Fuji A return to older ways with Fujifilm X10

melanie.ylang

Veteran
Location
Australia
A rollercoaster ride through ownership of a number of compact cameras over the past few years has been an interesting learning curve, and one that couldn't have been achieved by simply trying out cameras at a store.

I went from Olympus XZ1 - intense love continued through upgrading to XZ2; Olympus Stylus 1 (loved using it but hated the results); Fujifilm X10 - intense love, also continued through upgrading to X30; a brief try of an LX5; then I decided to ditch compacts and focus on using my mft gear; and then late 2017 I did a loop-the-loop by returning to an XZ2 hoping to recapture the feeling (I didn't), and finally getting another X10. Phew, what a ride!

The jury is out on the results from the X10 (comparing with 16mp mft files), but I love, love the ergonomics, and how it makes me feel more like I used to when shooting film, especially when I turn off the LCD screen and preview and shoot using the OVF, worrying about the results later. I can be more in the moment, which is what I had lost. No doubt I'll still ache over the file quality (I only shoot JPEGs, and please don't try to convince me to do otherwise!), but if I remind myself that I'm keeping it as a snapshooter, maybe I'll still have it in years to come.

Have you had an experience like this in your compact camera use?
 
I thought very hard about getting an X70 or GR, but can't come at having only one wide focal length.

I have an x100 and I love the jpgs it produces, but like you, am stuck in wanting more f/l than a single f/l gives. So I only use the x100 these days if I know that is exactly what I want. I think I should force myself to use it for the next "single in.."
 
I personally find the x100 to be the only fixed focal length camera that I could see myself using as an only camera, because of the flexibility of the 35mm eq focal length. I thought i'd miss wider fl's, and I do sometimes, but 35 is just so versatile... and the single focal length also adds simplicity to my shooting experience like nothing else.

Having said that, the mechanical zoom of the X*0 series has always been tempting. If Fuji made a Sony RX10 conpetitor with mechanical zoom (and smaller, more modern than the XS1), I'd be all over it.

As it is, I used to have 4 compacts (x100, samsung ex1 (LX3 competitor), sony travel zoom, and a cheap underwater compact. I've since ditched the latter 3, way too much overlap.

My new "strategy" is to have only completely different user cases. Hence my desire for an RX10 type camera; so bulky that it's hardly compact, but so versatile in focal length that when I have a dedicated photo trip, it's more than worth bringing along (i could never be bothered to change lenses, so any ILC is out of the question). The x100 is the coat-pocketable street / social situations / there-are-more-important-things-in-life-than-photography-but-you-might-as-well-get-gorgeous-pics-for-future-generations-to-admire camera. And then the phone which doubles as waterproof / everyday observations camera.
 
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The X10 has been my favorite compact camera since I got mine (shortly after it came out) but some time ago I missed a couple potentially great shots due to some erractic AF issues and haven't used it that much since.
 
It's a camera I regret selling. Later on I found someone selling off a small hoard of them for $99, probably because they were the older sensors with the orb issue. I bought one but then ended up giving it to a young friend of mine. It was probably the best Singles in January camera ever. It produced great results from a small sensor and had a great zoom lens.
 
On my X70 I have set it up so that the manual focus ring controls the digital crop zoom. Using either of my index fingers I can engage the 35 or 50 focal length and back to 28 as quickly or quicker than with an ordinary manual zoom lens.
 
The X10 was my very first entry into Fuji X-dom - and now look at me!

I sold that first body long ago but I do still have an X20 which I love, and use regularly. I felt that the X30 was a mis-step; the increase in size and more boxy look and the loss of the OVF in particular made it an unattractive "me too" proposition in a stiff market segment - proven I feel by the fact that the line died at that point.

The digital zoom on the current X100F goes some way to making up for the demise of the Xn0 line but it is far more expensive, offers a shorter focal length and critically loses raw when enabled.
 
I have owned the X30 - twice - and got a lot of nice images from them. But the fact that I ended up selling both (after I said I wouldn't), probably says something . . . or maybe it speaks more to my own "fluid" relationship with my camera gear. :blush:
 
I can't help thinking I should have gone for an X20 instead, at least then I wouldn't be breaking my rule of 'never go back', and could check out the changes that were made. But one of the reasons I did go back was for the EXR sensor, which was abandoned in follow-up models - I really like the 'extra' that using the EXR mode provides (while taking away pixels, I know!).

Last year I finally got to see and hold an X100 - I live in rural Australia, where choices are slim and mainstream - at a used camera store, but the feel left me cold, which was quite unexpected. At the same time, I tried a GXR and GRII, and was blown away by the files from the GRII, but with no viewfinder or change in focal length, after much deliberation I walked away. I know there are digital crops available in camera, but I often shoot at tele.

The answer - for me, and probably many others - is there is no one camera to do it all.
 
Rural Aus and you have a used camera store??? LUCKY! I'm in Newcastle and apart from the usual suspects and Camera House, theres nothing else. No used stores, thats for sure. Where are you?
Oops, no what I should have said is that I visited Melbourne, which is where the camera store was. I'm 5 hours' drive away, in the western district, and the only local camera stores (100km away) are Camera House and Harvey Normal, and they don't even stock Fujifilm these days.

For anyone who's interested, the store I mention is The Camera Exchange in Box Hill South - an Aladdins cave if I ever saw one!
 
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Aside from the controls, the X10’s lens was a joy. Fast, sharp, and a good zoom range. This is one of my favorite shots from that camera.
 
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