Fuji X100T long(ish) term user report
A couple of months ago I was having that urge to own another Leica M. You may know what I’m talking about – it’s very hard to resist. I went as far as visiting a few of the second hand retailers in London like Aperture, RG Lewis and Richard Caplan. I loved my M9 but in the end I couldn't justify it so sold it on, happily before prices dropped like a stone with the M240 release. The image quality from the Zeiss Planar 2/50 I put on it was something else, but it was the user experience that I enjoyed more than anything. People talk about the simplicity of the picture-taking experience with a Leica rangefinder and it's true - it's very engaging and rewarding, even though you could take a fairly indistinguishable picture with many other cameras. That user experience was why I was on the lookout for another one.I’m of the opinion that if you really enjoy using a camera, you’ll use it more and take better pictures with it, so after I sold the Leica I sought the same simplicity and engagement with the Sony RX1, a tiny, full-frame sensor powerhouse with a stunning 35mm f/2 lens. While the image quality was stellar, I just didn't get on with it even when I used the add-on electronic viewfinder. It was just a bit "fiddly" and not intuitive. OK, you could work at it, and I used it on many commercial assignments to excellent effect, especially where high flash sync speed was needed, but I didn't enjoy using it and sold it as well.It was while I was in one of these dealers that I had a look at the newly released Fuji X100T. I had been tracking the X100 series since its original release and the T version looked like a winner. Small camera, large sensor, an integrated hybrid viewfinder, useful upgrades and improvements, plus very intuitive (Leica-esque) controls made for an attractive package. And priced at just under £1000 it was a lot cheaper than any sort of Leica M. Happily the sale of my RX1 covered the cost of the X100T so the deal was done. I got a silver one just because it looks more retro, but the black is very nice and more subtle I think. The plan was to have the X100T as a companion to my Sony A7R, with the A7R for the “serious” stuff and the X100T for everything else.So then, a few months into ownership, how is the X100T performing in the real world?Firstly, the more I use it, the more I like it. I usually take some time to get to know my cameras in real-life situations, where you need to think on your feet and have to operate the camera instinctively. After numerous “spurts” of using the Fuji, I had the opportunity to do some intensive testing during a recent trip to Venice. I had the usual “which camera will I take” decision to make. The options were a Sony RX100 mkII, a Sony A7R with 16-35 and 55 and 90 lenses, or the Fuji X100T. I decided to just take the Fuji – small enough to pocket unlike the A7R, bigger sensor than the RX100. I also took a gorillapod and that was it.For somewhere as photogenic as Venice I’d have felt more at ease with every possible combination of camera and lens covered but it soon became clear that using just one small camera with a fixed 35mm lens makes life so much simpler. I saw many photographers in Venice laden down with big DSLRs, big lenses, backpacks full of more stuff, with tripods dangling from them, and it all seemed so unnecessary and restricting. My entire kit was one little camera in a pocket, and occasionally a gorillapod tripod.Controls & HandlingI like to look down at my camera and be able to see what settings I have dialled in without having to bring the camera up to my eye or turn it on and look at the rear screen. This is just a convenience thing but it makes a big difference to me. Having a marked-up on-lens aperture ring and the shutter speed dial on the top plate along with an exposure compensation dial makes this simple with the X100T. The only thing I wish it has is an ISO dial on the top plate as well. However as I’ve mostly been using the excellent auto-ISO mode this hasn’t been too much of a problem.Handling-wise, the X100T sits very nicely in the hand. It’s small, fits in a jacket pocket, and isn’t so small that it’s overly fiddly. It feels very well built, nice and tight and reassuringly solid.There are many nice little touches, such as holding down a custom function button for a few seconds lets you change what the button does – I really like that. And with 7 custom buttons to play with it’s quite easy to get the camera set up how I want it. I have ISO set to Fn1 on the top plate where I like it for example. Having spot metering linked to the autofocus point is very nice as well – it’s good to see more cameras having this capability which Canon restrict to their top DSLRs for some reason.The buttons are generally decently sized and responsive. I like the 4-way control pad on the rear better than the overly delicate dial on the previous X100 incarnations. Shutter release is nice with 2 clear stages, and the shutter itself is virtually silent.Shooting ExperienceI have always tended to shoot in manual mode, metering ahead of time for a “sunny” exposure and a “shade” exposure, and just adjusting shutter speed (as I’ll have generally already chosen my aperture and selected a suitable ISO). I initially did the same with the X100T but found myself gravitating towards aperture priority as my main method, partly because of the excellent auto ISO implementation.This lets you configure up three different auto ISO configurations, where you set the default and maximum ISO, and the minimum shutter speed. The ISO is automatically raised above the default value if the calculated shutter speed is below the minimum set speed. If the camera ramps ISO up to the maximum you have specified, it will sacrifice shutter speed which will drop, and will not let the ISO go above the max.This is exactly how I want an auto ISO function to work. The camera comes set up with the three max ISO options set to 800, 1600 and 3200, and minimum shutter speed is 1/60th. I’ve left these alone except for one of the options which I’ve given a minimum shutter speed of 1/120th.I found that this approach lets me shoot very quickly and effectively without having to worry about the ISO or shutter speeds doing something I don’t want. Images at ISO3200 are perfectly usable so I can just let the camera do its thing.Exposure tweaks are easily achieved using the exposure compensation dial, which also works in tandem with the auto ISO facility which again is great and just how you’d want it. A lot of thought has gone into this from the Fuji team and it shows – the camera doesn’t get in your way, it just works.As I have used the camera more and more, I’ve really come to appreciate how easy and satisfying it is to use. It handles as closely to a Leica M as you can get without having a Leica M. and is smaller, lighter and in many ways much more advanced. Given the choice I’d have the X100T and use the money saved to pay for trips to places like Venice to actually take photographs!ViewfinderThe excellent inbuilt viewfinder on the X100T lets you shoot how you want and doesn’t get in the way. If the Sony RX1 had something similar it would have been a far better camera (the add-on one is clunky and too easy to accidentally knock off). It’s as natural as the Leica M to raise the camera to your eye and shoot, and for those who like that sort of thing you can focus manually with a rangefinder-type magnified “patch” as well. Personally I didn’t bother with manual focus as the X100T did a perfectly quick and accurate job itself.I used the purely electronic viewfinder option 80% of the time, mainly because I like to see what I’m going to get. Refresh rate is very rapid and the detail, resolution and colour are spot on. The optical/hybrid option is very good though, and I suspect that I’ll use it more as I get more experienced with the camera. The digital overlays are really useful when using the viewfinder in this way and the ability to see a view that’s larger than the frame can be very handy when trying to compose accurately.You can quickly switch between modes with a lever on the front of the camera, and choose how much detail to put into the digital overlays. I usually have it set to show the enlarged focus patch more to confirm exposure than anything, the histogram, and shutter/aperture/ISO values.Image QualityWell, I think it’s just excellent. Very impressive indeed - you won't be disappointed.I mostly used jpeg as I wanted to try out the different "film modes", and I quickly settled on the new "Classic Chrome" setting which is meant to be Fuji's version of Kodachrome. It's a gentle, subtle sort of rendering which I like a lot. It's not hyper saturated or hyper contrasty, it just looks really nice. The majority of the pictures in this set are Classic Chrome except for the lead shot of the lone gondola which was RAW. The RAW format gives plenty of latitude to slide your sliders, and on that shot the shadows have been significantly boosted to bring out the detail in the buildings.There's been a lot written about how Fuji handles colour and how good its film emulations are, and until I got the X100T I didn't really understand why people were so enamoured. But now I do - straight out of camera shots are lovely.I was also impressed with the depth of field separation that's achievable for portrait-type shots. Having an 35mm equivalent lens and an APS-C "cropped" sensor (click for size comparison) it's easy to get concerned that focus separation isn't going to be decent enough, but the Fuji's f/2 lens is very good, and pure physics comes into play to yield very nice results indeed.ProblemsIt’s not all sugary happiness on Planet Fuji. There are a few problems that I’ve come across:
Leaving the inbuilt ND filter on. This is all too easy to do. I use the ND filter quite a lot to shoot at wide aperture in bright sunlight, or to use a much slower shutter speed for those flat water shots. But the only notification you get that the ND filter is on is a small ND in the corner of the viewfinder which is very easy to miss. I recommend that Fuji a) switch the ND filter off when you turn the camera off and b) have a much bigger indicator that it is switched on.
No WYSIWYG in aperture or shutter priority. Bizarrely the viewfinder or screen doesn’t reflect the actual exposure in aperture or shutter priority. It does in manual mode. Why it can’t in the other modes is a bit of a mystery, so you need to rely on the histogram or seeing the little shutter speed icon in the viewfinder go red indicating you’re in trouble. This is more of a problem in shutter priority when the widest f/2 aperture isn't sufficient. The viewfinder/screen shows a perfectly exposed image but the resulting shot is underexposed. I’m used to my Sony cameras which give you the option of showing the scene that will be recorded to the memory card so I can pick out over- or under- exposure quickly and easily, or turning it off if you want to use external flash and still want to compose effectively for example. This is one of the great benefits of mirrorless cameras so it’s odd that Fuji haven’t implemented it in this way.
The on/off switch and the exposure compensation switch can get turned accidentally rather too easily, particularly when putting the camera into or taking it out of a pocket.
Startup is a bit laggy on occasion.
It could benefit from a tilting LCD screen.
The icons in the viewfinder can be very very small (or my eyes are just knackered!). Is it just me or does the shutter speed look like a flower-shaped macro indicator when it says “SS60”?
The paint is already wearing on some of the corners. I don’t have the camera in a case but I’d expect the paintwork to be more robust.
Versus Other CamerasI’ve owned all of these, so here’s my quick comparison:
Olympus OMD-EM5: similar smallness (with a suitably compact lens like the 14mm), excellent EVF implementation. No visible aperture/shutter speed markings. Smaller sensor. Can change lenses which are all relatively small. Fiddly controls. Not as nice to use.
Sony RX100 mk II: tiny by comparison, smaller sensor, image quality good considering, no visibly marked dials, inbuilt zoom, clunky when used with EVF. Not as nice to use.
Sony RX1: small body but the lens sticks out making it awkward overall. Hotshoe mounted EVF is clunky and pops off too easily. Not a nice user experience without the EVF. Marked aperture dial but not shutter speed. Stellar quality lens and sensor pairing. Good WYSIWYG exposure implementation. A curved sensor RX2 with a lower profile lens will be very interesting.
Leica M9: bigger, heavier, very expensive. Full frame sensor though issues therein. Can change lenses which are generally quite small. Extremely expensive. Lovely to use, aperture & shutter speed visible, rangefinder focusing is involving. Frustratingly slow at times.
Sony A7R: a bit bigger. Lenses are large v. Leica M9 though 35 2.8 is OK. Noisy very unsubtle shutter. Excellent EVF. Amazing sensor.
Canon 1DIV: great big beast. Big lenses, Big big big. And heavy. Keep for what it’s good at (sports).
SummaryThe X100T has gone from being just another camera to being a tool that I really enjoy using. An aspect of photography that is very important to me is the simple interaction with a really nice piece of technology. Yes, I like the resulting pictures, but taking them with a camera that is a joy to use is far more satisfying than having to battle your way through a poorly implemented user experience.It has now become my default travel camera. I am very happy with the 35mm focal length which suits such a wide range of situations. It’s possible to get very decent foreground/background separation when the need arises, and use the “f/8 and be there” approach for more documentary style photography. I haven’t felt like I needed another focal length, though perhaps I was just looking for pictures that suited 35mm.It’s liberating to use just one small camera with one focal length. It made me laugh to see photographers laden like pack horses trudging the alleys of Venice with all their big gear. OK, they might have got a shot I couldn’t after taking their backpack off, unzipping it, swapping lenses, getting in peoples’ way, etc etc, but in the meantime I’d have been off down a side alley to subtly take some other pictures that they haven’t even seen yet, and then be on my way to find something else, or have a cold beer.I feel like I’ve bonded with the X100T in a way that hasn’t happened since I had my Leica M9. The fact that the Fuji is smaller and lighter means I have it with me more often. It’s much cheaper meaning I can use the money I save to go to cool places to and experience new things. I can hand it off to someone else to take a picture of my wife and I without explaining about how to focus it. And it’s quiet, subtle and unobtrusive yet lets me take pretty much any sort of picture I want. All in all, it’s just lovely.Here are a couple more shots, clearly not of Venice!