To me, the X-E1 is just the right size. Anyone who tried the X-Pro1 and found it a bit too big will be very happy now. So that’s it, right? Same functions, same controls, same sensor, just smaller and cheaper. Yes…but….. While that might capture the physical differences, conceptually, the X-E1 seems like something much different than its close relatives. Despite its undeniably range-finder style form-factor, this is in truth a mirrorless system camera. And that’s not a bad thing. But it is a seminal difference....
Via Thomas Menk
I’ve known Kevin Sparrow for some time now. I wouldn’t say we go way back, but in internet time, we’ve been around, doing relatively the same kind of work for a few years. Kevin’s someone I look up to, not only as a photographer, but as a person and a passionate artist. When he and I spoke a few months back about photography, he mentioned he was thinking of ditching his Canon 7D for the Fuji X-Pro1. I didn’t know what to think but after reading his words and seeing these photos, I can’t blame him! Read on below for one of the most in-depth reviews I’ve ever had on this blog....
Via Thomas Menk
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There are so many new camera coming out it is hard to keep up