Fuji Fujifilm Finepix X100 - Pricing, Availability and general OMG

chylld

Regular
First of all, thanks to BBW for the invitation to these forums, and suggesting that I start a new thread as one of the first soon-to-be X100 owners :)

Rather than continue on in the style of the existing X100 thread, I decided to gather as much pertinent information as possible so that everyone can get their fix... err, I mean find out what they need to know in order to (decide whether or not to) buy this camera.

Great intro video
A detailed walk-through of the camera and how it handles courtesy of Tyler Stalman:
YouTube - Fuji X100 Hands On Field Test With Tyler Stalman

Price (camera) ($ amounts in AUD/USD)
Predictably, the camera is not in stock anywhere. If you can wait, the prices for each country are below but if you want one now, the first 5 eBay sales indicate an average going rate of $1886 as of 24/3.

USA: Amazon briefly had a $1070 deal up (now withdrawn) so that seems to be the true market price for the X100 in the US :)
Europe: €999 (~$1380) according to richardovaste.
UK: £899 (~$1440) according to bubzz
Australia: $1107 at Gerry Gibbs (my preorder is with Digital Camera Warehouse for $1099)
Japan: Yodobashi Camera wants 128,000yen (~$1540) while internet prices are 115,000yen (~$1380).
Hong Kong: 11800 HKD (~$1500)

Price (accessories) (in Australian dollars)
$55 - Adapter ring (for putting on filters - may not have to buy this, see below)
$110 - Adapter ring + hood (hood requires adapter ring)
$104 - Leather case (top half is detachable, so it can be used as a half-case, but it will not fit when the adapter ring is attached)
$165 - EF20 flash (NB: this is a re-branded Sunpak RD2000 (US$60))
$253 - EF42 flash (NB: this is a re-branded Sunpak PZ42X (US$140))

Availability
The camera is now shipping! However initial shipments have been cut down to about 15% due to obvious reasons. Hence I missed out on Australia's first round :(

Features
Personally I'm bored to death of having the hybrid viewfinder basics explained to me, so here are some useful features that people may have missed (I have been following every scrap of news and tweets possible)

Peaking - First talked about here and not much ever since. This is a manual focus assist function that highlights sharp edges (i.e. in-focus areas) in green so that you can confirm focus easily, accurately and quickly.

EVF MF assist zoom in OVF mode - OVF mode doesn't show what parts are in focus, for obvious reasons. However, simply press the command lever in and the OVF switches to an EVF, which will be zoomed in to the current AF box.

Flash sync of 1/1000s - e.g. for fill flash in really sunny conditions. This is much faster than SLRs, which are typically limited to 1/250. This allows better subject separation in sunny conditions, as well as better ability to freeze motion.

Fast autofocus - Apparently on par with mid-range SLRs, and way faster than any current M43 offering (except for maybe the GH2 + 14-140).

Update: According to reviews, AF is SLR-fast in good light, but really poor in low light.

Exceptional high-ISO performance - Pictures speak better than words. Very much looking forward to usable ISO 6400 (one two) and ISO 12800! (one two)

Fully-customisable Auto-ISO - Just as with most SLRs, you can set both the minimum shutter speed AND max ISO that will be chosen by the camera. Basically, as the light dims, the shutter speed will slow down to your preset minimum (I'd recommend 1/35s or the closest to it) before it starts ramping up the ISO to your preset maximum (I'd recommend 6400 based on the quality of the samples) and then slow shutter speed beyond that.

Surprises
Some things are causing a bit of concern however...

Aperture limits at high shutter speed - The official specs say that the X100 is limited to a max aperture of f/8 at its fastest 1/4000s shutter speed! Apparently, f/2 is only available when slowed down to 1/1000s.

Update: Apparently, the camera will still attempt to shoot at 1/4000 f/2, however the metering may not be 100% accurate.

Adapter ring - rather than have a female filter thread, the X100 has a MALE filter thread. Fuji wants you to buy a special AU$55 adapter ring to fix this problem. However, all this adapter ring seems to be is a female-female 49mm adapter - which raises the question: Can we simply screw regular 49mm filters on backwards?

Update: NO, this won't work. In macro focusing mode, the lens barrel protrudes 3-5mm from the filter ring edge.

Constantly switching AF modes - every time you want to shoot something closer than 50-80cm (e.g. macro shots, food, anything on a table in front of you) you must manually select the macro AF mode, and conversely, you must manually select normal AF mode when shooting farther away again.

Update: In normal AF mode, the camera will focus down to ~30cm, so this will not be that big an annoyance.


Summary
It's gonna be a great camera. You want one. Now.
Correction: There is a lot of hype for this camera to live up to. Perhaps too much, for certain customers. When X100 distribution is a bit more widespread, we'll have a clearer picture...

As soon as it arrives, I will be comparing it to my current Olympus E-PL1 + 20/1.7 kit and selling one away - I do not anticipate that to be a very difficult decision at all :) For those interested, I reviewed the E-PL1 against the Samsung NX10 for Steve Huff Photo last year.
 
Thanks from a fellow aussie for an informative post - the focus assist stuff particularly useful.

I would appreciate your letting us know if your conjecture about filter threads is confirmed. Even if it isn't, I imagine cheaper alternatives to the fuji adapter ring will soon be available in ebay. Same goes for the leather case, which looks a bit clunky to me as well as costing a heroic amount.
 
Aperture limits at high shutter speed - The official specs say that the X100 is limited to a max aperture of f/8 at its fastest 1/4000s shutter speed! Apparently, f/2 is only available when slowed down to 1/1000s. While these limits are understandable due to the leaf shutter design(and not an entirely new thing), it is certainly annoying to be constantly wary of specific aperture/shutter speed combinations, especially on a camera with dedicated manual aperture and shutter speed dials :(
That's going to annoy some people!!
 
all this adapter ring seems to be is a female-female 49mm adapter - which raises the question: Can we simply screw regular 49mm filters on backwards?

If we can, then we can screw the filter ring cover back over the filter's male thread, and it should look pretty neat.

Thanks to your informative thread, I now understand the filter situation. I looked in my drawer of goodies, and dredged up a 49mm RM100 Infrared filter, which is completely opaque in visible wavelengths. It would look bizarre (or cool?) with a totally black lens mounted on the X100 behind the ring cover.

The X100 may not do infrared, and I don't really care if it doesn't. Some people might like it for this, though.
 
I thought you were going to say you gutted the IR filter and did something useful with the metal ring! Oh well, maybe next time...

Have updated the post with some more pricing and availability info.
 
I thought you were going to say you gutted the IR filter and did something useful with the metal ring! Oh well, maybe next time...

I think we are on the same page, on the IR question.

I hadn't thought about selling my 20mm f1.7 until you mentioned it. This is part of my E-P2 kit, which I took on a recent 40-day trip to Melbourne and New Zealand. Now I'm wondering, could I do a trip like that with just the X100, and the Olympus XZ-1? (Which I also haven't got, yet.)
 
I hadn't thought about selling my 20mm f1.7 until you mentioned it. This is part of my E-P2 kit, which I took on a recent 40-day trip to Melbourne and New Zealand. Now I'm wondering, could I do a trip like that with just the X100, and the Olympus XZ-1? (Which I also haven't got, yet.)

It will be a personal preference, but I most certainly can. Last year I spent 3 weeks in Hong Kong and Japan with only the 20/1.7, and never found myself wanting another lens. So I know I'll be fine with the X100 :)

Adding the XZ-1 can only help - but I can't justify having 2 cameras in the house!
 
Just an aside for those in the USA, Amazon is now accepting pre orders again, and JR Music is, as well. Adorama will allow you to order it, but does not call it a pre order.
 
chylld, if it's not too late where you are and you come back on here tonight, can you tell me what your memories are about the accuracy of the OVF's frame lines? I've read so many different websites that my brain is full and thought I'd rely on your memory, instead.;)

P.S. The reason I ask is that someone I know has heard from someone else....that the OVF frame lines are not too accurate - as in only showing about 75% of reality.
 
chylld, if it's not too late where you are and you come back on here tonight, can you tell me what your memories are about the accuracy of the OVF's frame lines? I've read so many different websites that my brain is full and thought I'd rely on your memory, instead.;)

It's 9AM where I am :)

The general gist is that they are 'good enough' - the bigger issue is the accuracy of AF for small objects in the close-medium range, i.e. you will get the focus confirmation beep, but it may have focused on something else due to parallax error.

I believe when in macro mode (for things closer than 30-50cm?) you can only use the EVF. Not sure if the OVF is disabled entirely in macro mode though...
 
:redface: Silly me about the time zones!

Hmm, 30 to 50 cm is very close, right...macro.

Well, I'm going to try not to worry too much about anything and just wait to see what I think in real life. I really do hope it gives me what my X1 almost gave me...if you know what I mean.

By the way, good morning! Evening is falling fast over here in New York land.
 
I think some of the rangefinder folks are concerned about the accuracy of the OVF. I have never really experienced an OVF except on the X1 and for me it really wasn't helpful at all. I guess with this camera the OVF with autofocus showing will be a whole new deal and that many like the concept of seeing what's coming into their field of view before it hits.
 
I think some of the rangefinder folks are concerned about the accuracy of the OVF. I have never really experienced an OVF except on the X1 and for me it really wasn't helpful at all. I guess with this camera the OVF with autofocus showing will be a whole new deal and that many like the concept of seeing what's coming into their field of view before it hits.

Given that the parallax error will be the same for rangefinder cameras, I think the concern lies more with the AF accuracy in OVF mode and not the OVF itself. However it should be possible to tweak the AF algorithm to compensate for parallax, so I think it will be a quickly forgotten concern in the real world.

Being able to see outside the frame lines however is the biggest bonus - even without having tried it before, I can tell how useful it's going to be.
 
I think the concern lies more with the AF accuracy in OVF mode and not the OVF itself.
I'm sure you've got it right.

Have to keep all appendages crossed and since you're most likely going to be our first "live one" with the camera, I will be sitting on the edge of my seat to see and hear what you think!

Remind me when your ETA is?
 
A few days ago I got wind of Mio Cade's photostream, with some really nice Fuji X100 photographs, and now there are more! I'm only going to post a link here because in his profile he requests that permission be granted before posting or using any of his photographs. Here you go: Mio Cade's Flickr Photos.

I'm pretty sure that it was vaquey, a member here and a Flickr pal of mine, who gave me the link... I honestly can't remember! Today, I've seen the link posted on other sites, so figured it was about time I added it here. I'm very excited by what I see!

P.S. I just received the AOK for linking to this photographer's Flickr stream, a bit after the fact :redface: but I am very glad to have heard back from him.
 
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