Fuji X Series

[Raymond Lin]

I'd been considering get rid of my X100V as I just don't use it enough - I don't know what the new one being released is going to do to the value of the V models .

It will first wipe out all the scalpers on the V but because they raised the price by £200...the used price won't drop as much had they stick with £1399. So the Squeeze of all the used prices for all the models won't be as drastic. I suspect the Original will be on same level as the S (people love the original). The F will be at £700-800 and the V at £1000 to 1100.

This is presuming the stock for the VI will be plenty and always in stock, meaning a used VI will be more like £1400-1500.

 

[Buddy]

Got the V. Impressive they've packed in the extras into the VI whilst (almost) the same size as the V.

I've got no reason to upgrade. I've never really understood the need for an IBIS for a camera designed for street and day to day. This is coming from someone who regularly uses upwards of 1/2000s for wildlife images with large lenses.

It serves no purpose here. You're not going to be doing sports or fast action. Using basic rules (doubling the ss for camera lens) you get sharp images as low at 1/60th and a steady hand. Even then I've never needed to go that low. In my pocket, out it comes snap - sharp - done.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Got the V. Impressive they've packed in the extras into the VI whilst (almost) the same size as the V.

I've got no reason to upgrade. I've never really understood the need for an IBIS for a camera designed for street and day to day. This is coming from someone who regularly uses upwards of 1/2000s for wildlife images with large lenses.

It serves no purpose here. You're not going to be doing sports or fast action. Using basic rules (doubling the ss for camera lens) you get sharp images as low at 1/60th and a steady hand. Even then I've never needed to go that low. In my pocket, out it comes snap - sharp - done.

I am the opposite.

If they only added the new sensor but not IBIS, I would be happy with the X100F. I prefer the 4 way button too…but I find IBIS important in the evening. As this for me is a camera I can take out travelling, I can use from morning to evening. In the evening I am taking low light stuff, indoor stuff, everything from street to even my food in a dimly lit restaurant. So IBIS is useful for about ¼ of the day.

But we are looking at double the money between a X100F (used) vs a X100VI (new)...so that is a big price tag for IBIS for me.

I guess though, 40mp means you can crop to 50mm focal length....almost like shooting with 35/50?

 

[CGrieves]

I've always had tripod hands but IBIS never hurts, especially as I love shooting in the evening. And it adds creative possiblities- Flip the ND filter in and you can easily blur movement.

I think prices for the V and VI will remain high. I'm very tempted to pre-order as I really regretted waiting and ultimately missing out on the V. If the VI works out and rejuvenates photography for me, I'll sell the rest of my gear to finance it. If it doesn't, I'll sell all my gear anyway

 

[Buddy]

I am the opposite.

If they only added the new sensor but not IBIS, I would be happy with the X100F. I prefer the 4 way button too…but I find IBIS important in the evening. As this for me is a camera I can take out travelling, I can use from morning to evening. In the evening I am taking low light stuff, indoor stuff, everything from street to even my food in a dimly lit restaurant. So IBIS is useful for about ¼ of the day.

But we are looking at double the money between a X100F (used) vs a X100VI (new)...so that is a big price tag for IBIS for me.

I guess though, 40mp means you can crop to 50mm focal length....almost like shooting with 35/50?

Was abroad and shooting quite a bit of low light. No issues re stabilisation etc. Nice clean images even with my purposefully added noise in the film simulations.

X100iv great camera if your new to the series. I wonder if the noise will be an issue with the added mps.

 

[LiE]

I shoot 90% people so IBIS isn’t important to me. I’m also not precious about low ISO at night. You can do a lot with 1/60 and 1600 or 3200 ISO at f2.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Was abroad and shooting quite a bit of low light. No issues re stabilisation etc. Nice clean images even with my purposefully added noise in the film simulations.

X100iv great camera if your new to the series. I wonder if the noise will be an issue with the added mps.

Kinda new but not. I own the original...so it's a different beast now.

 

[wozzizname]

It will first wipe out all the scalpers on the V but because they raised the price by £200...the used price won't drop as much had they stick with £1399. So the Squeeze of all the used prices for all the models won't be as drastic. I suspect the Original will be on same level as the S (people love the original). The F will be at £700-800 and the V at £1000 to 1100.

This is presuming the stock for the VI will be plenty and always in stock, meaning a used VI will be more like £1400-1500.

That's fine by me - I've had mine for three years now.

 

[Drollic]

Was abroad and shooting quite a bit of low light. No issues re stabilisation etc. Nice clean images even with my purposefully added noise in the film simulations.

X100iv great camera if your new to the series. I wonder if the noise will be an issue with the added mps.

It seems to depend on how much the user likes noise, their jpeg nr setting, if they add grain or if they use ai denoise via raw and then how good they are at sharpening and post process.

The fuji jpeg are great even with noise, but ai denoise has made a dent in them for me. It's a shame you can't rotate and crop from raw in camera as otherwise I'd use ooc jpeg.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I can join the club of plot loss as I've lasted less than a month with an A7R5 and have gone back to Fuji. Took quite a hit, but not terrible as purchased in HK. There's life style then there's the below

Terrible JPEGs - awful standard colours, the picture profiles are also nasty (FL is far too harsh and IN is often too red with horrific skin issues - same with the camera profiles for RAW) and generally the camera shoots too magenta and too cool. This was with a high end 35mm 1.2 Sigma lens that generally shoots warm. The GM 35 looks even colder with what must be some of the harshest looking out of focus areas going. It's like digital rendering dialled up to 100 with zero character. Great for product shots of course. Feel similar about their 50mm on the character. Perhaps might feel differently if I was seriously good in PS or similar when it comes to colour grading and editing although possibly not.

The camera feels dead to use in general, even the shutter button just feels fairly nasty. Tested others, including in official Sony store - all the same.

The new Sony screen design is terrible and I struggle to understand how it was signed off the way it is. I can't believe it's also on their new a9 3. The fact the top left bracket isn't supported on the rear upper back panel is so poor. Graphics card sag style screens possibly incoming and with 1 year warranty. You can move the upper bracket about with your hands from new and it sits proud of the body left side upper often - seen it a few times. That simply isn't lasting as new when used over a period of time in a bag etc.

AF is amazing - seperate back button focus for eye af with it remotely near your point and it's glued on, EVF is amazing, LCD panel itself is nice, menu system is more than fine, body is nice to hold and no issue with ergo, battery is good, charger included another plus, Sigma lens also incredible although heavy.

Edit - Just given I'm moaning about Sony. They give out official international warranty transfers via the official stores abroad known as tourist warranty transfers. Three different people working in well known camera stores here have told me that's it's likely useless as Sony Europe division won't likely accept the camera with a Sony Asia serial against it despite Sony Asia store saying it would be honoured. This means paying for a fix here or sending abroad at cost.

Pointed out the screen issue to them - 'well, it's not ideal I guess' (now on 6k+ camera).

But,but the internet said Fuji is APS-C and has 1000x worse image quality and the AF is the suckiness!

 

[Buddy]

It seems to depend on how much the user likes noise, their jpeg nr setting, if they add grain or if they use ai denoise via raw and then how good they are at sharpening and post process.

The fuji jpeg are great even with noise, but ai denoise has made a dent in them for me. It's a shame you can't rotate and crop from raw in camera as otherwise I'd use ooc jpeg.

To be honest, since they released the new fuji app (file transfer to phone is flawless now) my workflow is - x100v jpeg -> phone (crop/rotate if needed) -> flickr album. Done. It's so quick.

 

[Mr.Stu]

I don't need it, but Fuji really do nail the aesthetic and feel to make you want it. My R8+35mm isn't too much bigger, and takes better pictures (and is about the same price as the x100v1 thesedays!), but right brain still says "order the black x100v1".

 

[Raymond Lin]

I don't need it, but Fuji really do nail the aesthetic and feel to make you want it. My R8+35mm isn't too much bigger, and takes better pictures (and is about the same price as the x100v1 thesedays!), but right brain still says "order the black x100v1".

Do you mean This Canon R8 with this 35mm 1.8 lens?

Have you seen a X100 in person? It’s much smaller than I expected.

 

[Mr.Stu]

@Raymond Lin yeah owned several X100 versions. I suppose if you have pockets that allow comfortable carrying of the x100 then it is in a different category. Perhaps the 28mm pancake with the R8 is a better comparison, but then even less apples:apples.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I can squeeze in the X100 in most jeans pocket, meaning if I am out for dinner, it can be carried with not much trouble and doesn't look out of place at dinner. This is from someone who would put down a 5D and 35L in a Michelin Star Restaurant.

I find the X100 really convenient, and I also have the X-S10 as well, and Sony A73/R3.

The things that sways me are

1 - The almost silent leaf shutter
2 - The built in ND filter
3 - The built in F/2.0 lens in that size.

There are no other body out there that has all 3 combined, that is the killer feature, this is before the 40mp sensor or IBIS.

 

[Drollic]

But,but the internet said Fuji is APS-C and has 1000x worse image quality and the AF is the suckiness!

The image quality by normal definition and the af are both worse. Ai noise reduction favours aps-c more though. You can tell the difference in eye af tracking within no time. R6mk2 much the same. Dr better for landscape etc. The ergonomics are better in some ways than xt5 with official grip as well. Much better in body grip by default but to be expected with the extra weight. It all should be better, it costs far more. The differences are almost meaningless though when the hobby is so subjective. Product, people and especially landscape it's a good camera if you're willing to invest large amounts of time editing raw.

 

[Drollic]

To be honest, since they released the new fuji app (file transfer to phone is flawless now) my workflow is - x100v jpeg -> phone (crop/rotate if needed) -> flickr album. Done. It's so quick.

I need to go back to messing around editing jpeg and resaving to see the differences. Minor adjustments with crop and colour seem ok done just the once, but I'm under the impression that rotating knackers the file due to interpolation and should be avoided. 90 degree is fine as pixels all shifted as they were.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The image quality by normal definition and the af are both worse. You can tell the difference in eye af tracking within no time. Dr better for landscape etc. The ergonomics are better in some ways than xt5 with official grip as well. Much better in body grip by default but to be expected with the extra weight. It all should be better, it costs far more. The differences are almost meaningless though when the hobby is so subjective. Product, people and especially landscape it's a good camera if you're willing to invest large amounts of time editing raw.

I had both full frame and APS-C cameras and on the internet you can see all the people harp on about how full frame is 10000X better. You can see now on a lot of Fuji reviews comments on how Fuji is APS-C and its dead,because Canikonsonysonic haz muh full frame,100x better AF,etc(yet none of them seem to talk about the Fuji GFX system). I remember a Hexus forum member who used APS-C Pentax gear because of its weather sealing and got mocked by their local camera club because they were not using full frame Canikon a decade ago. They ended up winning international awards for their work.

As a person who started with film cameras you were lucky to be able to use above ISO800 colour print film, and slide film had very narrow DR,so some of the measurebating comments make me laugh. Cameras had very few AF points clustered around the centre of the frame.Even the AF of something like an X-T5 is leagues better than cameras 5~10 years ago. Yet nearly a decade ago,with my entry level D600 I was using it to take pictures at airshows using a non-stabilised lens.

But as you touched on in the last point,Fuji has great out of camera results,whereas some of the competing systems need you to fart around editing RAW files. Sony had the same issues with JPEGs a decade ago when I was using their old Alpha system.

The problem is people are approaching digital cameras like they do computers,ie,my spec sheet is better than yours. Fuji is nearly as old as Kodak and one of the few imaging companies that make film,printers,etc even on a commercial level. They know what they are doing WRT to "colour science" and image processing.

The reality is that any of the decent cameras from the big companies,whether it's micro 4/3,APS-C or full frame are capable of excellent results. It's more dependent on the photographer knowing how to use the strengths and weaknesses of their system. But a superior spec sheet does not mean you get a better camera for your particular photography style.

If that is the case Minolta would have won in the 1980s.

 

[GMac11]

To my mind there’s only only one genre that benefits from full frame and that’s wedding photography. This is of course not to say that APS-C isn’t any good for weddings, I’ve shot a few myself (not my profession I must add) but I do admit if I was a full time wedding shooter I would seriously consider a full frame setup. For everything else APS-C, and Fujifilm in particular, is more than adequate. I shoot sports and commercial and I wouldn’t be without my Fuji gear.

 

[Raymond Lin]

The gaps between FF (Canon/Sony*) and APSC (Canon/Fuji) has closed down quite a lot in the last few years but only really recently.

Early Sony FF mirrorless were not good in terms of Auto focus, it was just not good enough compared to DSLR at the time (5D3 (released 2012), 5D4 (released 2016)). At the same time, Fuji had their X-T1 (released 2014), X-T2 (released 2016). The problem then, the X-T1 were single card slot, the lenses at the time, the 23/1.4 and 35/1.4, although decent (for hobby), they do not stack up against the Canon L glass. The 35L is leap and bounds better than the 23/1.4. I know Fuji had their X-Pro1 (Pro Line?...), I never consider that to be their pro line up, I find the X-T series much more “pro”. And side by side in those time period, a Canon 5D body…which I know is more expensive than a Fuji, but Canon 5D isn’t even top of the line, are superior to the body out in the same year. Even in terms of lenses, Canon has a lot more compared to Fuji, even if they are good, they are less options.

Quick side note, never liked Canon’s APSC, it is 1.6x crop, even more than 1.5x of the others.

When Sony got their act together and made a good AF in their A73/A7R3/A9, Fuji were behind with the X-T3. Eye-AF in the Sony are simply better. Having had the X-S10, which has X-T4 focusing system, I don’t even think this is as good as the Sony A73 focusing. I find Sony’s Eye-AF more sticky.

Is the current Fuji focusing good enough? Sure, but in weddings you are pushed to the limits more, and you want more room, more boundaries, want every little tiny improvements. I think A73’s focusing, for me, is the bar, better is nice, but wouldn’t do it with a worse AF these days. And in that regard, I think I wouldn’t use anything less than a X-T5 for weddings and would want the new 24/1.4 WR and new 33/1.4 lens both release 2021 and the 56/1.2 WR (2022).

So in short, X-T5 with the new WR lenses would be where the minimum I’d go. And I haven’t even mention Dynamic Range, Sensor, Bokeh from FF, ISO and all that stuff. Fuji gear up until X-T5 was trailing, same for lenses too.

*I am only listing the systems that I’ve had personal experience with.