X-Pro1: Where are all the reviews?

lnbolch said:

I would be totally suspicious of any review that came out before the camera even shipped. It would almost certainly be a pre-production model with unfinished firmware. Legit reviewers—like this site—are in possession of sample cameras but are embargoed from publishing anything beyond previews until they have time to do an in-depth evaluation.

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Thanks for the information Larry and I am guessing that you are speaking of Dpreview here. They have excellent in-depth reviews. However, that isnt really what I was speaking of.

The type of review people want to see is a simple one done by a peer. A photographer.We just want a peer to tell us about that manual focus, the AF speed, the shutter sound, the lens quality. Simple stuff that for some strange reason has not really been answered anywhere....

Of course the in-depth DPReview would be welcomed as well, but I know that those take a lot of time due to the fact that they do all that technical stuff that most photographers dont even understand. But again, we just want a review from one of our peers....

--
Cyclopedia Creative Media
"Ideas that speak volumes"
Chi "Cyclopedia" Brown

Cyclopedia Brown said:

The type of review people want to see is a simple one done by a peer.

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Given that the camera hasn't shipped yet, in fact, doesn't even have an official ship date yet, I wouldn't expect any peer reviews yet. Where would you expect the peers to get the cameras? This same thing happened with the X100 (questions about the lack of reviews, questions about the lack of sample photos, and so on). And speaking as a very happy X100 owner, that camera turned out to be pretty good.

Having said that, I think the poster you mentioned in your first post:

Cyclopedia Brown said:

The poster said that it was suspicious that the camera had not yet been reviewed. They thought that Fujifilm was up to no good....

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was kind of trollish. What was his theory? That Fuji has a terrible camera but they are hoping that by not letting anyone review it, we will all buy it before we can find out how bad it is?

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelthek/

Everyone has it on pre-order, so why ruin it with a review.

I am eager to see a few raw files that have been well exposed and processed - reviews can come later.

justinwonnacott said:

I am eager to see a few raw files that have been well exposed and processed - reviews can come later.

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I expect the camera will ship with SilkyPix-based conversion software. It will take a couple of weeks to get a professional-level upgrade from Adobe, since camera companies are not exactly cooperative. If I had based my purchase of the X100 on "SillyPix" results, I would not have bought. Camera companies are obligated by tradition to ship some kind of software with their cameras. I have not even bothered to install the software bundles with my recent Nikon dSLRs. Hard to compare them to a virus, since a virus actually does something.

The X100 had a very substantial learning curve even for very experienced digital-based photographers. Early reviews were bizarre—trying to find a CaNikon in a totally original camera from Fuji. Not a camera that can be masted in a few hours. Ignore all images posted for a few months, until top-skilled shooters have the time to become fully fluent this platform, and Adobe comes out with pro-level tools and shooters learn to use them.

Fuji is not building traditional "Yet another P&S" cameras in their X-line. They are equivalent to the pro-film line, and are not easily accessible to everyone. They perform astonishingly well, but only if you are dedicated enough to completely become fluent with them. I have shot with Fuji high-end film equipment, and they are not in any way consumer-friendly. However, they do amply reward the shooter with the skill to use them fully. The learning curve is months—not minutes.

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larry!
http://www.larry-bolch.com/

justinwonnacott said:

I am eager to see a few raw files that have been well exposed and processed - reviews can come later.

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I keep reading that people want to see RAW files to prove the X-Pro1's worth, however, many of the "Pros" who shoot with the X100 (and many other Fuji cams for that matter) have said that they prefer the JPGs straight out of the camera to the RAWs. So I am going to assume that much of what we see from the X100 is straight from JPGs. That being said, do we really need to look to RAWs to figure out the worth of the X-Pro1 if many people will shoot to JPG anyway?
--
Cyclopedia Creative Media
"Ideas that speak volumes"
Chi "Cyclopedia" Brown

It is weird indeed. Look at the list of hands-on review when the new OM-D is anounced today:
http://www.43rumors.com/official-new-olympus-e-m5-announced-continually-updated/

Cyclopedia Brown said:

I came upon a comment about the X-Pro 1 today that made me think. The poster said that it was suspicious that the camera had not yet been reviewed. They thought that Fujifilm was up to no good....

Could that be a possibility?

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No, it's nonsense.

Reality is that - just as with the X100 - Fujifilm announced the camera and showed essentially-finished hardware long before finalised firmware was available.

When we have our hands on a production camera with finished FW we'll write a review. Until then, we'll wait.

--
Andy Westlake
dpreview.com

xah said:

It is weird indeed. Look at the list of hands-on review when the new OM-D is anounced today:
http://www.43rumors.com/official-new-olympus-e-m5-announced-continually-updated/

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There are a lot of hands on reports from the Fuji too. There is one on this site, ephotozine, etc.

Eric
--
I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object
be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it
beautiful. - John Constable (quote)

See my Blog at: http://www.erphotoreview.com/ (bi-weekly)
Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/ (updated daily)

I think the NDA specifies very precisely what can be posted and what not. This is why we had seen only few amateurish images, I think posting any images is prohibited.

viking79 said:

texviddy said:

Shouldn't we be seeing a bunch of reviews popping up by now???

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It has been only a week since announcement. I don't think this one has been in photographers hands very long? Maybe they still have a pre-production firmware?

Who knows, they will show up when they start to ship.

Eric
--
I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object
be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it
beautiful. - John Constable (quote)

See my Blog at: http://www.erphotoreview.com/ (bi-weekly)
Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/ (updated daily)

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I hope he didn't use the xpro to snap that picture ;-)

Cyclopedia Brown said:

Photohobbyfun said:

...but I saw that someone made a post saying that the camera was already in the hands of some Australian dealer. He posted a picture of the X-Pro1 and three lenses in their boxes.

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If you are referring to this image then, no, That is not a dealer. Its a Fuji rep in the UK who posted the image on Twitter.



--
Cyclopedia Creative Media
"Ideas that speak volumes"
Chi "Cyclopedia" Brown

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Yes, it is total BS.

The few testers get a pre-production loaner camera to play with for few days, write comments to fuji, the camera is then packed and shipped to another tester.

Nowhere in the process is a "review" and the NDA very likely prohibits any reviews with pre-production. (Few people broke that obviously)

The cameras had not been sent to official reviewers yet or if it was it has a very strict release date for the reviews to follow.

With loaner cameras it is not Willy-nilly, there is NDA and rules to follow. Whatever fuji wants. That is the price to pay for free loaner.

Once you pay for it you can write your reviews as you please, you can trash it or unconditionally love it and fuji can do nothing about that.

But obviously nobody was able to buy one so far - that is why you don't get reviews.

Andy Westlake said:

Cyclopedia Brown said:

I came upon a comment about the X-Pro 1 today that made me think. The poster said that it was suspicious that the camera had not yet been reviewed. They thought that Fujifilm was up to no good....

Could that be a possibility?

Click to expand...

No, it's nonsense.

Reality is that - just as with the X100 - Fujifilm announced the camera and showed essentially-finished hardware long before finalised firmware was available.

When we have our hands on a production camera with finished FW we'll write a review. Until then, we'll wait.

--
Andy Westlake
dpreview.com

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Hope the silence means they are trying to improve everything about the camera.

Hope they are looking at the newly announced olympus and saying to themselves, hey we have to improve our offering.

Either that or they will just ship them all out before reviews go out so no one can cancel their preorders.

knowsnocamera said:

Hope they are looking at the newly announced olympus and saying to themselves, hey we have to improve our offering.

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What about the Olympus wold you think they are looking at that they are so far behind? The Oly looks nice, but there was nothing about it (except the multiple programable buttons) that I thought was better the the Fuji.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelthek/

knowsnocamera said:

Either that or they will just ship them all out before reviews go out so no one can cancel their preorders.

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Maybe I am misreading your comments, but I almost get the impression that you are saying they are making some sort of effort, either way.

I'm sure that they couldn't care less about the "preorders".

If people want to preorder a camera, that's their choice.

But Fuji isn't worried about selling the initial shipment. Nor even the second or third.

There's no need to search for the conspiracy, when there isn't any.

LaFonte said:

Nowhere in the process is a "review" and the NDA very likely prohibits any reviews with pre-production. (Few people broke that obviously)

The cameras had not been sent to official reviewers yet or if it was it has a very strict release date for the reviews to follow.

With loaner cameras it is not Willy-nilly, there is NDA and rules to follow. Whatever fuji wants. That is the price to pay for free loaner.

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Thanks a lot LaFonte. Good to know!
--
Cyclopedia Creative Media
"Ideas that speak volumes"
Chi "Cyclopedia" Brown

knowsnocamera said:

Hope the silence means they are trying to improve everything about the camera.

Hope they are looking at the newly announced olympus and saying to themselves, hey we have to improve our offering.

Either that or they will just ship them all out before reviews go out so no one can cancel their preorders.

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i think the OMD will be a big winner for Olympus.

Michael Kaufman said:

What about the Olympus would you think they are looking at that they are so far behind? The Oly looks nice, but there was nothing about it (except the multiple programable buttons) that I thought was better the the Fuji.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelthek/

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i dont think Fuji would be too interested in what the OMD is offering...to a point.. but Fuji are trying to get the RF market who dont want to pay Leica prices, and there they have a winner.... if Fuji want to get into the M43 market and compete with the OMD, Fuji will lose all on fronts.

Nothing in particular. The olympus has lots of bells and whistles like the fast autofocus (quite nice really) and weathersealed body....But I was not pointing to any particular feature. I just wanted, hoped that fujifilm would see that Olympus has announced a camera that excited people (just like the X-pro1 excited people) and that people may decide to spend their money on that or some other camera and that Fujifilm would try their best to get their camera right when they release it. Nothing more. Not saying the Olympus is better or anything. Just hoping and waiting for some nice improvements over the x-pro1 prototype especially when it comes to focusing manual and auto capabilities. Hoping and waiting like you guys.

Michael Kaufman said:

knowsnocamera said:

Hope they are looking at the newly announced olympus and saying to themselves, hey we have to improve our offering.

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What about the Olympus wold you think they are looking at that they are so far behind? The Oly looks nice, but there was nothing about it (except the multiple programable buttons) that I thought was better the the Fuji.

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You understood my comment correctly, but I was not serious. I sincerely apologize for any harm if any was done. It was just a thought that crossed my mind and nothing more. Again I apologize and will say no more.

Michael Kaufman said:

knowsnocamera said:

Either that or they will just ship them all out before reviews go out so no one can cancel their preorders.

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Maybe I am misreading your comments, but I almost get the impression that you are saying they are making some sort of effort, either way.

I'm sure that they couldn't care less about the "preorders".

If people want to preorder a camera, that's their choice.

But Fuji isn't worried about selling the initial shipment. Nor even the second or third.

There's no need to search for the conspiracy, when there isn't any.

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LaFonte said:

The cameras had not been sent to official reviewers yet

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This is correct, and really all there is to it.

LaFonte said:

or if it was it has a very strict release date for the reviews to follow.

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This is not the case with the X-Pro1. Indeed it only happens when reviewable production cameras are sent out before the product's official launch, which is very rare indeed.

LaFonte said:

With loaner cameras it is not Willy-nilly, there is NDA and rules to follow. Whatever fuji wants. That is the price to pay for free loaner.

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This is not really correct.

Once finished, production standard cameras are in the hands of reviewers there are no conditions or strings attached - the understanding is always that at this point the product stands or falls on its own merits. Otherwise the reviewers would be beholden to the manufacturers, which helps noone at all. Smart manufacturers use reviews to help improve their products - if there's a concensus that a certain design feature or function is flawed, they'll often change it.

However before the camera is finished, in terms of either hardware or firmware, then loan samples come with an agreement about what can and cannot be published. In the case of the X-Pro1, the camera isn't yet finished and Fujifilm is therefore not allowing the publication of samples. This isn't unusual and it's not suspicious in any way. Our approach is always to respect these requests, because you don't help anyone by publishing samples that aren't as good as the final camera will produce.

--
Andy Westlake
dpreview.com