Review Date: August 2, 2011
Category: Serious to Advanced Amateur
Fujifilm FinePix X100
Photoxels Gold Award – Compact Mirrorless
HANDLING & FEEL
Retro-styled. Drop-dead gorgeous. Looks to die for. You have heard all the praise heaped on the Fujifilm FinePix X100‘s looks and it’s all warranted. This is one beautifully-styled camera with a superb build quality.
The Fujifilm X100 features analog controls that photographers appreciate: the shutter speed dial and the aperture ring are a welcomed return to those of us tired of holding down a button and/or rotating a small control dial to set either. These two controls alone are enough for most advanced photographers and make it very intuitive to switch between Programmed, Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and Manual modes. For Programmed mode, leave both on the A setting. Rotate one while leaving the other on the A setting and you’re immediately in either Aperture-Priority (select an aperture, leave Shutter Speed dial on A setting) or Shutter-Priority mode (select a shutter speed, leave Aperture Ring on A setting), and you move into Manual mode when you set both the shutter speed and aperture. What can be more direct, simple, fast and intuitive than that? Turn all sound off, and the X100 is completely silent, ideal for street photography.
Even though we mention retro, don’t be fooled: this is not a mechanical camera but electronics underpin every control. It’s just very well designed that the electronics don’t force us into the arkward “press a button and rotate a dial” mode of operation.
The built-in viewfinder on the X100 is a thing of beauty. It’s the first successful implementation of a hybrid optical and high-resolution electronic viewfinder. Use the bright optical viewfinder (with available exposure information overlay if desired) for most shots, switch to EVF for close-up shots to avoid parallax problems. In fact, the camera is smart enough to automatically switch to EVF when you set it macro and bring your eye to the viewfinder! In MF mode, the viewfinder also switches to EVF. The EVF is high resolution enough that you won’t object to using it instead of the OVF when it’s needed.
One feature that I absolutely love about the hybrid viewfinder is the overlay of a Virtual Horizon. If you’re familiar with my pictures, you know that I definitely suffer from being totally unable to keep my horizon level even with the help of a framing grid.
There is a Distance Indicator overlay at the botton of the screen that displays in Manual Focus mode (or always displays in Custom mode). Nice touch: the Distance Indicator indicates the depth of field depending on the aperture you select. You can also press the Fn button (if set to DOF) to stop down the aperture. There is a typo in the Owner’s Manual concerning the Command Control and Manual Focus. In MF mode, you can press the the Command Control (and not Command Dial as mistakenly printed) in to zoom on the focus area selected.
The Manual Focus Ring is unfortunately fly-by-wire and requires way too many turns to cover the range of distances. It does mean you can get pretty accurate. The best way to use MF is to use it with AF Area as described below. Unfortunately the LCD does not gain up much in low light.
To select the AF area, you press down the AF button (on the left of the LCD screen) and use the Command Dial to navigate the screen. You can select 5 x 5 = 25 AF areas on the OVF and 7 x 7 = 49 AF areas using the LCD/EVF. In MF mode, Fuifilm divides the whole screen up to the very edges into 9 x 9 = 81 AF areas to be used when you zoom in for a closer detailed look. A nice touch: you can wrap around as you navigate top/bottom and right/left (i.e. when you reach the edge, you wrap around to the other edge) and quickly return to center by pressing the Menu/OK button. An even nicer touch: in MF mode, press the AL/AE button to get the camera to focus on your selected AF area (no matter what you have set AL/AE to); then use the MF ring to fine tune the focus. You can use the Command Control to vary the size of the AF area when using the EVF. The camera remembers your AF area even when you turn it off so you may want to get into the habit of recentering it before switching the camera off.
Comparing sizes with other retro-styled digital cameras don’t quite make sense since none of them feature a built-in viewfinder. Once you clip on an add-on viewfinder, the sizes are comparable. With an add-on viewfinder, you also often lose the use of the hot shoe to attach a flash and raise your hand if you think this is acceptable.
As you can see, the FinePix X100 is exquisitely designed and thought out. However, there are a couple of design decisions that have annoyed many photographers, but it did not bother me too much. The most glaring design “flaw” is the Multi-selector (which the X100 wrongly refers to as the Command Dial) that requires you to daintily use your fingertips (fingernails even) to select and navigate the menu. Now, those who regularly use smartphones to text, tweet and email should, theoretically, not find this much of a problem (I didn’t). Maybe that was what the Fujifilm designers thought about when they designed and what the quality control people thought about when they approved the design. But most probably, the mechanical design guys are not the same as the electronics design guys. I have a feeling the X100b (or whatever the next model will be named) will “fix” this problem.
One minor disadvantage of having a manual shutter speed dial and aperture ring is that you usually don’t get the benefit of Program Shift in Programmed AE (P) mode. In P mode, the camera selects both the shutter speed and aperture for you, but you can shift the combination settings using Program Shift (if your camera provides that feature) to use a faster/slower shutter speed or larger/smaller aperture. At all times, the camera maintains proper exposure. Of course, you can accomplish the same functionality manually by using Shutter-Priority or Aperture-Priority mode. On the FinePix X100, you do surprisingly have Program Shift functionality: use the Command Control (it does not rotate but is like a jog lever) or Command Dial to program shift. Unfortunately, it is buggy, sometimes requiring many promptings before it will start shifting. Also, you cannot set AUTO ISO, DR Range AUTO and FLASH must be suppressed to use Program Shift.
Fujifilm FinePix X100
On the front of the camera, there’s the beautiful hybrid viewfinder, the stereo microphones, flash, AF-assist Illuminator/Self-Timer lamp, and the viewfinder selector (shaped like an old-styled mechanical self-timer). Around the lens, you’ll find the Aperture Ring and, in front of it, the Manual Focus Ring. You can mount a filter on the lens, but you’ll first have to unscrew the front ring, attach an optional adapter ring (AR-X100) and then screw in your filter (49mm). The lens cover is removable and lined with felt for a snug fit. There’s just a hint of a handgrip which works quite well.
Fujifilm FinePix X100 Top View
On top of the camera, viewing from the back, there’s the Shutter Release button with the Power ON/OFF Switch around it. To its left is the Shutter Speed Dial which goes from B, T, 1/4 sec. to 1/4000 sec., plus A. To access shutter speeds lower than 1/4 sec., set the Shutter Speed Dial to T, then use the Command Dial to select shutter speeds between 1/2 sec. to 30 sec. in 1/3 EV steps. Note that the whole range is not available at all aperture settings. At F2 and F2.8, the fastest shutter speed is 1/1000 sec. At F4 and F5.6, the fastest shutter speed is 1/2000 sec. It’s only at F8 and smaller apertures will you be able to use 1/4000 sec.
To the right of the Shutter Release button is the Fn button which you can customize to one of the following: DOF, Self-timer, ISO, Image Size, Image Quality, Dynamic Range, Film Simulation, ND Filter, AF Mode, Select Custom Setting, and Movie. That’s clearly too many important settings hidden in the Menu for a camera targeted to serious and advanced photographers. Most complaints about the X100 center around this.
Here’s what I propose:
- the DOF feature is not necessary since the lens stops down anyway when you half-press the shutter release button; the Self-timer can be moved to the Multi-selector (part of Drive);
- the ISO should be a control dial by itsel: remap the Exposure Compensation Dial as the ISO Dial (with a central button lock) and move Exposure Compensation to the currently mostly useless Command Control;
- Image Size, Image Quality, Film Simulation, AF Mode and Select Custom Setting should be on a Quick Function Menu (simply remap the AE button on the left of the LCD);
- Movie should have its own dedicated one-touch button (new button besides the Command Control);
- remap the RAW button as the ND Filter;
- Let the Fn button to be free to be customized to whatever we wish (and I would probably want to include WB on it).
If you don’t have the latest firmware already, download it since ver 1.1.0 allows you to press and hold the Fn button for 3 sec. to change its functionality and the self-timer now stays set until you turn it off.
To the right and behind the Shutter Release button is the Exposure Compensation Dial. Some reviewers have complained that it rotates too easily out of place while putting the camera in and/or removing it out of a camera bag. It’s certainly happened to me on odd occasions though not too often, and I guess it would help to make it a bit harder to turn or, better still, do the switch and remap as suggested above. It does not help that the EV indicator is superimposed on the image part of the viewfinder at the very left which makes it hard to see (and so you don’t easily notice that you have inadvertently dialed in an Exposure Compensation). Improvement suggestion is to move the display to the traditional placement at the bottom of the screen, out of the image area, clearly visible against the dark background, besides the shutter speed and aperture displays.
To the left of the Shutter Speed Dial is the hotshoe that will accept an external speedlight. The rest of the top section is beautifully left clean, except for the engraving of the camera’s name and model. If Fujifilm aspires to elevate its brand to a more luxurious level, I suggest it also engrave its logo on the front like Leica does, though perhaps a new logo (without the “film” part?) may be in order (the Fuji “box” logo was superb and should be brought back).
Startup is about 2 sec. from Power ON to LCD ready for capture, i.e. time-to-first-shot with Quick Start ON and double that time, at about 4 sec. with Quick Start OFF. Shot to shot times are about 1.4 sec. (@ 7 shots in 10 sec. in M mode, 1/125sec.).
In good lighting, there is no practical shutter lag and AF is fast and precise. In low lighting, AF can take up to 3 sec. to lock.
Fujifilm X100 Back View
On the back we have the 2.8-in. LCD with a 460k-dot resolution. On the right side of the LCD are the Command Control, AFL/AEL button, Multi-Selector (Command Dial), DISP/BACK button (INFO, Standard, Custom), and RAW button. There are 4 buttons on the left side of the LCD: Playback, AE (Photometry, i.e. metering options: Multi, Spot, Average), AF (AF area selection, if AF Mode is set to Area in the Menu) and View Mode (Eye Sensor, LCD OFFn , LCD ON). The hybrid viewfinder has a Diopter adjustment control and Eye sensor.
The tripod mount at the bottom of the camera is not centered with the lens and you won’t be able to change batteries/SD card with the camera mounted on a tripod.
Included in the box is a rechargeable Li-ion battery NP-95 that can take about 300 shots with the LCD ON (CIPA standard) on a fresh charge. A battery charger BC-65N recharges a depleted battery in approx. 210 min. Don’t forget that the battery charger is in fact too big for the battery and so comes with a small plastic insert that you need to fit over the open end to hold your battery securely in place.
The Fujifilm X100 uses the SD / SDHC / SDXC(UHS-I) memory card.
The Fujifilm FinePix X100 is undoutedly the best rangefinder-styled digital camera built and it’s an absolutely delight to use, in spite of its user interface quirks. It is gorgeously beautiful and very intuitive for those who like to be in control of the exposure settings.
Next: Fujifilm X100 User’s Experience