Posts Tagged ‘4/3rds’
Fuji X100 ~ Review: A Love Returned, Nostalgia Reclaimed
Fuji X100 Review
Introduction
I really only want to write once about the amazing Fuji X100. I will satisfy that intention by approaching it from two aspects:
- As somebody who recently moved from an SLR system; replacing his setup with just the Fuji X100 (most of the technical comparisons are against my previous Canon equipment, some might consider this the wrong approach as the Fuji X100 isn’t an SLR replacement, but it is what it is).
- As somebody who wanted to get back to the simplicity and joy of using a rangefinder camera (this was after having previously flirted with a number of them over the years, in particular a pair of Contax G2′s).
Image by Flickr User Nokton
So you’re reading this, there is no doubt you’re already well informed about the Fuji X100. Especially if you have been a regular reader of this blog. I’ve posted so much news, reviews and general information about the Fuji X100. I’ll dispense with in-depth tests, image results, pixel peeping and weighty comparisons. You will have read them elsewhere. I’ll re-post some of the links if I feel I can’t add anything to what has already been published.
As we all know, the excitement started in September 2010 at the Photokina Trade show. When I first saw the X100, I thought it could give back to me a bit of my nostalgia for handling a film camera, while at the same time I also thought, finally this is what many photographers have been asking for; a digital sensor wrapped around the beauty and character of a rangefinder camera.
Image by Flickr User Tingan Bow
It didn’t surprise me that it would be Fuji who were bringing a digital rangefinder to market. Fujifilm were always a little different with their innovations, releasing cameras now and again that were a bit odd; making us sit up and think for a moment. They did it with the GF670 (medium format film camera) and the Fuji W1 (a 3-D camera).
Fuji X100 – Mini roundup and thoughts
Just one review and a DxOMark score (discussion of score) this week, this link describes the significance of the DxOMark results (the camera basically outperforms 4/3rd cameras).
Photoreview in Australia have also posted their review. Giving the Fuji X100 high marks all round. It looks like another un of the mill review but there are a few interesting tidbits inside it. Aside from covering the usual attributes, they have posted some nice graphs with comparisons to similar cameras, CA, resolution and ISO. Below their summary they also post a suite of images shot under; different lighting, long exposures, flash exposures and close ups, both macro and normal.
The review though indepth, is nicely laid out on one web page, which is nice to see.
It’s been a slow week for Fuji X100 news, the hoopla has started to die down now, those with their cameras are happily shooting away, the rest of us are either waiting for their own X100 to arrive, waiting for Dpreview to put it through its paces or waiting for some word from Fuji about a firmware update. I’m waiting for all three.
In the mean time, a few fellow photographers have posted some well written reviews on their respective blogs. We have:
Meeting a Stranger: The Fuji X100: A Street Photographer’s Review by John Goldsmith
A Different Beast – How the X100 kicked my butt by Patrick La Roque
Panasonic Lumix/Leica 25mm f1.4 (Part 1)
First impressions and quick comparisons
First off you can get a sense of the quality, simply by holding it. It’s heavy but not too tiring to handle; it’s actually lighter than the 12-60mm Zuiko lens, the construction is solid. My doubts with spending £558/$1116 were cleared as I fastened it to my camera. I bagged this lens on eBay from a very reliable seller, the seller can be found here. The technical specs of these lenses can be found in the links I’ve provided which I’m not going to go into here, I’m simply going to show test images for other peoples benefit as there is a lot of talk about.
The Panasonic Lumix/Leica lens was something I was after ever since I got hold of the Olympus E420, I always want to keep noise down as much as possible by staying away from high ISO. I love my fast primes; I’ve owned the Canon EF 50 f1.4mm in the past and the Canon 50mm FD f1.2mm, these are also great lenses to own. I could have got the Olympus pancake lens but I wanted something faster than f2.8, that for a prime is kinda poor, granted it is a very small lens.
For Bokeh there would be no comparison either :).
In this first part, I’m offering a size comparison between these two lenses and including a Sekonic light meter to help with scale incase you haven’t seen either lens first hand, I hope this helps?
Pictured below are the two lenses. Notice how much extra in length the Panasonic/Leica is, simply with the addition of the lens hood. With the hood down it is shorter but it reminds me of Dark Helmet (also oversized) from Space Balls, the lens itself is quite big but with it attached to my camera, it is still compact for an SLR. It’s much smaller and lighter compared to my 5D with the 50mm lens attached as well.
-
- 3 Lens Comparison
-
- With lens hoods
-
- Without Lens Hoods
-
- Olympus E420 with 3 lenses
-
- Leica attached
-
- Leica attached
-
- Olympus E420 with Leica and Lens Hood
