Doppelganger RF: Fujifilm X100, random thoughts & first impressions

[dankwan]

The new Fujifilm X100 with Fujinon 23 f2 aspherical and the venerable Leica M3 DS with Fujinon 50 f2 LTM​

Doppelganger: alter ego, double, evil twin, point & shoot wearing RF clothes

Retro is cool again, for now. Kids wearing teardrop raybans, wongsans hunting for a vespa and I'm starting to wear skinny pants again: RF is hot, iphone is cool and film is in.

Along comes this: the fuji x100. Busy thread on CS, guys all talking about it, arguing, surmising, what on earth is it? Is it a pretender to the digital RF throne? Get drawn in by the surging tide. Months of hype, got my hot little hands on one, finally. A digital point & shoot, all dressed up like an old film rangefinder.....retro "now"....

All black box, 3 in 1, outer, and 2 inner boxes, hard cardboard box, pretty chic, camera slumbering in silky fabric. Cheapy cardboard box: accessories. Smaller than I had initially expected and way lighter than imagined. Kinda used to the heft of a Leica.

Hmmm...plasticky, build ain't too bad, feels well made. Uh oh....cheapie leatherette...feels bad, for this price, PVC should NOT be allowed. At least it sits well in hand. Strange putting a big battery into an RF, power switch nicely placed: familiar. Put my eye to VF and wow. Bright....and it's a HUD: tres military cool, suitably impressed. Reminds me of the tech in the epson RD1 dial. Reckon paying for fuji R&D sleepless nights.

Take a shot and hey, did I press the shutter?? Take another and realized shutter is exceedingly silent. Think, dude...theres something wrong with my VF, somethings not right, vf image went really bright right after shot then wow, shot preview right in VF...smart, typical japanese obsession with the small things in life.

Start messing around with the menu, usual digital TMI. Reason why universities offer tech courses these days: need a degree just to navigate a camera menu. Oh yeah....get my OVF aka mini HUD to become tactical: framelines, 9 grid, histogram, shots, virtual bubble level. Its Tron, baby.....way cool....hey whats this, film rewind lever like on an M? hit it and shades come up over the OVF and it becomes EVF..now its not only tactical, blinds up and its nuclear ready. Live view right in the VF, never have to move camera, never have to take eye off subject, no more monkey chimping: composure kept, illusion of film photographer intact....frame, shoot, chimp and not even change pose.

Lo batt, rummage through boxes, small charger. Looks like a copy of the M charger. Slot battery in and LED blinks...several tries later, get the battery to seat right and start charging...whoa, bad move, mr fuji...dinky charger just dont cut it. Want the battery to snap in like a man and not whimper its way in. Weird...green means charging and off means charged?! shouldve paid attention in college

Haha! garden wedding reception tonight. Time to put it through its low light paces.

Snoop & wife

The boys

springsteen

(courtesy of the missus)​

jpegs from cam, standard B/W setting

handles exactly like an RF, like that very much. Lens is too slim, cant get my stubby hands to work the focus and aperture dial. Man, I miss my RD1....Hey, wheres the DOF scale?!? Stay tuned for more thoughts.....

 

[wongsan]

Nice nice

 

[ZoomP]

The new Fujifilm X100 with Fujinon 23 f2 aspherical and the venerable Leica M3 DS with Fujinon 50 f2 LTM​

Doppelganger: alter ego, double, evil twin, point & shoot wearing RF clothes

Retro is cool again, apparently. Months of hype, got my hot little hands on one, finally.

All black box, pretty chic, camera nestled in silky fabric. Smaller than I had initially expected and way lighter than imagined. Kinda used to the heft of a Leica.

Hmmm...a bit plasticky, build ain't too bad, feels well made. Strange putting a big battery into an RF, power switch nicely placed: familiar. Put my eye to VF and wow. Its a HUD: very impressed. Reminds me of the tech in the epson RD1 dial. Reckon we paying just for this.

Take a shot and hey, did I actually press the shutter? Take another and realized shutter is exceedingly silent. Wow, shot preview right in VF...smart, the guys at Fuji really thought of the small things. Haha! garden wedding reception tonight. Time to put it through its low light paces.

Snoop & wife

The boys

springsteen

(courtesy of the missus)​

jpegs from cam, standard B/W setting

handles exactly like an RF, like that very much. Lens is too slim, cant get my stubby hands to work the focus and aperture dial. Man, I miss my RD1....Hey, wheres the DOF scale?!?Stay tuned for more thoughts.....

Congrats on yours bro!!! Must thank me too. Hehe...

Anyway, will try to post a comparison review of the X100 with its 23mm f2.0 Fujinon lens and my M9 with a 50 Fujinon f2.0 lens. Not scientific but what the heck?!

 

[ray_stinger]

nice first impression.

 

[Thedraperyfalls]

Hi,

Thanks for this review, and doppelganger is the right word!

I tried to get my hands on one during the IT show but gave up, the crowd was overwhelming.
Turns out a friend of mine has one and I managed to get to play with one briefing.

First thing I noticed was that it was rather light, and smaller than an M body.
Next thing was that when shooting in raw, it took about 2 seconds between shots.

The Viewfinder is beautiful, framelines were bright!
Sits well in my hands, LCD looks great, buttons well laid out and has a good tactile feel.
And I like the built-in soft-release shutter-button, and the shutter's almost imperceptible too.

I was slightly surprised when he told me that the vented hood had to be bought separately, and the leather-casing is only coming in at the of the month.
But what a pretty little package this is!

 

[ZoomP]

Here's some test shots taken by my wife and I.

Indoor shots under florescent light. WB not bad. Jpeg straight off the camera. Finally some pics of me and Anna!

Macro mode with ND filter on. Surprised that it glows like my LTM Fujinon 50 f2.0!

My model against a strong backlight. Slight PP to adjust underexposure

Here's a First Impression review by our very own Invisible Photographer. Photos of camera courtesy of me. Heheh
http://invisiblephotographer.asia/2011/03/12/fujifilmx100-firstimpressions/

 

[hamustar]

Wow, thanks for the review. the photos scream "CLEAN!!"

 

[Speedsun]

The new Fujifilm X100 with Fujinon 23 f2 aspherical and the venerable Leica M3 DS with Fujinon 50 f2 LTM​

Doppelganger: alter ego, double, evil twin, point & shoot wearing RF clothes

Retro is cool again, for now. Kids wearing teardrop raybans, wongsans hunting for a vespa and I'm starting to wear skinny pants again: RF is hot, iphone is cool and film is in.

Along comes this: the fuji x100. Busy thread on CS, guys all talking about it, arguing, surmising, what on earth is it? Is it a pretender to the digital RF throne? Get drawn in by the surging tide. Months of hype, got my hot little hands on one, finally.

All black box, 3 in 1, outer, and 2 inner boxes, hard cardboard box, pretty chic, camera slumbering in silky fabric. Cheapy cardboard box: accessories. Smaller than I had initially expected and way lighter than imagined. Kinda used to the heft of a Leica.

Hmmm...plasticky, build ain't too bad, feels well made. Uh oh....cheapie leatherette...feels bad, for this price, PVC should NOT be allowed. At least it sits well in hand. Strange putting a big battery into an RF, power switch nicely placed: familiar. Put my eye to VF and wow. Bright....and it's a HUD: tres military cool, suitably impressed. Reminds me of the tech in the epson RD1 dial. Reckon paying for fuji R&D sleepless nights.

Take a shot and hey, did I press the shutter?? Take another and realized shutter is exceedingly silent. Think, dude...theres something wrong with my VF, somethings not right, vf image went really bright right after shot then wow, shot preview right in VF...smart, typical japanese obsession with the small things in life.

Start messing around with the menu, usual digital TMI. Reason why universities offer tech courses these days: need a degree just to navigate a camera menu. Oh yeah....get my OVF aka mini HUD to become tactical: framelines, 9 grid, histogram, shots, virtual bubble level. Its Tron, baby.....way cool....hey whats this, film rewind lever like on an M? hit it and shades come up over the OVF and it becomes EVF..now its not only tactical, blinds up and its nuclear ready. Live view right in the VF, never have to move camera, never have to take eye off subject, no more monkey chimping: composure kept, illusion of film photographer intact....frame, shoot, chimp and not even change pose.

Lo batt, rummage through boxes, small charger. Looks like a copy of the M charger. Slot battery in and LED blinks...several tries later, get the battery to seat right and start charging...whoa, bad move, mr fuji...dinky charger just dont cut it. Want the battery to snap in like a man and not whimper its way in. Weird...green means charging and off means charged?! shouldve paid attention in college

Haha! garden wedding reception tonight. Time to put it through its low light paces.

Snoop & wife

jpegs from cam, standard B/W setting

handles exactly like an RF, like that very much. Lens is too slim, cant get my stubby hands to work the focus and aperture dial. Man, I miss my RD1....Hey, wheres the DOF scale?!?Stay tuned for more thoughts.....​

Dan bro is that tony??​

 

[dankwan]

Dan bro is that tony??

yeah its tony "snoop dawg, no goatee" chan....he works with us....you know him?

 

[Speedsun]

he is interior designer plus "party animal" rite ...ah no wonder work with u...lol..... ;p

 

[NazgulKing]

Dang. I saw the camera at Chiif yesterday, and boy was I tempted by the looks. The Jpegs I have been fishing up at flickr are just salivating me more.

 

[sim4nee]

Congrats on yours bro!!! Must thank me too. Hehe...

Anyway, will try to post a comparison review of the X100 with its 23mm f2.0 Fujinon lens and my M9 with a 50 Fujinon f2.0 lens. Not scientific but what the heck?!

Glad you get yours without fighting through the crowd at the IT shows, and must thank me too, by letting me use for 10 min hehe!

 

[Speedsun]

i hope there is firmware to improve on the MF part...cause its quite troublesome to use for MF ;p

 

[dankwan]

lo tech-hi fashion​

Lets see how she handles macro: coffee & objects du home, evf vs ovf. Day 2 with the x100, still on monochrome. Retro camera, new age guts and old soul looks so lets go retro all the way then, see how it stacks up against film against the legends of silver : Tri X and the old skool of black & white film

Thinking: whats the meter like against the M. As usual, digital choices: Matrix, spot or average. Set the beast to average, toggle macro and wohoo! all without taking my eye off the VF. Hats off Mr. Fuji...coup de grace. Worth the extra coin? Yeah, I think so...this tech is innovative, at least for a dinosaur like me. Quickly outdated? I think so too

addictions​

Noticeable difference in OVF and actual framing in macro mode, switched over to EVF. Much better, this ability rocks, big reason to get this cam. Now if they had this in a MFD, they'd be lining up like people at a Mcdonalds hello kitty collectables promotion

AF is pretty sub par, thats being kind, nah...its pretty lousy, this close in, tracks way too much before settling. Its gets in pretty close but still not close enough for true macro. Zoomp tells me OVF/EVF switching laggy, didnt notice that, guess that why his nick has hi-revs in it.

Mr. Fuji, we need a firmware update NOW, this is a definite deal-breaker even for the occasional shooter. PNS meant to be happy snappy. Fire & forget. Quick, quick, quick. Zoomp has a speedy lil one....M9 did it right, we want to slow down when we wanna show off....this...speed is life

stems​

Initial thoughts, images clean, clean & clean. Good separation of tones. BUT lacks love....grit, grain and all the character of emulsion. So ok, its digital and not film but hey hey, you got an in-camera choice of provia, astia and velvia, wheres the Tri X, Neopan and others in there?

The in camera virtual filters, G,R,Y is a neat trick. The built in ND, godsend. Good job there, japanese bros....

single use only​

Read an early test mentioning that monochrome makes pic look like dutch masters. Not far from the truth, b/w in this cam is really smooth, tonal range is wide. Dunno about IQ, but theres definitely EQ in the shots. Shots look pretty good, feel pretty good. But hey, its all about the lenses and fuji is no slouch in that department. I am biased though as I do like how fujinon draws.....I'd seriously shoot this in b/w exclusively.

650ml​

whats next? lets see how she handles on the street....full AF versus full on manual and the usual RF street tricks: here goes nothing.....

edit: taking back what I said about macro mode, figured out how to work it, it gets in pretty close afterall (as seen in "single use only"). AF in macro still sucks though, had to manually spin and spin and spin and spin the focus ring??? felt like i was opening a jam jar....now thats for another day....

 

[theRenaissance]

I think the lens rendering is superb, with the dreamy glow feel when shot at f2, i love it!

 

[wongsan]

edit: taking back what I said about macro mode, figured out how to work it, it gets in pretty close afterall (as seen in "single use only"). AF in macro still sucks though, had to manually spin and spin and spin and spin the focus ring??? felt like i was opening a jam jar....now thats for another day....

Hey Dan, not sure if you have tried this for MF.
You can press the AE/AF lock button to do a quick AF and then follow-up with precise manual focusing. You can zoom in by pressing the Command Control as well.

Another "feature": AF gives 0.8m minimum focusing. But in MF, I find that I can go much near.

 

[guitarboutique]

i hope there is firmware to improve on the MF part...cause its quite troublesome to use for MF ;p

you can use the AE-L/AF-L button to AF first in MF mode, and then press the command dial for "MF assist" to zoom in to fine tune. at first i though i could only MF with the focus ring. but i think i'm still quite livable with this.

handles exactly like an RF, like that very much. Lens is too slim, cant get my stubby hands to work the focus and aperture dial. Man, I miss my RD1....Hey, wheres the DOF scale?!? Stay tuned for more thoughts.....

the DOF is in overlayed in the VF when in M focus mode. you can pre focus it to hyperfocal length, and with quick start enabled, shoot your streets. The camera will remember your previous focus, except if your last shot was in macro mode.

 

[dankwan]

the framers son (post processed, curves and vignette)​

Quick test over lunch and errands. lets see how quick or how slow the AF is in good lighting conditions and on the streets. Whip and snap. meter, spot and full auto. Matrix metering seems, at least to me, a tad over-exposed, lets see how it runs on spot

It doesnt disappoint, AF seems to only have issues in low light. Rendering with spot seems pretty ok in flat light. Jpegs come out with pop.

exit (post processed, curves and vignette)​

Fujinon lens is nice and crisp, virtual horizon a winner. The HUD works charms in terms of sufficient information without distraction.

tools of the trade (post processed, curves and vignette)​

The cam handles well, although I wish it were a little larger, seems hard to hold normally. Stability an issue as it is a little too small.

 

[wongsan]

Took the X100 to my usual lens test area: Chinatown.
Here are some shots.

Fujifilm X100
Film Simulation: Monochrome with Yellow Filter
Focusing style: AF and MF (can't remember which is which)
Post Processing: minimal (added a little "black")

#1. Soldier “Bīng” 兵

#2. deep blue II

#3. headache

#4. reading the news

#5. caged

 

[hookonclassic]

Wow...this is super fast...congrat on the new cam...thank you guys for the first hands on review...