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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Image quality Best of breed for a mirrorless camera out there. Amazing captures, noise is more like film grain than any other camera I own.
- Video quality Herky jerky, no image stabilization. No real focus options (esp. manual focus) in video mode.
- Battery life Crappy battery, and expensive to replace. Fuji drops the ball here big time.
- Design and form factor Beautiful, iconic, would normally get a 5, but some poor UI in the physical design - the menu / ok button too difficult to press, weird button choices.
- Durability Camera's built exceedingly well, though I've heard of problems with a sticky aperture over time.
- Speed (start-up time, lag) Not perfect, but pretty good. Focus can hunt a bit under certain light conditions.
- Ease of use The camera's firmware lets the rest of this camera down. So many things could and should be easier to do with the camera's software built in.
Detailed review
A very intriguing and interesting camera that is, in the end, let down by terrible firmware.
Fuji's camera was probably the most anticipated camera of 2011; a very rangefinder style camera with a completely innovative and original optical / digital viewfinder. The ballyhoo'ed viewfinder doesn't disapoint; it's like looking through Terminator's eye when composing photos. The image quality is amazing, including high iso performance - it outdoes my Canon T2i and almost outdoes my Canon 5D Mk II at higher ISOs.
The camera is stealthy too - people think you're some old crank with an old school rangefinder or film camera and tend to not pay attention... until they see you chimping - always peeking at the back LCD after every shot. So don't do that - just use the viewfinder for your image review ;)
In the end though, this camera is severely hampered by a bad UI in the camera's firmware, and a lot of second guessing from you, the photographer over the camera actually doing what you intend it to do. The firmware looks like it has been piecemealed together from several different Fuji firmwares for other cameras. Things that should be one or two clicks away are buried deep within menu structures in weird places requiring as many as 21 clicks or more (like Auto ISO settings). There are no easy indications for some settings. I get my camera's exposure recording very screwed up at times simply by being in the wrong mode, like a 200% or 400% dynamic range setting. I could go on.
The second worst thing about the camera is how they implemented manual focus. In a word: unusable. In two words: mostly unusable. If you've ever used manual focus on a fly by wire system like Olympus Pen cameras, you'll realise just how bad Fuji's manual focus system is. It is herky jerky; it is slow and wonky; it frustrates completely. In lower lighting, you think that by turning the focus dial several times you'll get adjustments, and it barely moves, if at all. Really poor focus system. Autofocus too is hit and miss. In lower light it is pretty much unusable, even with the bright focus aid light doing its thing.
I have a love hate thing with this camera. I love how it looks. I love the pictures it is capable of taking. I love the 35mm fixed length f2 lens. I hate the UI of the camera, esp. in the firmware, but also in some of the button choices on the back of the camera. And I am not confident as a photographer using this camera. A major major firmware update might change that confidence level. But it's been nearly 8 months now since the camera has come out, and no major firmware since the summer.
Fuji's camera was probably the most anticipated camera of 2011; a very rangefinder style camera with a completely innovative and original optical / digital viewfinder. The ballyhoo'ed viewfinder doesn't disapoint; it's like looking through Terminator's eye when composing photos. The image quality is amazing, including high iso performance - it outdoes my Canon T2i and almost outdoes my Canon 5D Mk II at higher ISOs.
The camera is stealthy too - people think you're some old crank with an old school rangefinder or film camera and tend to not pay attention... until they see you chimping - always peeking at the back LCD after every shot. So don't do that - just use the viewfinder for your image review ;)
In the end though, this camera is severely hampered by a bad UI in the camera's firmware, and a lot of second guessing from you, the photographer over the camera actually doing what you intend it to do. The firmware looks like it has been piecemealed together from several different Fuji firmwares for other cameras. Things that should be one or two clicks away are buried deep within menu structures in weird places requiring as many as 21 clicks or more (like Auto ISO settings). There are no easy indications for some settings. I get my camera's exposure recording very screwed up at times simply by being in the wrong mode, like a 200% or 400% dynamic range setting. I could go on.
The second worst thing about the camera is how they implemented manual focus. In a word: unusable. In two words: mostly unusable. If you've ever used manual focus on a fly by wire system like Olympus Pen cameras, you'll realise just how bad Fuji's manual focus system is. It is herky jerky; it is slow and wonky; it frustrates completely. In lower lighting, you think that by turning the focus dial several times you'll get adjustments, and it barely moves, if at all. Really poor focus system. Autofocus too is hit and miss. In lower light it is pretty much unusable, even with the bright focus aid light doing its thing.
I have a love hate thing with this camera. I love how it looks. I love the pictures it is capable of taking. I love the 35mm fixed length f2 lens. I hate the UI of the camera, esp. in the firmware, but also in some of the button choices on the back of the camera. And I am not confident as a photographer using this camera. A major major firmware update might change that confidence level. But it's been nearly 8 months now since the camera has come out, and no major firmware since the summer.
good review!
1 person found this review helpful