My impression on X100

Some days ago, I went to a specialized shop based in Milan, Italy. I'm (still) looking for a easy-to-use and pocket-size camera which give as the same IQ as a DSLR camera. Video capture or some other amenities are not important to me. So, my goal was to come back home with either Leica X1 or Fuji X100, but first I had to try them out. I think both cameras share the same sensor, as well as Nikon D300s does. The Leica X1 was outsold while the Fuji X100 was available and I had permission to play around with it.

Well, Fuji X100 has a superb image quality even at higher ISO. It is a well-built camera, easy to set up and the grip is fantastic. Even if it is not exactly a light weighted camera that you can keep around in your pocket, I didn't buy the camera for one reason only: the focus system sucks. My cell phone has a faster autofocus and the manual focus operating mode is frustrating.

What focus mode were you using? Single? Multi?

When you can try the two cameras side by side I don't think you will find the X1 any faster.
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terry

It's 2011 and the camera is over $1000. We can get a man on the moon, so how hard is it to get a camera to focus moderately quick? Is that asking too much? I see all kinds of spin in here on this issue, from needing to be a better photographer to even touch the camera to this feature having zero importance. But seriously, how much slack can you cut a camera because it looks 'cool' and 'retro'? It's amazing what people will put up with for looks, in lovers and cameras.

People want to love this camera, but there are BASIC issues that scream epic fail.

chiane said:

It's 2011 and the camera is over $1000. We can get a man on the moon, so how hard is it to get a camera to focus moderately quick? Is that asking too much? I see all kinds of spin in here on this issue, from needing to be a better photographer to even touch the camera to this feature having zero importance. But seriously, how much slack can you cut a camera because it looks 'cool' and 'retro'? It's amazing what people will put up with for looks, in lovers and cameras.

People want to love this camera, but there are BASIC issues that scream epic fail.

Click to expand...

Do you own an X100? Have you used one?
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Jeff

My cat, who likes to sprawl on my keyboard, is responsible for all typos, misspellings, factual errors, and faulty logic in my posts.

I have the X100, and have used most of the other CDAF cameras including the fastest of the bunch the GH2. There is nothing in the speed of focus on the X100 that stands out in a negative way to impact my regular use of the camera. The one place that focus is much slower than m4/3 is macro close in distances. That isn't what I bought the camera for.

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terry

I was disappointed with both auto focus modes. Comparison was made to my Canon 500D, which I'm accustomed to. I was really impressed by IQ, lens quality and low noise output at 6400 ISO, and surely would spend 914 euros for buying X100 if the auto focus worked properly.

Did you try autofocus in both view modes? i.e. OVF and EVF?

I find that autofocus is pretty quick in OVF mode. Not blazing quick, but relatively quick.

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Tim J.Y. Chong

'Photography is bringing order out of chaos.' - Ansel Adams

thats true that the AF is not best in its class but I would say it is acceptable. (current X100 shooter and with the camera for 3 weeks)

Hope we will have a firmware update ASAP (as I heard it will come out within a month)

I intended single or continuous focus mode. Yeah, I agree with you. Auto focus is a bit faster through OVF, and I found it easier when the cross pointer was used instead of the square one.

You aren't comparing apples to apples. Your Canon is using Phase detect not Contrast Detect. They aren't the same and the Canon will be faster. Try this. Focus your Canon in Live View and compare that to the X100.

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terry

While I appreciate the quality look and feel of the X100 it's not that it's retro but that it has a quality look and feel. Its not that the X100 is nostalgic, it's that I find the dedicated "traditional" controls far superior to any offered by other more modern digital cameras.

As fo focus speed, the larger the sensor and shallower the DOF the more difficult CDAF gets. Try live view on most DSLRs and you'll notice how much slower it gets. I have a number of other large sensored compacts including an EPL1, a DP2s, and a G1 and the X100 is competitive, being neither the slowest nor the fastest.

Not at all sure how the X100 will be an epic looser. It has aa lot of pretty large plusses and some relatively minor minuses for it's class. I would predict the X100 will be quite successful in it's class, but only time will tell.

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Regards
Jim

TEBnewyork said:

You aren't comparing apples to apples. Your Canon is using Phase detect not Contrast Detect. They aren't the same and the Canon will be faster. Try this. Focus your Canon in Live View and compare that to the X100.

Click to expand...

That's not apples to apples either, though because the Canon lenses are designed for a phase detect system, so they're slower with the contrast detect used in live view than a contrast detect system overall. The GH2 is currently the class of the contrast detect AF systems and its almost as fast as a good midrange DSLR using phase detect. The X-100 isn't that fast. But after using it for about a week now, I'd say its more than fast enough for anything I've tossed at it. I hope to do some more extensive street shooting with it soon and that will be the acid test, but the few shots of moving people that I've done so far its been fine.

But, no, comparing it to a DSLR isn't really fair.

-Ray
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/20889767@N05/collections/72157626204295198/

chiane said:

It's 2011 and the camera is over $1000. We can get a man on the moon, so how hard is it to get a camera to focus moderately quick?

Click to expand...

Can we get a man on the moon? It is not at all clear that we could. Back when we could, auto focus systems were ... non existent. Even auto exposure was just a flashy trick for point and shoot cameras and (from 1965 onwards) a few SLRs, which most serious photographers disdained.

But whether or not we can put a man back on the moon, it is certainly getting easier to get a camera focus moderately quickly, even for cameras which have to rely on contrast detect for focusing. And the Fuji X100 is at least moderately quick.

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Apteryx