This post is part of an unassumed rolling review of the X100s, on going since 7 years….
I have a love/hate relationship with Fujifilm cameras. I tried many of them, XT20, XPRO1, XPRO2, XE3 and X100S and neither bond with any, except the the X100S. Shooting with the Fuji X100s is a pleasure.
Fujifilm XPRO1 is a very nice camera, cheap, solid. I really tend to think that the sensor is producing very nice images, much more organic than the next generations. This review illustrates well what you can expect from this camera. The only issue of this camera is the manual focus. It’s really hard to use manual lenses on it, and I let it go, with regrets.
For the newest camera, I never really like the rendering, might be my workflow.
The other one is the X100s. This has been my first rangefinder style camera, after selling my DSLR. For some reasons, I felt in love with it. Image quality is enough ; with a thumb rest, it’s really to hold it, and the size is ok, not too bulky (can fit in your jacket), not too tiny (you will not press 2 buttons at a time).
Fujifilm X100S has always been with me while travelling. It’s ease of use, portability, fun to shoot factor makes it shine. On top of that, the leaf shutter makes it a really silent camera, more than any Leica M system, and this is a plus.
Since buying this camera, I had many others, FujiFilm, Sony, Leica but I was never able to sell this one. I really love it.
Hitting the road again with the fuji X100s
During the festive period, I spent 3 days in the desert. I have a bit of experience with desert now, and was aware of what to expect, sand, dust, wind going everywhere especially in your camera system. So, here it is again, fixed lens with a Wide Converter Lens from 35mm to 28mm, the almighty Fuji 100s…. perfect camera for this trip along with a Mamiya 645 1000s and 6 rolls of films.
I was not expecting to use this Fuji a lot, just as a notebook for the family time, diner, lunch, sand boarding session to come. But, I really liked to use it again, shooting RAW+JPEG
If finally took more than 200 pictures during this trip, and using the WCL, the camera turned into a perfect landscape system. Using the EVF while composing to focus on shadows and light for B&w, trying to find the right colors, it was so much fun.
Even using a polarized filter was fun :
The only drawback was the autofocus system, it sometimes hunt a lot before finding enough contrast. However, the new X100V has improved on this and could be really helpful in hard conditions.
In conclusion, on top of an unforgetable trip, I felt in love again with this tiny camera. Shooting with the fuji X100s is a real pleasure. Despite his age, it’s still a more than capable camera and for the price on the second hand market, it’s a bargain.
