Happy thanksgiving and thanks everybody! This is really helpful. So I'm comparing it to the e-pl1 and 17mm which lives on the camera. Is AF about on par? How bad is the "sticky aperture" problem I constantly read about? And also, I hate to say it but the pictures I've seen from the camera are pretty much the main reason I haven't gotten one yet. The colours seem generally over-saturated and unrealistic. Further, not many pictures seem especially sharp. I'm hoping I'm wrong
OK, first off.....I'm not trying to sell you my camera (which is currently in the classifieds). Actually, if anything, you may be talking me out of selling it the more I look at the images and think about what I should be looking for. Anyways.....
AF is on par with your current rig....maybe a little quicker (probably a fair bit quicker once you get used to it and understand how it focuses), but a fair bit slower than than the new Pens, but they're in a different league. The sticky aperture problem has hit an unknown number of cameras. It's bad. No one wants it, but Fuji has stepped up. From what I understand they acknowledge the problem and replace what needs replacing if your camera exhibits the SAB.
And lastly (and likely the most important part). the image quality. When I first got mine, I was expecting fireworks. Great riddles of the ages were going to be unraveled before my eyes. The TRUTH would be laid bare. Nirvana was actually here on earth, we just needed to buy the Fuji. In all actuality, it makes lovely files. Not that much different from a good DSLR (but of course we are judging them against lesser cameras most of the time). Noise free up to the moon (which is cool for sure). But I kept looking for more.....where were the fireworks?!?! I had heard that this was an unreal imaging machine. Here's an example for you. It couldn't be any more mundane. When I get a new lens or a new camera I focus on my pets. They are very willing subjects. This is Lucy.....
DSCF5027 by
Lukinosity, on Flickr
First off, this is SOOC and I shot this at f2.0 (because I LOVE shallow DOF and wanted to see what it looked like). But look at the areas of focus....from mid-snout to just past the eyes. Everything is beautifully defined, but not cartoonishly CRISPY. I regularly over-process my images (I'll come back to this point in a bit) so when I first saw this shot I was disappointed. Let me remind you that this Straight Out Of Camera JPEG. Standard Sharpness and standard noise reduction and standard color. And you know what.....it looks exactly like STANDARD "how I see Lucy in real life (except my eyes are more like f16 with everything in focus)".
My problem with it (the camera)is that I had expected some miracle. I wanted it to spit out files like I get with other camera after I process them, I wanted super sharpened, super contrasty, super saturated images. The problem with the Fuji (for me) is that it accurately captures light. It reveals the scene as you program it to. It does what a camera is supposed to do.
SIDEBAR (I think this is why you see so many oversaturated and "unrealistic" photos attributed to this camera.....crazy expectations and years of cameras making up for shortcomings by by goosing the JPEGs) being tweaked by end users trying to get to the "real" image. Hey....I'm as guilty as the next.....maybe more so!
Here's another perfect example.
DSCF5013 by
Lukinosity, on Flickr
Just a shot through our front window. An ugly urban nature shot (hey look a diseased tree and an alleyway). I immediately dismissed the shot (and the camera). Totally boring. In hindsight, there's loads of detail in both the shadows and the highlights. Great, accurate colors.....nicely saturated, but not ridiculous over the top PP.....like I saw that day...and this is SOOC again.
Well now I've started rambling and probably lost my train of thought, but here's the short of it. The X100 makes great, lovely natural photos. Wide open, they may be a touch soft, but that's the nature of wide open. Stopped down they're plenty sharp. Color and contrast are good. All of that can be adjusted in cam....you can crank it up or down to your hearts content, but right up the middle and straight OOC, they look great and natural. The sticky aperture blade problem may or may not be a problem if you decide to buy one, but I think Fuji is taking of it. You may have talked me out of selling mine, but I'm not sure. Give me a holler if you want more info (about mine...or in general).