Fujifilm X-S1

Opinion: It is the most versatile camera I've ever owned. Simply brilliant in every way, point and shoot has never been so fool proof. EXR settings are great and picture quality is just stunning, amount of pixels is adequate for just about any use. Speed is just awesome, video is stunning. What a joy to own this camera. FujiFilm has done a great job in building an affordable, high quality point and shooter that stands out in the crowd. Kudos!

Opinion: I have a gallery in my profile with some samples from the X-S1 and will be adding more to it over time.
I bought this camera just over a week ago just prior to a trip to Toronto. I was looking forward to trying the camera out at Niagara Falls as well as the many daffodil fields. I was most pleased with the results of the flowers. The shots at Niagara turned out good but zooming in too 100% magnification revealed the typical "pixel mottling" I find common in non-SLR cameras.....in other words the detail was not as true as I would like. The shots of the Daffodils turned out much better with more faithful detail representation. I mostly shoot portraiture and flowers so as long as the quality excels in those areas I will be happy though. I have yet to test it out on portraits but am looking forward to doing so in the next few weeks as I have a couple photoshoots scheduled.
The big zoom is very nice. It was the main reason for my purchasing the camera. I need something that gives me very good zoom range for airshows without having to spend massive money on expensive glass and without having to swap lenses. I am looking forward to an airshow in June to test it out.
The one area that I am disappointed on though is the macro/super macro. I also have a Nikon L120 and the macro/super macro functionality on it is SO much better. The minimum distances for the macro and super macro mode I found to be a disappointment. I was really expecting better minimum focus distances throughout the zoom range after getting used to the Nikon.
All said, I am so far quite happy with the camera. I also bought the EF-42 Shoemount flash for my portraiture work and am looking forward to testing it out as well.
I love the fact that the camera uses a Li-on battery instead of AA. The battery life seems to be quite good but I'm sure a big reason for that is the manual zoom instead of the motorized zoom that is usually found on non-DLSR cameras. The manual zoom is a big benefit as well since it is more precise.
The EXR mode works VERY well I have found. I have shot a series of test shots of the same subject in poor light and the EXR mode easily produced not only the best shots but rather excellent shots.

Opinion: I've only had this camera for 5 days, and am overall very happy with the purchase. There are pitfalls on any camera, and coming from the Sony A77 I was pleasantly surprised that the build quality is extremely close to the Sony.

My main reason for buying was simply that for an enthusiast it seems to be extremely hard to get high quality glass without massive compromises or even more massive cost - so getting the X-S1 with it's 24-624mm equivalent range and superb macro capabilities does seem to cover 95% of what my Sony could do while lugging around 4 lenses.

The EXR mode is excellent, but takes away almost all the control from the user - thats going to take some getting used to, along with the shift to contrast detection auto focus and hence no spot metering.

I've already been able to take some great wildlife shots, and haven't had white orb issues when shooting bright points in low light (yet) so overall very pleased

Opinion: Opinion: This is my first “bridge” camera that I have owned. I wanted a camera with a large zoom range, without shifting lenses all the time. This should be a camera for fun, adventure, ease of use for everyone in the family to use (Normally I use Nikon DSLR).

I am extremely surprised how much I got for my money! It is fast, it takes excellent pictures and movies and I am never out of zoom range. And best of all… our kids are now into photo as a hobby! Well my 27 kg. Nikon gear I love… But this fantastic camera became a part of the family faster then the shutter speed.

My local Photo dealer made a Youtube video about this camera, ok! It is in Danish, however if you want to see what this camera can do it is a nice video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjNTaxmhv4Q

Opinion: X-S1 is a great camera to have if you want a camera close to low end DSLR, and don't want to change lens to capture moments. The form factor is similar to older S100 / S200, but much better in build quality. The image quality is much better than my old good S8100 in terms of noise and sensitive. It is very fast to start up or focus. Easy to use, customizable hot key and gives you full manual control.

The built in flash is very weak. I put on the EF-42 external flash and it is a must have to shoot indoors.

A lightweight 26x zoom together with a large sensor (compared to other bridge cameras, not so much vs DSLR). Personally I would prefer having a larger sensor rather than a very long zoom range. 26x is overkill as image stabilization often could not catch up.

It performs well at night time, except that it is having the infamous white orbs issue similar to X10. It is very annoying shooting in a shopping mall. The lighting's are pretty much white orbs in the pictures. It would be a big no for many potential buyers.

EXR mode will do a very good job if you want to do some quick snaps. In order to enable most of the EXR modes, you need to drop the resolution from 12M to 6M, which is kind of low in year 2012.

Last but not least, X-S1 uses Li-ion battery. No more cell batteries thank god.

In short, X-S1 is a very good choice if you want a bridge camera which looks like and performs similar to low end DSLR. Highly recommended to get external flash as well.

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.

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: 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: 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.