I am a professional wedding/portrait/travel photographer in Canada and Fujifilm have hired me to shoot some images for their upcoming product launch of the X-Pro 1 in Canada. They have also asked me to provide feedback to them as they are very interested in finding out a working pro's thoughts on the system after using it for a while. I know they have cameras in other photographer's hands (like Zack Arias in the USA) and I am impressed that they are interested in what we have to say.
Fujifilm have asked me not to share any images (at least not yet) as they want to present them to the press/public when the product launches in Canada, but gave me the go ahead to speak about the camera and lenses. Keep in mind it is a pre-production camera but it does seem to have fairly recent firmware on it.
Anyway, I have been using the camera in my studio for a week now and have it for another week. I am using it on assignments and with real clients - I wanted to know if this is a camera I would be happy to use alongside (or perhaps, instead of) my other gear. If you are interested in my initial impressions, you can read them here:
So, the lenses are made out of plastic but you feel they have a good build quality. Does the aperture ring have the same firm yet smooth feel that the X100 aperture does when it's changed? Is the focus dampening better than the X100 or about the same? Just curious as I have heard others who have handled the lenses describe them as feeling a bit cheap.
From what I saw (theres loads of photos on Flickr), body itself is decent, but quality of lens.. well there isnt quality.
I think that sensor can shine, but it definitely needs some serious lens. It has small "if".. which is "how manual focus works?". If it doesnt have any decent MF aid, it will end as pretty much useless camera with lots of wasted potential.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
So, the lenses are made out of plastic but you feel they have a good build quality. Does the aperture ring have the same firm yet smooth feel that the X100 aperture does when it's changed? Is the focus dampening better than the X100 or about the same? Just curious as I have heard others who have handled the lenses describe them as feeling a bit cheap.
I have held and shot a production X 1 Pro and the lenses do not have the same aperture feeling as the X100. The click is much much lighter. Far easier to change than the nice stiff X100. The autofocus of the 60mm lens is extraordinarily slow and weak (if failed a lot) in the indoor lighting that I had at the time.
rattymouse wrote:
I have held and shot a production X 1 Pro and the lenses do not have the same aperture feeling as the X100. The click is much much lighter. Far easier to change than the nice stiff X100. The autofocus of the 60mm lens is extraordinarily slow and weak (if failed a lot) in the indoor lighting that I had at the time.
That's too bad. I know you are a big x100 user and fan so your opinion holds a lot of weight.
Mescalamba wrote:
From what I saw (theres loads of photos on Flickr), body itself is decent, but quality of lens.. well there isnt quality.
I think that sensor can shine, but it definitely needs some serious lens. It has small "if".. which is "how manual focus works?". If it doesnt have any decent MF aid, it will end as pretty much useless camera with lots of wasted potential.
The manual focus to me seemed faster than the X100, but still way off from a real manual focus feeling. The amount of turning required to move the lens was still quite excessive.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
That's too bad. I know you are a big x100 user and fan so your opinion holds a lot of weight.
Well, one thing to keep in mind was that I was really blown away to be actually holding the X Pro 1. I went to the camera mall just to have a look around, not expecting the X Pro 1 to be there. As soon as I walked in the door I found a Fujifilm stand all set up with 3 X Pro 1's. All of a sudden, I had one in my hand!! It was really crowded and I could not concentrate a whole lot. But what I'm relating now is what is in my memory which I believe is reasonably accurate. I spent most time with the 60mm lens which was a real turn off. The camera simply could not focus very well. The 35mm was much better.
I'm glad they fixed the ergonomic problems I had with it. Hopefully the AF is decent.
Your review makes it very tempting. I wonder if I should just return the nex7 and get this or do the drastic warranty violating step of getting my nex7's aa filter removed.
Mescalamba wrote:
From what I saw (theres loads of photos on Flickr), body itself is decent, but quality of lens.. well there isnt quality.
I strongly disagree - the 35/1.4 appears to be an absolutely stellar lens, sharp from f/1.4 on. Haven't seen many real-world examples of the 60mm, but tester shots also point to it also being an excellent lens.
The 18, I'm not sold on its sharpness as of yet - I'd be more interested in the 14mm down the road anyway - but it looks very nice in B&W from what I've seen, very film-like. Maybe not a killer landscape lens, but for street/documentary/etc., I think it could be quite good.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/copen880/
lots of full-size XPro-1, 18mm & 35mm shots here, many processed through Silver Efex Pro (don't know if he's importing to SilkyPix then LR/PS, or modifying JPGs)
FlyPenFly wrote:
I'm glad they fixed the ergonomic problems I had with it. Hopefully the AF is decent.
Your review makes it very tempting. I wonder if I should just return the nex7 and get this or do the drastic warranty violating step of getting my nex7's aa filter removed.
No way would I be the first and take chance on removing the NEX-7's AA filter without knowing what to expect. There could be color issues and all sorts of other small image anomalies.
miloz wrote:
I strongly disagree - the 35/1.4 appears to be an absolutely stellar lens, sharp from f/1.4 on. Haven't seen many real-world examples of the 60mm, but tester shots also point to it also being an excellent lens.
The 18, I'm not sold on its sharpness as of yet - I'd be more interested in the 14mm down the road anyway - but it looks very nice in B&W from what I've seen, very film-like. Maybe not a killer landscape lens, but for street/documentary/etc., I think it could be quite good.
Over at the X forum there were some new images made from the 18mm by someone who already has the X Pro 1. They look MUCH better than Fuji's stupidly bad sample images. I liked what I saw.
Some of those do look somewhat better, though still not stellar. Do you know if the photographer was working hand held or on a tripod because some of the shutter speeds were pretty marginal, like around 1/30 and some images seem to suffer from camera shake...
just reading the range of comments in this thread (from brilliant to bad) makes me feel vindicated for not worrying about image quality 