Fujifilm X-S1

Opinion: This is the third Fuji bridge camera that I have owned, the others being the S5000 & the S9600. So far (about 2 weeks of ownership) I am VERY pleased with the new purchase. I am still working my way through the manual and all of the capabilities of the camera but so far I have found nothing that I don't like. I'll update again later if required.

The build quality is excellent. I like the substantial nature of the camera to hold and handle. The menu and control layout is very easy to use and get used to. Whilst I haven't set up the personalised function buttons I think this is a great feature. The zoom (24-624mm, 35mm equivalent) is exceptional. The image quality is very pleasing and the manual zoom is fast to engage and is has a great feel to it.

Opinion: I have been (and I still am) an avid fan of the fujifilm HS20.
For over six months now, I found it to be a great camera and done all I needed,(that was once I discovered the manual mode).
But people move on, and I think I'd gone just about as far as I could with it,and I wanted something with just a bit more IQ without giving up the versatility of the superzoom and the full manual control.

Well I think Fuji must have heard me .. Enter the X-S1..

I received mine yesterday and at the moment I'm "happy man".
It's more or less still the HS20, "but on speed",
all the shortcomings (or quirks as I call them) of the hs20 seem to have been sorted,

the viewfinder, (now great)
the burst mode ( now continuous, and it can also use100 ISO,(not limited to 200 minimum like before)
the slow focusing, (much faster now)
the slow write speed if you used burst mode ( much faster ,not a problem)
The image quality (noticeably more refined)
you can also use the full '12mp' so you have that extra crop factor
more IS0's to choose from in manual mode
and there are many things I've probably forgot to mention (will try to update as they come to mind)

Well I only got it yesterday, and I'm still getting to grips with it (the buttons and switches in different places)

but you can see a few pics I've taken at this link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysturn/sets/

So far it's all good, and no negatives ...
Tonysturn ..

Opinion: I have am very interested in purchasing this camera as it is the only one on the market haveing

a) a good EVF
b) a manual zoom
c) a slightly larger sensor

However reading in dpreview's fujifilm forum there seems to be an issue with excessive play of the lens.

Talks are about wobbling lens, and a sag of up to 5mm!

I would be extremely grateful if the owners of this otherwise great camera supply a comment.

Cheers Moxi

Opinion: Last week I finally got my XS-1 and the first results are INCREDIBLE! First I went with our photo club members on Saturday to Baltimore Botanical Garden and spent a morning there.
You can see some of the images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/valtepordei/
Just plain JPG images, unprocessed, the way they came out of the camera.
Then yesterday I took a set of images with my new Fuji and my Nikon D7000 with 24-120mm Nikkor zoom. Same images, same locations, one after the other.
To my surprise, most of the images taken with Fuji were slightly better than those with the Nikon, sharper, better colors, better depth-of-field at F-stop 8!
Fuji's electronic viewfinder is not as good as the Nikon optical viewfinder, Fuji does not have multiple exposures like Nikon D7000 has, but is a very good camera.
Fuji sensor seems to be outstanding.
This is going to be my new camera, especially for travel - one camera, one 24 to 624 mm zoom, Macro and Supermacro built in! The only add-ons are the filters!
Val T.