Taking apart the Fuji X-100

James Maher took apart his X-100:

Let me give you all a piece of wisdom that I recently learned the hard way. If you go on a fishing trip called ‘Hit em’ Hard’ and the captain tells you that you should take your bag off and put it in the ‘dry container’, what he really means by ‘dry container’ is a place that will fill up with seawater after he accidently clogs the drainage pipe, soaking you and your friends cameras, bags, wallets and cellphones for over an hour in salty seawater.

Just check the pictures if you are curious. Do not attempt!

More X-Pro1 reviews

I just go my X-Pro1 Friday afternoon. In the mean time, here are a few links to some reviews I find interesting.

Nick Devlin for Luminous Landscape: part 1 and part 2:

The X-Pro1 is an interesting creature. This is not a camera which provokes indifference. In my brief time with it, X-Pro1 has left me excited, thrilled, satisfied, irritated and perplexed.

The review tries to be as objective as possible. I like that.

Also, Petteri Sulonen: Camera pr0n: The Fuji X-Pro 1 – First Impressions.

What slide film taught me

The essay What slide film taught me from Luminous Landscape relate what I basically feel about film photography, what happened with digital:

With digital, I have become sloppy. I can fix it in post processing — whether it is exposure (thanks to “RAW headroom”) or framing — crop with a few of clicks of the mouse. This has undoubtedly led to a lower quality of photographs.

I bought last year a Mamiya C-220 and rediscovered shooting film. Not that I got rid of the film gear I was using before, just that a TLR on medium format led me this new experience. I have been very happy with the result and the yield. I shoot mostly color negative with it, and this, with the scanning, offer some of the head room that slide do not offer. Still, thinking the shot makes my photography better.


Mamiya C-220, Mamiya Sekor 105mm f3.5, 1/60 f/8 – Kodak Ektar 100 negative film

X-Pro1 reviews

Fuji X-Pro1 reviews are starting to appear.

Japan Camera hunter ask whether the Fuji X-Pro1 is the first real consumer rangefinder (archived from the original) or not.

It could be said that this site has a bias towards film cameras, but that is not entirely true. I just don’t often find digital cameras that I like. Until now…

It should be noted also that:

Let’s just be clear though… This is not actually a rangefinder camera. It is a rangefinder ‘style’ camera. This is a mirrorless digital camera and is not actually using a rangefinder system.

Nonetheless the question raised is whether the X-Pro1 can replace a rangefinder cameras. The X-100 seems to be making people happy.

Then Zack Arias who loved his X-100 got offered to test the X-Pro1.

… as I unboxed it I think I said OMG 26 times in a row.

And he did. See his series on Dubai 01, 02, 03, 04.

Last but not least. Roel was lucky to get a sample on loan by Fujifilm and got a First Look at the X-Pro1:

Fujifilm claimed that they would get full frame sensor quality out of a compact camera when they announced the X-Pro1. I believe that they have largely achieved that goal.

Image quality on overall has to rock if you want to satisfy rangefinder users. The current samples look promising.

I can’t wait to get mine.

Linked: “Rant: I love photography”

Allen Murabayashi wrote Rant: I love photography. Allen is CEO and Co-founder of PhotoShelter, originally wrote this on the PhotoShelter blog, and got republished on Wired “rawfile”.

His only reason to write this:

There is a percentage of photographers who hate photography.

And he give special mention to Boston Globe’s Big Picture and later the Atlantic’s In Focus, my favorite photo blogs.

Olympus E-M5 hands on presentation

I just came back from a presentation of the Olympus E-M5 at Lens & Shutter. This was quite exclusive as the Olympus representative was in Vancouver with the only camera in Canada, showing us, most of the crowd being from the Vancouver Four-Third Flickr group, the new OM-D camera the Olympus E-M5.

I would like to thank Eric for alerting us, Mike from Lens & Shutter, and Yannick from Olympus Americas for giving us the opportunity to see the camera in real life.

The size

This has already been established, and will be repeated: the Olympus E-M5 isn’t much bigger than an E-P2. With the viewfinder, the E-P2 is actually a bit taller. Here is the comparison (unfortunately kinda out of focus :-/), both with the 45mm f1.8:

E-P2 vs E-M5

Handling

The pre-production model passed around. It is hard to say in so little time, but my first impression is good. The camera handles well, the front dial is accessible, the back one less. The EVF is clear and the camera respond well to the autofocus.

Olympus E-M5 (back)

The default grip works fine, better than the E-P1 in my opinion. The optional grip that will come later has the option to remove the extra battery pack if not needed provide a better grip without too much extra volume. In both pictures the external flash was missing. Also another funny thing is that despite being unnecessary, the EVF from the Olympus Pens do indeed work on the E-M5. Proof that the accessory port is exactly identical.

As the camera was a pre-release model, we were not allowed to get images, so I won’t be able to talk about image quality. Fair enough, pixel peepers will tell us in a bit.

The price will be $999 for the body only, available end of March or early April in Canada at first camera store and not in big box stores.

Bottom line

I could be convinced to get one. I don’t really see how the Olympus Pen position themselves now beside a lower price point. Or maybe that’s the differentiator. In both case it seems to be obvious that the m4/3 system will be growing. To be continued.