Fuji Fuji X100 Firmware Update 1.01

[Streetshooter]

Here's the latest firmware update.
Not everything hoped for but a start.

Firmware for FinePix X100 | Fujifilm Global

 

[BBW]

Excellent - I'll know right where to go once I get ahold of mine. Thank you, Don!

 

[Streetshooter]

BB,
This may fix the issue some have with camera freeze.
There are things that need to be addressed that haven't been....yet.
As photographers, we know we have to wait to see the image get developed and fixed.
It's the same for cameras, wait and see what developes.

 

[Ray Sachs]

I've had the new firmware installed for a couple of days and can report that it makes very little difference in most areas (fixed some freeze-ups that occurred VERY rarely with the original FW), but one MAJOR improvement. The manual focus is now a VERY useable feature on the camera. With the first version, there was no feel at all to the focus ring - you could turn it for about a week and a half to get from 3 feet out to something closer to infinity. It was only really useable when used with the AFL/AEL button, which is essentially using AF to get close and MF just for fine tuning. But with the new firmware, the ring is either giving you more range with a shorter throw or maybe its speed sensitive or something. But regardless, its a much more useable feature now. I still don't see myself using it a lot except possibly in some hyperfocal situations or in low light where the AF is somewhat challenged. But its nice to know its something that now works quite well rather than just a feature that was there so Fuji could say they included it but not of much use.

-Ray

 

[soundimageplus]

Interesting you say its much the same. My X100 arrived this morning, and I'm currently trying to get familiar with the menus. Its not the simplest camera to operate is it!! Very early impressions are that the optical viewfinder is just great but there are certainly a few things I either haven't worked out how to do or aren't possible. There seems quite a bit of "If you want to do this, you can't do that" going on, but as I said its early days.

One crazy thing, the camera isn't how I remember it at the FOI show. I don't think it was the same. This is heavier, bigger and better put together. I really don't know what I was handling there!!

One final plea, does anyone know how you unscrew the front ring to get the lens hood on. Mine just won't move, and since its very smooth metal I just can't work out how to unscrew it. My fingers just slip all the time. Any ideas other than a plumbers wrench??

 

[BBW]

Thanks you, two for the updates on the updates and congrats David on your new arrival!!! Hang in there - don't get the plumber's wrench out yet! I'll send out a rider to get Ray to finish up his morning coffee - or maybe Lisa is hasn't taken off on her trip yet?!

 

[Ray Sachs]

I had never tried it since I don't have the hood (or filters). I just tried, though, and its very tight, but after working at it for about 10 seconds or so it finally broke free and then unscrewed very easily. So I think it just needs a bit of urging, but probably not a plumbers wrench.

The bigger, heavier, better put-together thing may just be pride of ownership poking its ugly little head up... Honestly, I don't know. I know when I first got mine it made me think back to your first impression and I had to wonder whether we were living in different universes. But I just chalked it up to different expectations (I've never spent any time with an M8 or M9 and had to acknowledge that it might feel very cheap relative to one of those). Maybe you were actually handling a prototype that wasn't up to snuff?

The interface takes some getting used to - not nearly as intuitive as most other modern cameras, but once you spend some time with it, you figure out how to do what you need to do pretty quickly. It definitely needs a major firmware upgrade to do a number of things. To me, the only really critical change is to incorporate Auto ISO and the individual ISO settings into the same menu rather than in two menues a couple of submenus and levels apart AND to allow the raw button and maybe the WB or one of the other buttons on the four way controller to be user configurable and essentially serve as a second and third function button. I can't imagine a camera of this quality having a dedicated WB button but no dedicated ISO button!?!? Nonetheless, you can get there from here and hopefully Fuji will make it easier to get there from here in a reasonable amount of time.

-Ray

 

[soundimageplus]

I had never tried it since I don't have the hood (or filters). I just tried, though, and its very tight, but after working at it for about 10 seconds or so it finally broke free and then unscrewed very easily. So I think it just needs a bit of urging, but probably not a plumbers wrench.

Yes it finally worked loose, and I was able to remove it, without resorting to power tools! I've got the hood on and that plus its leather case does give it a great look. I was however a little disconcerted to have to put the strap holders on myself. It comes wrapped in a fancy box, but theres a bit of IKea to do!!

The bigger, heavier, better put-together thing may just be pride of ownership poking its ugly little head up

I wondered about that, but I had my GF1 with me at the time I went to the show, so I had a pretty close comparison.

The interface takes some getting used to - not nearly as intuitive as most other modern cameras, but once you spend some time with it, you figure out how to do what you need to do pretty quickly. Nonetheless, you can get there from here and hopefully Fuji will make it easier to get there from here in a reasonable amount of time.
-Ray

Some of the things are easier than I thought, the macro switching is relatively painless. There's a lot of options certainly and it reminded me of a a DSLR menu setup, but not yet sorted out properly.

I'm off to spend an afternoon shooting with it to see how I get on with it.

The next few days on the blog will be me working with it. Not a review but a "user experience" so if anything crops up that I have problems with, I may come back to you if thats OK. One thing that does strike me is that somebody could make a fortune with a video on how to navigate it.

 

[BBW]

David, since I am still in the waiting game mode, I have to live vicariously through you all. Is the leather case you mention the Fuji X100 "standard" case? And can it function as a half case? I've started to think about accessories..and even an extra battery... Maybe if I buy the extras the real thing will come?

 

[soundimageplus]

David, since I am still in the waiting game mode, I have to live vicariously through you all. Is the leather case you mention the Fuji X100 "standard" case? And can it function as a half case? I've started to think about accessories..and even an extra battery... Maybe if I buy the extras the real thing will come?

Its a brown leather case and strap, sold as an accessory. It can be used as a half case and its a beautiful fit. Don't know of you ever got the case for the X1 but its nicer than that. (Picture on Blog tomorrow) I did order an extra battery but there are none available at the moment.

 

[BBW]

Thanks David!

 

[Ray Sachs]

I did order an extra battery but there are none available at the moment.

You can get aftermarket batteries and chargers for the X100 all over the place. Long before I had the X100 I'd bought a couple of aftermarket batteries and a charger (that doesn't require the cord and doesn't have a little plastic piece that's way too easy to lose and that won't work without it!). I think I paid about $10 each for the batteries and $15 or so for the charger. Fuji uses this same battery in other cameras so it shouldn't be hard to find if you don't care about it being a Fuji branded battery.

The leather case looks great. Luigi is making one that looks even greater (but may only be a half case). None of them leave the tripod mount open, however, and since I favor sling straps with a tripod mount attachment, none of these pretty cases will work for me. I'm using the Black Rapid Snap-R integrated case/sling strap and its brilliant with this camera. Its a moderately ugly little cuss but functional as all get-out. It's all I carried on my Jamaican trip, with a couple of extra batteries, an extra SD card, my cellphone, hotel key-card, and a lens pen in the small side pockets. The whole thing isn't much bigger than the camera but protects it and keeps it hidden when that matters.

It wouldn't fit with the hood in place, but the leather case won't either I don't believe. No problem, I tend to just cup my hand over the lens when I need a hood.

-Ray

 

[BBW]

Hmm, more to ponder. I probably won't really know what sort of strap I'd prefer until I feel the size and weight. I'd love to just use a wrist strap but it is nice to be able to have any camera safe and sound in some sort of case. I used to use a soft drawstring case to stuff my X1 in and then carry it in my bag...it probably won't fit the Fuji.

Any pointers to this charger, Ray?

 

[Ray Sachs]

Hmmm, bad news. This is the one I got from B&H but evidently now they're discontinued... Jeez, I just bought it a month or so ago.

Pearstone Mini AC/DC Battery Charger for Fuji NP-95 CMNP95 B&H

But if you do a search, there are other chargers available for the NP95 battery and many knock offs of the battery itself. You may not be able to find this one, but you can get something that will work...

-Ray

 

[soundimageplus]

I know this is a thread about the firmware, but thought I'd do a quick report back on my first excursion with the X100.

Firstly for BB, yes image quality is as good as the X1, and yes its faster. Feels a lot nicer in use too. IQ reminded me of a m4/3 camera with a Leica lens fitted.
Colour - great. The Velvia preset is right up my street.
Optical viewfinder great. Image playback not so great - I must adjust it if I can. EVF is a great fall back and not so fiddly, but I just love the OVF.
High ISO - astounding. I had it set on ISO 1600 by mistake. Looks like ISO 400 on an Olympus m4/3. (Actually in good light its not that far off ISO 200 on Olympus m4/3!!!)
Very fiddly. The OVF takes ages to come on and sometimes mysteriously disappears - its probably me.
Kept me on my toes throughout.
Silent shutter is great - nobody hears you. A real stealth machine. (Is this a good thing?)
Definitely not for beginners, you have to work this thing.
Most fun I've had with a camera for years.

I'm going to love it!!

Set of images on flickr at:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45203414@N06/sets/72157626474939871/

 

[Ray Sachs]

Optical viewfinder great. Image playback not so great - I must adjust it if I can. EVF is a great fall back and not so fiddly, but I just love the OVF.
Very fiddly. The OVF takes ages to come on and sometimes mysteriously disappears - its probably me.

The image playback can be turned off or set to 1.5 seconds or longer or can be set to stay on until you touch something (like the shutter button). I sometimes turn it off altogether but often leave it on for 1.5 seconds. Come on just long enough to see if I have some horrible disaster happening in the shot but reverts back to the OVF pretty fast. I love the little trick of looking through the OVF for the shot, having the EVF take over momentarily to show you what you've shot, and then switching back to the OVF automatically and quickly. Nice little piece of engineering in that and after a couple of days I was taking it for granted - life's not fair that way!

The OVF should not take ages to come on. Turn off all energy saving settings and turn on "quick startup" or whatever its called. Set it to never ever go to sleep - it really doesn't like waking up. Just turn it off if you're not shooting for long enough to want it to go to sleep. You can turn it on a LOT faster than it will wake up from a nap - very cranky that way. And carry an extra battery as the price to pay for all of that lack of energy savings. When I turn my camera on and raise it to my eye, the OVF comes up the moment it recognizes that my eye is to the viewfinder and it switches from the screen on back to the viewfinder. As close to instant as I could want.

No, not for beginners, and yes, a TON of fun to shoot with. Your images show the camera's capabilities well. Love those daisies!

-Ray

 

[soundimageplus]

Thanks for all that.

The image playback can be turned off or set to 1.5 seconds or longer or can be set to stay on until you touch something (like the shutter button). I sometimes turn it off altogether but often leave it on for 1.5 seconds. Come on just long enough to see if I have some horrible disaster happening in the shot but reverts back to the OVF pretty fast. I love the little trick of looking through the OVF for the shot, having the EVF take over momentarily to show you what you've shot, and then switching back to the OVF automatically and quickly. Nice little piece of engineering in that and after a couple of days I was taking it for granted - life's not fair that way!

The OVF should not take ages to come on. Turn off all energy saving settings and turn on "quick startup" or whatever its called. Set it to never ever go to sleep - it really doesn't like waking up. Just turn it off if you're not shooting for long enough to want it to go to sleep. You can turn it on a LOT faster than it will wake up from a nap - very cranky that way. And carry an extra battery as the price to pay for all of that lack of energy savings. When I turn my camera on and raise it to my eye, the OVF comes up the moment it recognizes that my eye is to the viewfinder and it switches from the screen on back to the viewfinder. As close to instant as I could want.

No, not for beginners, and yes, a TON of fun to shoot with. Your images show the camera's capabilities well. Love those daisies!

-Ray

 

[BBW]

Firstly for BB, yes image quality is as good as the X1, and yes its faster. Feels a lot nicer in use too. IQ reminded me of a m4/3 camera with a Leica lens fitted.

Do you have any idea both how happy you've made me, David - and how impatient?!?!? Seriously, love to read the good news! I'm so impatient though!

Heading over to look at your pictures shortly!

 

[soundimageplus]

Its going to take a while to get to know this camera properly and I'm afraid I've got Ray down as the X100 "guru". I hope he doesn't mind. Considering the amount of cameras I go through in a year its unusual to feel like a novice again, though definitely good for my soul. Its not a DSLR, its not a rangefinder and its not a CSC. I watched Kai's review at Digital Rev Fujifilm Finepix X100 Hands-on Review - DigitalRev.com
and he walks around a bit stunned repeating how different it is. I now know what he was talking about. I've never used anything quite like it and it does all these things that I'm not used to. Switching between an optical viewfinder with framelines AND digital display and a view screen with a level indicator is more radical than it sounds. To be honest, after day one, I'm a little stunned too!

Do you have any idea both how happy you've made me, David - and how impatient?!?!? Seriously, love to read the good news! I'm so impatient though!

Heading over to look at your pictures shortly!

 

[Ray Sachs]

I felt like that the first couple of days as well, and irritated with the whole ISO menu thing until I realized how good high ISO was and just decided to trust the auto ISO to get it right enough (which it has). But you get used to it pretty quickly. What I find now is I almost always just use the OVF in decent light and don't think about the other modes. In low light I'll usually use the EVF because it gains up quite well. And sometimes when I need to shoot from an odd angle I just lift camera from my face and use the LCD. I don't even really think about it any more and I'm a wily old vet of about two weeks with this camera now.

BUT, you seem to do a lot of very close work and for that, you're gonna have to switch to the EVF a lot more often and learn to use the macro mode quite a bit also. It works real well for close up work, but getting it into a mode that will focus close up and focus on the RIGHT part of the screen is not immediately intuitive. I rarely shoot so close I need the macro mode but I occasionally shoot close enough that I'll switch to EVF just to make sure I'm focusing on the right spot. And now that the manual focus seems to work so well with the updated firmware, I may just use that for close up stuff and avoid the AF and switching to macro mode altogether.

-Ray