Shooting into a convex mirror out on the streets late at night. So, I've opined for years about how I'd love to use a Fuji X100 xx but I could never get past the 35mm equivalent focal length lens bolted onto the front of the camera. A friend reminded me that I could always use the "digital tele-converter" that's in the menu to get either a 50mm or 70mm frame and I thought that might be cool, especially since the sensor is now 26 megapixels instead of 12 or 16.
Anyway, fate interceded. I was munching on some great sourdough toast this morning when a dental crown became dislodged from tooth #15 (upper left, back molar). The crown came off at 9:30 and I was on the phone to my dentist by 9:32. The crown was re-acquainted with my tooth and I was out the door of her office by 11:15. I'll need a new crown because this one was just worn out from 30+ years of chewing stuff. But we'll take care of that in mid-January. Anyway, my dentist's office is just around the corner from my favorite camera store and I already had the idea of dropping by to pick up a Zeiss 50mm one of my photo friends had seen on the used shelf and dropped me a note about.
But for some reason I've been compulsively reading about the Fuji X-100 V for the last couple of weeks and when I walked into the camera store I took a cursory look in the used mirrorless camera showcase and there sat a mint, almost unused, chrome version, X-100 V. I forgot all about the Zeiss lens and fell into bargaining for the best price possible on the Fuji. By lunch time I was back at my desk with the Fuji reading the owner's manual online. Yes, I picked one up. I couldn't resist. The price was right. The timing was good. And I know the boss at my company would be more than happy to give me this camera as my year end, Christmas bonus. After all, I've been good and have written many blogs for the company this year...
I thought I might be a little lost with a new camera but I have owned a huge part of the Fujifilm camera and lens catalog from time to time, including the short-lived ownership of a brand new Fuji X-100 T.
( which I was not too fond of ). The menu is not much different from that of the XH-1s or the XT3s I was playing with a couple of years ago. But still, every camera has it's idiosyncrasies so I thought I should take it out and play with it.
Accounting obligations got in the way of a daytime shoot. The post office was murder. I should have stayed in my pajamas and just wired everyone their cash instead of being such an old school, check writing buddy-duddy. But around 5:30 I closed the lid on the accounting laptop, grabbed the new camera and a fully charged battery and went for a walk through downtown.
It's early times with the X-100 V but I can say that I really think I like this model. We'll see after some good light and good weather shooting. Here are a selection of photographs I was able to grab before dinner. All very strange images but I seem to be stuck in an obscurity loop lately. I'll work my way out of it. That's something for tomorrow.
18 comments:
it does seem like an appealing form factor, seems like it's harder to find a camera with a tilt screen which I like for sneaky chest level shots of strangers (you pretend to be photographing something in the distance when they come past, take the shot, examine features of a nearby building as they look at you, rinse and repeat), or you can use the lcd shutter release if x100v has that (pannys do) and be "fiddling with your settings"
I haven't tried having the camera on a table or wall and taking photos via the phone app yet, but some youtubers results look promising, maybe better for a high res cam for easier cropping...
Hi Kirk, glad to see you've taken the plunge with the X100V. It looks as good in low light as earlier versions. I hope you enjoy using it - there is something unhurried about taking photos with the X100 series that I enjoy. A quick question: if you use the digital teleconverter, does that still mean (as on the X100F) that you can't use Film Simulation bracketing?
Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with it.
Nigel
little detail i forgot, thumb for shutter button...
Hey Kirk, You just made my day. I've owned cameras since the early 1950's and the X100V is my favorite. It is a pleasure to use and yields beautiful images. Enjoy!! I'm looking forward to your review. Be well.
Cameras come and cameras go. Nothing much seems to stay except the ancient Pen F lenses.
I've been intrigued by these cameras since they came out. Finally had a chance to use one for a few months. A client had bought a half dozen for his staffers to use and gave me one to check out. I was pleased with the results but was still put off by the single focal length. (Funny how this never bothers me with my elderly Rolleiflex TLR.) I wouldn't want to add the bulk of a zoom, but maybe a dual focal length with a 35mm and 90mm option. Mechanical, not cropping the sensor. As I recall there were a couple of film point and shoots back in the 1980s that did this.
Doesn't Fujifilm make a bolt on converter that gives you a 50 mm or so equiv focal length?Would let you use more of the sensor.
Merry Christmas! And a big THANK YOU for all the reading enjoyment your blog has given me this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New (better) Year!
I bought an x100f and love the thing! It's such a joy to use but then I like older-styled cameras.
Can't wait to see the photos you take with it.
Thanks for all your writing this year as well. It makes my heart glad.
Don Parsons
That statue in the last two photos - is that some sort of homage to George H.W. Bush? He used to refer to the White House press corps photographers as the "photo dogs." (He meant it in a good way, I think.)
Looks quite nice, especially #14 and #15 when clicked through for the higher resolution display.
If the digital zoom doesn’t cut it, do consider the add-on conversion lens. Completely out of fashion, but if well made amazingly effective.
I really need to look back at the X100 series. Had the original but the auto focus was to slow for me. Currently shooting with an X-T3 but I keep the 25mm F2 on it most of the time. Please post more articles as you get used to it on how you like it more long term.
Now you will have to try out Fuji X-RAw Studio, which just connects the camera to the computer so you can apply presets and have the camera do the processing while judging it on the screen. Great way to fine tune things, plus you can make a recipe with a built in "push," which can look great. I'm having a ton of fun using it with some of the recipes from Fuji-X Weekly, plus my own versions.
Whoops, that was me, not unknown. Anyway, have fun!
Hi John, I played around with Fuji X-Raw Studio back in 2018 when I had just gotten the XT-3 and as I remember, Adobe didn't have the raw profile for that camera yet. I spent some time in a tiny airport in Indiana trying to get out of town before a big blizzard hit and trying to process a bunch of raws into Jpegs for the client. Good times.... Indiana was strange. Very strange. Kind of the "anti-Austin."
Never could find anything to eat there.
I would be very interested in how the AF works for street shooting. Does it lock on quickly to people and track them well? I have been interested in this camera for awhile. Like I need another one lol. Anyway if the AF is useable and once you loose interest in the camera give me a call ;)
Eric
I really like photo 13. Very nice. The stacks leading into the night sky are also beautiful shots. This seems like a perfect walk around unit that isn't a hindrance when you'd really rather not think about the camera and just enjoy the moment. I've played around with both and do see Capture One creating cleaner images than LR for the Fuji x-trans raw files. Definitely less grainy and wormy, particularly as iso climbs. Otherwise I still prefer LR. I'm always amazed at what Fuji can pull out of an apsc sensor.
HI Kirk, Just bought a X100F (on close-out) a week ago. After registering the camera with Fuji (USA) I was sent a (Free) Lic. key for Capture One Express which I haven't used. Going to be interesting (at my age).
Have fun.
Larry C.
I don't get out much, so I was unaware of the Paparazzi Dogs.
https://us.gillieandmarc.com/products/paparazzi-dogs-on-world-tour
It took a bit of Image Googling to find them. What also had me nonplussed was the fact that the statue appeared to be moving from frame to frame. Now I realize there were more than one. And it wasn't a reference to George H. W. Bush, but to Princess Dianna, pursued by a pack of Paparazzi Dogs.
I spent years shooting with a 35/2 Summicron on a Leica M4, so when the Fujifilm X100 came out, I tried one. The autofocus was not good, and the files needed their own processing program (Iridient) for best results. It seems that for Lightroom users they still do.
https://blog.thomasfitzgeraldphotography.com/blog/2020/1/the-best-way-to-process-fuji-raw-files-in-2020
I'm now shooting Sony, and an a6400 with the 24/1.8 works quite well, except that the lens seems large for what it is. For a daytime walkabout I'm happy with the Samyang 24/2.8.
The Fuji is a good looking camera, and I got several comments from bystanders. "Oh, is that a Leica?" was the most common.
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