DP Review confirms my worst suspicions.

DP Review, a subsidiary of Amazon, publishes the best equipment reviews on the web. OK, second best. If you want no punches pulled, tell it like it is, I-paid-for-the-hardware-with-my-own-money-and-accept-no-advertising real world use tests, you come here. And though you may not call DP Review’s photography memorable that hardly matters, for they know how to test gear. Thus DP Review will do, as you sure as heck will not be seeing a review of the X100 here.

So when they published their Fuji X100 review yesterday, my worst suspicions were confirmed. Here are their conclusions:

Click above to go to the DP Review of the Fuji X100

This is somewhat cold comfort for me, as I bought, and resold for a profit my X100 in its unopened box, after growing concern that the thing was deeply flawed, especially in the one area of most vital need for a street snapper. Fast focus. And DP review confirms that it is not good in that regard. For “…. mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras” in the ‘Cons’ above, you can read “…. the Panasonic G1”. And for “Autofocus not quite as fast as ….” you can read “It sucks compared to ….”.

Stated differently, this appears to be a camera with an excellent lens and sensor which is so flawed elsewhere as to be virtually unusable. Quite how something so unfinished ever made it past quality control and acceptance testing beats me. Fuji’s early web site attempts for this much hyped camera suggest that they need some photographers on staff. How else could this alpha test model ever have seen the light of day?

I’ll put my profit toward the price of the Panasonic G3 which I have on order.

Oops, I almost forgot. Yes, the X100 is ‘pretty’. That will really improve the pictures it takes while you wait the seven seconds for it to write your last snap to the card. How could I have overlooked that? It’s generally not fair to judge gear based on someone else’s review, but when the review source is credible and the review stinks, it makes sense to do so.

My days as a spiv are over.

Let me step back. The sole reason I ordered the Fuji X100 from Amazon some three hundred years ago was that it was an affordable digital Leica M2. The latter, fitted with a 35mm Summicron lens, was the street snapper’s ideal in the last decades of film. The X100 promised to be its equivalent in a digital era. Make no mistake. The marketing materials, the sales pitch, the schtick, it was all about being a poor man’s digital Leica. Right down to the branding which had it putting that finderless toy, the Leica X1, to shame. Made in Germany, that one you know. Uh huh. Maybe Fuji should have named its offering the M900 to confer greater credibility? And maybe an even more ridiculous price?

For those not attuned to the finer subtleties of the English tongue, the definition of a spiv is attached for reference:

The genus saw its best (or worst) days during the second world war and in bombed out London could pretty much get you anything your heart desired …. at a price.

Now like most, I’m one of those chaps who prefers not to pay full retail but had you told me that I would be a black market merchant a few weeks ago I would likely have shown you the exit. But two things happened.

First, after a spot of reading I determined that the Fuji X100 would simply be a replay of the Panny 20mm when it came to focus speed. Those few souls afflicted with the street photography bug who can actually take a picture reported that the camera simply did not focus fast enough. That’s not to say the Fuji X100 is not beautifully made, nor is it to allege that it has poor image quality. By all accounts it comes up aces on those metrics. So it has appeal to many, me included.

However, I do not buy cameras solely for looks, and IQ from the smaller sensor in the Panny G1 is perfectly fine for large prints. But, most importantly, the G1’s focus response with the kit zoom is fast and the forthcoming Panny G3 suggests that whatever ails that tiny sensor is about to be fixed. And I can continue using the excellent kit zoom from the Panny on the G3 if the latter delivers.

So by the time Amazon despatched the X100 I had made up my mind to return it, sight unseen. While not chump change, $1200 is not something I am about to lose sleep over, but I just could not bear the prospect of yet another huge learning curve concluding in blurred street snaps as with that Panny 20mm.

Wait a minute, I hear you say. You sold the thing without so much as trying it? What qualifies you to make any conclusion based on hearsay? Simple. The economics of the risk/reward equation do not solve. It would take several hours of my time to get familiar with the camera and its software, hours worth considerably more to me than the modest cost of the hardware. At best I reckoned there was a 30% chance of the camera meeting my needs, specialized as they are. So the economics do not remotely solve. Had the odds of the X100 being a fast focuser been better, I would have opened the box. Elementary, my Dear Watson.

Now that X100 was scheduled for 2-day shipping from Amazon and it was not lost on me that new samples were selling for $1600 owing to the supply backlog. Well, would you leave $400 on the sidewalk were you to spot a like sum lying around? I thought so. Heck, nor would Bill Gates. So I determined to advertise the camera and make my first and likely only black market profit.

Well, as luck would have it, Amazon cocked up delivery royally and the package got stuck in Utah for two days. That’s what happens when residents of a state forswear alcohol. By the time the thing arrived, the black market premium had eroded to $175. Thanks a lot, Amazon. Anyway, it’s winging its way to a happy owner as you read this and I have $175 toward the G3 – and no learning curve in my future. And a 15% gain on no cash out is not so bad, either.

I got an interesting lesson in supply-demand dynamics and some happy user paid a modest premium for unobtainium.

But my days as a spiv are most certainly over. And I don’t even dress flashy, like.

Not ready for prime time.

I have been reading David Pogue, the New York Times’s technology columnist, for ages. What he lacks in sheer technical knowhow he more than makes up for in his ability to get to the point of the real world user. Sort of like Consumer Reports. Neither may know exactly how fuel injection works, say, but both will tell you straight whether the car can be guaranteed to start when the ignition key is turned. That’s what users need.

So while his review of the Fuji X100 is replete with a howler or two which will make ‘experts’ cringe (he describes it as a great portrait camera, despite the short lens, etc.) he does hit the nail on the head in disclosing what is now a worryingly frequent complaint on chat boards from those lucky enough to have got an example of this rare beast. And as I am more likely to believe Pogue than I am the average chat board aficionado, here it is, plain and simple:

“You should also know that the camera doesn’t focus quickly, especially in low light.
It does have an autofocus assist lamp that comes on in dim rooms,
briefly providing enough illumination for it to focus,
but time is going by meanwhile.”

First, forget using an autofocus lamp. This camera is meant to be stealthy, not a walking advertisement. Next, with my jarring experience with the 20mm Panasonic for the G1, which I returned almost as soon as I bought it, I am super sensitive about fast autofocus. The Panny was simply unable to focus fast enough for street snapping, delivering a 30% focus failure rate in the almost 500 exposures I made with it, and I don’t propose to relive the experience with the X100. I suppose you could use the camera for landscapes or whatever, but fail to see what it adds compared to the regular DSLR in that regard. The fact that the X100 is small, has a real optical finder and is quiet and unobtrusive, is what turns my crank, and street snaps are what I mostly do.

Yes, there are several other quirks in the design which can be cured by Fuji tweaking the software (button assignments, menu layout and the like), but speeding up the focus operation is not, I would guess, one of them. Your focus motor is either fast or not. In this case, it increasingly seems not.

This is not the low risk prospect that buying the iPad on Day One of availability was. Apple had several years of touchscreen development under its belt with the iPhone so screwing up the iPad was not a big risk. By contrast, what we have in the Fuji is a camera with a massively complex EVF/OVF eye level finder from a low volume manufacturer not known for making like products. That’s high risk in my book. The X100 Mark II will likely get it right, and I’m also hoping that the likes of Panasonic come out with something as good or better by then, at a saner price.

So, for now, I will either cancel my X100 order or flip the camera on eBay if it still commands today’s 50-100% black market premium at my date of purchase. Free money is never a bad thing. The latter option will, at least, allow me to try it for myself.

Lots to like.

Click below to download the Fuji X100 manual:

Click to download the Fuji X100 manual

What follows is based on a reading of the X100 manual; only real-world picture taking will allow critical evaluation, but what follows is encouraging.

The best way to read the PDF manual, if you download it, is using GoodReader on an iPad or, for those with younger eyes, on an iPhone. Both devices provide a superior PDF reading experience to anything on a computer and have the added benefit that you can take the manual with you for those occasions on which you get stuck. Since I first reviewed it the very inexpensive GoodReader app has been enhanced multiple times and I recommend it unreservedly.

First and foremost, all praise and thanks to Fuji for a great English translation and a logical layout. All you never want to know about manuals can be found in Panny’s for the G1 which is by a considerable margin the worst manual I have ever read and still, on occasion, try to decipher.

In summary, a reading of the manual discloses that Fuji has not blown it; while many or maybe all of the programmability choices exist on competing cameras the point here is that Fuji has not omitted any I consider important. What follows is addressed to travelers and street snappers for whom the X100 is an optimal design. Thus I do not address macro or movie modes or LCD displays and the like.

Here’s what caught my eye. What follows builds on and corrects some of the statements in Fuji’s Brochure which I reviewed earlier.

The Command Control, p4:

Longitudinal pressure on the Command Control toggle switches to magnified image view for precise manual focus. Akin to the G1 which will switch to this mode in the EVF when the focus ring is operated on Panny lenses.

OVF display options, p5:

Much of this can be switched on and off (see below), meaning you can get it down to the essentials. It seems even the distance indicator scale is optional. Nice. All I want is shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure compensation, plus the focus area. Note the ‘temperature’ indicator. This caused me to flashback to all those overheated, blown Macs I have suffered ….

Strap fastening, p9:

The instructions are incorrect. You want the loose end threaded such that it is between the two external strap lengths. Buy an Upstrap to see how it’s done. And buy an Upstrap anyway as it will absolutely not slip off your shoulder and, yes, you guessed it, the one from Fuji is emblazoned with the words ‘FUJI’ in bright white. This is so that your insecure American friends, who put stickers in their cars and on their clothing telling all and sundry they went to Texas Ballspond Road U or some similar degree mill, can share in your tasteless advertising display.

SDXC cards, p12:

The X100 takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards.

The LCD display, p17:

Mercifully, it can be turned off.

OVF display, p19:

Here’s a better illustration of which display elements can be toggled on/off. The OVF is 0.5x life size. It’s unclear what the EVF is – I would guess 0.7x (no frame lines, image extends to edges) and very handy in poor light where OVFs do not cut it – and don’t let Leica M bigots tell you otherwise. For comparison, the Panny G1 is 0.7x at 50mm FFE, or 0.5x at 35mm FFE, so the viewed image in the X100’s OVF will be the same size at that of a G1 set to 35mm FFE. By contrast, the X100’s EVF image will be some 40% larger than the G1’s at 35mm FFE.

Shutter sounds, p 21:

This is actually far from trivial. Sometimes you want audible confirmation of the shutter, and until we know about the mechanical feedback from the shutter release button, having these options makes sense. Also handy when doing panoramas, though I doubt I will be switching on the ‘mirror reflex’ sound.

OVF power saver mode, p22:

The fact that the power saver mode applies to the OVF is a tad disappointing, as it suggests the OVF displays use quite a bit of power. The problem is that in power saver mode autofocus is far slower. Evaluation of this compromise in the light of battery capacity will have to await real-world use.

Quick Start mode, p.22:

The normal ‘start from cold’ is 2.2 seconds which seems very slow. The Quick Start mode cuts that to 0.7 seconds at the expense of battery life. That’s fast enough (a quick first pressure on the shutter release when lifting the camera to the eye should do it) but the battery life impact remains to be determined.

Shutter speed combinations, p27:

Not all shutter speeds are available at all apertures. The fastest at f2 and f/2.8 is 1/1000th, compared to the camera’s 1/4000th minimum. So if the light calls for 1/1000 @ f/5.6, you would set the lens at f/2 and switch in the 3x Neutral Density filter, getting f/2 depth of field but an effective working aperture of f/5.6. A bit of a pain but you can get there – meaning shallow depth of field in bright light. You can also assign the ND filter function to the Fn button for instant availability – see below. (The above assumes you are using Aperture Priority auto exposure, where you choose the aperture and the X100 figures the shutter speed).

Exposure compensation indicator, p29:

The indicator is available in all three viewfinders. It’s essential if you use the manual exposure compensation dial to remind you if you have set it at something other than ‘0’. Easily forgotten.

First pressure focus, p30, 45:

Phew! Confirmation at last that a first pressure on the shutter release button can be used to lock focus, exposure or both. Like most street snappers I will set this to lock focus and set the rear panel AEL/AFL button to lock exposure. Then I can focus-take first pressure-recompose-snap for those times when the main subject is not in the center of the frame. Let’s pray the focus confirmation double-beep can be silenced.

Burst mode, p36:

For serial shooters there are two burst bodes – 3 and 5fps. The camera’s buffer is 20mB in size (p113, below) which is small. Two to three buffered shots at best. No indication of how quickly the buffer flushes and it will be interesting to see whether faster SDHC/SDXC cards make a difference or whether the buffer’s native flushing speed is the slowest link in the chain.

Panoramas, p38, 39:

Panoramas for street snaps? Actually this is potentially very useful as it affords ultra-wide opportunities and, if I am reading the book right, the implementation is brilliant. After taking the first snap, you hose the camera around and it knows when to take the subsequent ones! And you can do horizontal or vertical panos which suggests some interesting opportunities. Panos can span 120 or 180 degrees. I’m hoping that exposure is locked based on the first frame, much as it is in Burst Mode, above. Otherwise stitching will show.

Auto-ISO, p50, 83:

Note the reference to reduced dynamic range at ISO 100. Note also the reference to AutoISO kicking in if exposure cannot be accommodated otherwise. Nice, I use this constantly on the Panny G1. Note also the ability to limit upper ISO in the second page, above.

Exposure metering, p51:

The street snapper will probably elect ‘Average’. There’s no time to mess with spot metering when taking candid snaps.

The Fn button, p52:

A nice selection here. Given that there’s a separate AFL/AEL button on the back to lock focus or exposure (I will use it for exposure), being able to assign the Fn button to another function is very useful. The ND filter, in view of the shutter speed limitations explained above, would appear particularly useful, instantly forcing a shutter speed 8x longer. I assume this is a ‘one press per picture’ control, but it’s unclear.

Th replacement of the Fn button on the top plate, rather than on the rear of the camera, is interesting. It’s next to the shutter release and should make for ease of use – one quick push and you have your change of choice.

Custom settings, p54:

There are many. Hooray! They can also be recalled using the Fn button. Double Hooray! The very last thing I ever want to do on the street is hunt around for settings on an unreadable LCD screen. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the ND filter can be assigned to a custom setting.

In camera RAW processing, p67:

Nice to have until Adobe creates X100 RAW conversion for LR3 and Photoshop.

Aspect ratios, p68:

There are two. For someone with 35+ years of Leica M use coded in his genes there’s only one – 3:2.

SilkyPix with the Mac, p95:

Contradicting the impression from the earlier brochure, SilkyPix will work with the Mac, both PPC and Intel variants. This is nice as it’s currently the only app which will process X100 RAW images, until Adobe gets up to speed. I suppose that’s a relief of sorts, though Silky Pix has a very poor UI and you will have to reimport all your RAW files to Lightroom, or whatever you use, later.

Card capacities, p113:

The chart is wrong. They mean ‘3:2’ where they write ‘4:3’.

That said, an 8gB SDHC card will store a claimed 420 RAW pictures, meaning 19mB a snap. If you opt for RAW + JPG storage with ‘Fine’ JPG, one combined snap will take 23.9mB, meaning 334 picture-pairs on an 8gB SDHC card. Note that a Class 4 card is recommended as a minimum for movies – higher Class numbers mean higher write speeds. The 8gB cards I use in the G1 are Class 6 so they should work fine.

Battery and charger:

The battery is shipped flat and takes 2.5 hours to charge. Bummer!

The weight of the battery charger, above, seems incorrect – way too low.

* * * * *

Here’s my X100 kit so far:

Upstrap and spare battery. Wanted: One X100!

Now all I need is the camera ….

Don’t get ripped off.

The rumors about the battery life of the Fuji X100 are all over the place. Some say it’s 200 snaps, others twice that.

I have no idea what to believe but a spare makes sense.

You can buy the real thing at Amazon by searching on ‘Ricoh GXR’ which uses the same battery:

The Ricoh GXR rip-off.

Or get ripped-off a little less by searching on ‘Fuji F30’ which also uses the same one:

The Fuji rip-off.

Finally, best of all, search for ‘NP95 Li-on’ and you get this 1800 mAh variant, which is the same capacity as the one which comes with the X100:

The real thing with a cheap label ….

No prizes for guessing which I ordered. I don’t propose to pay $30 for a label. Guess where all three are made? Yup. Same place as your brand new shiny ‘American’ iPad.

The main risk here is that Fuji has included (no indication of that yet), or will include, a ROM to make their battery the only one that works with the X100 – Panny tried this dirty trick with the G series, only to have that hacked soon after. Many printer manufacturers try that with their overpriced ink cartridges and ROM setting tools abound to stop that little bit of greed. So hardly a concern, especially at the price asked.