From Beijing with Love – My Baby Girl & the X100s by Renaud Perez

Dear Steve,

A few times ago I sent you a small post telling you that I was waiting to replace my old X100 by the new S. I got one mid-April from a friend who went to Japan for business trip since it was totally impossible to find in Beijing at that time.

I’ve been fooling around with it since and what I can tell is that I highly confirm all reviews / comments I’ve read on the net. The camera, in its price range, is really the best available on the market right now! Fuji has fixed all main quirks from the previous generation and I totally agree with you that the S stands for Speedy. For the rest of improvements, X-Trans sensor and so on… I’m not going to say anything since there are plenty of reviews out there and all I’ve read to make my final decision to upgrade was true.

For me, the main issue on the X100 was the AF. Fuji knew it, worked on it and came back with real improvements. It is now faster, more accurate and able focus in the dark (but be careful it is still not perfect and can hunt in some situations). What I can say is that I’m now CONFIDENT into it and for the event which was coming, AF was THE go no go for my choice because… my baby girl was on her way and she is born 10 days ago!!!

If the AF was not there I would never ever have purchase the cam’. Why? I was able to calm down with the X100 for my personal shots but I knew deep down that missing my baby’s first moment would have driven me crazy. I can guaranty that this time I had no any issue due to this, the X100s just simply does the job. I you are still hesitating to upgrade or to get one, don’t! It’s a masterpiece of camera and really worth its price.

This time Fuji really did great job, the feel, the size, the sensor, in camera jpegs, the AF, the OVF/EVF, external controls & ergonomic… everything is there, works well, no more struggle, this camera is vanishing in favor of photography! I enjoyed so much having it with me to capture all these memories, quietly and discretely.

Plus, to my personal taste, I love the film simulation Fuji is giving us combined to the OOC jpegs quality. I’ve recently felt in love with the PRO Neg. Std/Hi film’s simulation for portrait, especially for my baby girl’s, skin tones rendering is as smooth as her skin… Love it~

Now no more talk, just let me introduce you the little Jeanne (悠然).

For the first picture, I took it on my way to the hospital, impossible to find a taxi at that time so I used the old school Chinese tricycle (the custom electrical version), going as fast as we could, in the small streets near by the forbidden city, to reach the hospital.

Enjoy Steve and thanks again for your great website!

Renaud Perez.

(All pictures are OCC jpegs, using film simulations PRO Neg. Std or Hi, NR set to -1, Sharp +1, Auto ISO to 3200 with min shutter speed 1/60 – no post processing right now, no time for this, but I keep the RAW ;-).

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18 Comments

  1. I know this post is nearly a year old, but wanted to share my “Thanks” just the same. I hope you receive this. I have been reading rave reviews about the “s” and was only hesitant about purchasing it because I also have a small child (a son born in Sept 2012), and I wanted a camera that would do “the trick” in capturing those moments. And your confidence that the x100s will, has made me confident that this indeed will be the camera for me.

    All the best to you are your blossoming family.

    Barry

  2. Thanks for sharing such beautiful pics, the sweetness…. Wish you a lot of happiness with your family

    Congrats
    Arthur

  3. heartiest warmest congratulation for both of you 🙂
    great memorable pictures

    Sincerely
    William

  4. Congratulations. Some photos reminds of the rendering of my Sigma DP2 including the Bokeh. Well, it doesn’t tell anything though. I just thought they’re pretty similar.

  5. Lovely pics and I know the X100 isn’t super fast in the af dept but why don’t people realise that switching to af-c at night or anytime the af is slow fixes most of the gripe. Having said that I did a miss a shot with some children recently due to the af. However the other night I was able to photograph the local fire brigade in action and the result was published in the paper. No problem with af at all, at night! Looking at your charming pics I have to agree with Steve and prefer the rendering from the original X100. By the way how can you quickly access the ND filter on the X100s?
    Good luck and congrats!

    • On the X100s I set the ND filter on the Fn button since all others setting can be adjusted through the well designed Q menu.
      I agree on your comment about AF-C trick using the X100, but the thing is that at that time I was not the only one using the camera. Relatives helped taking pictures too and at the end I only got a few out of focus shots, which wasn’t possible before.
      Light was dim and a lot of shots have been taken at ISO 3200.

  6. Very sweet, I’m in love with my 100s as well and use the same settings as you recommend. BTW, I have found that the Yonguno RF603C flash triggers (Canon Model) work great with the 100s to trigger the Yonguno 560-II speedlight for cheap and reliable off-camera bounced flash. The RF603N (Nikon Model) will not work on the Fuji, as I found out the hard way, but will work as a slave if you have the Canon model on the camera. I initially used the camera’s “remote commander” flash setting to trigger the speedlight, but that method gives too much direct flash in the subject’s face for portrait work. The radio triggers eliminate this and are a much better solution.

    • Thx for the tips, I also own one Yongnuo YN560-II but I’m using it with the wireless flash trigger CTR-301P (from Yongnuo) which does not work very well. I will try to get one RF603C.

  7. Congrats on the new bundle of joy! You’ll love her!
    Side note, congrats on your daughter as well.

  8. Thanks for sharing your precious moments,I love the x100s. Kevin From Dundee in Scotland.

  9. Great pictures . I think the fujifilm x100s is better than the Leica m240 for some reasons .First the jpeg pictures fujifilm are excellent ,the colors ,the noise is almost unnoticeable and the new firmware updates . David beckham ,Mariano Vivanco and many more are using the new x100s

  10. Renaud,

    Congratulations to you and your wife, whatever other camera you get in the future save the X100S for little Jeanne when she grows up! 🙂

    • That’s exactly what I was thinking 😉 I will definitely keep the cam’ for her!

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