Friday, May 27, 2011

Limited Weekly Update on FinePix X100

Our new USA dealer locator isnow live on the web at:

More cameras are shipping next week to the USA dealers so stock should begin to improve a bit.
I am waiting on the accessories confirmations but that was discussed in a prior post and next week we will know the status better.

I appreciate all the comments and thoughts about how to improve the camera.  I am confident work is being done on this and look forward to that as much as the next guy.  With all the lists out there of what's what - a comprehensive one was posted by DPReview and I am confident Fujifilm (Japan) is working on the list to improve the X100 experience.


This is the post from DPReview - not my words.

The X100 is a fascinating and in many ways charming little camera, which is capable of producing truly stunning images. The biggest problem with the X100 (and right now it genuinely is a big problem) is its firmware - while a huge amount of care and attention has clearly been lavished on the design and development of that beautiful body and lens, the firmware feels like it was abandoned hurriedly long before it was truly finished.

Of course, Murphy's Law dictates that even after extended use of the camera, its numerous operational bugs and oddities tend to catch you out precisely when you're trying to capture a shot quickly, and don't have time to double-check all the settings.

To give an idea of the extent of the camera's quixotic operation, here's a (not necessarily exhaustive) list of things it does that you might not expect, many of which are undocumented in the manual. Some are minor, but others have a quite profound impact on operation. Some, like the X100's habit of dumping your current ISO and DR settings when changing exposure modes, can be show-stoppers.

This list is correct as of firmware version 1.01, and naturally, we're optimistic that Fujifilm will address some or (hopefully) all of these issues in a future firmware update.

  • ISO and DR are set independently for each exposure mode, and for the Motion Panorama drive mode
  • When the ISO is set manually it overrides the DR setting, but in Auto ISO the DR setting takes priority
  • ISO 100 (L) and 12800 (H) are unavailable (greyed out) when shooting raw
  • ISO bracketing, film simulation bracketing and dynamic range bracketing drive modes will turn off raw file recording without warning (and aren't greyed-out when shooting raw)
  • When using AEL/AFL to autofocus with the camera set to MF, no focus confirmation is displayed (and equally, there's no warning when correct focus can't be attained)
  • In Manual exposure mode, Live Histogram always implies correct exposure, regardless of settings
  • In Manual exposure mode, camera will allow shooting at incompatible shutter speed / aperture combinations (e.g. 1/4000 sec F2)
  • Program shift only works if Auto ISO is disabled and flash mode is set to Suppressed.
  • Program shift counts rear dial or thumb lever commands beyond the point where the aperture is set to its largest or smallest (F2 or F16), and requires those commands to be reversed before it will stop down or open up again
  • Drive and macro mode settings are discarded on changing exposure mode, entering playback or auto power-off
  • OVF Power Save Mode disables live histogram, but leaves the box in which it's normally displayed blank in the viewfinder
  • Drive mode, macro and flash mode buttons behave differently from the white balance button, and differently again from the AE and AF buttons
  • AF point cycles from anywhere on the top row to the bottom right position by pressing the 'up' key, and from the bottom row to the top left by pressing 'down'
  • When using the EVF or LCD, the AF point size is reset by switching to manual focus, or using the OVF
  • In manual focus mode, lens stops down uncontrollably depending on ambient light levels, making accurate focusing impossible
  • In video mode, a full-press of the shutter is required to start recording, but only a half-press to stop
  • In video mode, autofocus is continuous regardless of focus switch position (AF-S / AF-C)
  • Magnified manual focus assist is not available in video mode
  • The ND filter is not available in motion panorama or video modes
  • Depth of field scale appears to have been calculated for a 35mm actual (rather than equivalent) lens, making it distinctly conservative
  • When shooting JPEGs in 16:9 aspect ratio, the EVF and LCD displays are cropped accordingly, but the OVF displays 3:2 framelines. It's possible to enable 16:9 guidelines, but unlike the framelines they're not parallax-corrected
  • Camera can only be woken from auto power off by half-pressing and holding the shutter button
  • In playback, when magnifying a portrait format image the enlarged area is shown in a 3:2 portrait format area (even if shot at 16:9), wasting most of the screen area
  • Images can't be deleted in the Detailed Information playback mode
  • Images shot in 16:9 JPEG + RAW can only be reconverted in-camera to 3:2 JPEGs
  • Images shot in continuous drive mode use a completely different file naming convention (which causes problems with sorting)
  • Battery can be inserted the wrong way round, despite having an asymmetric shape
  • Supplied charger won't accept the battery directly, instead it requires a (supplied, but unlabelled) adapter piece to be fitted first

1 comment:

  1. can you also add that there is a terrible terrible shutter lag when shooting manual focus in bright light. the lens stops down opens and stops down multiple times before actually taking a photo.

    ReplyDelete

A Quick Look at the 1972 Hasselblad 500C/M

Just a few snaps of the awesome and durable 500C/M.