I don’t agree with those who want to paint the X1D as just a rich-folks toy, good only to show off and to get attention. And there is also the theme that neither the GFX nor the X1D are “really” MF camera, because their sensors are two small.
For me, these kind of comments are not helpful. At this point, I am not a fanboy of either camera, but I do have to make a choice, and soon.
And I do see real differences between the two cameras, and find they appeal to two different parts of me. After many years of carrying around a large DSLR, tons of lenses, biggish tripod, bellows, and on and on, there is a part of me that yearns to have a smallish camera, but one more capable than what I have now (D810), one with just a handful of lenses, perhaps three or four, tops. With that, I would spend more time just taking photos, and less endless experimenting, kibitzing about lenses and the like. That, of course, dictates the X1D.
On the hand, there is a part of me, and a strong part that, perhaps due to Nikon’s failure to offer me a significant upgrade to my D810, wants to forge a future from my current past, and extend my penchant for a plethora of lenses, a larger sensor, etc. In other words, continue on the gearhead track I have been on for many years. That would be the GFX.
The gearhead in me can clearly see that the GFX is by far the most forward-looking gear, period, with the exception perhaps of color. I have seen lots of Hasselblad’s output (and like it), but I have not seen enough of the Fuji output to make sure it does not subtly irritate me and make my processing more difficult.
So, there are two trains running, as we say, and I can’t afford to ride them both, so I have to choose one, and soon... or go to the back of the line, which for the X1D could be another year. I have already waited over six months for the X1D, so I don’t much like the feeling of doing that for another year.
Bottom line is that I feel I should get the GFX, for practical reasons, but I also so appreciate the minimalist approach, haptics, and form factor of the X1D, that part of me would welcome the simplicity of that approach, unless of course it is a dud. Yet, Ming Thein has already made it clear that, for him, it is not.
So, forgive these more prosaic (and less technical) comments. I appreciate all that is posted here, and it sounds like very soon the few raindrops of actual experience with these cameras that exist now will become a torrent of experience, and we will have to find another topic to become enthused about.
Please keep that experience coming!
