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Nikon D70 SLR -> X-E1: My experience so far

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Logidelic

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Just thought I'd post my initial imressions after a week with the X-E1. I'm coming from an oldish (8 years) Nikon SLR, the D70 this is purely comparison. Here are the main points:
  • Love the size/feel of the X-E1
  • Awesome color/image quality
  • EVF better than I expected. I even enjoy manual focusing
However:
  • Auto focus is much worse than what I was expecting! (Using kit zoom) In low light, and even often in good lighting, the camera hunts and can't focus. I appreciate that the SLR does phase-detection auto focus, but I had no idea the difference was so great - especially since my SLR is almost 10 years old. This is really too bad, and is the biggest downside to this camera so far.
  • Battery life is bad. There's really no excuse for this. A higher capacity battery should have been used. Totally stupid.
  • I know they improved the design over previous X-cams with regard to controls, but I still find myself accidentally pressing buttons and turning the exposure compensation dial. The buttons and dials should be stiffer to avoid accidental hits.
Overall I'm really enjoying this camera, but it's a shame about these negatives. I'm sure I'll find more pro/cons as I continue, but these stood out immediately. Guess this isn't the last camera I'll ever own... :)
 
Logidelic said:
Logidelic wrote:

Just thought I'd post my initial imressions after a week with the X-E1. I'm coming from an oldish (8 years) Nikon SLR, the D70 this is purely comparison. Here are the main points:
  • Love the size/feel of the X-E1
  • Awesome color/image quality
  • EVF better than I expected. I even enjoy manual focusing
However:
Click to expand...
  • Auto focus is much worse than what I was expecting! (Using kit zoom) In low light, and even often in good lighting, the camera hunts and can't focus. I appreciate that the SLR does phase-detection auto focus, but I had no idea the difference was so great - especially since my SLR is almost 10 years old. This is really too bad, and is the biggest downside to this camera so far.
  • Battery life is bad. There's really no excuse for this. A higher capacity battery should have been used. Totally stupid.
  • I know they improved the design over previous X-cams with regard to controls, but I still find myself accidentally pressing buttons and turning the exposure compensation dial. The buttons and dials should be stiffer to avoid accidental hits.
Overall I'm really enjoying this camera, but it's a shame about these negatives. I'm sure I'll find more pro/cons as I continue, but these stood out immediately. Guess this isn't the last camera I'll ever own... :)
Don't have XE1 but did shoot a lot with my Nikon D70. There are a few threads here about geting better artery life. Regarding focusing, I know it is different but like any camera one needsof properfocusing target. Also, did you try changing the size of the focus area. I know the size is variable to accommodate the size and type of target.
 
Why haven't you got a D7000 instead? I don't get it. It's clear that a Fuji X is no DSLR.
 
Joachim Gerstl said:
Joachim Gerstl wrote:

Why haven't you got a D7000 instead? I don't get it. It's clear that a Fuji X is no DSLR.
Click to expand...
Does that obvious fact mean it can have as slow AF as it wants? And why do you think you know what others should be getting?

I am now becoming concerned about the AF speed. I wonder if it would be much quicker than my old Canon G3 - the flagship compact of 2003. Would anyone by chance have used one before the XE1 and could comment?
 
Gediminas 8 said:
Gediminas 8 wrote:
Gediminas 8 said:
Joachim Gerstl wrote:

Why haven't you got a D7000 instead? I don't get it. It's clear that a Fuji X is no DSLR.
Click to expand...
Does that obvious fact mean it can have as slow AF as it wants? And why do you think you know what others should be getting?

I am now becoming concerned about the AF speed. I wonder if it would be much quicker than my old Canon G3 - the flagship compact of 2003. Would anyone by chance have used one before the XE1 and could comment?
Click to expand...
 
I just don't understand this huge issue about AF speed. I got my XP1 when it first came out, with the original firmware, and I found the focusing speed perfectly acceptable then. Yes, in low light the 60mm lens would hunt sometimes, but I would take longer to manually focus in those conditions too. I have spent over half a century manually focusing cameras, both still cameras and film and video as a working Hollywood cinematographer. Generally I never used autofocus until I got my first consumer digital camera, which really had a delay that frustrated me. Made me hate autofocus altogether. That was followed after a few years by a then brand new D70 which pretty much eliminated the noticable delay. That is why I bought it. The focusing accuracy of the D70 was OK, not perfect. I find the focus of the Fuji to be far faster than my manual ability to achieve sharp focus, even on cameras with a split image or other focus aid, and to me that means it is more than fast enough. A one or two second delay would be a dealbreaker but do fractions of a second really matter?
 
Yer AF is testing,but i use zone focusing sometimes and use the the AEL button to lock focus,i gave up Nikon DSLR a few yrs ago and went with micro 4/3 untill this Fuji X-E1 and prev a X100,thing is when the Fuji locks focus it is accurate and rewards you with stunning IQ,just keep at it,if not you may need the D7000 as pointed out prev.

Good luck

37784acfd82e4571bd5d5a9679f0947a.jpg
 
Just a quick reply to say that my concern with the auto-focus is not the speed, but that it often can't focus on things that I think it should be able to focus on (high contrast, sharp edges, as far as I'm concerned).

So far I've only been shooting with a single focus area (center), and I always do half-press focus, then shoot.

Some of the replies on this forum are kind of funny. I'm just comparing. The difference is quite large. As others have said, I guess I should not be expecting the same reliability of auto-focus as with an SLR. Fair enough, I'm just commenting on the experience, so others may know before they purchase.

I'm still loving the camera and am very happy with it.
 
easyeddy said:
easyeddy wrote:

For SLR owners coming to the X-E1 I really do think focussing a compact system camera has to be treated as a learning experience - it's not fire-and-forget focussing. For me it has *always* been half-click.. check-focus... take-the-shot, and that could add 2 seconds to the shot if I have to frame focus off to one side before taking the shot, but usually it's a straight shot.
Click to expand...
This is how I always shoot, I guess my original post should have mentioned that...
 
Ridethelight said:
Ridethelight wrote:

Yer AF is testing,but i use zone focusing sometimes and use the the AEL button to lock focus,
Click to expand...
Good point. I'm thinking that the auto-focus-lock button will aleviate some of my frustration. Thanks for the comment.
 
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