Fuji Borrowed a X100 from work...WOW it's good!!

Location
London UK
Name
Andy
I thought it was about time I borrowed an X100 from work to play with. The images it produces are really nice and it's quite an easy camera to use. I find that although it's easy to use you do need to take care in what you do so it's more than a point and shoot! I'm using a pre production model so it has the orig firmware. A new one will be better!

Anyhoo here are a few pics

My Test model!!
View attachment 53283
X100 Test by andywest1, on Flickr

View attachment 53284
X100 Test by andywest1, on Flickr

View attachment 53285
X100 Test by andywest1, on Flickr

View attachment 53286
X100 Test by andywest1, on Flickr
 
It's my "go to" camera. I love the focal length and the files it puts out are so great, it's starting to teach me to not over-process the living daylights out of every shot I take. It might even be teaching me how to be a better photographer, but that sounds ridiculous.

What it does do is make me think about every setting and what I'm trying to accomplish in each shot and for me that helps. And once you learn how the camera works, I never find it getting in my way. You should download the firmware updates....it makes it even better.

I'm kind of glad the X-Pro 1 is so expensive (and they haven't made the same focal length available for it). I may never see a reason to "upgrade".

Your test shots look great. Have fun!
 
Magic machine

I can onlu endorse what Armanius & Luke have said above, it is a stunning camera as well as being solid (I feel down stone steps with mine and all it got was a grazed lens hood), tactile with great dials and stunning OV/EVF.

I can honestly say that for me it produces better quality images then my recently departed Leica M8.2 + 28mm and is miles ahead of anything my Leica could produce above 800ISO.

It is also a great camera for portrait shooting if a little too sharp (this image was so sharp I had to copy and use blur to diffuse slightly)

Miss_She_Unique.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Thanks chaps. Thing is I can afford one and we have a couple at work in stock. It would make my GF2 with 17mm Oly lens redundant which would be a shame. It's SOOO tempting!! :D

I was looking at getting a 24mm prime for my D3100 but I only have a choice of a Sigma 24mm f1.8 which has generally poor reviews, Nikkor 24mm f2.8D which is manual focus only on the D3100 or the Nikkor 24mm f1.4 which is big, heavy and more than twice the price of the X100 with similar IQ. Getting the X100 would be a cost effective solution!!
 
Andy, I bought an X100 last year and used it alongside a gf1 with the 20mm. I made a rash decision to sell it since it was too similar to the gf1 and 20mm. And then I kept looking at the files that were left behind on my computer. The cameras were similar for sure, but I had sold the wrong one. I stuck with the one that was familiar...and safe. So a couple months later another X100 came to me. I couldn't believe I was going to sell the first camera (the gf1) I had ever bonded with. I felt like a traitor as I packed it up and shipped it off.

I missed it for around a week and then my mourning period was over. I love my X100. I think it would make a nice pairing with your X10. I got to play with one of those the other day. I couldn't believe how small it was.....and I've seen the shots that come out of it. It's quite amazing, too. There may be one of those in my future.
 
I was looking at getting a 24mm prime for my D3100 but I only have a choice of a Sigma 24mm f1.8 which has generally poor reviews, Nikkor 24mm f2.8D which is manual focus only on the D3100 or the Nikkor 24mm f1.4 which is big, heavy and more than twice the price of the X100 with similar IQ. Getting the X100 would be a cost effective solution!!

You are where I was a bit more than a year ago. When the X100 was announced I knew it was what I had been waiting and waiting for Nikon to produce (a fast, compact 35mm FF equivalent AF-S lens). I was tired of waiting, so preordered the X100 when it was announced (first and last time I did that for a camera), got it, played with it, and never looked back.
 
On the topic of Nikon, I'm perplexed and intrigued as to why the big boys of DSLR don't have a cost-effective 35mm equivalent for their APS-C cameras (as far as I know). Do they think that the kit lenses or fast zooms are good enough substitutes?
 
Great shots Andy. It is just a cool piece of kit and I would love to have one.

Agreed, it's almost as good as the GXR but it does have that lovely 35mm FOV.

How great would it be to have an updated 16mpx 35mm FOV module?!

Also, I am still interested to hear what Leica is doing with the X2.
 
Andy, in all seriousness...if you can get a good deal on the camera....grab it!
There is nothing that compares to the X100. It is a very important camera in the history of cameras.
You will enjoy it for sure. I know I joke around a lot but not on this one...
Anyone that pays attention to your work would agree....
Don
 
Andy, in all seriousness...if you can get a good deal on the camera....grab it!
There is nothing that compares to the X100. It is a very important camera in the history of cameras.
You will enjoy it for sure. I know I joke around a lot but not on this one...
Anyone that pays attention to your work would agree....
Don

Don

I really do appreciate your input and consider you as a bit of a Godfather fugure in this mad world of photography, probably because I love your work! I will probably be able to get a good deal from work so knowing me I'll be a proud owner of a X100 by this time tomorrow. I'll keep you all in informed as to what happens.

Thanks :)
 
You'll love it Andy - you're off to a great start already. Use it VERY well!

I recently bought an X-Pro while in NYC because I like the focal lengths more than the X-100 and there are some very real improvements in the interface. I sent the GXR and X100 home with my wife and shot just with the X-Pro 1 and my m43 gear. The plan was to sell the X100 and the GXR. But a funny thing happened when I got home and picked up the X100 again - I don't know if I can sell it. There's just something about the feel of that camera that is just so RIGHT! The X-Pro IQ is at least as good, a bit better in some ways, and the interface really IS much improved. But I'm not sure what I'm gonna do now. I'm likely to take a beating selling the GXR, which may force me to sell the X100. Realistically I'm not going to actually USE both the X100 and X-Pro enough to justify keeping both. But I'm actually emotionally torn over selling the X100. This doesn't happen to me - I loved my EPL3 and I just sold that and shipped it off without a thought. But the X100 is killing me - I've evidently bonded with that camera in a serious way. ARRRGGGHHHH! What to do?!?!?!?

Which is not your problem Andy - just another testimonial to the wonderfulness of the X100. Anybody want to pay waaaaay too much for a GXR and 28???? Didn't think so.

-Ray
 
You'll love it Andy - you're off to a great start already. Use it VERY well!

I recently bought an X-Pro while in NYC because I like the focal lengths more than the X-100 and there are some very real improvements in the interface. I sent the GXR and X100 home with my wife and shot just with the X-Pro 1 and my m43 gear. The plan was to sell the X100 and the GXR. But a funny thing happened when I got home and picked up the X100 again - I don't know if I can sell it. There's just something about the feel of that camera that is just so RIGHT! The X-Pro IQ is at least as good, a bit better in some ways, and the interface really IS much improved. But I'm not sure what I'm gonna do now. I'm likely to take a beating selling the GXR, which may force me to sell the X100. Realistically I'm not going to actually USE both the X100 and X-Pro enough to justify keeping both. But I'm actually emotionally torn over selling the X100. This doesn't happen to me - I loved my EPL3 and I just sold that and shipped it off without a thought. But the X100 is killing me - I've evidently bonded with that camera in a serious way. ARRRGGGHHHH! What to do?!?!?!?

Which is not your problem Andy - just another testimonial to the wonderfulness of the X100. Anybody want to pay waaaaay too much for a GXR and 28???? Didn't think so.

-Ray

I was going to ask you what you were going to do with the X100. It would seem like a great companion for the XPro1 - you would have compact option, but then also the 35 FoV (until there is an X option).
 
I was going to ask you what you were going to do with the X100. It would seem like a great companion for the XPro1 - you would have compact option, but then also the 35 FoV (until there is an X option).

I'm actually not that huge on the 35mm - I much prefer the 28 and the wider lenses to come (and that I already have covered in m43 anyhow). And the OMD is the compact option (and also vastly useful in ways that neither of the Fuji's are). I don't really have a place or a role for the X100, but it just feels so right in the hand that to sell it somehow feels wrong. The X-Pro doesn't feel too big too me on its own, but then when I pick up the X100 and it back to back, it feels HUGE. I've often said that the X-100 was probably my favorite camera even if it was my least used camera. I still sort of feel that way, and now it'll be used even less. But what to do? I don't have a clue. If I manage to sell the GXR, I'll probably just keep it for a while and see if I shoot with it at all. And if I don't, THEN I'll sell it. But if I can't get anything to speak of for the GXR, a much tougher problem... The GXR in retrospect was a mistake. I like it just fine, but I sort of bought it to help talk myself out of the "need" for the X-Pro, being a good low light option at 28mm - that obviously didn't work! And now its probably my least re-sellable camera but its got no role in my shooting now - both the X-Pro and the OMD are as good or better in low light. I've generally made really good decisions on cameras and have only taken significant resale losses on camera's I'd wrung a huge amount of use out of. But I have a feeling I'm gonna take bath on that one. Oh well, live and learn...

-Ray
 
Andy, I got nothing but love for ya, you know that.
I always enjoyed your photos, especially the garden & workshop series.
The X100 will show you a new way of seeing and thinking.
With only one focal length, you have no choice but to see more clearly without diversion.
Good luck.... Don

Ray, post the GXR on eBay. It should sell fast as there is never any used stuff there.
Don
 
I'm kind of in the same boat as Ray. The x100 is a wonderful camera, amazing image quality. I love mine, it has me interested in photography again as I feel I'm "thinking" about it much more, maybe more involved. But I missed having different focal lengths so I picked up the XPro1 and I love it as well, but when they're sitting side by side, the x100 almost beckons me to pick it up and take it out. Since getting the xpro, the x100 doesn't get used at all but I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with it. I really want to keep things simple and only want to own one camera, but I don't know if I can let go of the x100. It's an odd little beast, but with the latest firmware it's really improving.
If you get the x100, you'll love it, just be aware of it's limitations.

Kris
 
Back
Top