Fuji XE1 initial comments (feel free to post your own)

wt21

wt21

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XE1 initial comments

Thought about waiting until I shoot more, but what they heck.

First initial thought: while saving money buying from Amazon warehouse, it does spoil the box opening event. "used" label. Wrinkly plastic wraps. Camera already initialized. etc. Oh well. It's the camera, not the box, that I dropped more then $1,000 for.

Overall, it's just different. I spent the morning shooting with my EPL5 + 17/1.8. About 100 shots on a walk-around with the dog. It'll be REALLY tough to beat that combo. The IQ may be where it'll win.

The Menu system on the Fuji I actually like. I like how, e.g. the drive button has the drive PLUS the braketing PLUS movie mode PLUS panorama all behind it. That makes perfect sense to me.

I'm finding the camera snappier than I was lead to believe, lol. The menu times, time back to shooting, etc. are all perfectly acceptable. I think it was Claire who said it focuses as fast as NEX, which I would concur with (though not as fast as m43).

I have to get used to looking at the EV meter. With m43, if you underexpose, one of the symbols blinks at you, like "hey, fool, your under or overexposed" With the Fuji, the EV meter just shows + or -.

Again, to echo one of Claire's comments: I'm not sure I like the EVF NOT showing me the exposure effects. I get this with m43. Am I missing a setting? Can it show exposure effects of ss and ap in the LCD/EVF?

The EVF is behind the EV2 on the Oly. More lag and smearing. It might be workable, though.

The feel of the camera is just different. Neither better nor worse on balance. Just different. Certainly my 5D has better grip, but is much heavier. My EPL5 (mounted with the EP3 large grip) also has better grip, but the controls are so tight on that camera. It's nice to have a bit more finger room. It's heavy enough to say "well constructed" but I don't need weight, per say. Though that might become more important when I try a flash. One thing with the EPL5, I just don't think it takes well with a real flash head. Partly because if you add in the flash, you lose the EVF, and the camera needs to utilize the EVF to steday it with flash. So, the EPL5 is a "no flash" camera for me. The XE1 feels like it could take the bounce/tilt flash that Fuji offers pretty easily, but then maybe that's what I have the 5D for???

Any rate, those are my first impressions. I've just begun shooting, and we're getting socked with snow again, so there may be some more opportunities for shooting this weekend.

Maybe we should have a thread called "newbie impressions." I would invite anyone to post here their own first impressions, if you want.
 
"hey, fool, your under or overexposed"

HAHAHAHAHA

Wait, my EM5 has a blinkie light when I screw something up? Man I've got to pay a little more attention to my cameras when I shoot.....
 
I posted my initial impressions on this thread, but as I said, the first experience I had with an EVF is with a G3, and this is miles ahead of that, so I'm happy. :)

How are you finding the IQ? I found that I like looking at the pictures, even mundane ones - there's just something very pleasing to the eyes. And I try to do some PP, but I almost always come back to the original JPEG (plus sometimes the cropping and sometimes some vignetting).
 
Have to admit, I'm not yet blown away. Have been comparing some EPL5/17 f.18 shots to the XE1 w/kit. Maybe not a fair comparison, but I think the sharpness is near equal, though the bokeh of the XE1 kit is better.
 
Hmmm... maybe it's that that new Olympus sensor. :) I don't think it's the sharpness for me though (sometimes I even reduce clarity in LR). Maybe more like the color quality?
 
I enjoy the form factor and agree there is a special quality to the files. I see exposure change in EVF.

You won't see EV+ - changes if your setting aperture AND shutter speed manually.
 
There is a sort of work around with the XE1 to show the Exposure Effects. I have my function button set to "Preview Depth of Filed" so by pressing it I can toggle from normal to stopped down, showing me what the actual depth of field will be in the final picture. The EVF definitely darkens in Aperture Priority or Manual, with preview on but this is not a correct indication of the actual result you will obtain from this exposure. I hope this helps.
 
I guess I am not understanding.... You don't see changes in the EVF when you adjust Ss or Aperture? Weird. Mine shows me change when in manual mode or when I use the exposure comp wheel in A mode.
 
Yes, I'll correct. I see the change when in A or S mode and I change EV. What I don't see is the screen get darker (for instance) if I change the ss speed to too high, and underexpose. Instead, I have to watch the ev meter on the left. I wish something in the VF flashed to get my attention. There is a flashing light on the right, but it's underneath my thumb, so I'm missing it. It's not a huge deal. Just a nit.
 
I haven't had a ton of time to spend with the camera, but I'll add my initial impressions (not that they're good for much at this point, but like most of us when we get new gear, I want to talk about it). I'm primarily looking at whether this camera could replace my DSLR system since I really don't want to be invested in three systems, and for the moment I'm intent on keeping my relatively small and unimpressive (in terms of the camera/lenses I have) m43 system.

Size/weight - When I tried this camera in the store I did so with the 18-55mm and 35mm while I compared it with the X-Pro 1 with the 18-55mm and the 18mm f2 (so not an apples to apples comparison). I stated in another thread that I felt the XE-1 had more heft to it for its size than the X-Pro 1. Now that I have the camera and am comparing to my E-PL1, I think the camera itself feels very light for its size, whereas I feel the my E-PL1 is more substantial. The 35mm adds that much needed heft. I wonder how the X-E1 will feel with heavier lenses (will the 23mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.4 be larger than the 35mm and therefore feel more unbalanced?). Overall though I don't find the X-E1 with the 35mm (no hood) to be that much larger than my E-PL1 with 14-42 kit lens and I do think its about as small as I'd ever be willing to go in a primary system camera (I haven't compared the size directly, but I know the OM-D E-M5 and I didn't get along due to the size and cramped button layout). I actually prefer the size and purchase of the X-Pro 1, but the lower cost and higher spec'd EVF led me to the X-E1. I may need to look into the external grip or a half case to add a little bit more height to the camera.

EVF - I agree with what was stated earlier in this thread, I do think that despite the higher resolution of the X-E1, I also prefer the VF-2 for the Olympus m43 cameras. There is some lag to the X-E1's EVF though its not a dealbreaker for me. I would prefer accurate live view like Olympus offers, but I suppose I can get by without it since none of the DSLRs I've used offer it thought the viewfinder. Is this something that theoretically could be offered in a firmware update? (not that I would expect that Fuji would).

Controls - This is the primary reason I wanted an X Series camera and while using the camera will take some getting used to coming from a DSLR and m43 camera, I much prefer the control layout of the X-E1. The only caveat to this is the way in which focus points are moved using the button on the lower left hand side of the camera, which will again take some getting used to. I don't have an adapter for my legacy glass yet, but I love Fuji's implementation of the manual focus zoom using the control dial. I can see this making using legacy glass on the X-E1 much more enjoyable than on either my 5DII or E-PL1. Also in terms of manual focus, I like how the AEL button defaults to back button auto focus in MF mode. I can see myself using the camera in this fashion quite a bit, however, I'm slightly disappointed that I think it will nix one of the first accessory purchases I had planned: a Thumbs Up thumbrest. I just don't see how that camera would work with back button AF with a Thumbs Up mounted (and that would be a relatively expensive experiment should it not pan out) Overall, I see the control layout of the camera requiring me to slow down and take a more considered approach in my shooting, which is what I wanted. I'll see how much that also gets in my way in the coming days, but right now I'm optimistic.

AF - I'll have to watch this one closely. Contrast detect is simply different than phase detect so I'm not going to go crazy because its slower than my 5DII as I expected that going in. It is really slow with the 35mm though - in some cases slower than my E-PL1 with the 20mm f1.7, which I think would be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. That said, with the firmware updates I think that in the limited time I've spent with it (and without the AF assist lamp) it finds focus more consistently in low light that either my E-PL1 with the 20mm or my 5DII with either the EF 50mm f1.8 or the EF 85mm f1.8 provided I'm using the contrast detect AF system as I should be and attempting to focus on a subject with some contrast. Its definitely not fast though when going from near to far/far to near (and in my opinion its noisier than the 20mm, but less so than the 50mm).

IQ - Admittedly, I haven't taken more than a handful of pictures as I'm still exploring the feel and function of the camera so I'll reserve judgement on IQ, but I seriously doubt I will be at all disappointed in this regard.

As I've mentioned in another thread - I'll shoot this camera this weekend alongside my 5DII in a low light theatre setting an see how I get on with it. I want to like it and I want it to be able to replace my FF Canon gear for how/what I like/need to shoot, so I'm willing to work within its limitations provided those are reasonable. We'll see how it goes.
 
Bought the X-E1 with 18-55mm used from Amazon. Condition was almost new, and saved a few hundred dollars.

Overall, it's the most fun camera I've shot in a long, long while. Image quality is superb, and there's something "Fuji-special" there that I like very much. The overall image quality is dependent on the lens, and the 18-55mm kit lens beats the pants off an m. Zuiko 14-42mm kit lens (for aperture and sharpness), and feels sharper (subjectively) than the m. Zuiko 12-55mm kit lens (although the latter does go wider and longer, it's at slower aperture).

I like the Fuji controls and menus more than those on the m43 Olys. Having an aperture ring on the lens, and dials for shutter speed and exposure level is so natural that I never forget where they are or how to change them.

The APS-C sensor size seems an excellent choice for Fuji, big enough to let the x-trans sensor shine, not so big as to make the camera or lenses all that much bigger or heavier than an E-M5. Bokeh is a bit more easy to get at a given aperture than m43.

When I first tried out the camera, it was too sensitive to changes in lighting, depending on where I pointed the image center. I've subsequently found that the exposure was set to a very tight box around focus point. A quick change to increase that to "Multi" (which is still centered) has made that much more manageable. I supposed I could try "Average" mode, but "Multi" seems to work well.

Question, how do the new X-E1s come with regards to exposure mode? Was this setting something the prior owner had done?
 
I have a loaner X-E1 since last thursday, that I must decide whether to buy or not, by this coming thursday...
I'm really torn. I do like the camera a lot, when I get my settings right the WOW factor certainly is there, however, it's very hard justifying adding it to my also excellent, and much loved, NEX 7.
So I really don't quite know what to do now. We say "when in doubt, don't", so I probably won't... But it's certainly one heck of a camera, and probably the best of the many mirrorless I had for IQ. Yes, the manual controls are very nice, but aside from the retro look that's much more appealing on the Fuji, the TriNavi of the NEX 7 is equally fantastic.
 
^if you've already got the NEX-7 and you are happy with it and the lens selection available for it, I can't see the point of getting into the Fuji system with an X-E1. For me it would either be one or the other.
 
You can lust over my X-E1 (with low shutter count) if you want.
I'm probably going to sell it to fund the X100s, but I'll be keeping the 18-55mm zoom for the X-Pro1. :D
 

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