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Author Topic: The Fuji  (Read 19372 times)

Ken Bennett

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #40 on: April 11, 2011, 09:16:30 pm »

Hey, Seamus, sorry that my original post came off a little wrong. I didn't mean to imply you were an idiot. (Really.)

I know from my personal experience with the GF-1 that these little cameras with a good fast prime lens can do an awful lot of great photography. The Fuji is a very attractive package, though I would have to think long and hard since I already have a similar camera.

Re: Canon primes with the 5D2. The 28/1.8 and the 35/2 are surprisingly good for the price. The 35/1.4 is one of my favorite lenses, though of course it's large and heavy, especially compared to my GF-1/20mm combo which is effectively the same. For me, the 24/1.4 is a specialty lens on the 5D, though I use it a lot on my 1D series cameras, where it is a great photo-j lens.

The Zeiss lenses have a great reputation, I'd love to try some of those.
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seamus finn

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #41 on: April 12, 2011, 04:30:01 am »

Quote
Hey, Seamus, sorry that my original post came off a little wrong. I didn't mean to imply you were an idiot. (Really.)

No worries, Ken. I'm gonna sit back and take my time on this one. I'd love to hear a little more from Craig after a month with the Fuji. He sounds a happy camper and I'd dearly like to know how he achieved that state of mind with a camera considered by all to be a bit of a pain in the ass re handling.

Back to the Canon 35mm - large and heavy are the words I don't want to hear. Out of the frying pan into the fire. If I get involved with a 'walkabout' camera with interchangeable lenses, I just know I'll end up with another heavy bag. In that sense, I am a bit of an idiot! Really.

Craig, if you read this, any chance of a little more on the Fuji handling issue? Please!
« Last Edit: April 12, 2011, 08:11:44 am by seamus finn »
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kim

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #42 on: April 12, 2011, 07:49:09 am »

Well written review by MR although one area that didn’t get enough emphasis in my view is the slow startup time.

I’ve never used an X100 but I have used several generations of consumer digital EOS going back to the early 2000s. The slow startup time was a major drawback (for me, anyway) of the older generation of these EOS. I lost a good number of shots and compromised others thanks to this feature. In 2004 Canon fixed it on the EOS 20D and startup has been pretty much instantaneous in all models since then. Battery life has much improved too. For Fuji to bring out a “premium” camera in 2011 with a slow startup is unacceptable and is a deal breaker for me. Keeping the camera “on” all the time to get a fast startup isn’t a valid solution for most of us due to concerns about battery life while out on a photo trip.
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seamus finn

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #43 on: April 12, 2011, 08:14:32 am »


See, Kim -it's stuff like that I'm worried about.
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Craig Arnold

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #44 on: April 12, 2011, 09:14:37 am »

Craig, if you read this, any chance of a little more on the Fuji handling issue? Please!

Well I've lots of bits and pieces on configuration and handling on my blog.

But my basic recommendations are:

Use MF if in Aperture priority mode, combine with zone focussing and the camera is incredible; quiet and very easy to use, light, small and non-threatening.

Use AF-S if in Program mode. I use Program mode quite a lot, and auto-ISO too. Essentially the camera then operates as a P&S, but that's fine, it allows you to concentrate on framing and timing.

Get a very fast SDHC card - one of the 8Gb 45mb/s ones. This dramatically improved the camera's performance compared to the 16Gb 15Mb/s cards. Startup time is reduced to <2s from >3s. General operation is much better with a fast card. It's sluggish compared to a DSLR but similar to most P&S cameras I have used.

In 5 weeks I have only had one lockup where I had to pop the battery. Not an issue.

My viewfinder has gone a bit wonky I think. Perhaps I banged it. I have switched on the artificial horizon for now, which I find a bit distracting, but either I will learn to tilt the camera a couple of degrees CC or I will send it in for adjustment. This is no different to RF cameras, these things happen, though it does seem like it's fairly common with this first batch. I cannot be 100% sure though, because it's a bit tricky to tell. Anyway I have been using the OVF without my specs and that helps too.

Of course with ACR RAW support you simply don't worry about WB, picture style, sharpening, etc, etc. I'm not terribly bothered at the moment - I've just turned everything down to minimum on the JPG settings and do the normal thing in LR.

I am pretty much in the habit of turning off the power when I end a session, and turn it on as I see a situation developing. I find in practice there are very few situations where it's a real-world issue that I need to take a picture with less than 2s warning. If you commonly do that sort of thing and cannot anticipate the action that far ahead then this clearly not the camera for you.

It may well be that I will no longer need a DSLR system and that the X100 will be enough for my needs. But honestly I think this is a camera for people who also own a larger high-end system. This is the camera you take everywhere, either on its strap or in your bag when you are not going out photographing. For the people who read this site it will be predominantly an alternative to their S95 or LX5 or X1 or DP2.

It's my snapshot camera. Love it.

Also I don't think it's for people who think of cameras as "just a tool", it's too fiddly and quirky for that. It's for people who, at least some of the time, love cameras as cameras not simply for their utility. If you are the kind of person who thinks of a camera as "just a tool" then you'd be better off with something else.

 X100 blog with pics
« Last Edit: April 12, 2011, 09:17:53 am by Craig Arnold »
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seamus finn

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #45 on: April 12, 2011, 11:33:02 am »

Now you're talking, Craig. Sincere thank you for that. Plenty to digest there.

Just discovered your X100 blog. Brilliant. Kicking myself that I didn't see it sooner. I'd recommend anybody interested in this camera to hasten there. http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog
« Last Edit: April 12, 2011, 11:59:33 am by seamus finn »
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TEBnewyork

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #46 on: April 12, 2011, 12:32:37 pm »

Yes,
Lots of good stuff in the blog.
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MarkL

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #47 on: April 13, 2011, 07:29:31 am »

Quote
Use MF if in Aperture priority mode, combine with zone focussing and the camera is incredible; quiet and very easy to use, light, small and non-threatening.

This is exactly how I intend to use it, my only question is what is the wake from sleep time like? For my street shooting I need to it be very fast or I'll miss shots and the camera is useless to me.

I can't believe in 2011 I'm still waiting for a digital camera to do what an early 80s film camera could do well. Looks like fuji were ambitious and had the right concept but missed in their first version - I'll hang on for the X200 which hopefully has interchangeable lenses too.
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Craig Arnold

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #48 on: April 13, 2011, 09:05:15 am »

This is exactly how I intend to use it, my only question is what is the wake from sleep time like? For my street shooting I need to it be very fast or I'll miss shots and the camera is useless to me.

I can't believe in 2011 I'm still waiting for a digital camera to do what an early 80s film camera could do well. Looks like fuji were ambitious and had the right concept but missed in their first version - I'll hang on for the X200 which hopefully has interchangeable lenses too.

Wake-from-sleep time is about the same as turning it on in the first place. Which is why I have taken to turning the camera on and off rather than let it go to sleep. Once again the kind of card you have in the camera makes a big difference in how fast that actually is.

If you use the "Quick Start Mode" it approximately halves startup time from sleep to around 0.5s but does drain the battery.

Of course you can switch off the auto-sleep. Of course then the battery life is reduced as the ovf will drain it. However, it's possible to carry many batteries and 3rd-party ones can be very cheap.

For example 7dayshop.co.uk has them for sale for £2.99 each. I bought two, but I've not run out of battery in a single day's shooting so far.

I suppose I should run the experiment of disabling "sleep" and leaving the camera switched on until the battery runs down completely to get an idea of the overall impact.

Check out the manual on pp15 & 22.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2011, 09:16:01 am by Craig Arnold »
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maxfire02

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Re: The Fuji
« Reply #49 on: May 15, 2011, 06:01:11 am »

Hi all of you!

Well from bottom to top i noticed fuji vs canon battle!

I must say that both of these companies products are not perfect and cannot be!

But each company has unique products!

People perceive one of these companies as the best camera makers in the world because of their specific features over the other! :D

Well every one has his/her own choice! you cannot say that fuji users or canon users are idiot! ;D

As i am a lay man over here so i lack technical speaking

i hope you all will agree with me on the point i made here!

Thanks

Max

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« Last Edit: October 10, 2012, 11:35:22 am by maxfire02 »
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