Andrewteee
All-Pro
This past weekend I walked into a local camera store to check out a Domke bag (F2 in nice waxed cotton, and I bought it). I have not been to this store for some time because it is all the way across town and I'm rarely over there. On the shelves behind the counters, along with assorted Nikon, Canon and Leica camera and lens boxes, I spy a Fuji X100 box; I had no idea they carried Fuji. As I'm checking out I ask the guy if they just carry the X100 or if they have the X100. He proudly stated that they indeed carry it and at the moment they had 7 in stock, just arrived the day before. I was stunned, caught like a deer in headlights. I stumbled a few words out of my mouth to the effect of, "can I see it please..."
Lyle Lovett, a talented and rather idiosyncratic country musician, has a song (forget the name) where the narrator sings "My first mistake..." in talking to a cute girl and goes on to list two more mistakes, then the tables turn and the cute girl makes 3 mistakes, and all ends well for both of them. Well, asking to see the X100 was my first mistake. You can probably figure out how this story ends.
I immediately connected with the OVF(!). Like my Zeiss Ikon, but digital. Wow. The EVF seems reasonable enough, good for checking framing or previewing an image in B&W, but I don't plan to use it often. And damn, it's a handsome little camera! It just kinda feels right. I'm an old fashioned knob and dial guy when it comes to cars and cameras are much the same way. Change aperture, twist the knob. Change the exposure compensation, just twist the knob. I don't often shoot in speed priority, but I could just dial that knob too. I like how if I ever want to shoot in P mode I just set both aperture and speed to A. Well, duh.
Lately, I've been shooting with external EVFs on my Ricoh and Olympus cameras, and while I love them and I love the fact that it can rotate 90 degrees, and in some cases I rely on that with wide angle lenses, I've been thinking that at times it would be nice to have a VF option that does not require an admittedly clunky solution; attaching, removing, storing... The X100 provides that solution.
I am fully aware of all of the complaints about the UI. Frankly, it's not that bad, and as I just outlined it works well in some ways. I have not touched the manual yet; all the basics seem easily understandable, and I'm shooting RAW so far. As far as I can tell, it has the latest FW, though I cannot find a FW setting in the menus.
The files are as good as expected. I really like the newer APS-C sensors and their dynamic range for B&W work. More on this later. The lens appears to be nice and sharp. The battery seems to be the exact same one used in the Ricoh GXR so I already have spares. I also bought the hood.
My one complaint, and this seems common to other 3:2-based cameras, is that the only proportion options are 3:2 and 16:9. Why in the worlds can they not enable 4:3 and 6X6? If I may have one request, that is it. I prefer 4:3 over the others with the occasional 6:6. I will just have to use my imagination when framing with the X100.
Cameras and lenses going up for sale this week. The time has come, no excuses.
PS Turns this camera store also had the Olympus E-PL3 in stock, which to my knowledge is not available online yet (and even the E-P3 is hard to find and they had those too). Small camera store, but they had a ton of stuff in stock - I'll have to remember this and do a better job of supporting them in the future and keeping it local. They also carry Fuji Instax, the Fuji medium format cameras, all flavors of Holga, those panoramic 35mm cameras too, tons of bags, and on and on. And the place was jammed all day the guy said. Nice to see a local camera store thriving.
What is a camera without pictures...
Lyle Lovett, a talented and rather idiosyncratic country musician, has a song (forget the name) where the narrator sings "My first mistake..." in talking to a cute girl and goes on to list two more mistakes, then the tables turn and the cute girl makes 3 mistakes, and all ends well for both of them. Well, asking to see the X100 was my first mistake. You can probably figure out how this story ends.
I immediately connected with the OVF(!). Like my Zeiss Ikon, but digital. Wow. The EVF seems reasonable enough, good for checking framing or previewing an image in B&W, but I don't plan to use it often. And damn, it's a handsome little camera! It just kinda feels right. I'm an old fashioned knob and dial guy when it comes to cars and cameras are much the same way. Change aperture, twist the knob. Change the exposure compensation, just twist the knob. I don't often shoot in speed priority, but I could just dial that knob too. I like how if I ever want to shoot in P mode I just set both aperture and speed to A. Well, duh.
Lately, I've been shooting with external EVFs on my Ricoh and Olympus cameras, and while I love them and I love the fact that it can rotate 90 degrees, and in some cases I rely on that with wide angle lenses, I've been thinking that at times it would be nice to have a VF option that does not require an admittedly clunky solution; attaching, removing, storing... The X100 provides that solution.
I am fully aware of all of the complaints about the UI. Frankly, it's not that bad, and as I just outlined it works well in some ways. I have not touched the manual yet; all the basics seem easily understandable, and I'm shooting RAW so far. As far as I can tell, it has the latest FW, though I cannot find a FW setting in the menus.
The files are as good as expected. I really like the newer APS-C sensors and their dynamic range for B&W work. More on this later. The lens appears to be nice and sharp. The battery seems to be the exact same one used in the Ricoh GXR so I already have spares. I also bought the hood.
My one complaint, and this seems common to other 3:2-based cameras, is that the only proportion options are 3:2 and 16:9. Why in the worlds can they not enable 4:3 and 6X6? If I may have one request, that is it. I prefer 4:3 over the others with the occasional 6:6. I will just have to use my imagination when framing with the X100.
Cameras and lenses going up for sale this week. The time has come, no excuses.
PS Turns this camera store also had the Olympus E-PL3 in stock, which to my knowledge is not available online yet (and even the E-P3 is hard to find and they had those too). Small camera store, but they had a ton of stuff in stock - I'll have to remember this and do a better job of supporting them in the future and keeping it local. They also carry Fuji Instax, the Fuji medium format cameras, all flavors of Holga, those panoramic 35mm cameras too, tons of bags, and on and on. And the place was jammed all day the guy said. Nice to see a local camera store thriving.
What is a camera without pictures...