Fuji X100 Update and image samples!

February 9, 2011 Fuji, News 119

Well it appears Fuji has been full steam ahead with the X100. A few bloggers have managed to get their hands on a  pre-production sample and so far everything I have heard has been positive (except for those who are disappointed with Fujis sample images). It has been said that the build quality is exceptional and it feels like a classic camera. Fuji has updated their X100 website with a cool promo video as well as some images from the X100. You can see the video right on their main page, and you can see the sample still images HERE. I took a look at the samples provided by Fuji and I have to say that I never understand when a camera company posts drab photos to showcase their cameras. Fuji seems to have done this but I downloaded a few full res files and did a few photoshop tweaks and they looked remarkable. Sure, the sample photos are kind of boring but I am guessing the quality will be there once this camera gets into the hands of a more capable photographer. It seems that it is always the case. For example, we all know DPREVIEW. Every time I look at their sample photos I think “Oh no! This camera sucks!” But when I shoot the camera I realize the quality is there, it just has to be coaxed out 🙂

Still, I’m not going to get terribly excited until I have a full production camera in my hands, which should be by mid march (I am trying to get one sooner). One thing I do know is that Fuji is doing almost everything right with this one in terms of marketing. From the design to the copycat Leica X1 naming (X100, hmm..must be better than an X1) to the website and viral ad campaign they have created. Lots of pressure on this one for Fuji and I am really hoping that they get it right because after all of this hype the X100 HAS to be a great camera. I’m thinking it will be and could possibly be the hottest camera of the year sales wise.

Fuji is bringing back the old school design, feel and operation of the classic cameras to digital for under $1200. THIS IS GOOD 🙂 I expect Nikon and Canon to follow. I KNOW Canon has a trick or two up their sleeve but I am a fan of Fuji cameras so if the X100 has it, I will be ALL OVER IT. Yes, she will be mine 🙂

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119 Comments

  1. hey guys,
    just got the X100, love it and will be posting stuff soon.BUT, what´s the way to open the RAF files? ACR doesn´t do it, LR can´t recognize anything, DNG converter does nothing, silkypix does try to convert but ends up doing a very funny assortment of colours and patterns.
    so i can´t see any raw file or dngs in ACR.
    any ideas?

  2. I own a Nikon D90 and a whole lotta lenses, from 11 to 200mm, from f1.4 to 5.6… and they’re all trembling about runnin’ out of business because of my just pre-ordered x100.
    I don´t care if it´s not M9ish in terms of IQ. I even don´t care if it’s not D90ish in terms of IQ. It’s small, it’s lightweight yet sturdy, its gorgeous, it’s APS-C, it has a bright OVF, manual controls… I’ll have it with me even in the toilette.
    Yesterday I was walkin’ around with my kids, they were doing all kind of cute things, and I had to “document” them with my crummy iPhone4 camera. And I didn’t miss my D90. I was eager for my x100. Can’t wait!!!

    • The only thing that is missing with their review are samples of high ISO shots but otherwise it looks pretty good to me and has better samples of what it can do. Though I’m not saying they took better photos.

  4. The Leica X1 is the first compact camera on the Getty’s approved cameras list, I wonder if the X100 will make it.

    Barrie

  5. Better pics. Nice. But still not that sharp. Is it my imagination or is there an almost very sharp point in some pics (original sample images and those above) but the rest very unsharp? Even with a lens wide open surely more should be sharp. And on the ones at f5.6 surely more sharp than that. It reminds me of an annoying kit zoom lens that came with my first Canon EOS – that was just a bit too soft and never quite sharp. It keeps making me clean my glasses to make them sharper. But they aren’t. Any more anywhere?

    Yes I am also getting fed up. I keep checking back on the internet every few days to see if there is any more news, a review, more images. Over a week now – and it seems like a long wait till mid March. Am getting to the point also, Greg, of wanting to forget the whole thing. However good Fuji’s marketing is, they’ve just dragged it out a bit too long.

    Feeling glum. Is there a camera that would make me happy these days? If I could afford it I would just get the X1. But, really can’t warrant it, even with selling things – family commitments.

    I guess I’m still waiting – for my first digital camera! (I’ve used them – just not bought one yet!). Been in the wilderness for years now! Sold most of Contax stuff. Anyone want to buy a Contax S2 with 28mm and 135mm lenses? It was my Leica M6 compromise! Same weight, totally manual and mechanical – a dream of a camera – oh I’m going to cry!

    • Elaine, If you have a Contax S2 and lenses, no need to feel glum. That’s a fine camera, Get some film in it and take some beautiful photos. I’m still happily using a Contax Aria and a T2 compact that I used to backpack all around asia with, and these cameras beat the pants off my digital cameras!

    • Agreed, Elaine!

      The images are soft and that’s a fact. Sure, you can sharpen the hell out of them in PP but they won’t look natural. Resolution has to be there in the first place.

      Look, we’ve been discussing this for how long now, a week already? I’m sure Fuji people read this thread, as well as all similar discussions of their hot new product. They ain’t foolish. That makes me think… why wouldn’t they, in a week’s time, surprise everyone and produce much better images to stop all this talk once and for all?

      A week is a lot of time. President Obama’s official photographer, Pete Souza, makes about 20,000 pictures of the President each and every week. Well, that could be a nice subject of a separate discussion but not here and not now. What I’m trying to say is that one could make a hell of a lot of perfect sample shots within a week. All it takes is to set up a competent photographer with all the necessary props and lighting and models in a studio and show the world already what this amazing little camera is capable of! Why wouldn’t they?..

      Fuji is planning to ship the X100 in just a few weeks from now, which means that the development and any fine tuning stage is way over. It’s supposed to be full swing in production right now. And that means it’s in its final shape as we speak. Unless, of course, Fuji is going to stand everyone up and delay production and shipment due to unresolved technical issues. That would be a shame…

      I saw the video of a guy at CNET actually receiving a what looks like shelf-ready product some few days ago. Why wasn’t it followed by some nice sample pics? I’m sure they have such capabilities at CNET. Besides, a while ago the guys at dpReview actually reviewed and took pictures with X100 that they had to pull off their site due to Fuji’s restriction. And those images are still off the site, even though Fuji themselves have their sample pix published. Draw your own conclusion.

      We are dealing here with an unfinished product or with an incapable product. In both cases, I’m not interested any further. If they manage to deliver or improve their offering up to the expected standard, then I’ll resume my interest. Until then, sayonara, Fuji! My better part and I will go out and shoot Leica X1, cursing its shortcomings but enjoying its great picture quality in the end. So long, Fuji, and please take a closer look at Apple; you may actually learn something.

      If I am all wrong in my assumptions here, that’s OK by me. I don’t mind being a fool in front of everybody with a nice little gem of a camera in my hand.

      我々は、再び富士を満たすよ

      Greg Shanta

  9. They just aren’t sharp enough. I think shock and denial are making us hope that it will deliver what we want.But despite the pics being nothing special, they don’t have that look and sharpness. I’m looking for something as good as my old Contax G1 with 28mm lens and Velvia.

  10. I’ve been following this camera with some excitement hoping to replace my DSLR. I’m underwhelmed by those black and white pics, but I guess that should be expected with digital. Still intrigued by this camera though and will wait for the early adopter set to weigh in.

  11. Steve when you get your hands on this go for a full-force X100 vs. X1 shootout in the wild west (since you’re out there you could take a trip to tombstone or something for some playful reading). EVERYONE would be reading. Do you still have your X1 though? And also- be sure to compare fair- get a viewfinder for the X1 (even the voigtländer is great) so that the Desert sun doesn’t tip the scales of the contest.

  13. Pretty strange with the Leica/x100 comparison. Why are people comparing with a Leica?

    I mean the picture quality from the Olympus Pen is at the level of the Leica M8 (unless you pixel peep) and the image quality from the M9 is nothing special compared to other (non-rangefinder) full frame cameras.

    I expect the x100 image quality to be a whole lot better than that from the Leica M8 and will not buy it unless it is.

    Strange to compare the M9 with x100. M9 is such a boring camera in my opinion. Not very ergonomical and a down right lousy monitor and no auto focus. Also pictures from the Leica M9 have pretty bad colors unless post processed. And it is at least 5-10 times as expensive as the Fuji x100.

    Of course a skilled photographer can take wonderful photos with an M9, but don’t forget that he/she could do that with any camera.

  15. What do you guys think about the upcoming Fuji GF670W? To me, it looks even more interesting than the X100.

    • I think that this machine loaded with Fuji Velvia 50 would rule. Problem is I would need a second one loaded with TRI-X.

  16. Pretty strange with the Leica/x100 comparison. Why are people comparing with a Leica?

    I mean the picture quality from the Olympus Pen is at the level of the Leica M8 (unless you pixel peep) and the image quality from the M9 is nothing special compared to other (non-rangefinder) full frame cameras.

    I expect the x100 image quality to be a whole lot better than that from the Leica M8 and will not buy it unless it is.

    Strange to compare the M9 with x100. M9 is such a boring camera in my opinion. Not very ergonomical and a down right lousy monitor and no auto focus. Also pictures from the Leica M9 have pretty bad colors unless post processed. And it is at least 5-10 times as expensive as the Fuji x100.

    Of course a skilled photographer can take wonderful photos with an M9, but don’t forget that he/she could do that with any camera.

    • Exaggerations my friend. Bigger sensor wins over smaller one. M9 at low ISO is certainly better in same sensor competition (thinner AA, better lenses esp. wides). Past 1200ISO is no match for D3. Autofocus is for 200/2 lenses. I agree on one thing. How on earth such highly praised and priced machine has so lousy monitor! It´s mandatory now and then to be able zoom up to check sharpness. Shame on you Leica. I hope you won`t charge 1000$ more for better display (900.000 please) in M10.

      • Stanis, I think there’s a reason for that. Dig deeper. M9’s monitor sucks, true, but I (partly being in denial about it) see it as a blessing. It so sucks that I try not to look at it at all (except for some settings, for which it’s OK). So, this whole situation turns my experience into film-like shooting. That is actually good, thank you, Leica! I think they’ve done that on purpose, out of concern for us poor chimping junkies. I’m sure they’ll charge $1000 more for M10 but there will be no monitor at all, an obvious improvement.

        Cheers,
        Greg

        • Well Greg, going that way I once proposed a MD Leica but a digital version. You perhaps know film MD models. Just a shutter box with M-mount. Leica would save costly rangefinder thus making a cheaper second body for M9. In that case I could live without monitor especially if the box would be shell and dustproof. Oh and a carbonlight Visoflex to go with it. How about it, Greg?

  17. For the people who are complaining about both the quality and the artistic quality of the fuji posted samples: Given the time restraints they likely did not have much time to create Cartier-Bresson worthy images but to their credit they posted pictures that challenged technical limits of most cameras and showcased the color and depth of field. Snow is very difficult to capture due to the contrast. Also to their credit, they posted the jpegs straight out of the camera with no tweaking in photoshop and no unusual camera settings such as exposure compensation, in camera sharpening and dynamic range control. The pictures are an example of what they will look like when 90% of you are using the camera with the automatic settings controls permanently on. If they posted them with heavy tweaking by photoshop experts imagine the complaints from the average photographer when they received their copy and the pictures did not look like was posted.

    • at least half of the shots had exposure compensation.. up to 2ev in some cases.. fwiw.

      In this day and age, I’d expect anything with a sensor bigger than a point and shoot to be able to shoot snow with a decent tool behind the tool.

      Just saying…

      I’m still anxious to try one.

  18. Mister mastershot. Talking about drab and boring picts taken by Fuji with Fuji. They are just exactly the kind of average stuff amators love and send to your site to be published. Your tests picts of 2-3K leica glass ain`t better.

      • wat`s rong funboy profezor? picts? abbreviation for pictures, ain´t? that`how Queens spoke in old England. I am evidently not overall exited by, whatever her name, let`s M…T…F… ( you can deduce what it means), neither by the fact, that my Fuji on my left shulder would look great on my Armani, with my Leica M9 with my Noctilux would nicely counterbalace it on my right right shoulder while my wife would walk on my side all proud and pretty. Oh my, oh my.

        • Oh sorry, she should walk by my side not on my side and counterbalace should be countered with counterbalance. You are right AZX1, I go back to school!

  19. I seriously expect a lot from this camera, I even feel more excited about it then the M9 Contents! I just hope it does NOT disappoint when it eventually arrives and someone like Steve takes it for a little spin!

    • Well, my friend, I hope you won`t kill yourself when oh and if so Disappointed over high ISO or low knickers when someone like Jack the Ripper takes it for a little lovely, chummy chummy, yummy yummy spin. I, meself am drooling and waiting in the dark alley for you boyz with yer 10K Leicas all right. Just watch me.

  20. Boy, this Fuji has me excited and I hope this does indeed pressure the other camera makers to consider classic camera designs again. I always felt the classic interface of knobs and aperture ring clicks much faster to use then LCD screens and multiple functions. I plan to buy one as well. My great wish is for a camera like this that I can use my M mount lenses on at a cheaper price than an M9.

    Another thing that is exciting are the new cameras that have no mirror box, hence allowing the use of many kinds of lenses with adapters. I really hope we see a full frame camera like this. There were many incredible lenses made in the past that are great buys on Ebay (Minolta made a 50mm F1.2 that was incredible) which would have a new lease on life with the new camera designs if they wil come in full frame.

    I use the M8 and love it (really, even though it is 10.5MP, If I uprez a bit, the portraits I shoot with my 50mm Summicron are mind blowing) and feel the Megapixel war is nonsense. I can see why this Fuji is not 20MP plus. It seems their goal was pure image quality. I would love to see low light pics at the higher ISO range!

    • Ed, totally agree with you on the MP thing, i have an M8.2 as well and totally happy with it. I don’t give a hoot about it being 10MP, i can easily up-sample to 20MP or more without almost any loss of quality using Genuine Fractals, now known as Perfect Resize. I do it all the time when i shoot with my 5MP Leica Digilux 2 as a matter of fact i created a video tutorial on how to do this and was going to send it over to Steve to post.

      Waiting for my X100 🙂

      Cheers!

      • I have been pondering getting an m8 for about a year.. second hand obviously.. the issue is.. I don’t want a potential $2000 repair after getting it, and they don’t seem too terribly reliable. Thoughts?

  22. I downloaded a couple of the sample images – all sharpen up nicely with even the basic LR3 preset and a bit of clarity, exposure and color can be adjusted to suit. I uploaded the all-gray door sample with a couple of minutes of LR3 work to the X100 Flickr group – exposure changed, clarity, sharpening. I think it looks quite nice for a 12MP APS-C camera even at 100%.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/celluloidpropaganda/5434911993/in/pool-1530211@N23/

    If the autofocus is terribly slow (relative to u4/3 and the like) or the camera itself is unresponsive, none of that will matter, of course.

  23. I’m NOT excited about the X100. Previously Fuji have tried to make a version of other makers cameras Contax T2 / Klasse ) for example, and I found that in practice the cameras turned out to be poor imitations. The Fuji lenses were sharp but lacked depth perception and gradation and all the wonderful qualities that Leica and Zeiss lenses have. For medium format, Mamiya gave much better images.
    Good luck to Fuji if they can pull it off with the X100 but I’m not holding my breath. Which Fuji cameras have impressed you to date I wonder?
    As far as the design goes. Hmmm… just looks like any old rangefinder camera from the early 70’s. Take your pick,,,Yashica,
    Ricoh. Nothing special.
    Going back to manual dials is a great thing. Anything that gets us away from menus and LCD panel gazing is good.
    F2…..well. I like F2 lenses a lot. Fast enough while maintaining top notch quality. But Olympus were producing wonderful little F1.7’s or F1.8’s way back when. So… not particularly exciting.
    I’ll wait for the results and give Fuji and the X100 a chance.. but right now I can just see a lot of hype. If this camera had offered interchangeable lens system we could get excited.But it’s going to come with built in limitations for many people. JUST like the Leica X1 in fact. Promises a lot, fails in many areas.
    Be honest, we really all want a Digital CL. but Leica insists NOT to make it.
    I’ll keep using my M cameras.
    Ken Rockwell sometimes has a lot of good sensible down to earth advice on his website. I use film with my M6TTL and scan for digital prints. I learned about that from his site and was able to still continue using my Leica and get great results. (Thanks Ken! ) I have a lot of favorite photo sites. This is one of them!!

    Steve J

  24. I hear you Darrell, I’ve just about sold everything I own on ebay in my quest for an M9, the kids are due to be listed soon if anyone’s interested? I have to say I’m really taken by the X100, pre-ordered mine even without the full DPReview/Steve Huff treatment, it just ticks all of the boxes from the specs and yes I’m amour’d by it’s looks. I’m still planning to get the M9 at some point, I can see both cameras complimenting each other, the M9 for it’s full frame and use of stunning lenses and the x100 for when I want to be working close up.
    The only nagging thing from my perspective is will Leica bring out a similar optical / electronic view finder? They have for the M9Ti but Fuji have just hit the ball out of the park with theirs.

  25. Disappointed. With the sample pics. The portrait of the young girl looks good. But the rest. Well they just don’t look sharp to me. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of picture quality and sharpness. But I will wait for reviews and more sample pics.

  26. I think Fuji has realized that many of us serious amatures and maybe even some pros are tired of dragging around bowling ball sized rigs. I sold all my DSLR equipment for the simple reason that I no longer wanted to carry around all that gear. The heavier my gear got, the fewer pics I was taking. Sure, if I was out shooting a sports match and needed material for the news rags, there is no substitute for packing up the Palomar Observatory but when I am travelling, walking the dog, whatever, I want the best possible quality with as little weight as possible. As well, I do not need small cameras with silly modes like fireworks, mountains, face, sepia, etc modes. Finally, I am tired of lenses that power-up and eventually fail to open completely or those gear driven dust protectors that seem to fail at the worst times. M9 would be my first choice but not many mortals can swing that without selling a kidney. The x100 may be the perfect fit for me and many like me.

  27. Keep in mind the X100 was shot as jpeg with standard camera sharpening. Just read the Exif data. Once you post process them they look great.

  28. Its a lovely looking camera, no doubt at all, and it has some great technological advancements in there too. The sample photos seem a good step up from most compacts and even little jump up from micro four thirds. However the bokeh shown in these samples is nothing particualarily special. Its a bit ‘flat and even’ like with respectable legacy glass from Canon Nikon or Olympus. I could not help noticing that the widest aperture used in the samples seems to be f2.8. The blurb mentions that the MTF of this lens goes up substantially at f4 and f 5.6. So you have to wonder if the contrast and/or sharpness is a bit suspect at f2. Anyway, I can’t wait to have a play at Focus in Birmingham in March. I doubt I’ll be buying one as my M9 is quite compact enough for me to take everywhere, but it does look like it could be a classic!!

  31. Oh and just one more thing…

    Radio four bbc is doing a superb series of Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe…

    go to the home page then click on drama

    then click on the Saturday play

    oh and grab a beer or whisky and your camera! three more weeks to go!

  32. Isn’t it nice that there are many different web sites for everyone….

    we don’t have to agree with everyone ‘s opinion….

    isn’t it a good thing that someone get’s us riled into action…

    where we can decide what is right for us.

    I admire the work, that all these different people put in….

    Steve and Ken probably put in 14 hrs a day… why because they love photography and they

    wish to share.

    look at Rodney Smith’s work, it will make you smile

  34. Maybe it’s just me but I still prefer to be able to change lenses. This is what a 35mm? I made a trip with my Nex5 and Biogon 21 (like31mm) and I would not go longer than that. 35 might be a bit long for those tight European streets. At least with a bayonette one can easily cover a much wider range. If I could I would put a 15mm on it, but it would need to be one with minimal di$tortion$$.
    If they have a good algorythm to add pop to the pics (à la Zeiss Biogon on the Nex5) they they will have a nice one in their hand.

  35. I don’t think the X100 is the same as the M9 — but it’s getting awfully close. You are going to see increasingly advanced small cameras as companies abandon the point-and-shoot market. Micro 4/3 is the first step and this is the second.

    Again, I will be curious to see side-by-side comparisons.

    • Nex was the second imo. They just made the mistake of making it too consumer-ish and not semi-pro-ish. With a contract with zeiss, how could they not have had them in the loop for a 2-3 fast prime kit on launch, as well as the standard 18-5 for soccer mom?

      • Sure, Nex was the second but they blew it completely on the optics side. Their current lenses suck beyond belief but sensor is capable of delivering great quality. What great minds do they employ on their marketing team!

        They have announced some Zeiss lenses for 2012. Way too late! This camera (Nex, I mean) will be long forgotten by then.

        • I totally agree. Too much advancement not to have some support for a system at launch.. I feel the same about MFT.. but for the fact they had a home run with one lens when launching, which allowed people to use it as a compact.

          • nex camera with zeiss lens are shipping on march, this is according to a sales rep in one of their sony style stores. Well, in line with the launching of the x100. It seems competing brands are bracing themselves to what could be a possible avalanche when fuji releases their baby.

  36. Some people are saying perhaps it will be as good as the M9, if it is it will make M9 owners who have a 35mm f2 lens feel somewhat downhearted, me to start with and the man himself Mr Huff, but this is unlikely, first it is NOT a rangefinder camera it is autofocus, it is not full frame, it does not have interchangable lenses, it probably has an AA filter etc, I am in no way putting the X100 down, as I have said before if I did not have an M9 I would be fisting my way to the front of the X100 line.

  37. It will be a beast. Steve is right on point about camera companies putting out drab shots to sell their cameras, that is very true, what i see so far is good enough and will be better in the hands of capable photographers, as many other cameras have proven to be after the fact. BTW, i love the sound of the shutter in the promo video, sounds nice 🙂

    Can’t wait to get my hands on the X100…

    • Kevin, dear. I can`t wait to put my hand on YOU! Fuji is putting some drab shots to scare same serious fotodogs away, that`s for sure. Can you immagine what they could do with it if they could lay their sticky hands on this little cutie. Not only they would shame Ansel Adams landcapewise, Robert Frank americanawise and Peeping Tom pixelwise. BTW, I love the sound of shutter too, especially when I am inside with my baby.

  38. I detect a certain amount of anxiety amongst M9 and X1 owners on this thread.

    As in, “What if the Fuji X100 is able to deliver comparable results? Did I just blow $10k on camera and 35mm lens when I could have had something more advanced for 1/10th the cost?”

    I can’t wait to see side-by-side comparisons.

    • I can see that for the x1 but not the m9. I can’t see any way this is going to be the ONE aspc camera that ties full frame.

      The x1 on the other hand, may be on borrowed time… especially with Leica dragging their feet majorly on the firmware update.

      • Yes, I am very anxious to know if Fuji X100 can replace my wife’s X1. That is why I follow this subject so closely. I am cool about the M9, though. I don’t bite my nails over blowing $10K on it (although, I’d rather not spend that much on a camera system but there was, and still is, no choice). My concern is about the X1 alone. It’s image quality is quite good (not as good as M9’s, though) but it’s ergonomics are really crippled. If Fuji delivers at least the same image quality I’ll switch in a heartbeat. That way we’ll have two perfect cameras in the family, not just 1.5 like now.

        The fact that Leica delays so much with the X1’s firmware upgrade kind of makes me think that there might be some irreconcilable issues with autofocus, as there was some speculation about it on the Internet. Manually focusing that thing is a major pain in the neck, so unless they don’t deliver an acceptable solution we are going to sack it for the X100. Fortunately, we got it real cheap to begin with. Some strange guy in St. Petersburg sold me a brand new one for $800. He got it as a birthday gift and wanted to get rid of it. So, I came along to help. Along with the round-trip air-fare from Moscow my total cost was still well under $1000. I’ve got nothing to lose. Tremble, Leica!

        I have been thinking about Sony Nex-5 as a replacement for my wife’s X1 but she just hates its design (I agree, it is, indeed, totally unsexy) and (oh, women!) its lens interchangeability. She wants to have a cool looking one-lens camera with great image quality and ergonomics. Can’t blame her for that. Besides, Sony’s shutter is so damn noisy. Resembles some strange weapon being discharged. In ‘Soviet Russia’ you don’t want to walk around with a camera that sounds like a weapon. You just might get yourself killed. I guess, the same goes for Texas.

        So, we’re keeping our fingers crossed about X100. Please, Fuji, save my family!

        Cheers,
        Greg Shanta

        • Okey Greg. Here`s solution to your headache. Keep The X1 and replace your wife and when lonely blow another 10K on some cute Thai snapper. As to St.Petersburg, unlucky you, devil you, it was wasn´t me. I would sell you, money bulging Amigo, a real Luftwaffe Zorki for at least 1000 talars. I would even cut in the price a nice pair of boobs and bottoms for you to try your your new tool. So, up till now Fuji`s wanker and your family`s safe. Good luck

          • LOL. I’ll keep my current wife, thank you, mate. Thai snappers are too small a fish for the real Russian bear that I am. Their boobs and bottoms ain’t sufficiently sized, if you know what I mean.

            Luftwaffe Zorki? Sounds interesting. Digital, I suppose? Didn’t know Luftwaffe was outfitted by Zorkis. Well, it turns that Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact had some hidden details to it. I don’t know about a 1000 but I can offer you one genuine Soviet army TALAR for it. A friend of mine stole it from the MIG Factory.

            Cheers,
            Greg

  40. Come on people, forget about the test shots, Fuji have made some kick ass cameras over a long period of time, I am sure the new X100 will continue their trend. Hell ! Ricoh makes a hell of a fixed lens in the GRD 3 (cheers Stevee for the review) which has been around for almost 3 years. So anything Fuji are about to pump out will be pushing the line I am sure.

    In regards to price … the price is almost always too much but the Ricoh GR3 when released was almost $1000. My feelings are that the X100 may not please everybody but it will be a hell of a camera, more importantly it may stir the other guys on the block to start thinking about similar beasts.

    My kingdom for a FULL FRAME FIXED LENS BEAUTY … anybody .. (insert cricket sounds here) .. Nikon …Canon … Voigtlander … FUJI … XF100 perhaps.

  41. ‘Boring’ files straight out of a digital camera are actually a good thing. If your RAW file is a “negative”, the lower the contrast the better. The end result can be whatever it’s going to be after post processing.

  42. I don’t know how it took so long for camera manufacturers to understand that lots of people want this exactly (well, maybe with interchangeable lenses and a black body).
    It’s very well suited for the street and traveling light.

    I know, the Leica’s are even better, but…. the price!

    Overall, excited to see what comes out of this, and if Nikon does something similar that would accept all my AI lenses 😀

  43. Looking at the X100 body and sample images makes me want to just pony up the money for the M9.

    • The M9 is so undisputedly better, Thomas! But it costs an arm and a leg… Still, I prefer going out shooting one-armed and one-legged. I can’t look and AA-distorted images without praising my M9’s CCD every time! X1 is a fine camera, Sony Nex is a fine camera, the X100 looks like a fine camera but you just can’t compare any of them with the M9. My wife has an X1 and a friend of mine gave me his Nex-5 to play with for few days. It’s certainly great to have such good quality potential in such a small package. Great to have it in your pocket at all times! No doubt. But I guess, I’ve been spoiled by the M9, which is still highly portable, by the way, and I just can’t justify any other criteria than image quality when it comes to choosing a camera. Even price. I wish Leicas were cheaper but they aren’t. But I can’t afford jeopardizing image quality for the sake of saving (quite) a few bucks. Go for it and don’t look back!

      Cheers,
      Greg Shanta

  45. Hey Steve,

    after reviewing the sample pictures. Do you think that the x100 could meet the quality standard of the x1? Of course, you cannot know for sure but do you think it is possible that f.i. YOU can shoot the same quality with it?

    Best, Fischel

    • Fuji has a long history of excellent lenses. If their fixed lens, medium format rangefinders are any guide, the X100 will have a great lens. Plus you get F2 out of it, a viewfinder, and other bells and whistles.

      Imagine if Leica took the CL concept and made it digital with a fixed lens…you then have the X100.

  46. I think this camera is visually beautiful and I have always been a fan of Fuji products in general…BUT…
    I am not in the financial bracket to buy an extremely limited $1200 camera. There are so many GREAT cameras in that price range with interchangeable lenses etc…. (I will have to stick with my micro 4/3 for small, fast and grab on the way out the door)… It would be a nice novelty ..but not at that price. I don’t have an iPad either….but hell..if you have the money to throw…it looks like a very capable, and stylin fixed lens offering! Very beautiful on the outside, for sure!!!!!!

  47. I have to agree about the X100 sample images, some OK and some dire, the monochrome was are terrible, but a simple thing like Photoshop levels brings up the quality.

    I am very impressed with the marketing, releasing snippets of information to keep us drooling , I cant remember any other camera company doing it this way, I am sure that the camera is going to come up to expectations or they would not have us all gasping to own one, I believe that many have pre-ordered one before the reviews pop up, I will wait on the sidelines and see, I hope you are the first to have a crack at one Steve.

  48. I wouldn’t worry about the image quality. I have seen some pretty good ones from a photographer in asia who was testing it. It looked great in low-light street photography, better than I expected. The samples provided by Fujifilm was not as good at all.

    Anyway, I would wait for some reviews before buying just to be sure. I hope more cameras like X100 will come out in the near future to compete with Leica.

    • if you haven’t preordered, that may prove difficult. Adorama and Amazon are already through their preorders.

  50. I waited soooo long for a camera that has such a beautiful vintage look, amazing feeling, so little size and such a great quality.
    Of course, I’m talking for a camera that’s not a Leica haha, I couldn’t buy one 🙂

  52. Well rockwell is an ars! Sad to see he can only like nikon. What a narrow minded guy! As for what is more interesting in this post by you, Steve, is that YOU KNOW canon has something up it’s sleeve! what’s that all about?

      • And he calls the M9 the best 35mm format digital camera ever. And the Mamiya 7 the best allround film camera. Sometimes he prefers the Contax G2 to the Leica M, and sometimes the other way. He also likes 4×5 for landscapes. And he likes Velvia better than digital for landscapes. And he shoots a Canon S95 for casual shots. And sometimes he’s out fooling around with a Fuji Quicksnap or a Brownie Hawkeye. Except for that, he only likes Nikon.

          • The Leica Man only gets the best. That would be the M9 and 50/1.4. The Leica Man’s lady, however, thinks manual focus is for cavemen, has no idea what “full frame” means, will literally run away (ask my wife) in a flurry of Manolos if you try to explain what “aperture” is, and wants a camera small enough to fit in the purse.

            The Leica Man’s lady takes better pictures, which she emails to her friends and puts on her blog.

  53. Steve, after looking at the images in full-res I have my doubts that X100 will be a clear winner image quality wise. I’m not talking about design, ergonomics and innovation; they seem to have done a great job there. Their marketing strategy, as you mentioned, is very clever, too. But my idea of a great camera is of the one that makes great images. Period. Like Leica M9 for instance. Or, closer to the league, an X1. Or Sony Nex-5.

    I’ve used all three and I can say that even with the Nex-5 with an old Russian Jupiter-3 lens (which is older than I am, and I’m 48) I could make crispier images than those provided on Fuji’s site. Here’s one example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregshanta/5334673438/sizes/o/

    As I’ve already commented on this subject on Mike Jonston’s site, the Fuji X100 sample pictures aren’t sharp enough to my eye. Besides, strangely, there are no high ISO samples, which to me means only one thing: it’s high ISO performance ain’t that great. Otherwise, they’d show plenty of samples, as it is what people want.

    I hope I’m wrong and the not-so-perfect samples are just a mishap and the actual potential of X100 is greater. If so, I’ll be the first in line to get it. For my wife… to replace her X1 with it’s sluggish auto-focus and no viewfinder. Personally, I’m perfectly content with my Leica M9.

    Cheers,
    Greg Shanta

    • I basically came to the same conclusion.. HOWEVER…..

      There’s speculation they were shot as jpg

      They don’t look to have had much PP done, including sharpening.

      I’m trying to stay neutral, but it’s difficult with so much hype – there’s bound to be ‘fanboys’ and ‘haters’…

      Hopefully Fuji gets them shipped out early on in the month!

      • Yes, I guess I didn’t need to rush with conclusions and I sincerely hope I was wrong. It would be awfully sad to see such a nice camera spoiled by inferior optics or whatever it could be. Besides, Fuji is certainly capable of making great glass and the sensor is a no brainer nowadays as well. I hope they put all of it together nicely and their sample images were, indeed, a mishap. Actually, there was one image there that I liked and that gives me hope: one of a little girl leaning on a couch. Her left eye and part of the face look rather sharp, so if it’s an out of camera jpeg, without any PP, then there is hope. I still want to see high ISO samples, though. My expectation is that they should be fine, as with any other comparable sensor camera. I’m puzzled why Fuji wouldn’t show us any. Do they have some unresolved firmware issues?

        Cheers,
        Greg

        • Fuji makes the hasselblad lenses now a days dont they ? Plus there rangefinder lenses were awesome, there medium format studio camera lenses also awesome, there large format lenses were also awesome. This camera has 0 excuse to not have a world class prime lens in it. If nikon can make the 35 1.8 which is god damn amazing at only 200 bucks, then fuji should be able to put something similar in this camera if not better.

        • Greg – Fuji indeed makes wonderful glass (the late Peter Gowland was fond of their enlarging lenses and their large format lenses, as was I, in fact he built a twin 4×5 camera with 2-250mm Fujinons for me).

          I’ve owned Fuji cameras which are less wonderful: a 645 semi-wide angle and also a 6×9. The cameras were beautiful to look at, wickedly ergonomic, wonderful optics but the bodies were widely known for eggshell thin construction.

          Fuji photos had stunning colors. Now this is all 15 years ago, so things may have changed, and I could say the same things about the Bronica 645 with the rare 100mm – treat some cameras like decorative eggs and you’ll be ok.

    • Can anyone name any DX-sensor camera in the last two years that had bad image quality? I can’t. It might not be as good as a D7000 at ISO3200, or maybe pixel-peepers will have a cow about some tiny imagined insufficiency, but I will guess a) that it will be fine, and b) that it will be better than all micro-4/3 cameras, which are not too bad as it is. The colors and tone will probably be more of an issue than resolution and noise.

      • And sharpness! I doubt it will outsharp the panasonic 20mm.

        I agree resolution isn’t an issue.. 12 mp! Colors are probably a moot point for anyone shooting raw.

        I think one of the really key things is going to be copy consistency. If they get this out in a rush and there are quality control issues, it could be a disaster.

        • Well, aren’t we talking about different sensorsizes. I would bet that the Pana on the little MFT sensor should be sharper than the Lens on the Fuji. Just two different aproaches to lens design.

    • Greg, that is one amazing image. What I like is that it does not look like a photograph, it looks like I am looking at it through an open window. So real. That is what I aim for when shooting myself but it is not easy and you nailed it here.

      • Thanks, Stephen! I guess, my trusty Jupiter-3 is the one to blame. It’s an amazing piece of glass. As I said, it’s older than I, so you normally wouldn’t expect any miracles from such an old lens, especially the Soviet-made one. Actually, the design is pre-WWII Zeiss Sonnar f/1.5. The Soviets had, um… ‘borrowed’ it from Germany after the war, along with their entire production line, huge stock of raw glass and couple dozens of engineers. They run out of glass in 1954 and had to use their own, of inferior quality, or rather, of inconsistent quality. Mine is made from the Soviet glass but I guess I was lucky and got a good sample. The price was very liberal: $66 (Devil had nothing to do with it but Stalin surely did). It’s great for portraits, too. Please take a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregshanta/4947244049/sizes/o/ This one I took with Jupiter-3 on Leica M9.

        Cheers,
        Greg Shanta

    • I’m just going to take a wild guess and say that an aspherical Fujinon 2.0 prime from 2011 is going to be at least as good as a Soviet 1.5 prime from the 1950s. Sheesh.

      • By the way, Fuji’s MTF curves for the X100 lens are better than the current Summicron 50. Oh the hand-wringing!

      • It better be! I wonder why wouldn’t they make some perfect RAW shots in a controlled environment at different ISO settings and apertures — just to show off the capabilities of the lens (if there is anything great to show, anyway…)? It’s so damn quick and easy and yet they haven’t done that. Some people are going to have heart attacks before they deliver! Their marketing is great but this questionable quality jpeg showcase was certainly a wrong move.

        Cheers,
        Greg

  54. I love how you went from neutral to excited in just a few sentences, Steve 🙂
    “I’m not going to get terribly excited until I have a full production camera in my hands” and “I will be ALL OVER IT. Yes, she will be mine”

  56. Ken Rockwell panned the X100 after he says he saw the preview sample pics on Fuji’s website. He says he gets better results using Fuji’s Velvia film:

    Quoting: “Forget the Fuji Finepix X100. I just looked at this sample gallery, and the images are soft, low-contrast, lower resolution, and boring compared to my D7000, much less the full-resolution samples I share in my new Route 66 Gallery from a LEICA M9. Who are Fuji trying to kid; children who think iPhones are cool? I love Fuji — Fuji Velvia 50! Now that’s photography! When you can get this from a Fuji digital camera, wake me up.”

    • Your first problem was reading Ken Rockwell’s site and taking anything it says as factual or even well informed.

      I try to be nice, but that guy’s only out to push buttons in order to drive traffic to his site. Whatever the most controversial view is, he’s adopted it… then beaten oafishly on it.

      He’s a legend in his mind.. and he’s convinced he’s far more clever than he is.

      • AzXi: You’re right about Rockwell. The only thing I can say is that his photos seem very sharp. He sure has his opinions!

        • Interesting. I haven’t really seen any of his work that exceeds most content I see posted in the forums at FredMiranda – and a great deal of what I have seen of his doesn’t come close.

          I think the turning point from me ignoring him to actually disliking (his internet persona – since I don’t know the guy) was when he made some comment about ‘the camera doesn’t matter stupid’ and then said ‘look at these great shots I made’ which were all bad, and posted about 480×360.. i felt like he was trying to post the worst shots taken to ‘fool people’

          I’m sure somewhere in there is knowledge – I just don’t think it’s presented, instead favouring button pushing and childish commentary.

          Obviously he has regular readers so not everyone feels that way! 🙂

          • Ken Rockwell is, alas, a bad photographer although he has done some nice nature/landscape stuff, mostly 15 years ago on film.

            However, he does know a lot about cameras and lenses, and is a pretty good resource for this. He has his quirky, daily raves and disses. In general, he is anti-hype so whether it is the Nikon D3x or Fuji X100, if everyone is gaagaa about it he will probably diss it at first, although he might come around later after it has been around for a while.

          • The man is not to be taken seriously on just about anything, on the other hand his site is usefull for comparing old film cameras, especially nikons which is what I have and some of his tests on lenses do seem to be valid.

            Some good information surrounded by utter crap, just gotta weed it out.

  58. Mine too… I love the idea and concept behind this, just hope it isn’t a lightweight both in IQ and physical weight… I want this to be a heavy workhorse which can sit alongside my Chrome M8.2 🙂

    Paul

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