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“My life changed on the 30^th of April 1975 [Note: last day of the Vietnam War], because on that day – when Americans flew from the roofs of Saigon – a skilled Vietnamese thief was able to steal a [shoplink 38356 ebay]Leica M3[/shoplink] of an American. I met him at the market of Saigon a few days later and bought that camera. Wonderful. Simple. For 100 Dollar! It became the camera of my life. […]

The nice thing of that camera is, that it is very easy to load the film, that’s very important. […] You keep it around your neck, turn, open, insert film, close and – trum-pum! It’s ready to use. Easy. And once you selected shutter speed, aperture, black & white, 400 ASA, you take the picture. You simply cannot do anything wrong!

And then there was an almost erotic aspect, I mean, you put this camera for example at 1/125 and when you take the picture it makes a “cloc-cloc” that is such a joy to hear!”

I start this article quoting this excerpt from Tiziano Terzani’s wonderful and highly recommended book “Das Ende ist mein Anfang“ (The End is My Beginning)“, just to make it clear right from the start: to me, there is much more in photography than mere specs. Sure, specs are exciting, yes, but I need more.

And like Tiziano Terzani fell in love with the easy and intuitive use of his [shoplink 38356 ebay]Leica M3[/shoplink] and even with its “almost erotic” shutter sound, to me it’s the overall shooting experience in real life that makes my Fuji X-T1 so much superior than the Sony A7rII. That’s why I called my controversial article Fuji Fun Vs. Sony Specs. But I guess I simply belong to a very small niche of people, who, for example, gets more excited by a camera with a dedicated shutter speed dial (Fuji X-T1) than by a camera with 42MegaPixel (Sony A7rII).

But that’s just me, my very personal taste. For your shooting style, the X-T1 might be crap. To each his own. There is no right or wrong. I respect every personal taste in this matter.

However, there are some other folks out there, who, like me, also prefer Fuji’s overall shooting experience, like littlebigtravelingcamera, who compared the Fuji X-T1 with the Sony A7r. He says:

“On paper the Sony clearly wins. […] But there is more that makes a great camera. It is not just the sensor. The shooting experience plays an important part too. The Fuji X-T1 just disappears when I shoot it. Everything feels natural. I never have to use the menu. The Sony is different […] Shooting feels less natural […]. There is no need to dig into menus most of the time if you set it up clever but it is just not like shooting with the Fuji.

Regarding cameras to me it is a tie.”

Believe me, I’m honest when I say that Sony makes great cameras, is a great innovator and makes the best sensors out there. Everyone who bought a Sony made an good choice. But there is something I miss there.

Now, I won’t go so far to say like Diglloyd that Sony is “a company that really does not understand photography”… but there is something I can’t find in the Sony World, but only find in Fujifilm so far. But you have to look behind the specs to see it.

I’ve fastened my seatbelt and put on my helmet… I’m ready for the shitstorm ;)

have a GREAT day,
Fuji X Forum, Facebook, Google+, RSS-feed and Twitter

P.S.: Even some Hardcore Sony Shooters (who own the A7rII) agree with this post ;)

X-Trans files sharpening

thomasfitzgeraldphotography meticulously investigated over several years, how to make the best out of his X-Trans files in Lightroom. I’ve linked to his work several times here on FujiRumors. He now decided to offer all his Lighroom Sharpening presets for Free on his website. You can download the .zip file all here.

And if you use C1, read also “My Workflow and Settings for Processing Fuji Files in Capture One” at thomasfitzgeraldphotography Part 1 & Part 2 /

Classic Chrome on X100S

Will there ever be a firmware update that brings Classic Chrome to the X100S? I have a bad feeling about that. Fuji’s youngest Film Simulation is still limited to the latest camera models… but the X-shooter community is creative and is looking for solutions…

• Classic Chrome on X100S at jasonpitcher (it works, confirms also FXF member Lino in this thread)
• Fujifilm X100S Classic Chrome Enabler at ishootyou
• Here’s another way to get classic chrome working on the x100s at roberthawara

& More

Affinity Photo is now offering a 10 days Free Trial. X-Trans demosaicing has still to be improved, though. Feedback about this new version here.

X-Trans Sensor and Capture One Pro at thewanderinglensman

So here we go, after Episode 1 (covering the X-T10), today I’ll introduce you to two more Fuji gear that are, in my eyes, underestimated in the Fuji X-shooter community:

Go directly to Epsiode 3 here.

Nr 1
Fuji X-T10 (see post here)

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Nr 2

Fujifilm XQ2

This is another camera that never really excited me. I took note that Fujifilm released it, informed you about it on FR and quickly forgot it. Then it happens that I’ve received one at my birthday.

I thought:
Yes, it’s small
Yes, it looks quite good
Yes, it has a nice 2/3 X-TransII sensor
… but I’m not gonna use it!

So I forgot it, until I went on holiday for a week with my buddy and his son in June. I put my X-T1 with 3 lenses in my Rucksack and my Fuji XQ2 in my trouser pocket. It was a long drive to get to our camping, a very nice one, with large meadows and pine trees… so let’s take a picture of this nice camp. And guess which camera I grabbed? Yep, the XQ2. It was there, in my pocket, ready to be used.

I ended up using it more than my X-T1 (heresy!!!) during the week (and stopped using my iPhone 5 at all). It’s a super-small, pocketable & yet powerful camera for quick snapshots & casual photos of friends and family. Nice IQ, Fuji colors, shoots RAW, amazing macro mode… and it has those nice film simulations to play with ;). It would be nice to get the Waterproof case WP-XQ1 for underwater pictures, but it costs almost as much as the camera itself… I rather buy a GoPro ;).

On the contrary, I didn’t use the Fuji XQ2 during my 3 weeks travel in Indonesia, since I wanted the capture that amazing country with the ultimate image quality… and my trusty X-T1 worked a lot there!

Another small, stylish and powerful camera that didn’t sell well was the Fuji XF1. You can now get it for just $199.

Fuji XQ2: USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto EUROPE: AmazonDE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA

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Nr 3

XC lenses

“Am I the only one who likes the XC 16-50?” asks dickbarbour at our Forum. No, you’re not. People, who own this lens, are really happy with it. The problem is, you might be one of few X-shooters, who actually bought it.

Same goes for the XC 50-230. The IQ is great, definitely worth of the “Fujinon-family“. It’s just slower than the XF glass. But slower glass does not mean worst image quality. Read more (and see samples) about “The humble (though honorable) XC 50-230mm f 4.5.-6.7” at our Forum.

There are 2 advantages in having slower glass:

1) Get high Fujinon IQ for a low price: At the moment, you can get the X-A1 + 16-50 + 50-230 for just $600 at AmazonUS. That’s not bargain… that’s a steal!

2) Size: these XC zoom lenses are pretty damn compact! If you want the versatility of a zoom lens in a compact package, then you should give these lenses a try.

Did I mention they come with optical image stabilization? ;)

So, if price & size matters, this is the way to go.

And why not… Would you like Fuji to make a series of compact & affordable XC primes?

XC 50-230mm: USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / EUROPE: AmazonDE / AmazonUK
XC 16-50mm: USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / EUROPE: AmazonDE / AmazonUK

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cheers,
Fuji X Forum, Facebook, Google+, RSS-feed and Twitter

FXF member quincy did it! He put all the available Fuji X-mount lenses (and the upcoming ones) in one amazing post at the Fuji X Forum, including a short comment about all 57 lenses available for Fuji X mount lens:

• Fujinon (20 lenses + 3 to come)
• Zeiss (3 lenses)
• HandeVision (1 lens)
• Lensbaby (4 lenses)
• Meyer Optik Görlitz (2 lenses)
• SLR Magic (3 lenses)
• Zhongyi (3 lenses)
• Samyang / Rokinon / Walimex (21 lenses)

quincy also made a chart, plotting the lenses’ maximum aperture over the focal length. The focal length scale is logarithmic to show the prime area more prominent.

It’s a Work In Progress… so feel free to jump over here and contribute to the collection of data.

Respect, quincy… that was a terrific first post on the Fuji X Forum :)