Fuji The Fuji X-A1: a camera to be reckoned with

[Stephen S]

The little Fuji X-A1 gets rather short shrift in terms of attention (it's not even listed in the forum title), but in fact, it's a terrific little camera with truly excellent image quality. About $200 cheaper than the X-M1 at standard retail pricing, you can save some money and put the savings towards the Fuji 27mm pancake, which is just about the perfect companion for the X-A1.

How good is this combo? Purdy dang good, as we say in the 'States; here's a shot of The City (San Francisco to the non-locals) I took the other night coming home from work.

An old boat with a lot of character and the fab Fuji fourteen shows just how much detail this sweet little camera captures...

 

[m2usa]

As another Bay Area guy, I can appreciate the shot of The City. I also like the colors for the boat photo. Is that in the area? Hmmm... maybe I might need to look at the X-A1 as a nice everyday camera. Thanks for posting.

 

[Stephen S]

M2usa,
Yes, the boat is on Hwy 37 a few miles west of Marin/Novato on the way to Sears Point. It's on the right (south) side of 37 as you head east towards Vallejo. It's off at the turn out for the little marina that's there. "Edith E" has been planted there for years.

The X-A1 has turned out to be a much better camera than I initally thought (I had virtually no interest in one until I was playing with an X-M1 at the brick and mortar B&H in NYC), and the image quality is just gorgeous.

This is just a silly little snapshot of my cat Lucky using the kit lens, literally the first image I took with the camera after unboxing it, and you can see that beautiful color as only a Fuji can do, and excellent detail. This a JPEG pretty much SOOC.

 

[Stephen S]

I really enjoy doing some "product photography" to amuse myself when I'm at home and looking for something to do.

Here's literally some "tabletop" photography of my Oly OM-D E-M5 shot at ISO 1600 with the best kind of light, natural window daylight. Virtually nothing special about this shot other than it shows the excellent high ISO performance of the X-A1.

 

[m2usa]

Well, I'm up watching a zillion hours of recorded Winter (or as the temperature there would seem - Summer) Olympics, but I keep getting distracted by stuff in the Fuji forums. Thanks for the location of good ol' Edith there, I went out to Sears Point (Sonoma Raceway) a couple years ago, but I'll have to put Edith on the list when I have another next trek out there. Thanks for OOC JPEG posts. They do look really great. The colors are just pretty amazing, and the out of focus area is nice as well. Also shooting an OM-D E-M5 as well? I almost bought that camera when it came out, but opted to get a Nikon V1 setup instead. Super fast focusing and pretty tiny. Just bought an X-E1 for kicks. Waiting patiently for the 35mm to show up. It's not exactly setup the way I'm used to shooting (D700/800), but I'm trying to get used to it. Looking forward to being on these boards more this year. Thanks again for the photos.

 

[Stephen S]

Well, I'm up watching a zillion hours of recorded Winter (or as the temperature there would seem - Summer) Olympics, but I keep getting distracted by stuff in the Fuji forums. Thanks for the location of good ol' Edith there, I went out to Sears Point (Sonoma Raceway) a couple years ago, but I'll have to put Edith on the list when I have another next trek out there. Thanks for OOC JPEG posts. They do look really great. The colors are just pretty amazing, and the out of focus area is nice as well. Also shooting an OM-D E-M5 as well? I almost bought that camera when it came out, but opted to get a Nikon V1 setup instead. Super fast focusing and pretty tiny. Just bought an X-E1 for kicks. Waiting patiently for the 35mm to show up. It's not exactly setup the way I'm used to shooting (D700/800), but I'm trying to get used to it. Looking forward to being on these boards more this year. Thanks again for the photos.

m2usa,
Yes, I bought a used OM-D E-M5 last summer as a number of pros I really respect have started working with it and producing really great work with it. It's really a great little camera, built like a tank, and has a terrific selection of excellent lenses to use with it. I only have three so far, the Oly 17/1.8 and 45 f/1.8, and the Panny 12-35/2.8. I shoot for Sonoma Raceway, and the little Olympus is great for getting all the race event "atmosphere" shots that my PR Directors like: people having fun, pitlane, paddock, vendors, safety crews, etc. etc. Better than hauling my big pro Canon 1D-series body and big-*ss white L lenses around just do that sort of photography. The E-M5 has really fast single shot AF, which makes getting those shots easy and fast. Plus it's very small and compact.

My main squeeze and love of my life, though, is my Fuji X-Pro1. That is the camera I pick up when I go out to do "serious" photography. The X-Pro1 has the best image quality of any camera I personally have ever shot with, period, including the Canon 1Dx. While the Oly is excellent, the Fuji is, quite simply, magical.

This shot of my X-Pro1 was taken with the X-A1 and the little pancake....nicely shows the image quality of this sweet little combo:

I have the 14, 23 and 35 primes for the X-Pro1, and the 18-55 zoom. The 55-200 will show up next week. The 14mm and 23mm primes are absolutely incredible lenses, amongst the best I have ever used. The 35 is equal to them optically, but has a slower AF motor. I don't use the 35 much now that I have the 18-55. I have the X-T1 on pre-order, and will likely put together two X-kits: the X-T1 kit with zooms (including the new 10-24/4 and the two new f/2.8 zooms recently announced) and the X-Pro1 kit with the primes: 14, 23, 35, and 56.

I expect the 27mm pancake will remain on the X-A1 the majority of the time. When you see it on the X-A1 or X-M1, you can see it was just made for those cameras:

 

[m2usa]

Hey, that's so cool that you shoot for Sonoma Raceway. I am a big fan of the LeMans and American LeMans Series (basically any endurance race) and F1, so I really appreciate what you do there. You use the OM-D EM-5 for the PR work at the track? That's great. Saves you a lot of weight and burden carrying all the gear. I know that this is a Fuji forum, but I used the V1 at Laguna last year, and surprisingly got some pretty nice images. The X-Pro1 is a nice camera and I saw it at the WPPI convention a few years ago, but didn't opt into it then. I wish I had sprung for the 14mm, but I'm waiting to get the 56 later in the year and just couldn't pony up the cash just yet. I use Nikon gear for portraits and weddings mostly, and I am a longtime, and I mean longtime Nikon user. It would be great if I could move all the way to Fuji since I really like the colors, and feel completely comfortable to do paid work with the gear. I know other pros do it, so I know the equipment is not to blame, just me learning a new camera system (and working with different DOF FOV for portraits and weddings.)

 

[m2usa]

As a side note, are you thinking of getting the X-T1 as a camera to also use at the track? Might be pretty great with the fast AF and tracking.

 

[Stephen S]

Hey, that's so cool that you shoot for Sonoma Raceway. I am a big fan of the LeMans and American LeMans Series (basically any endurance race) and F1, so I really appreciate what you do there. You use the OM-D EM-5 for the PR work at the track? That's great. Saves you a lot of weight and burden carrying all the gear. I know that this is a Fuji forum, but I used the V1 at Laguna last year, and surprisingly got some pretty nice images. The X-Pro1 is a nice camera and I saw it at the WPPI convention a few years ago, but didn't opt into it then. I wish I had sprung for the 14mm, but I'm waiting to get the 56 later in the year and just couldn't pony up the cash just yet. I use Nikon gear for portraits and weddings mostly, and I am a longtime, and I mean longtime Nikon user. It would be great if I could move all the way to Fuji since I really like the colors, and feel completely comfortable to do paid work with the gear. I know other pros do it, so I know the equipment is not to blame, just me learning a new camera system (and working with different DOF FOV for portraits and weddings.)

Yep, I've been shooting for Sonoma Raceway for the better part of 10 years. I cover all their pro events for them. I use a Canon 1D MkII N and all the big L glass for the trackside work:

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But, I've been using my Oly and Fujis for the "ambience" stuff and some pitlane work; here's some shots I took last year with the X-Pro1....

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[Stephen S]

As a side note, are you thinking of getting the X-T1 as a camera to also use at the track? Might be pretty great with the fast AF and tracking.

Yes, I am going to give it a try, for sure. See my pics above...I shot with the X-Pro1 on continuous focus at 6 fps and had pretty good luck with it.

 

[m2usa]

Awesome! Love the track shots and pit lane photos. I was out there for a NASCAR road course event in 2011 (I think.) The X-Pro1 did well at the strip! Thanks for going through the effort to post them up. Great to see another "local" on the boards here too. Let me know if you end up using the X-T1 as I am excited to see how well it works.

 

[Stephen S]

Awesome! Love the track shots and pit lane photos. I was out there for a NASCAR road course event in 2011 (I think.) The X-Pro1 did well at the strip! Thanks for going through the effort to post them up. Great to see another "local" on the boards here too. Let me know if you end up using the X-T1 as I am excited to see how well it works.

Wiil do, for sure. That's in fact why I bought the X-T1, partly. When I was at B&H, I walked in there with every intention of buying the new Oly OM-D E-M1 (also a terrific camera), and the B&H Fuji counter guy told me the X-T1 was going to debut on the 28th of January, and maybe I should wait, as it was benchmarked against the E-M1. Turns out he was right, and I have the X-T1 on pre-order. I'm hoping it will be fast enough I can do some trackside work with it.

So, instead of the E-M1, I walked out with the little X-A1, and hence, this thread was born!

 

[entropic remnants]

I'm an X-Trans junkie and bought the little X-M1 as a backup/second body and was surprised at how useful it was. I do a lot of urbex and it's my tripod camera of choice with the tilting screen and extremely light weight. It's usuallyl wearing the Zeiss 12mm f/2.8 which is also very light and I typically have it on one of the new travel tripods (like the MeFoto's) that are also very compact. When trudging through miles of steam tunnels to secretly enter sites, and going up and down stairs and picking through debris, the light kit totally rocks compared to my old Nikon setup. I tried micro four thirds and it was almost right, just not quite.

My urbex friends carrying huge full frame Canon's and L-glass were amazed at the size and weight of my kit. I sort of suspect they were secretly smiling indulgently at my little kit -- until they saw the photos, lol. This little setup is amazing.

I mocked Fuji's introduction of the X-M1 and especially the non-X-Trans X-A1 but I certainly was wrong. They've held their own.

 

[Stephen S]

John,
Thanks for the post. I fully agree with you about the Fuji X – M1 and X – A1 cameras. Like you, I'm also X-trans junkie, but having shot with the original X10 and X100, which also had Bayer sensors, I knew the image quality would likely be excellent, and it certainly is. The $200 savings in cost was useful in being able to put that towards getting the 27 mm pancake lens, which has turned out to be a real honey of a lens.

Can you tell me, I'm not familiar with the term "urbex". Can you describe this photographic genre for me? Thanks.

 

[entropic remnants]

John,
Thanks for the post. I fully agree with you about the Fuji X – M1 and X – A1 cameras. Like you, I'm also X-trans junkie, but having shot with the original X10 and X100, which also had Bayer sensors, I knew the image quality would likely be excellent, and it certainly is. The $200 savings in cost was useful in being able to put that towards getting the 27 mm pancake lens, which has turned out to be a real honey of a lens.

Can you tell me, I'm not familiar with the term "urbex". Can you describe this photographic genre for me? Thanks.

It's a common term but I hate it, lol -- it comes from "Urban Exploration" which is not a term necessarily relating to photography. It comes from the exploration of abandoned structures -- often industrial -- and for photographers documenting or trying to make art out of it.

I've been an industrial designer (automation engineer mainly) for most of my life and spent the last 22 years in a steel mill doing automation of heavy and high power machinery. I gravitate naturally towards the industrial sites, but surprised myself by becoming somewhat obsessive about making my "art" from deserted and abandoned structures. There are many practitioners of this with as you can imagine various degrees of quality and approach from camera phone folks to people packing $10000 worth of gear into a site. I'm in the middle to low end somewhere, lol.

Sadly, they closed the steel mill, but I did a series of portraits of the guys and there's stuff down my blog and my home website on "Steel Mill Portraits" showing a lot of the guys that worked there. I'm in petroleum logistics now (pipelines).

If you go to my flickr (in my signature) and just scroll down the photostream aways you'll see examples of what I'm talking about -- though I'll photograph just about anything, lol.

Really like your landscapes and what-not you're doing, and your racing stuff. You do indeed seem to have an "eye", as we say.

 

[Stephen S]

John, thanks for the explanation. Funny thing, I've found myself drawn to this type of photography of late as well. Lately I've been exploring Mare Island Naval Shipyard, one of the oldest military bases in the US. It was founded in 1850 or thereabouts, but was closed by the Clinton Administration in 1995, which subsequently sent the neighboring city of Vallejo into bankruptcy. Parts of the base are being gentrifed, especially the beautiful old officers quarters, but many parts are just being left to decay. I find myself drawn to photographing this stuff for some inexplicable reason. Here are a couple of my initial attempts at "urbex", nothing special, I am still finding my way with this genre...perhaps one day I will take a decent urbex photo! Like you, I will photograph just about anything...LOL!

These were taken with the X-A1, BTW.

These are what used to be the enlisted men's barracks...this and other buildings are being left to literally fall apart. I applied a bit of a grunge filter from Topaz to give it that grungy cinematic look you see in movies today. Still haven't figured out how to photograph this building in any truly interesting way....but yet I am still drawn to it.

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Some other lame attempts in black and white...this building looks "sad" as it is sagging so badly...

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It almost looks like someone painted some grafitti on the wall of this, but this too is eroding away...

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[Stephen S]

By contrast, the beautiful officers quarters buildings are being restored and refurbished, and rented out to small businesses. This was one was originally built in 1852. X-Pro1 and 14mm, IIRC.

Another attempt at urbex with the X-Pro1...

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[entropic remnants]

Very nice, Stephen -- I'd love to explore there myself!

Getting inside is where most of the "moods" are -- though you can get some amazing outside stuff with the right light. The inside stuff will challenge the dynamic range and post processing skills you have -- at least it does me.

Over time, you'll just find your way and your style. Your "gut" will lead you I'm sure to having a vision for what you want to do with that sort of material. I have no doubt you'll be turning out first rate stuff.

 

[m2usa]

Wiil do, for sure. That's in fact why I bought the X-T1, partly. When I was at B&H, I walked in there with every intention of buying the new Oly OM-D E-M1 (also a terrific camera), and the B&H Fuji counter guy told me the X-T1 was going to debut on the 28th of January, and maybe I should wait, as it was benchmarked against the E-M1. Turns out he was right, and I have the X-T1 on pre-order. I'm hoping it will be fast enough I can do some trackside work with it.

So, instead of the E-M1, I walked out with the little X-A1, and hence, this thread was born!

Ah! The beginning of this thread. I'm starting to really like that little camera and may consider it since I will have the additional lenses. Also, I love BH, it's like a crazy photographers Costco! Let us know how the X-T1 works for you. It's on my short list.

 

[Stephen S]

As far as I'm concerned, it's a no-brainer, especially at the current price of $449 with kit lens. It's compact, versatile, flexible and it's image quality is not to be underestimated. . This is a camera with superior image quality to an OM-D E-M5, IMHO. And, I own, use, and really like an OM-D E-M5. But the Fuji APS-C sensors are better also for dynamic range and noise performance at the same ISO.

And IMO, nobody, but nobody, does color like Fuji does color.