vision: Fujifilm X100 Impressions - Updated
My original X100 Fujifilm X100 Impressions - A Short Review post from october 2011 is now three months old, and it's time for an update. In these last months I used the X100 quite a lot as my main camera, and often in low light situations. This piece follows the structure of the original review (so you can easily see what has changed), and adds a new section called Workflow near the end.
While I love the size of the X100 (compact, but not too small) there were moments where my right hand was looking for grip, and I ended up with nice blurry images of my middle finger in the shots over a period of several days. Grip on the X100 is not ideal (but better when using two hands to hold it), and I think this is mostly due to the busy back of the camera where there's hardly any space for the thumb to rest. I'm quite sure that the Thumbs-Up add-on for the X100 will fix the grip problem, as it did for my M8, but still haven't ordered one.
The X100 weight turned out to be very nice. I can carry the camera for many hours and hardly notice it. Ideally it could have been a little heavier to add stability while shooting. But I'm happy with the way it is now.
The EV dial indeed turned out to be unreliable and it is most likely changed when taking the camera out of the bag or pocket. I always check it.
I really like the X100 dials and use the aperture-, shutter time- and EV dials all the time. The X100 is the only camera I own with an EV dial, haven't had that since my old Canon G10 compact. Excellent. The focus ring also gets some use, but not as much as I would like because it's not easy to operate.
Now the buttons are another story. Especially the menu button and menu ring are hard to operate with my large fingers. I cannot seem to get used to them and always need several tries when browsing the menus to change tabs for example. The good thing is that I hardly need the menu when shooting, and I have the four surrounding buttons (drive, flash, etc) locked.
The AF/MF three-way switch on the left side of the camera is a constant pain. This must be the flimsiest switch I've ever seen on a camera, and the problem is that I need it while shooting. It feels like real work to change from AF to MF.
The other buttons on the back are fine. These are relatively large and have good tactile feedback. No complaints there.
I stopped using the EVF altogether simply because the OVF is such a joy, even in low light conditions. The parallax correction feature added in the v1.1 OS update fixed the biggest OVF problem for me in close focus situations, so I only go to EVF when I have to, which is almost never. I have auto-review disabled to prevent the camera switching to EVF after every picture I've taken. This gives me a workflow close to what I get from my Leica, looking through glass without interruptions but with a ton of extra info projected on top of the OVF image. Perfect.
The X100 shutter's behavior was one of the bigger challenges for me, and in my opinion this is what makes the camera relatively hard to use, especially for beginners. On the other hand, the near silent behavior of the leaf shutter is a blessing for my street work. Even when people see me take their shot (because of my trigger finger moving) the impression seems to be that a camera this silent simply cannot be taken seriously. In many cases though my subjects never even realize that I already took the shot.
I've been shooting mostly in the evenings these last three months with the lens at f2 or f2.8 and shutter times almost never faster than 1/128. In more or less constant exposure conditions like these the X100 works great as there's no need to switch the ND filter on or off all the time.
However, when shooting at day time and quickly switching from shadowy- to fully lit sunny scenes with the lens (nearly) open, you'll find the shutter time shown in red indicating it hit the max 1/1000 (at f2). Your options then are to either close the aperture enough to allow the leaf shutter to travel the smaller lens opening fast enough, or to deploy the built-in ND filter to reduce the amount of incoming light. Whatever you do, it is a hassle and pulls you away from your workflow.
See the updated In Use section and the new Workflow section below for my current approach.
In terms of the amount of blur used in a shot, for my current work I prefer shots with a subtle amount of background blur, or none at all. The 23mm lens at f2 or f2.8 nicely fits that pattern since it hardly produces any blur unless the subject is close focussed. I would have liked just a tad more of the good stuff though, in case I need it. Would be interesting to see what a 35mm (aprox. 50mm effective) lens would do on this sensor in a future model.
Autofocus on the X100 is simply weak. Both in terms of speed (especially in low light), but also in terms of locking (the AF logic is looking for verticals). I understand AF has already been improved on Fuji's X10 compact, but we're talking different hardware here with possible higher read speeds from the sensor. I don't think the X100 AF will improve dramatically in future OS updates but I'd love to be wrong here.
The alternative manual focus mode will scare away most newcomers due to the dodgy focus ring behavior. However, using the AFL/AEL button to do an AF and changing the focus only in small steps using the ring is quite doable. But it takes time to learn and it feels rather unstable.
The focus behavior of this camera would be the first reason for me to sell it, and it was a big frustration when I got it. Of course it doesn't help at all to shoot in low light situations where the AF behavior more or less collapses. Now that I've learned to use it just as a Leica M for static subjects (but even with less control) the frustration went and I'm happy with what it is.
For the night shots I'm at 3200 ISO almost all of the time, and it's just fine. Yes there is noise, but it can be easily fixed in LightRoom at the cost of some detail. For my (gritty) kind of work I'm totally happy with the quality at 3200, but for your work it may be too noisy.
The X100 is the first camera that allows me to shoot at night in urban settings (street lights, shop windows, etc). It's not super relaxed, but it works. The M8 for night work is totally out of the question and the GF1 and even GH2 are simply not as good at high ISO. Let's hope the X100 followup will have an f1.4 lens to give me that one extra stop I'm looking for.
I've gotten much more used to the camera since my previous review, and feel relaxed now in almost any situation. The things that I learned in these months are:
Autofocus in both AF and MF modes is what it is, slow and not very reliable. Accept that this camera is for static subjects. Work around the problem or get/use another camera.
The aperture-vs-max-shutter-speed relationship finally reached my muscle memory, so to speak. When hitting the max speed limit and I'm in a hurry to get that shot, I quickly dial down the aperture to f4 or f8. Much faster than switching the ND filter, even when it is programmed via the Fn button.
I have learned to trust auto ISO and have the camera given control over ISO range up to ISO 3200. I no longer worry over ISO.
This new section describes the way I currently use the X100 for my photography. I'll touch on the most important camera settings, and tell you why I got there.
Optical viewfinder forever.
I'm on the OVF all the time now, even in low light situations. Auto-review of the shot just taken disabled. No interruptions (except for ND switching).
Auto ISO mode is enabled for 3200 ISO max, and a minimal shutter time of 1/60.
Going for auto ISO allows me to forget about it while shooting. It also frees up that single Fn button for the ND filter. I never dive the menus to change ISO or auto ISO while shooting.
My default ISO value is 200 as set in the menu under 'ISO'.
Yes, even with Auto ISO enabled, the camera will still check this value and will never select a lower value than given here! So if for some reason you want to force the auto ISO logic to use high ISOs, crank up the default ISO. I'm going for the lowest possible to get the best image quality and lowest shutter times under sunny conditions.
Dynamic range set at DR100.
The other DR settings (including Auto) will crank up the minimal ISO value, similar to what the normal ISO setting does with auto ISO enabled. So you gain dynamics, but give up on image quality. Now this is the X100 and it does extremely well at say ISO 800. But still, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible.
AF-S and Aperture Priority mode.
I mostly use AF-S focus mode and Aperture Priority mode (shutter time dial in A, aperture dial set to f-number you want).
Manual focus mode with prefocus.
When using Manual focus mode, I prefocus with the AFL/AEL button (watching the distance scale on screen), fine tune with the focus dial if needed, and wait for my subjects to hit my pre-set focal plane. I learned that technique with the Leica, and it works fine on the X100. Normally you'd set the aperture to something small like f8 if light allows. At night though I go wide open.
Minimal shutter time with dial.
When the slowest 1/60 shutter time set for auto ISO is too slow for me, I simply use the shutter time dial and move it from A to whatever I need (e.g. 1/128). Auto ISO will compensate for the lost light and pick a suitable higher ISO value. Love those dials.
Negative EV correction for night shots.
The camera will always try to fill the sensor with enough light to make it look like a nicely balanced day time shot. At night, however, that light is not readily available and the result is long exposure times. On top of that, you end up with a shot that doesn't look like night time at all. So I go for negative EV corrections to fix both problems. You pay for that in image quality of course.
I shoot raw only, and Image Quality is set to RAW.
I used to work with Raw+Jpg, but it's just too much hassle to deal with the duplicates in post.
I shoot B&W, and Film Simulation is set to a tweaked B&W mode.
This is only useful when shooting through the EVF of via LCD because these show the world in black and white (or whatever film mode you picked). The OVF glass will of course give you the real colors. And the resulting raw picture is always in color as well. (The preview image embedded in the raw picture is in black and white though.)
Programmable Fn button set to ND filter.
Since ISO is no longer a problem for me, I can concentrate on the switching of the ND filter in situations with extreme contrasts. I wish a press of the Fn knob would simply toggle the ND filter from on to off and vice versa, without popping up any graphics on screen. And because I'm on the OVF all the time, the camera forces me to use the LCD to make the switch. Arghhh.
Menu locked.
To prevent accidental switching to macro mode, flash mode, etc. while shooting I have the menu buttons locked. Hold down the central menu button for a few seconds to toggle menu locking on/off.
Silent mode enabled.
I have Silent mode enabled, which turns off the fake shutter sound, the button click sounds, flash mode and the focus assist lamp. Hold down the Disp/Back button for a few seconds to toggle Silent mode.
I really like this camera now, and it will probably become a classic. I have learned to use it and learned to love it.
