After reading high praises from photogs and having a need for a 'point-n-shoot' camera, I picked up a X100S a couple weeks ago. Still playing around with it and learning what it can't and can do... What are your thoughts on it? Have you guys been using it for weddings? Any images to share? I have some but none are wedding images.
There was a thread posted here in this forum (last month I believe) that was all about the x100s and there were even some photos from a wedding posted as well! A quick search should do the trick.
Nah... I'm pretty sold on it Steve. I've seen some pretty decent stuff from other photogs (not wedding stuff) and that's what sold me on what the camera was capable of. I used it this past weekend while I was away in Indianapolis for the Indy 500 Time Trials and whipped it out as often as I could. I'm still fumbling over how to change settings and stuff... definitely takes some getting used to. Keep in mind, I was never really a film guy so just changing the aperture via lens is different for me. I edited a few images and have been pretty impressed so far... I'll share some later this evening when I'm home.
I use the three custom settings to switch between using the Q button:
1) ProNeg Hi -1 hilights -1 Noise iso Auto6400 DRAuto
2) Same but fixed iso 400 DR200
3) ProNeg Standard iso Auto 1600 DRAuto
I find this is the fastest way to switch between fixed and variable iso/DR and lovely portrait tones on setting 3. I never use Velvia and would always do a B/W conversion in post so this covers my needs nicely.
Ian Boys wrote:
I use the three custom settings to switch between using the Q button:
1) ProNeg Hi -1 hilights -1 Noise iso Auto6400 DRAuto
2) Same but fixed iso 400 DR200
3) ProNeg Standard iso Auto 1600 DRAuto
I find this is the fastest way to switch between fixed and variable iso/DR and lovely portrait tones on setting 3. I never use Velvia and would always do a B/W conversion in post so this covers my needs nicely.
I'm assuming you are shooting JPG? I'm still shooting RAW... it sucks that the ISO only goes to 200... haven't tried the ND filter yet.
I owned the original X100, and eventually sold it, which I came to regret as I really missed it's portability and image quality. About a week and a half ago I looked into the X100s and knew I had to have one, it was everything I loved about the X100 and more. After checking every major online dealer and calling every single Fuji authorized dealer in a 3 state radius, I finally found one out in a store in Kansas and had it overnighted to me on Tuesday so that I would have it for an upcoming wedding on Friday.
Long story short, I was too busy to get to really use it during the wedding, but I did manage to find time to use it during the reception. I really only used it for a few candid shots (really nothing special at all, I just wanted to try it out, no award winning shots by any means), but my impressions so far are great. I also took it out to a local state park the day it arrived for a quick test, and I was really impressed with it then too.
The main things I liked/discovered about it during the wedding:
-Only 2 people bothered to even look at me when I took it out and started using it, and only because they appeared to recognize it (or thought it was a Leica) as one said something to the other and they both smiled. Other than that, not a single person even bothered to look at me or pay any mind to the fact I was even there. The ability of the camera to get candid shots is incredible, I may as well have been invisible.
-I always liked shooting in just JPG when I had my X100, but to test it out I shot both JPG and RAW at the wedding. As it turns out, I love the look and feel of the X100s RAW files, and found I actually got better and more vibrant color and tone to the images when I used the RAW files. Now I know that's no real shock, but the X100 always seemed to do SOOC JPGs better than RAW files to me, so it was something different I noticed. (Yes, I know JPGs have processing applied and RAW files don't, the JPGs were always more than adequate for me though, which isn't the case with the X100s for me)
-I was really impressed with the dynamic range of the RAW files. I know according to DXO the DR of the camera is about equal to most other cameras, but it did jump out at me....particularly with one shot of people at the reception sitting against a large room length glass window, with high direct sun outside. While you could still make out some detail outside with the highlight slider at 0, when I pulled it down to -100 in Lightroom, the highlights were almost fully recovered, and the image still looked natural. Really really impressed with it.
Overall, I love the camera, and I can't wait to use it again
G-Gore wrote:
A related question - is there equipment/solution to have wireless flash? Optical Slave? or maybe something more reliable?
Pocketwizards, etc
I've been considering an x20 for flash work....it has a leaf shutter, and will sync with flash as fast as it'll shoot (provided your flash duration is quick enough)
Its a great little camera, but I do agree with you that there are all sorts of buttons and settings and crap that get in the way of just taking photos sometimes.
Love the images it produces but it does feel somewhat like a toy - not that the X100 didn't as well.
I love me some x100s. It is a great camera, and I have been using it constantly since I got it. I use it at weddings as well as just for dorking around. I have few things that I have to get used to...mainly shutter lag. I suck at the manual focus, although I need to practice more (what I would give for it to be a true rangefinder). I go back and forth between shooting on raw and jpg. Most of these images (actually, all of them, I think) were shot jpg.
Another thing, because of the how some of the usual settings are harder to change on the fly, I have found myself usually shooting on program most of the time...especially when shooting on the run. Anyway...here are some samples. These are with mostly my basic LR preset
Starting out with two hotties...my wife and Keith Lee's wife, respectively
I always thought that an x100s-like camera would be ace for wedding photography. As it is, after we sell off all our wedding gear at the end of this year, I'm either going to pick up a D5100 and glue my 35/1.8 to it or pick up an x100s...either will be my only camera for the foreseeable future.
joelconner wrote:
I love me some x100s. It is a great camera, and I have been using it constantly since I got it. I use it at weddings as well as just for dorking around. I have few things that I have to get used to...mainly shutter lag. I suck at the manual focus, although I need to practice more (what I would give for it to be a true rangefinder). I go back and forth between shooting on raw and jpg. Most of these images (actually, all of them, I think) were shot jpg.
Another thing, because of the how some of the usual settings are harder to change on the fly, I have found myself usually shooting on program most of the time...especially when shooting on the run. Anyway...here are some samples. These are with mostly my basic LR preset
Starting out with two hotties...my wife and Keith Lee's wife, respectively
Yeah, I could see why you would use auto mode for some settings since it's a little cumbersome to make changes on the fly. I feel like I'm much more fluent on my 5D3 but I use that ton on a weekly basis that it's second nature to me.... which is why I'm trying to force myself to keep practicing shooting manual with the X100S.
Great images so far guys... I love how far everyone is pushing this 'little' camera. I'll get some of mine up here soon enough.
bringing this back from the dead... I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on conserving battery life on the x100s? I just got mine last week & love it, but the battery life hasn't been great. I since turned off the LCD and only use the EVF/OVF, which should help.. just wondering if there's anything easy i'm missing
Would love to know how to get started in achieving shots like this... I tried setting to rear curtain sync with TTL or manual flash and dragging the shutter of 1/30 and slower but still got nothing close to this.
JR Magat wrote:
bringing this back from the dead... I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on conserving battery life on the x100s? I just got mine last week & love it, but the battery life hasn't been great. I since turned off the LCD and only use the EVF/OVF, which should help.. just wondering if there's anything easy i'm missing
It's not going to have a great battery life. But, I use the ovf about 90% of the time with the LCD turned off, and it will last me quite a while. At the last wedding it lasted the full day without needing to be changed at all (10 hours...300ish frames shot). I turn it off after I have finished my shots...no so much to save battery life but because the re-start lag when it has gone to sleep is much worse than we just flipping the power switch back on.
There are fairly cheap off-brand batteries, and they work very well. I have two extra batteries along with the original
