X100 great, but . . .

Thomas Kachadurian · Jun 9, 2011

I waited to weigh in on many of the x100 talks until I got one and used it for a while. I know this is a dead horse, but I must throw in my $00.02.

I love it. I love being able to switch between the OVF and EVF. Love the size. Love the weight. It has way better color rendition, even from RAW than any of my Canon cameras (how that's possible I don't know, but it's true).

But there are things that are terrible, some that I will never learn to work around.

1. You cannot get a histogram and highlight warning in the EVF instant review, which makes it pretty much worthless.

2. The meter is terrible. It's a camera I find I almost have to shoot in manual. That wouldn't be so bad because you can so easily switch back and forth, but only if you made sure the ISO is set the same in all modes.

3. The settings don't stay. After every self time shot or 5 burst sequence you have to go into the menus use it again. Why. Is there a possible good reason for that?

4. Battery life is just terrible. I mean it really sucks. To get a full day of walking around shooting, maybe 100 shots but over 8 - 10 hours you must have 3 batteries, and that's if you don't shoot any movies. When the battery warning does come up you might get one more shot, maybe.

5. It really does draw attention. I spend my life with a camera in my hand and I've never had one that engaged me in so many conversations. For me this is a bad thing. I think it would be less so if it was black.

6. It has a serious flare issue. Which could be fixed with a hood if the hood solutions weren't so hard to negotiate.

I love it, but it's hard not to agree that Fuji has made a fashion accessory and in the process, maybe by accident, come up with something that could be a great photographic tool.

Maybe the perfect camera really is the holy grail.

Tom

http://www.kachadurian.com
http://www.kachadurian.com/blog

rattymouse · Jun 9, 2011

Thomas Kachadurian said:
I waited to weigh in on many of the x100 talks until I got one and used it for a while. I know this is a dead horse, but I must throw in my $00.02.

I love it. I love being able to switch between the OVF and EVF. Love the size. Love the weight. It has way better color rendition, even from RAW than any of my Canon cameras (how that's possible I don't know, but it's true).

Fuji has almost always done color right.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
But there are things that are terrible, some that I will never learn to work around.

1. You cannot get a histogram and highlight warning in the EVF instant review, which makes it pretty much worthless.

Agreed. I find review almost worthless compared to my very old Canon SLR.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
2. The meter is terrible. It's a camera I find I almost have to shoot in manual. That wouldn't be so bad because you can so easily switch back and forth, but only if you made sure the ISO is set the same in all modes.

Disagree. I find the meter to be very accurate. On rare occasions, I need to take control, but no worse than any other camera.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
3. The settings don't stay. After every self time shot or 5 burst sequence you have to go into the menus use it again. Why. Is there a possible good reason for that?

Stupid, stupid, stupid design! #1 on my list of things that need to be changed.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
4. Battery life is just terrible. I mean it really sucks. To get a full day of walking around shooting, maybe 100 shots but over 8 - 10 hours you must have 3 batteries, and that's if you don't shoot any movies. When the battery warning does come up you might get one more shot, maybe.

Totally disagree. I have been shooting all week on vacation here in Korea. Only have 1 battery, I go all day shooting several hundred shots. Battery has been perfect and never even come close to running out of power.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
5. It really does draw attention. I spend my life with a camera in my hand and I've never had one that engaged me in so many conversations. For me this is a bad thing. I think it would be less so if it was black.

5 days shooting in Seoul, only one person stopped me ("Is that a Leica?"). This camera is virtually invisible.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
6. It has a serious flare issue. Which could be fixed with a hood if the hood solutions weren't so hard to negotiate.

Yes, the flare is an issue. It gets more pronounced as you stop down. Somewhat better wide open.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
I love it, but it's hard not to agree that Fuji has made a fashion accessory and in the process, maybe by accident, come up with something that could be a great photographic tool.

Maybe the perfect camera really is the holy grail.

Tom

http://www.kachadurian.com
http://www.kachadurian.com/blog

--

http://fujifilmimages.aminus3.com/

Adam-T · Jun 9, 2011

Thomas Kachadurian said:
1. You cannot get a histogram and highlight warning in the EVF instant review, which makes it pretty much worthless.

Personally I never bother with highlight warnings , a personal thing which varies from cam to cam

Thomas Kachadurian said:
2. The meter is terrible. It's a camera I find I almost have to shoot in manual.

It meters like all Fujis meter (exposes for highlights so needs cranking up on dull days / can be over on sunny days ) The D700 is even worse in a very un-nikon kinda way the Fuji S3 and S2 are the wost for it .. you'll use the Exposure comp knob a lot but you'll get used to Fuji metering .

Thomas Kachadurian said:
4. Battery life is just terrible.

In the few hours I had to trial one , I got over 300 shots on an old F30 battery with no sign from any kind of battery warning - loadsa viewing, flash fired, tons of menu messing & setting up on the LCD, fair number of LCD shot images - I'd expect 500 shots Easily from it on that score - pretty good for a battery designed to run a P&S

Thomas Kachadurian said:
6. It has a serious flare issue. Which could be fixed with a hood if the hood solutions weren't so hard to negotiate.

I only shot it with the hood on and was very very impressed with the lack of flare even shooting across the sun

--
A Problem is only the pessimistic way of looking at a challenge

caimi · Jun 9, 2011

I haven't had a metering, battery or flare problem worth mentioning since I purchased my x100. The most I have conspicuously carried it for an extended time was during a week in Maine and not a single person asked me about it. And I was at times in some pretty touristy areas with people carying DSLR's.

That's fine with me though. I don't like carrying something of value that draws a lot of attention.

RobBurke · Jun 9, 2011

Thomas Kachadurian said:
4. Battery life is just terrible. I mean it really sucks. To get a full day of walking around shooting, maybe 100 shots but over 8 - 10 hours you must have 3 batteries, and that's if you don't shoot any movies. When the battery warning does come up you might get one more shot, maybe.

A few people have said this. But I've taken 130 pictures over 6 hours, and the battery indicator dropped one bar. I wonder if there is a particular mode that stresses the battery more than others? Either way, additonal batteries are cheap.

Sulis2 · Jun 9, 2011

I will be returning mine.

I have some of your issues, but mainly it's the usability that's the killer - every single thing I expect to be able to do is made either more difficult or downright impossible by the non-intuitive way the operation is designed.

Why must I use two hands to change the focus point? Why does the AE/AL button default to AE only? Why can I not focus on things an arm's length away without having to switch to the EVF? There are many more.

It's a beautiful thing, but it needs some serious reworking of the OS to make it worth the money for me...

Jeff Charles · Jun 9, 2011

Thomas Kachadurian said:
2. The meter is terrible. It's a camera I find I almost have to shoot in manual. That wouldn't be so bad because you can so easily switch back and forth, but only if you made sure the ISO is set the same in all modes.

I have found the metering to be dependable.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
4. Battery life is just terrible. I mean it really sucks. To get a full day of walking around shooting, maybe 100 shots but over 8 - 10 hours you must have 3 batteries, and that's if you don't shoot any movies. When the battery warning does come up you might get one more shot, maybe.

Some people report very poor battery life. Others good battery life. Not sure why.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
5. It really does draw attention. I spend my life with a camera in my hand and I've never had one that engaged me in so many conversations. For me this is a bad thing. I think it would be less so if it was black.

I have to agree with this. Three people approached me in the same day. The first said, "That's an old one." The second, "Leica?" The third, "I talk to anybody I see with a camera.' I have never had this happen with any other camera. It does not bother me, however.

Thomas Kachadurian said:
I love it, but it's hard not to agree that Fuji has made a fashion accessory...

I can't go along with this. The X100 is just too good at taking photographs to be dismissed as a fashion accessory.
--
Jeff

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

ProtonPump · Jun 9, 2011

Adam-T said:
In the few hours I had to trial one , I got over 300 shots on an old F30 battery with no sign from any kind of battery warning - loadsa viewing, flash fired, tons of menu messing & setting up on the LCD, fair number of LCD shot images - I'd expect 500 shots Easily from it on that score - pretty good for a battery designed to run a P&S

What F30 battery are you talking about? And how is it compatible?

Jeff Charles · Jun 9, 2011

ProtonPump said:
ProtonPump said:

In the few hours I had to trial one , I got over 300 shots on an old F30 battery with no sign from any kind of battery warning - loadsa viewing, flash fired, tons of menu messing & setting up on the LCD, fair number of LCD shot images - I'd expect 500 shots Easily from it on that score - pretty good for a battery designed to run a P&S

Click to expand...

What F30 battery are you talking about? And how is it compatible?

The Fuji F30 camera used the same NP-95 battery as the X100.
--
Jeff

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

ProtonPump · Jun 9, 2011

in that case wow! i can get a mere 600 shots with my f30 and yet this x100 cant get near that or barely touches it?
im suprised.

depscribe · Jun 9, 2011

Thomas Kachadurian said:
1. You cannot get a histogram and highlight warning in the EVF instant review, which makes it pretty much worthless.

that's why those pictures by eisenstaedt and cartier-bresson are such crap -- if only they'd had instant-review histograms! and highlight warnings!

--
depscribe
some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/depscribe/collections/

Ben Newnam · Jun 9, 2011

I thought the meter was terrible until I realised that the "A" setting stands for aperture and not automatic

I would be out in bright sunlight with the camera set to "A" thinking it was automatic taking care of shutter speed and aperture.

But in fact it was just taking care of shutter speed in "A" mode.

So I had my camera in "A" mode with the aperture set to f2.8, iso 400 in bright sunlight.

The camera just didn't have shutter speeds high enough to achieve correct exposure and so overexposed in bright sunlight.

Just check that may be the cause you are thinking the metering is bad.

I said maybe the reason so please don't flame me if it's not.

Cheers,
Ben

millsart · Jun 9, 2011

Who really needs 600 shots a day though ?

If for some reason you do, why not carry a spare battery ? They are $10 or less. Anyone who can afford a $1200 camera can afford a $10 battery

Realistically though, do you take even a moment to think about your photos or just walk around snapping the shutter ?

Even in some really amazing locations I highly doubt there are 600 photo worthy things you see.

Perhaps spend less time being a troll (and a rather poor one at that) on these boards and learn a bit about photography and composition ??

ProtonPump said:
in that case wow! i can get a mere 600 shots with my f30 and yet this x100 cant get near that or barely touches it?
im suprised.

Jeff Charles · Jun 9, 2011

millsart said:
Who really needs 600 shots a day though ?

If for some reason you do, why not carry a spare battery ? They are $10 or less. Anyone who can afford a $1200 camera can afford a $10 battery

What if you could only get 36 shots on a battery charge? I think that puts it in perspective.

I got two spare batteries for my X100 for $13 shipped. That's probably cheaper than the cost of two rolls of film with development.

--
Jeff

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

Mark Prince · Jun 9, 2011

depscribe said:
Thomas Kachadurian said:

1. You cannot get a histogram and highlight warning in the EVF instant review, which makes it pretty much worthless.

Click to expand...

that's why those pictures by eisenstaedt and cartier-bresson are such crap -- if only they'd had instant-review histograms! and highlight warnings!

LOL! Yeah, those poseurs.

I'd like to have histogram beefed up a bit (and working in MF mode, and working better in other modes) but it's far from worthless.

Mark
--
Mark Prince, CoffeeGeek.com
Photos: flickr.com/coffeegeek
Twitter: twitter.com/coffeegeek

Mark Prince · Jun 9, 2011

Ben Newnam said:
I thought the meter was terrible until I realised that the "A" setting stands for aperture and not automatic

You thought A mode was "automatic"?

I mean no personal offence so please don't take it this way, but it may be time for you to seriously RTFM. Also, never hurts to get a good book on photography. PSAM has been a standard in modern photography since the 1980s. (Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual).

Mark

--
Mark Prince, CoffeeGeek.com
Photos: flickr.com/coffeegeek
Twitter: twitter.com/coffeegeek

Ben Newnam · Jun 9, 2011

Read a good book you say?

Mark GFY you patronising @ ?!

In compact cameras "A" is most of the time the automatic setting which controls shutter and aperture.

If you are such a smug photo guru I'd love to see some of your images. You can read all the books in the world but if you can't shoot then shut the !@? up

If you want to see my work feel free to look

http://www.bnphotography.com.au

oh and btw I even sometimes use aperture priority on the D3s which is the "A" setting so yes I do know "A" is aperture priority on an SLR.

I was just pointing this out in case the OP made the same error as I.

Mark Prince said:
Ben Newnam said:

I thought the meter was terrible until I realised that the "A" setting stands for aperture and not automatic

Click to expand...

You thought A mode was "automatic"?

I mean no personal offence so please don't take it this way, but it may be time for you to seriously RTFM. Also, never hurts to get a good book on photography. PSAM has been a standard in modern photography since the 1980s. (Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual).

Mark

--
Mark Prince, CoffeeGeek.com
Photos: flickr.com/coffeegeek
Twitter: twitter.com/coffeegeek

lbjack · Jun 9, 2011

Yes, what a smug, patronizing @#& !

I'm coming off a Canon DSLR but was making the same assumption as you about the A. I appreciate your helpful post about it.

Mark Prince · Jun 9, 2011

Ben Newnam said:
Read a good book you say?

Mark GFY you patronising @ ?!

In compact cameras "A" is most of the time the automatic setting which controls shutter and aperture.

If you are such a smug photo guru I'd love to see some of your images. You can read all the books in the world but if you can't shoot then shut the !@? up

Ahh, I see now. You're just someone who sees a keyboard as a way to not only show a bit of ignorance, but also use it as a means to swear and personally insult.

Champion.

Never mind.

Mark
--
Mark Prince, CoffeeGeek.com
Photos: flickr.com/coffeegeek
Twitter: twitter.com/coffeegeek

Ben Newnam · Jun 9, 2011

I guess I should be more specific so as not to get further flamed. In compact cameras that I have used (mainly from cameras from guests at weddings who want me to take their picture with their compact camera) there have been many occasions whereby the "A" setting is the fully automatic mode and so I assumed it was the case with the X100.

Ben Newnam said:
In compact cameras "A" is most of the time the automatic setting which controls shutter and aperture.

X100 great, but . . .

Senior Member

rattymouse

Guest

Forum Pro

Leading Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Forum Enthusiast

Well-known member

Well-known member

Keyboard shortcuts