Fuji We're just not bonding...

Lightmancer

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Sunny Frimley
Name
Bill Palmer
So... To recap I have had an X10 for a year, and an X-E1 for a few months and am very happy with both. A month or so ago I scored an almost unused X100 black set on eBay. I have just returned from a trip to Canterbury and Whitstable, taking the X-E1 and the X100. I am just not getting on with the X100. This is not the first time I have found this - I had the same experience when I took the same pair to Portsmouth. I am dissatisfied with my results and I don't really like the handling. It just isn't engaging me.

Thoughts...?

Sent from another Galaxy
 
Bill, seems to me a logical move from the X100 to the XE1. The advantage of lenses....

Going the other way seems illogical. I had the X100 and liked it till I used my friends Leica's.

Man Bill.....the X20 is a great camera.....
 
Bill, take the X100 as the only camera to a museum, or flea-market, or gardens, or parade, or urban ruins, or ...

Many of the photos the X100 excels at will have a partially constricted view, and where interesting subject matter is helped with the "story" that the camera's field of view and rendering offer.

I think it's a camera to take along with to snap, without a lot of setup for a shot or such. Just shoot and move. If you can get into that mode with it, I think you'll likely enjoy it much more - for what it does really well.

(Of course some really like it for a carefully setup landscape shot or such, and can make it "sing" for that. But I think that's a minority of the X100 shooters.)
 
Bill, you say you don't like the handling if the X100. That's a subjective thing and if it just doesn't work for you then there isn't much else to say. But exactly what is it about the handling that bothers you? I ask because the control interface of Fuji's X cameras is quite similar from one to the other.

And, similarly, what is it about your results that leaves you dissatisfied? If it's the field of view that doesn't work for you then, again, there isn't much to say. But is it something else?
 
Bill,

We share a similar experience. I have an XP1 and I recently acquired a X100S. I tried mixing them up, the X100S for wide and the XP2 for normal to long, mentally it was a bit of a diaster. I ended up using the XP1 w/kit lens for everything.

The X100 is just so limiting, so uniquely a X100S camera, that it doesn't seem to play well with others. When mixed with an interchangeable lens camera the X100S is never right, it is always too long ... But, as a stand alone camera, I find the X100S wonderful.

I am now determined to get an X-E1 to mate with the XP1 and to use the X100S as a stand alone camera. (Actually, I've been using the X100S in that manner and I am very happy with the camera and the results.)

Gary
 
My thanks to those who have taken the time to respond. I have only really encounyered this once before. I used to have a Nikon F90 and traded it in for an F100 - in theory a better camera. I couldn't hit the side of a barn (metaphorically speaking) with the thing and did not produce a pleasing image for months. Again, I could not get comfortable with the user interface and found the (relatively ) skinny handgrip a retrograde step. I do think at least some of my issues with the X100 are a result of the order in which I acquired my cameras. I find it frustratingly limited and slow to handle. The controls are not as logical as the X-E1 and the control dial and central button on the back are a fiddly nightmare compared to either of my other X bodies.

I am very familiar with single-lens cameras and the 35mm fl, so it isn't that - although I do find it a bit "windy" for some strange reason.

Anyway. Lesson learned... eBay beckons...

Sent from another Galaxy
 
So... To recap I have had an X10 for a year, and an X-E1 for a few months and am very happy with both. A month or so ago I scored an almost unused X100 black set on eBay. I have just returned from a trip to Canterbury and Whitstable, taking the X-E1 and the X100. I am just not getting on with the X100. This is not the first time I have found this - I had the same experience when I took the same pair to Portsmouth. I am dissatisfied with my results and I don't really like the handling. It just isn't engaging me.

Thoughts...?






Sent from another Galaxy


Hi Bill
I am also in similar situaton except that my Black X100 is already on Ebay . I did like it but my OMD is coming inbetween and I found myself limited . I am thinking of getting XE1 with 18-55 mm for more flexibility .
Cheers
Bhupinder
 
Sorry about your disappointment however I picked a X100 from ebay a few weeks ago and have just the opposite experience. It is super for walking around and takes great people pictures. I guess it is personal thing, but it reminds me a lot of using Leica M without the hassle of manual focusing.
Love the fixed focal length.
Mine came with an excellent book on mastering the X100. After spending an evening thumbing through the book, I had a great start on the key settings and menus. The only thing that is a tiny bit frustrating is switching to macro through the menu. Wish there was a switch on the lens or camera for that. Other than that, this camera is a keeper.
 
"The only thing that is a tiny bit frustrating is switching to macro through the menu. Wish there was a switch on the lens or camera for that."

Left hand flicks the focus selection switch up to MF, the right thumb presses AFL AEF & it auto focuses nice & close.

Wow, didn't recall reading that in the book! Just tried that and it work great. Thanks
 
Bill,

We share a similar experience. I have an XP1 and I recently acquired a X100S. I tried mixing them up, the X100S for wide and the XP2 for normal to long, mentally it was a bit of a diaster. I ended up using the XP1 w/kit lens for everything.

The X100 is just so limiting, so uniquely a X100S camera, that it doesn't seem to play well with others. When mixed with an interchangeable lens camera the X100S is never right, it is always too long ... But, as a stand alone camera, I find the X100S wonderful.

I am now determined to get an X-E1 to mate with the XP1 and to use the X100S as a stand alone camera. (Actually, I've been using the X100S in that manner and I am very happy with the camera and the results.)

Gary

I see X-E1 as merely a stripped down X-Pro1 lacking the OVF. How would that be any better or complement the X-Pro1? At least X100S provides you with a focal length non-existing yet for X-E1/X-Pro1.

I believe X-E1 was launched just because X-Pro1 was not selling good enough and the competition from Sony and Olympus were intimidating.

I think the X100/X100S complement the X-Pro1 very well. That is also why Fuji has postponed the 23mm for X-cameras with interchangeable capacity even further.
 
I deliberately chose the X-E1 over the X-Pro when I bought it for a number of (important to me) reasons. I found the X-Pro felt wrong - slightly imbalanced and "light" in my hand, as if the body was a little too large for the innards. The innovative EVF/OVF did not thrill me because I saw it as a compromise. Bear in mind I also use Leica Ms so my "OVF itch" is well and truly scratched.

Actually - and thank you for making me think of it - that EVF/OVF "tension" may well be a contributory factor to my current decision.

I am also sure that the X-E1 cannibalised X-Pro sales whrn it was released because it offered the all-important sensor and lens mount in a better value package.

The 18-55 "duplicates" the X100 focal length, of course, as well as offering other fl options with IS into the bargain.

Anyway, it is now all academic - my X100 goes on sale tomorrow night. Somebody will get a very good camera; just not one I have enjoyed or bonded with.

C'est l'image... ;)

Sent from another Galaxy
 
I see X-E1 as merely a stripped down X-Pro1 lacking the OVF. How would that be any better or complement the X-Pro1? At least X100S provides you with a focal length non-existing yet for X-E1/X-Pro1.

I believe X-E1 was launched just because X-Pro1 was not selling good enough and the competition from Sony and Olympus were intimidating.

I think the X100/X100S complement the X-Pro1 very well. That is also why Fuji has postponed the 23mm for X-cameras with interchangeable capacity even further.

Typically, I shoot with two bodies and after a few decades of shooting with two bodies that is my shooting preference. The OVF vs. EVF isn't any trouble, but the 23mm is in-between my widest - 14mm, longest - 60mm and the 23mm is easily covered by the zoom. So as a compliment camera to the XP1, it isn't as wide as the XP1 nor is it as long as the XP1 so it adds little complimentary value to the XP1 for what or how I shoot. The X-E1, (or any interchangeable lens camera with a Fuji mount), can either be my longest setup or my widest setup and fully team up and compliment the XP1.

As a stand-alone camera the X100S is grand, as a team player it falls short.

Gary
 
As a stand-alone camera the X100S is grand, as a team player it falls short.

That's a really good way of putting it. I also tend to "work" with two bodies when out and about with photographic intent. They either need to be as near as dammit identical (in my case that means MP4 and M2, for instance) or VERY different - thus I find the Ricoh GRD an excellent "companion camera" to the X-E1. For me - and I stress "for me" - the X100 is "betwixt and between".

The camera or cameras I carry when I leave home varies by intent, mood and likely opportunity divided by weight/bulk and inconvenience. Thus when out and about working (the day job) its the GRDlll or Leica ll in a pouch or briefcase. Non-photo related travel somewhere interesting (eg a business trip to Lisbon last month) means the X10 or the M2 with collapsible 50mm Elmar-M or 40mm Summicron. Being somewhere with a clear intent to photograph means... Well, you get the idea.

Interestingly before the X100 turned up I had not carried the X-E1 and X10 simultaneously - too similar, but at the same time too different, a bit like jumping in to a hire car - you can drive it, but then hit the wipers when you mean to indicate because the layout of the minor controls is slightly different.

I fully admit I just didn't think all this through pre-purchase - if I had I might have not pulled the trigger back in March. As it is, I am chalking the whole thing up to experience. 35mm is and always has been a bit of a "meh" focal length for me - I generally see the world in 50mm terms, while the 28 of the Ricoh is sufficiently different to make me work (in a good way) for an image. A 35mm fixed focal length camera is thus just not me. Thinking back I have had a few over the years, and very good they were too- Konica Hexar and XA to name but two - but never really bonded with them either. The X100 represents an unfortunate combination -again, for me - of a so-what focal length plus the bulk of a more capable and flexible camera.

Ah well... :rolleyes:

Sent from another Galaxy
 
The 40mm to 50mm (FF) range never did anything for my style of shooting. I try to use a camera to interpret life just a bit differently than how we would normally see/interpret/interact with life. I try to use the the camera to add drama and enhance what I see. The normal FOV just doesn't add any punch. Sorta like writing without any adjectives. The 35mm is on the edge of ... meh ... like you Bill, the 35mm makes me work harder to squeeze out some extra drama in the image, (which is a good thing).

Gary
 
I agree with Gary's sentiment also, the X100S shines best as a standalone camera.

I've mentioned this elsewhere but the 50mm focal length used to be my go-to choice up until the past 6-7 months, in which time I've gone to 28mm and 35mm as my focal lengths of choice. I used to find it easier to see with a "normal" lens but now I find a wide-ish angle to be more versatile and interesting... just right for a fixed lens.

What I like best about the X100S is that it's a small slim package, but with enough real estate to grip and have physical controls, and that checks all the boxes for me. It has a good wide-normal lens, low light capability, a viewfinder, intuitive manual controls, built-in ND filter for sunny days, and good image output. Essentially, it's everything I want in a camera or system (well, except maybe fast sure AF in low light) for grabbing a camera to head out the door. I throw an extra battery or two and a lens pen in a pocket and I'm good to go. No accessory viewfinders, no lenses to worry about, even an ND filter included so I can shoot even wide open at high noon :)
 
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