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tzSantos
Hello Patrick! Ive been following FR for quite a while, allways collecting great info from you and other readers. Thanks for sharing all the insights and all the effort you put into it! I want to share with you my switch to fuji´s X-system you can find it here (translated version)
I moved to Fuji!!! Now What?!! life still runs….
In the last couple of years my clients and their demands have changed, so has my course deeper into the food, product and interior photography but something else, deep inside really needed an ouverhaul and that was my aproach and concept of photography.
In the last year we´ve been assisting to a war between the major brands about megapixels and ISO Performance…disregarding the users, and they´re demands. So Fuji comes up with the X100…. something new and refreshing hited the market. i started do get curious, but the single lens wasnt a fit for my comissioned jobs. Then the Xpro 1 and X-E1 came along those were my answered prayers!!
I borrowed a x100, and tok it to a job, I LOVED IT!!! it was a Judo Masterclass and several keynote presentations… totalizing a 6h reportage, I delivered mainly x100 images to my clients. and my big heavy DSLR stood in the bag most of the time.
The game was on! The lightness, inconspicuousness, high quality files, Stunning high ISO performance, packed with a fun and challenging camera, gave me the final push into the X-System cameras.
within two months i sold all my pro Nikon Gear, and bought a Fuji X-E1 + 18-55. It was a deep dive but i had the help of Antonio Homem Cardoso the portuguese X-photographer and also the Royal family personal shooter. He drove me throught the process and cleared some doubts that only users could answer.
3 days after getting my hands on the X-E1, I had a reportage job in agenda, i didnt want to make any mistake so i borrowed a D600 + 24-70, I just couldnt risk fighting with the new system while in reportage and loose the pictures that were happening in front of me. That didnt happened!! and the images were Stunning… all done with the X-E1!!
I cant say everything is now perfect and amazing, there are still a few issues and quirks but they all keep this camera charming, and it really makes me slow down and think throuh my settings and framing….. in the end…. I really found what i was missing in DSLRs… the fun and pleasure of creating images, for the pure pleasure of creating something mine and personal.
tzSantos
Fred
Dear Patrick,
I’m a long-time follower and fan of Fujirumours who has just upgraded from X100 to X100s. Like many of your contributors, I too used to pack a 12kg backpack full of a D800, 4-5 primes, flashes, blah, blah.. But in 3 years my photography hadn’t progressed. I was paralysed by choice and becoming obsessed with pixel- and lens-porn. Every time I had the urge to go and shoot, I looked at the backpack and thought, “Nah… too hard, maybe tomorrow”.
Then I saw the light and sold the lot. Sure, I lost money- lots, actually. But I’m happier and never going back to dSLR-land. I usually shoot people, not things, and never people doing sport- so the X100s is my ideal camera. I’m still on a steep learning curve, but I know my skills have improved because I’m a) now taking the camera out with me, and b) actually thinking about the shot, instead of which lens would be better for the shot.
Shooting at 35mm is perfect for what I do, but I will be buying the [shoplink 12893 ebay]WCL[/shoplink] as soon as I can afford to- Saigon has some VERY tight spaces to shoot in.
I have Tumblr blog if you think it’s suitable to share on the forum. It’s not just photos, but some writing on my life as an independent researcher in VN. I’d refer you to the Ha Tien wedding posts for the best X100s shots (last weekend was my first play with it). There is other more confronting stuff there, all shot with the X100. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts. There are some brief explanatory notes with the posts.
I’m not going to begin to review this over-reviewed camera again here (I’m so not qualified, anyways!). But here’s what I think about it compared to the X100 after week one:
AF– single shot, yes it’s much better- certainly not dSLR-quick, but more than quick enough to catch street action 95% of the time in Vietnam. The X100 had a 30% suck rate on this.
AF-cont- not tried it yet
MF– I like the peaking, but yes, red would be a better colour choice. The faux split screen thing?- Meh! it’s a gimmick.
Handling tweaks- again, improved, but still nearly deleted a whole card’s worth of images by accident- that cheap crappy plastic scroll–wheel really belongs on a $120 camera, not something worth $1300- lift your game here, Fuji.
High ISO noise? There is none in the range that normal people want to take pictures. For pixel-peeping wankers, doubtless they’ll find noise.
Image quality– This is where I think there is more than an incremental improvement. I was especially looking for improved range in the skin tones. The 14bit depth has made that difference- and it’s dramatic in my opinion.
There’s a tonal quality that comes through in the B&W conversions, too. For taking pictures of Vietnamese faces, this camera is just unbeatable. My girlfriend’s sister’s skin looks beautiful at her wedding.
In addition, kiboshing the LPF, and cranking the pixel count have both of course contributed to sharper images with more resolved detail.
I was interested to see that the SOOC jpeg (ProNegNormal- default everything), seemed a little bluer/less red than the RAW files I’d converted using the default Fujifilm X100s settings in CaptureOne.
My love affair with the X100s has just begun. I have a photoessay project to embark on over the next few weeks. I will use the X100s for this and send you a link once it’s ready.
Here’s the blog link for now.
Thank you for keeping my excitement alive for the past few months whilst I’ve been saving for the X100s upgrade. I browsed ‘rumors’ at least 5 times a day, and will continue to do so for inspiration. Keep up the wonderful work, Patrick!
best regards,
gunzzel (Fred Abery)
Fred
Brad
Here’s my blog post and pictures about trying out the X100s on a vacation. I’m not a full time professional photographer, and the pictures are your basic family vacation type shots, but they might be interesting to see for folks like me.
“Even though I was having to figure this camera out on the fly, I really enjoyed shooting with it. I loved its size (so much smaller than my DSLR rig). And I loved the pictures that were coming out of it (even those that weren’t in perfect focus). I did find that, at times, I missed not having a zoom lens […]. Honestly though, I didn’t miss lugging around extra equipment. Having just the, comparatively, small camera hanging off my shoulder was freeing. […] Fuji X100s was the perfect (for me) size camera for my family vacation.
Now the sad part. I sold the X100s right after we got home. I promised my wife I wouldn’t keep it, so I put it on Craigslist and it sold immediately. Then… I starting missing it. I picked up my Canon and the weight of it instantly reminded me of lighter days with the X100s.
Then the idea hit me that I might want to leave the DSLR world behind and go mirrorless. […] And there are some challenges with the X-Pro 1. Again, the auto focus is nothing like my DSLR. I can’t really use it for some of the things I shoot a lot–sports.
Brad
Timo
“Hello. First of all thanks for the great site! Just wanted to share my thoughts about switching from Canon to Fuji. Take a look @ http://timokoponen.blogspot.fi/2013/06/hello-world-and-switching-from-canon-to.html“
“[…] I recently sold my full frame Canon kit (5D mkII, Sigma 35mm f1.4 and 100mm f2.8 L macro) and bought some magic beans from the Fujifilm Holdings Corporation. 2 magic beans, to be exact. Fuji x-pro 1 (with Fujinon 60mm macro lens) and x100. And oh boy.. those are some fucking tasty beans (and full of magic). When it comes to image quality, they outresolve my old Canon kit in every way, color, dynamic range, high iso.. and they are small&sexy.
Small and sexy. For me, those are important things. More important than the image quality from the camera (I mean, really, I could have bought ANY camera system on the market and the IQ would have been more than sufficient for my use). I think that Fuji cameras look really […] cool, simple as that. And they are small, not as intimidating as the big dslrs are, a big chunky dslr covers the photographers face and makes him look like a some kind freaky one eyed cyborg, x100 and x-pro 1 allow me to have eye contact with the model while shooting (which is nice, people tend to response better to someone who has, you know, a human face). […]”
Timo
P.S.: You may have already seen this video, but also Samsung suggests to leave the DSLR world behind and switch to Fuji X 😉
21 Responses
Good luck getting a focus under difficult lighting. Sometimes I have to try 10 times to get my X-E1 lock focus
Dslr’s don’t always focus accurately in those situations as well. With the July firmware you can use manual focus peaking as a solution in those conditions.
I don’t buy these stories, sorry. If you were so quick to ditch your dSLR in favour of Fuji x camera than the dSLR camera wasn’t for you in the first place. I own both the D800 and X100s and use them in completely different situations, e.g. x100s lives in my travel/vacation bag alongside the D800 mounted with 24-70 f/2.8. While at home gets pulled out of the bag almost every time during street photography outings and sometimes while shooting indoors in confined spaces.
But that’s where applicability of x100s to my shooting style and range stops. I like photographing just about everything, so when out and about shooting wildlife, difficult high-dynamic range landscapes as well as rugby and motorsport, FujiFilm x-camera just doesn’t come close to performance of the D800, both during shooting and in the end result.
Again, those folk that are so fast and eager to proclaim the death of one camera format over another are usually people that first format they had, wasn’t for, anyway.
Hey mate- I totally agree with you. The D800 wasn’t for a rank amateur like me. If I also wanted to shoot phat HDR landscapes, sports, wildlife, and all manner of other subjects, i would have kept the D800 and bought more lenses. But I don’t, and I couldn’t justify keeping $6,000 worth of gear in a backpack in my wardrobe. I’d rather spend the (massively reduced) sale proceeds of same on travel to places where I like to take pics of people.
BTW, I would never proclaim the death of one format over another (as Zach Arias has- somewhat tongue-in-cheek I bet- just to bait you guys- c’mon, the guy shoots with a PhaseOne for a living ) – they all serve a purpose- just mine is well-served at the moment by the X100s.
Also, my private research in VN dictates that I don’t draw attention to myself whilst interviewing and photographing people. That fat-ass D800 was like a cop magnet here. And for me that’s another advantage of the X100s that can’t be trumped by another cam, except maybe the $3500AU RX1, which I also can’t afford. Enjoy the best of both worlds, I say.
Cheers, Fred
Yeah, the DSLR wasn’t for him for sure. Add what was it? That is precisely the point – there wasn’t anything there as an alternative.
That sir, is a moral outrage and a slander. How dare you point out that ginormous elephant stood in the corner of the room!
I’m tired of these stupid stories – editor please stop printing them ; it’s not what we read Fuji rumours for – we want to know what’s happening in Fuji world – we know how good the cameras are or we wouldn’t be viewing this site.
Hi. Today nothing happend in the Fuji world, so I thought to post some blogs of FR-readers. You can read their stories and stop by their blog or ignore this post. best
So, as Patrick said, just ignore ’em. Easy. Just wait with bated breath for the latest Fuji-approved marketing leaks. Go nuts.
James, you’re not the only visitor of this website. I find these reports interesting and allow me to find more photography focused blogs and learn about places I haven’t heard about before or wouldn’t consider visiting. Thank you admin for your work and thank you all contributors for sharing your experiences.
That is precisely what happened in Fuji world today – guys used Fuji cameras to take photos. As Hexx very correctly pointed out, there are other readers here.
I enjoy hearing other people’s experiences. That they don’t match one’s own needs doesn’t make them “stupid.” And in order to get a certain image quality and experience, there really wasn’t much of an alternative to DSLRs in the recent past. There is now, and people like to talk about their personal experiences, and others like to listen. If you need both formats, and care to share why you need both formats, you certainly can. Or not. But perhaps one should simply move past the post rather than unnecessarily belittling others for their perspectives.
It’s not impossible for people to change or smarten up or simply try a different approach. After all, sites like http://www.alesserphotographer.com do have avid followers, one may also call them “converts”. It’s not uncommon for people to feel stuck with the status quo, a fresh start can be quite liberating.
So yes, I get these stories from people who are losing interest in schlepping heavy and expensive gear, or—even worse—NOT schlepping it but leaving it at home most of the time. Personally, I sold all of my SLR stuff over a decade ago. The buyer had great trouble fitting all of it in his car.
Good luck on your af dude.
Fuji made my hobby possible in between my normal life, and I love it for that. It does not, and will never substitute my other cameras, but it opened new opportunities to make pictures.
But anyway, great stories. I started following Fuji Rumors because of very good inspirational travel pictures, after getting the X100s to compliment my range of cameras.
These discussions are quite close to my regular struggle when i choose what bag I am going to carry. As I shoot medium format film, rarely 35mm, my main camera system is canon 5DII with some specific lenses for portraiture. I got the x100s as a “carry on” system that I can easily fit in the suit’s pocket or laptop bag when i am working, allowing me taking shots in between.
Besides that I have been living like a nomad between places, so gear is like an anchor for me.
I personally think that the best camera system is the one you carry with you: be it an LF Horseman, MF mamiya, digital SLR, the little fuji, or the phone (I hate phones). In the end of the day the prize goes for the picture and not the tool you used to take it. There are days for film, days for f/1.2 portraiture, days for TS-lenses…adapting is the key, better, knowing what you want to shoot and how, then, choose your toys.
I have clear statistics about how many shots I took each year, and before Fuji I used to take 3000 frames with my Canon stuff, per year, about 5 shoots total. In contrast, after getting the Fuji I already shot 1000 frames last two and half months and it was one of the most busiest months of my year with conferences and similar! Happy!
I hope they make more good things but with optical AF…the contrast detection drains too much power…anyway, for me having more than 10 frames per roll is a win. 🙂
I hate phones too!
This is a great site, with loads of good, credible information…but it just gets tiresome to keep hearing that folks have put their slr in the bin for a fuji, when they are incomparable pieces of equipment and it starts to feel a bit ‘fake’…like propaganda and marketing bollocks…keep up the good work tho…
It’d be tiring if you were actually forced to listen to any of it. Surprisingly though, you can simply skip the written article. Seems to me, you are inflicting it to yourself.
I invite you to look at other switching posts like this, where I’ve posted stories of people who told that they won’t leave the DSLR world behind. But fact is that most of the people who write me are really happy and genuinely enthusiastic about the X-series… and I’m happy to share their enthusiasm.
So, please don’t mix up enthusiasm with propaganda. You’ll continue to read rumors, news, deals and reviews here. And I’ll post everything, from Zack Arias who says that the X100S is a perfect camera to Patrick La Roque who says he wouldn’t buy the X-M1.
Or wouldn’t you agree that shots like this of FR-reader Sabino (who travelled through Morocco with his X-E1) aren’t worth to be published also on Fujirumors (and I’ll do it sooner or later)? FR is a small community, let’s share our passion once a week, and not “just” pixel peeping, comparisons, deals and rumors. Of course you are free not to like this column, there is nothing bad in it. But it’s so easy, scroll down to the next post (now finally you can use the arrow keys on your computer).
I hope this helped to make clear that it’s not about propaganda and marketing. It’s just about photographers who take images with their X-camera and share their thoughts.
cheers
Mate,
from me it’s just an genuine opinion, not ‘fake’ or propaganda. I aint Zach- no one gives me free trips with Fuji cameras, nor are they ever likely to. And I’m am still not 100% happy with the X100s- it’s not a perfect camera. But it’s a better fit than the D800 was.
And ditching the Nikon did free up ready cash…
In essence it isn’t about dslr vs fuji X. It is about the portability and form factor. Some people shouted that medium format was dead, when the d800 was introduced. It is of course a different tool for a different job. But my opinion is that the current slr form factor is coming to an end. They are too large and technology is becoming more advanced. Just compare laptops of 10 years ago with the iPad/MacBook (air). 12 hours battery life, superb performance and ultra portability. The current dslr form factor has been around since the 80’s. there hasn’t been any great advancement in design. Mirrorless cameras are now the great innovation in design. The Sony rx1 and m9 are the future with compact design and FF sensors. Imagine a Nikon d3s the size of an Olympus omd. Canikon are too afraid to introduce real innovation and are only halfheartedly experimenting with cameras like the Nikon v1 and eos M / eos 100d. Fuji/ sony are the first to introduce compact aps-c interchangable camera rivaling dslr’s for pro work. canikon should build a camera like the 5d / d800 but in a body the size of mirror less camera’s. The same goes for the lenses. The xf lenses are excellent but way smaller then the dslr equivalents!
Some interesting thoughts there. It took me a long time to trust swapping from a Mac Pro Tower to an iMac, even when on paper there were almost identical in performance. I’d always associated the tower and its (unused) expandability with professional creative and the iMac with office work. However, the odd thing is, I had no problem accepting that a Black Magic Cinema Camera was just as capable as a huge video rig. I use a D800 and an Xpro1 as both have their own unique facets, but hadn’t really thought about the fact that the D800 could easily be the same size as the Fuji. That would be just about perfect for me.