Seriously

Is this guy for real.......?

Quote, " Aperture rings" & "Easy to change you shutters". This guy shouldn't be selling the X100, a photographer should!

Come on Fuji.

Great camera

Great camera, but this dude...

He sounds like Ali G. Indeed not the best choice to represent a company like Fuji.

Serious :)

Why do you think this camera is for serious photographers anyway. Look at this from the spec sheet:

"Shutter sound select"! :)

Also this is not a rangefinder. The viewfinder is for framing only. there is no double image and manual focus as in rangefinders. Many people seem to miss that

An urban tool

It's not meant to be a rangefinder. It's more like the AF Hexar which was a gem of a camera. This camera shows all the signs of being a brilliant urban shooter's photo making machine. I'm impatient to get mine.

That dude from Fuji presenting the camera sounds like he's had a few drinks. Very clumsy.
http://thex100files.com

DoF

Why the h... would you shoot this with that arty-farty zero depth-of-field look?

The camera is very cool, though. Can’t wait for the one with interchangeable lenses - you know Fuji’s already working on it.

the wideboy angle

This man was winging it - rambling - he just learns the buzzwords and gets paid. The presentation was very embarrassing to watch, although he doesn't care.

This one is low hanging fruit, he wants to really get involved with this success story; it's going to sell even if he uses his armpit as a presentation case.

Oh and don't forget to get your pre-orders on, because, you know, the world is going to end. Innit tho.

bridges

All these machines are bridges to a future better model, so why actually BUY one?
We have already noticed that the Olympus had no viewfinder- make a list of those that have no viewfinder (task).

We have additionally remarked on machines that say they are 21MP yet smooth all detail from low contrast areas of the image (Canon 5D Mk II) to ensure you are dissatisfied as soon as you buy it (task: make your own list- it is quite long)

And then there is the new-fangled choice of video without ANY noise reduction, and without any lens correction for distortion and chromatic aberration (question: is this why Canon aint at Focus on Imaging? Yes, of course, they have gone to Focus on Profit!

So now we have a useless machine with no decent rangefinder- which it could have- posing as an M2 Leica, which at the hugely disproportionate price charged- £1000, ladies and gentlemen, would by you a real M2 with, well, an Ultron-quite good enough.

But, I hear a faint antichrist, antiluddite cry at the back of the hall- it makes good coffee, and the image quality IS good.

Well doubters and defectors from Truth and the Right Path, your religion may admit to using every new toy available, weakening the £ and boosting the yen instead, but even an M3 from 1954 has a better viewfinder, infinite lens interchangeability, and you can put a meter on top of it too, and the image quality IS infinitely better as with every film camera the photograph you bought it for can be infinitely enlarged without becoming a series of squares.......

I am waiting, like every photographer is for when Fuji make that sensor at full-frame size and put it in a genuine Leica or Contax copy that rocks (and trees)

I am waiting for when I can go into a shop and pay for a DSLR or even an EVIL body (my Religion- I am a Sony R1 disciple) pause-

that has a 12 stop dynamic range and inside it a 16MP sensor that gives a 16MP resolution without interpolation.

As this is something we could have been using already for some years, new models from anyone are rather begging the question

How much??

As a pro-photographer who also enjoys retro, I certainly won't be buying one not at that price anyway!

Back to Oxbridge, Boys

All the snotty comments about the "Ali G" marketing rep compelled me to watch the video, expecting a good laugh. But then I discovered that while this marketer might not have gone to Oxbridge with all the 'intellectuals' making fun of him, there was no question that while he might not be the most well spoken fellow in the world, he - and every viewer - knew precisely what he was talking about. So give it a rest, Little Lord Fauntleroys.

As to the camera - no, it is not a traditional 'rangefinder' - any more than the Hexar was, or the Contax G2 is. If you want a traditional rangefinder, go trade your first born for a Leica M9, and then sell your second born to buy a single lens for it at today's prices.

But if you want a digital camera that will allow you view the world through the plate glass window of a traditional rangefinder, this may be it. Or maybe not.

And as for waiting for Fuji to produce a similar camera with interchangable lenses, a 35 mm size sensor, etc., dream on.

Get a Life!

Do all you guys who have criticised him think you would do any better than this gentleman. I doubt it. Just go take some pics and give the rest of us a break.

It's sold out

There is a shortage in Japan due to higher than expected demand.

First impressions

I saw the camera at Focus and I don't think that the demonstrators had necessarily been able to get acquainted with it, they were showing the first four production models that they had received and it's a very different camera to any other Fuji cameras that they had been accustomed to selling. I too encountered the mysterious 'aperture ring' which in fact is the attachment required to fit a lens hood or filter.

For me the camera lived up to expectations and the sample images I have downloaded have been very good. It's not meant to be an M9, that after all would cost £7000 with a 35mm. Summicron, and to make it take interchangeable lenses would be a compromise because the viewfinder is tailored for that focal length, and was incidentally very clear. Again, it's not a rangefinder but it is AF and you can pre-focus on manual with a distance bar in the display. A true comparison would perhaps be with an Olympus 35SP or any number of other 'compact' film cameras from the sixties and seventies with quality fixed lenses. Fuji may well be tempted to design an M9 competitor but I for one would prefer an X100 variant with a fixed 50mm. equivalent lens to complement this one, then maybe a 28mm. ......

Exit 100?

There is no comparison with an Oly 35S
or other much cheaper fixed lens rangefinders, or a Leica, and whoever said that a Contax G series is not a rangefinder camera, and that neither was the Konica Hexar is quite wrong. They are perfectly traditional longe base (Contax better than Leica M) rangefinder machines with metering.

The difference is speed. One of these sees what is in front of it as sharp all the time, and to make your picture sharp all you need do is bring the rangefinder image in to coincide with the central portion of the picture.

So that you control it from the word go, and do not have to wait until the electronics make the entire fuzzy image (which you cant see is any good anyway, sharp).

Dont worry in a year or two the chinese will be producing Full-frame rangefinder Digital machines: they are cheaper to make and easier to build, and work better, longer because there is less to go wrong.

Olympus Canon Konica and others all produced excellent film machines that you could use if you could not afford a Leica, and they will do so again once we have all gone through our global -digital- small- irresponsible- children- with- the latest- toys stage and actually begin to prosecute manufacturers who claim they are producing 16 or 21 or 24MP imagers when they are using interpolation.

As things are now it is lemmings over the cliff time still.

You can pay £1000 plus for a lens that costs ten times what its film version did.
Is this why you need anti-shake?

That Giorgianis dude...

Let's not be too unfair to Mr Giorgianis. He's a businessman and probably not the best choice to talk photography to photographers... maybe the 'Fuji Guys' were on a break or something.

As to those who seek to diss the camera before they've used it, or make out that those who have X100s on pre-order (like yours truly) are somehow victims of hype or greed or something... let me say this: I've been waiting for a camera like this for years. I know there will be niggles and I know that individual sensibilities will not all be addressed, but look at this thing, it's a bona fide landmark. It's a sensible yet cool camera with all the functions that a pro needs, with none of the face recognition, can-I-help-you-make-a-cup-of-tea nonsense that even Leica have gone for with their digital cameras.

A 35mm equivalent lens works for me. I don't want to be lugging around bags of heavy L series lenses anymore. Those days are over for me and I just know this camera will give me back my love for photography at is most atavistic level. The look, the feel, the quality of the images I have seen have all sold it to me. I don't care if a new version appears in six months time. This is destined to be a classic.

Buy one. You all know you want to.

X100 @ Focus

I was Focus last Monday and the X100 was on my 'must see' list right after the Pentax stand.
I'm not a pro-photographer, by a long shot but I love what I do as a hobby. The only problem is that DSLRs look pretty much the same and compacts (I have had an LX3 & now use a G12) don't have decent viewfinders. This X100 stands out, it looks like its dropped in from the 60's or 70's and I love it.
I found the hybrid viewfinder a joy to use, even when wearing glasses. It wasn't too light nor heavy but felt just right in the hand.
If I hadn't just been made redundant then this camera would replace the G12 in a flash!
OK, there will probably be problems with it in one form or the other and, obviously, it won't be everyone's cup of tea but I'm going to see if I can stick my wife on ebay and buy this little beauty.

Comparing like-for-like

This camera makes no bones about using 'retro-styling' but is still a digital camera. The Leica M2s out there are showing signs of very heavy use and, unless you pay a fortune, the same applies to a lot of M3s - especially th double strokers.
The retro looks and paucity of bottons are intended as a selling point but belie the fact that when the battery goes, the camera is simply useless. The price is on the steep side for what it is: similar compacts can be had from the big names for £399. You can pick up a Leica M6 for less than £1000 and it will last you a lifetime. Why bother with this?

I love naysayers! They keep me laughing!

I got my X100 two days ago and I have to tell all you 'why would you buy this?' merchants you are just plain bang wrong. It is absolutely fantastic and produces images that are truly excellent. It is beautifully weighted, the perfect size for pocketing and has design classic written all over it. The High IS0 performance knocks my digital Leica into a cocked hat and you can flash sync at 1000th sec (try that on any digital camera outside MF). The Hybrid viewfinder is something that I absolutely know will be copied if it hasn't already, it is excellent.

There are things that I think will need to be improved in time, the manual focussing is a bit clumsy and lacks 'touch' and the command reel is really cheap plastic but other than that it is absolutely on the money. If you are a professional this is just what the doctor ordered for quick pocketable quality.

I shoot mainly MF but do use DSLR's and in my spare time rangefinders, this little gem is now in my pocket for fun.

So those that feel too superior to sully their hands with the latest technology carry on as it just means the queue gets shooter for those that appreciate something that something doesn't have to have a long heritage to be good.

As for that Fuji guy, well in a way it's quite refreshing as I can never imagine the stuff shirts at Leica or Nikon ever letting a buffoon of that calibre do their presentation. Kind of reassuringly naive in my book!

Shallow DoF Video - Pah

This is a great illustration of the pointlessness of shallow DoF video when not used in a controlled studio environment. Extremely distracting and poorly shot. Please leave it to the professionals. Just because it's flavour of the year doesn't mean you have to follow the other sheep and produce substandard footage.

First Impression revised

There's a lot of nonsense written on the internet and having looked again at the video clip I see that I have added to it in my comment above. Mr. Georgianis was correctly referring to the aperture setting ring and not the accessory for attaching the filter or lens hood. In fact everything he says is completely accurate, right down to the shortage of supplies as far as I can see.

It's great to be able to set the aperture and shutter speed manually, but I wish that could have been extended to the focussing distance as well. The distance bar can be used but I've read elsewhere that it's not particularly easy to use for that purpose.

An Epson RD-1 with a decent-sized sensor would have done me but, barring the M9, this camera is out on its own and Fuji should be congratulated for producing it.

fuji/leica

yes I am the first customer in France for this wonderful device!
is mine I have just been delivered! (Ordered on the internet) and I can share my impressions =
Wawh-how fast! it looks like a Leica M .... It comes in a stylish package as the Leica x1-an impression of solidity, of boutons/bagues- al'ancienne, which remain in place (not like the x1) reactivity astonishing, immediate display, and a bright viewfinder specific (hybrid viewfinder is stunningly beautiful and it automatically!) - Picture perfect (as x1 that I had and sold quickly due to its deplorable slowness and lack of viewfinder) -
a quibble = button back end of the pad is too small and poorly easy to use-it lacks any zoom! a little big to fit in your pocket
the price is also quite high = 1200 € approximately (- x1 expensive than all the same)
In summary a great camera, a success, a large number who will make history!
Finally I have a poket high quality!
FUJI thank you!

http://flic.kr/ps/uevTA