Are you looking forward to the Fujifilm FinePix X100

[photoSmart42]

Are you looking forward to the Fujifilm FinePix X100

Yes, I am. I am also looking forward to the Sigma SD1, perhaps an Olympus pro m4/3 body, maybe a 4x5 LF field camera, and a nice film scanner. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

[Fiddler]

This is where the camps divide. Nostalgia, for what?
If your thinking about a Yashica GSN, or a Canonette or some other older RF then this camera works on that level.

I dont think Fuji is really playing the nostalgia card.
Afterall, the form and design approaches a camera still in production.
So if the X100 is to succed, it must be compared to the existing M cameras.
No one expects it to equal a Leica M but that's what it's up against.

Fuji is dancing a very dangerous dance.
The nostalgia users may tire quickly with the form and single lens issue.
Not all of course but many will.

The M crowd will have to see a similar handling with the X100 and very good optics and IQ. Tuff crowd in this group.

Personally, I have high hopes. I want the camera to be a success.
I will have no issue with a 35mm lens FOV on the camera and could go the rest of my life never missing interchangeable lenses.
That's just me and I'm easy. I'm older and I know what I want.

Unfortunately, Fuji has groups out there that won't be as easy.
So nostalgia, that is a good point of reference but just a small one.

Shooter

For many years I had just a Contax II and a 50mm f2.0 lens, so sticking with a prime is no problem to me. I think that the nostalgia is about the simplicity and innocence of what I did then, compared to what I do now. I know that it's me - not the camera, but for me the old days were good! Maybe the x100 will help me feel about photography as I did when I was 12. I want the camera to succeed too.

 

[Streetshooter]

Fiddler,
Your photography is within and without you.
It has nothing to do with a camera.
Look at your images. If you feel something is missing, it's the innocence of approach not lack of a certain camera.
That you can fix just by opening the door to your heart and letting the eye and the mind couple up with it.

The camera, it may, if we are lucky, become an extension of our vision but it never is the real reason we can't capture the images we want.

 

[Grant]

Well said Streetshooter!

 

[Luckypenguin]

I think that on paper and in the flesh the X100 looks great, but it won't be on my shopping list as I don't see it improving my ability to take a picture. I don't think the X100 advances camera design in any way that I would appreciate. The short back focus, mirrorless concept of m4/3 et al. that essentially created an open standard lens mount changed photography for me and improved the way I go about taking a picture, in a way that an expensive all-singing, all-dancing model did not. Particularly by using my E-P1 with manual fixed focal length legacy lenses I've come to realise that the camera is only the second-most important piece of photographic equipment I carry with me after my eyes.

My lack of excitement for the X100 is based on
a) a new camera may (or may not) give me an improvement measured in fractions of a per cent, and
b) if there is one piece of equipment that can change the character of your photos it is the lens, and the Fuji only has one...

 

[Fiddler]

Fiddler,
Your photography is within and without you.
It has nothing to do with a camera.
Look at your images. If you feel something is missing, it's the innocence of approach not lack of a certain camera.
That you can fix just by opening the door to your heart and letting the eye and the mind couple up with it.

The camera, it may, if we are lucky, become an extension of our vision but it never is the real reason we can't capture the images we want.

Of course you are right - I need my simplicity back, and a camera won't do it... But hey - it's still an interesting camera

 

[Michael]

The RD is a great handling camera. The RF leaves something to be desired.
For a 6 MP camera, the files are incredible!

Say that again out loud...
From working experience and from Olympus staffers a couple of Photokina's ago 'there really is no need for anything more than 12MP in a small system camera APS C and smaller!. Even then the image quality slipped and become noisy when compared to the Canon 300d, G5, RD1 and others all about 6MP or so if my memory serves.
Nostalgia - really! a range finders advantages are simple one can see what one is photographing and have both eyes open while doing it. If readers of this forum ever get the chance just try the 1:1 viewfinder on a Voigtlander R3M/R3A. Rangefinders are so simple, their form is dictated by their function Leica is the prime example almost unchanged for half a century. Yes I will admit that there are design nuances that indicate nostalgia but to a large extent that is just branding. The promise of the X100 is that its viewfinder has all of a rangefinder assets and greater potential to take into account macro and telephoto. I would not be surprised if when the X100 is released wide and telephoto supplementary lenses will quickly follow. The quality of supplementary lens has leaped forward in recent years at one time they were a bit of a joke but not so now.

 

[~tc~]

Think they will have a fully operational prototype at CES?

 

[rioridh]

I am thinking of buying one The reason is that i am tired of fighting with the camera controls pana gh1.,and look foreward to having all of the contols to hand without having to navigate the menue.

 

[BBW]

Have to agree about dealing with menus. One of the reasons I fell for the Leica X1 was its straightforward nature. The only really important thing - to me - that it was missing was an exposure lock. (Yes, yes, I knew it didn't have one but I fell under its spell) Yes, I'd also love to have a great viewfinder a la the kind the X100 is promising... So fingers are definitely crossed for this camera to turn out to be for me what I almost had with the X1.

 

[cherrywood]

Yes, LETS simplify Life, down with menus, and multi button presses

Have to agree about dealing with menus. One of the reasons I fell for the Leica X1 was its straightforward nature. The only really important thing - to me - that it was missing was an exposure lock. (Yes, yes, I knew it didn't have one but I fell under its spell) Yes, I'd also love to have a great viewfinder a la the kind the X100 is promising... So fingers are definitely crossed for this camera to turn out to be for me what I almost had with the X1.

Yes BB, i "Third" that, give me a Nikon Fn3A like camera controls, ISO, Shutter Speed dial, Quality Dial, Aperture Priority and MF mode and i would be happy as a clam.
Really like the X100 Fuji concept. "SIBKIS" = SEE IT BIG KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Dennis.:smile:

 

[carpandean]

Well, I'll fourth it. As I have said before, I would love something similar to me Canon G12 with interchangeable lenses and a larger sensor. It has an ISO dial up top, a forefinger control dial and thumb control wheel. In manual mode, you can change ISO, aperture and shutter speed without a menu. The flip screen is nice, too. I'd also like the viewfinder to be positioned like a rangefinder and be at least an EVF. The styling on the X100 is really nice, though.

 

[Streetshooter]

I'm a dreamer. Sad but true.
Have you ever looked at the world thru an M3 with a 50mm on it.
Well, it's a 1:1 view. You can use both eyes open and the viewfinder superimposes the frameline in your vision. Really cool.
So I was dreaming the X100 would do something similar.
I also dreamed the camera would have a way to set hyperfocal distance on the screen without looking thru the finder. I know... But it's a dream right. Of course, it's beyond dreams to think there would be a scale on the aperture ring for focusing...
Hmmm..... Dreams, oh my dreams....

 

[Grant]

I'm a dreamer. Sad but true.
Have you ever looked at the world thru an M3 with a 50mm on it.
Well, it's a 1:1 view. You can use both eyes open and the viewfinder superimposes the frameline in your vision.

(…)

Hmmm..... Dreams, oh my dreams....

Yes I have and it was a dream but when you had to change film on a M3 the dream changed to a nightmare

Thank dog for digital.

 

[Fiddler]

Yes I have and it was a dream but when you had to change film on a M3 the dream changed to a nightmare

Thank dog for digital.

So true!

 

[Streetshooter]

There it is.... Dream killaz.....

Am I the only one concerned about size?
It seems like a small camera. So then the VF may be small also. Fuji is famous for the small VF. Like the E900. Hmmm, maybe it's just me age....
Talk amongst yourselves.....

 

[John M Flores]

I'm not at all interested in the nostalgic look of the camera. As misshapen as it is, I'm much more intrigued by the Ricoh GXR system. But now that I've gotten the GH2, my next logical step is the GF2. Those two cameras could form the basis of a great travel assignment kit..

I will withhold judgement of the X100 hybrid VF. Who knows, it could be a game changer or a gimmick. Time will tell

 

[Streetshooter]

Interesting blog John.
I'm wondering if your related to Capt' Flores from NJ.
I organized his welcome home a while ago.

Anyway, I agree with you on waiting and seeing. I'm more hesitant now that all those images are available. One disturbing image to me is a guy holding the camera in his hand. He looks like a small statured man. His hands look small and the camera looks small in his hands. This single thing worries me.
Shooter

 

[Fiddler]

Interesting blog John.
I'm wondering if your related to Capt' Flores from NJ.
I organized his welcome home a while ago.

Anyway, I agree with you on waiting and seeing. I'm more hesitant now that all those images are available. One disturbing image to me is a guy holding the camera in his hand. He looks like a small statured man. His hands look small and the camera looks small in his hands. This single thing worries me.
Shooter

I know what you mean. I don't want any tiny cameras. I need a camera that has something to get hold of and a bit of weight.

All the best,

Colin

 

[Streetshooter]

Colin, I wouldn't minding putting some cement in the body to make some weight but my Camera Stretcher isn't working at the moment....

What bugs me is that there's a lot of hype about this camera all over the universe. I seem to be the only nutcase out there worrying about size....
I know they say size doesn't matter, it's how it works.....
nuff said!