Got a new toy

[dubaiphil]

Well I'm just getting the battery charged and ready to roll on the first walk with my new toy - a rather tasty looking Fujifilm X100S - looking forward to tonight. I'll be writing a blog review over the next few weeks from the perspective of a street photographer moving from one of the most conspicuous cameras on the street to one of the most discrete. First impressions - fantastic manual focus fine tune options, and it looks SO good, especially with a brown leather half case.

Oh yeah, and if I didn't mention it before, it looks SO good!

[inkista]

Envy! Congrats on the new camera! Have fun!

[rpcrowe]

I looked at the specs and reviews of this camera and it seems very nice and it is really quite retro! The 23mm lens on a APS-c format is a very useful 35mm equivalent and should fit your style of shooting quite well. The f/2 should be handy also! I am anxious to see your results from a camera that is so compact and inconspicuous! However, I don't expect that it could improve your excellent images to any great degree...

The one caveat regarding this camera kit. I disliked leather camera cases because of their tendency to become moldy and fungus ridden in humid climates. In the days when leather cases were part and parcel of most cameras purchased, I would always make sure that I did not use the leather case or even the bottom half of the leather case, especially when I was shooting in the tropics. Of course, modern technology might have impregnated the leather with an anti fungal substance...

Good luck with your new camera and happy shooting. I will soon be getting my old Canon 350D back that I loaned to my son-in-law (he has since purchased a Canon SX-50) and plan to mount my 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens on it to give me a really compact unit. However, I wish that Canon had brought out this lens in 30mm rather than 40mm.

[Dave Humphries]

Can hardly wait Phil, congrats

[dje]

Phil

Have a look at this review - I think you'll find it amusing !

Dave

[dubaiphil]

@ Dave - neither Mr Arias or Mr Hobby are sponsored by Fuji, but they sure do put a lot of product placement and promotion their way! Both attend GulfPhotoPlus events in Dubai regularly, and speak on behalf of Fuji through the introduction of various X models over the past few years. So there isn't necessarily a direct and formal business relationship, but there may be something more informal. I can certainly see how the X100S fits into their shooting styles though, and it looks as if it will be a strobist's dream with the built in ND filter and 1/1000th synch speed (i.e. me, with a flash and cheap wireless trigger for street portraiture etc)

Well first impressions are pretty strong. It feels non existant over the shoulder compared to my normal kit, and I'm just about to review my first files now. Build quality is great, looks plenty sharp enough wide open and pretty clean from ISO3200 to 6400 even. Completely silent operation is going to be a revelation! This is never meant to replace what I currently use but compliment it and my lifestyle. I always take a camera with me, but when babies, strollers and changing bags are added to the mix, a gripped DSLR and a couple of lenses isn't always particularly close at hand. This will go everywhere with me.

Thanks for the heads up about the leather 1/2 case, Richard. I got a good price so I went for it for protection more than anything else. The fit is good, but it gets slightly in the way of the Q (quick menu) button on the back of the camera - my gorilla like thumbs find it a little hard to access. I'll probably remove it when I'm out and about in the heat.

Oh, and did I mention, it looks SO good!!!

[John 2]

I use an Xpro and I think you're about to fall in love!

[inkista]

@ Dave - neither Mr Arias or Mr Hobby are sponsored by Fuji, but they sure do put a lot of product placement and promotion their way! Both attend GulfPhotoPlus events in Dubai regularly, and speak on behalf of Fuji through the introduction of various X models over the past few years. So there isn't necessarily a direct and formal business relationship, but there may be something more informal. ...

Zack Arias has spent the time to clarify the issue on his Q&A tumblr. I'd be super-surprised if Hobby doesn't have the same relationship with Fuji.

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/581525...-b-s-style-one

Weirdly, that didn't satisfy the Zack-baiters [headdesk], so there was a smackdown on another troll on the Q&A, but he ended it with this:

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/582569...learning-about

And then went back and edited the hilarious smackdown on the anonymous Zack-baiter to this:

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/582432...s-is-not-aimed

Dude's a class act.

[dubaiphil]

Zack Arias has spent the time to clarify the issue on his Q&A tumblr. I'd be super-surprised if Hobby doesn't have the same relationship with Fuji.

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/581525...-b-s-style-one

Weirdly, that didn't satisfy the Zack-baiters [headdesk], so there was a smackdown on another troll on the Q&A, but he ended it with this:

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/582569...learning-about

And then went back and edited the hilarious smackdown on the anonymous Zack-baiter to this:

http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/582432...s-is-not-aimed

Dude's a class act.

Well Kathy I am neither a baiter or a fanboy but from my point of view, seeing Zack in person talking about the X100 when it came out and then the X-Pro he made a clear statement that he was not sponsored or paid by Fuji to make his comments.

Maybe that relationship has developed over time, maybe it was always there.

I don't care either way, but I'd hope for some consistency.

EDIT - and reading his comments there during a borng lunch hour at work, I can see how the relationship has developed

[RustBeltRaw]

Fuji X100S users are headed for a level of dedication unheard of outside the Leica community. I give it just a couple months until people start dismissing y'all as hipsters, debutantes, and purists. I must admit, I find it hilarious how every review of the X100S includes dreamy-voiced exultations of its beauty and craftsmanship

But y'know what? Screw it. Good pictures are good pictures, and the stuff Arias cranks out of his X100S is stunning.

For now, I'll keep my DSLR. Bridge cameras have lenses, quality, and high-ISO performance down, but most are still weak on the wireless TTL, focus speed, and burst rate fronts - all critical for my action work. And it's hard to justify a walkabout camera which costs twice as much as my current main camera.

Back pain, here I come.

[dubaiphil]

Glad to keep you amused, Lex!

Well I've just got my Nikon SB-700 hooked up as a slave, fired through commander mode on the on board flash - going to have a fun street portraiture walkabout tonight to see how things go.

Purist - no, not with a strobe
Hipster - most definitely

Yeah, baby, yeah - shagtastic

[FootLoose]

Good pictures are good pictures, and the stuff Arias cranks out of his X100S is stunning.

Yeah, but in a recent video on Kelby.com Arias argues against having buy that latest/best technology to take good photos and proves he can crank out high quality stuff on any old camera. As the adage goes, it aint the camera, its the tog.

[Colin Southern]

Yeah, but in a recent video on Kelby.com Arias argues against having buy that latest/best technology to take good photos and proves he can crank out high quality stuff on any old camera. As the adage goes, it aint the camera, its the tog.

I've always argued that it's both -- but never in equal proportions. There are limitations to both camera and 'tog. Sebastian Vettle has won the last 3 Formula 1 world drivers championships, but put him in a mini, and he'll finish last.

Initially the limitation is nearly all photographer, but past a certain point, the technology plays a part too. Additionally, IMO, even if the technology doesn't play a part in the image quality for a given image, it can still play one hell of a part in keeper ratios and in the effort required to get a shot; both of which are factors that are very important at professional levels.

[dubaiphil]

I'm beginning to get a feeling that the X100S will be the Marmite/Vegemite in the cupboard of gear used by contributors on CiC!

So without taking anything personally (or should I) I'll plod on.

And for the record, the jury's still out with me. Latest and greatest? Certainly not where autofocus is concerned, especially when compared to the D700 near the front of the CiC cupboard with the best before date of 2010 (when people started clamoring for the spicier replacement with nearly 200% extra MP)

[Colin Southern]

I'm beginning to get a feeling that the X100S will be the Marmite/Vegemite in the cupboard of gear used by contributors on CiC!

And for the record, the jury's still out with me.

For what it's worth, they finally restarted Marmite production here in NZ - and after many many many months of waiting ...

... it tasted awful

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fo...ion-Sanitarium

[rpcrowe]

Yes, you "can crank out high quality stuff on any old camera." However when you have to push the envelope to get your shots, you had better darn well be using quality gear... As an example, we sometimes see parents who want to shoot their kids indoor gymnastic events using a kit lens on a rebel camera. That is pretty nigh impossible! That is what I mean by pushing the envelope...

I've mentioned this before regarding equipment quality... IMO, a skilled photographer using lower grade gear can quite often produce better results than a less skilled photographer with higher quality gear. But if two equally skilled photographers were shooting, one with high quality gear and the other with "any old camera"; the photographer using the higher quality gear will generally produce better imagery, especially if they are shooting in a venue in which they need to push the envelope... After all, I don't see many professional carpenters buying their tools from the K-Mart Blue-Light-Special counters...

[dubaiphil]

Well when I post my first X100S shots, we'll see if my work is gear or photographer or pp driven!

With it being f2, I couldn't help but try f2 first. Not a patch on my Zeiss though. My usual pp workflow at f2 isn't going to cut it, which is to a certain extent my 'signature' without trying to sound too 'up myself'. There is nowhere near the micro contrast that the Zeiss has, which I promote in my pp. Stopped down a little with fill or off camera should produce some great environmental portraits though. It will be a different way of shooting, which is a challenge in itself and exciting.

Apart from more discrete street photography, the main reason for buying is that with a little one who's going to be 18 months old when his little sister arrives I want a much more portable way of capturing high IQ images. For that it will be excellent, user friendly for the other half, and allow creativity when required.

[RustBeltRaw]

As the adage goes, it aint the camera, its the tog.

This always strikes me as a fine-art mindset. If this was actually true, the high-end camera market would not exist. Holga's for everyone! I agree that a novice will do no better with a D4 than they would with a Lego Camera, and that framing, composition, and timing basically do not rely on your camera system. But give Jeff Cable a 35mm Canon Elph loaded with 400ASA Tri-X to shoot the Olympics, and I suspect you'll see a drop in quality. Yes, that's an extreme example. But pros invest in killer gear to either make their work easier, or to enable otherwise impossible shots. They're smart enough to know what will or won't help them.

...keeper ratios and in the effort required to get a shot.

This is Arias's main argument for the X100S. In his Istanbul video (bugger was there just a few weeks before I was), he says "the camera got completely out of my way."

Apparently capturing a high-quality shot becomes pretty effortless. Makes sense when you think that the X100S is essentially a DSLR-quality sensor in a point-and-shoot body with slightly more advanced controls and genuine manual modes. With the qualification that this is not a judgement of any MFT camera's users - dare I call them point-and-shoots for pros? Let's face it, most photography simply doesn't require the advantages DSLRs maintain - top-notch high-ISO performance, wicked burst rates, and sentient autofocus. So why not make the camera smaller and pare down those features?

[AB26]

dare I call them point-and-shoots for pros?

I would guess the Sony DSC-RX1R complies!

[xpatUSA]

The one caveat regarding this camera kit. I disliked leather camera cases because of their tendency to become moldy and fungus ridden in humid climates. In the days when leather cases were part and parcel of most cameras purchased, I would always make sure that I did not use the leather case or even the bottom half of the leather case, especially when I was shooting in the tropics. Of course, modern technology might have impregnated the leather with an anti fungal substance...

How is the humidity in Dubai, Phil?

I spent a year in Bahrain, courtesy of the RAF, and it was always over 90% during the day (IIRC) and certainly 100% at night. However, leather kept polished a la military philosophy seemed to resist the dreaded fungus. As to the inside of the case . . . hmmm . . .

With the qualification that this is not a judgement of any MFT camera's users - dare I call them point-and-shoots for pros?

Looks like someone rose to your bait, Lex