What Compact for Christmas

Readers of this blog know how much I have a hard time calling most compacts a proper camera. However I selected a few that are worth a look if like me also, you can't walk around with a 6 pounds block of metal everytime.

Any of those camera will be a good choice, this is a can't go wrong selection. Bare in mind however that they all have different advantages from one another.

Fuji X100 / the great but too expensive one (1200$)
Pricey, but offer the sensor of a DX DSLR, a great 35mm equivalent lens, superb built quality. Not flawless but will satisfy the hardcore amateur. ISO performance is excellent and compares to the best DSLRs...however a little pricey for a backup camera.

Canon G12 / Nikon P7100 plenty of functions but a small sensor (450$)
Those Nikon and Canon pack all the cool stuff you might expect from a premium brand. Video modes, f2.8 max aperture lenses...Have them in your hand to see which one fits best to you, because that will be pretty much the only significan difference. The images won't match the ones of a X100 as the sensor is much much smaller, that explains the price difference too (about twice cheaper than the X100)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 / A bright lens (370$)
It's main strength lays in the F2.0-3.3 lens, really good aperture figures for a compact. It mean decent low light performance and potential to play with depth of field, even on a small sensor. Cheaper than the previous ones, I would tend to prefer it to the G12 /P7100. I think the value / dollars is better.

Canon Powershot S100 / For those who care a lot about size (440$)
This is a very good product for those who don't want to care about anything but point and shoot, yet with a good picture quality, the all thing fitting in your pocket. I got this for my mother last XMAS (the previous version), it works great. FYI the S95 is about 100$ cheaper and is the exact same at 95%.

Sony NEX 5D / Large Sensor, interchangeable lenses (500$)
A good product, pretty much the same as the GF2 (sensor a bit larger). If you offer or get that, you have one of the 3 best compact around. Why is not my winner? Because with lenses, it's not a compact anymore !!! It just gets too big.

Panasonic GF2 / My favorite choice even over the X100 (500$)
Why is it the winner? Because it combines 3 of the most important features:

• It has a large sensor (APS C, much bigger and all of the above appart from the X100)
• You can get it with a really good multpi purpose prime lens (20mm 1.7) like the Fuji X100
• It cost half a X100, which should be the max price for a compact.

Video presentations & tests of the Fuji X10

A few videos presentation of the X10 by Fuji. Apparently AF is much faster than the X100, also well built. It also confirms my first impressions from the official Fuji shots: you can't get narrow DOF due to sensor size. I mean you can if you subjet is like next to you and the rest is super far and you push it to it's limits, but for portraits, it simply is not enough.

However, for a wealthy amateur who want a premium pocket size back up, it's quite seducing. Still would go for the X100, but since a lot of the X100 flaws seem to have been treated on the X10...well consider it :) I also like that Fuji listens to customer feedback and acts upon it.

Update: Fuji X100 or X10 ?

A while ago I reviewed the Fuji X100, long story short: excellent lens and sensor, but arguable ergonomics and poor AF.
Overall a very good product. Well built and clearly designed at people like me who, as much as we'd like a compact product, can't tolerate a compact image quality. If I had to buy compact, I would buy a Fujifilm X100 , it's the only one that gave me an overal image feel that compares to a SLR. It's due mostly to the DX size sensor, much much larger than other compacts. As said previously, sensor size is the variable that determines the quality level of camera.

Also, my reserves concerning ergonomics might not be valid anymore since firmware as been updated. I haven't had a chance to try that, but I've read it corrected most faulty features. Thanks Fuji.

Last time, I mentioned it'd be worth waiting for the X10 if you are looking for a premium compact, knowing that it would be:

• cheaper
• with a zoom lens (X100 is only a 35mm, but I love that)
• optimized compared to an X100
• even smaller
• still likely to be built as good and with a rather premium lens.

Now I haven't had the chance to use one yet, but the sample shots produced by Fuji and other sites allow me to confirm what was to expect. Click on photos for full size files.

@ F2.5, iso 400, where is the blur ????

Dynamic range on this is pretty good, balance between dark and bright areas is nice.
Those are X10 Sample shots, courtesy of Fuji and Lenstip.com

It is very good for a compact, but it crossed my personal line. Too far away from my image quality threshold. The small sensor doesn't allow proper depth of field play, it lacks the crisp feel on close up portraits. Noise level is not good enough to shoot past ISO 200 and print large. However, macro is very good, dynamic range is also impressive. Fuji is really nailing it when it comes to pushing those small sensors to their limits. Also the bright lens that is a reasonable zoom is a really good pick.

My final call: the X100 is at this stage the only compact that can satisfy a very demanding photographer, used to full frame and medium format. It compares at least. Still room for improvement, but it's very good. It won't however get you anything close to the results of full frame film SLR and black and white TRI-X film.

The X10 appears to be excellent for a compact, probably the best for this XMas. If you are looking for a premium compact under 600$, you found it. If you want the freedom of a DSLR when it comes to playing with optic, it might be too much of a stretch. If you can't go the extra buck, get a used Nikon D90 instead.

Overal Fuji is doing a great job with compacts. Unlike other film camera monsters like Pentax and even Nikon who are taking us for idiots a little too much lately.

Review: Fuji X100...VS a actual film rangefinder, VS forthcoming X10...

I'm back !

My job (the one that pays the bills and the expensive repairs on my car) has been quite time consuming lately, so were my vacations :)

Anyway I'm back with new photos to post, and more tutorials.

But for now, a personal review of a camera that is being very successful, and acclaimed by critics, but not necessarily by real photographers. That makes it rather interesting since Fuji is clearly branding it as the compact for pros, when pros are too lazy to cary around too much stuff.

Also, by its looks and functionalities, it intends to revive a photo journalism way of shooting, and be the modern equivalent of a long line up of full frame film rangefinder cameras. And I'm wondering...aren't those old guys still not better than the fancy X100 ?

Let's start with the camera review itself:

I encourage you to Google it (after bookmarking this blog !), there's not point redoing what has been done well.

Some reviews:
- Ken Rockwell (classic)
- Steve Huff

However I would tend to weight differently the pros and cons of the camera than many others did. Let's remind us of those first:

Pros: great lens and sensor, low light performance, dynamic range, design and built quality, optical viewfinder. That's A LOT of great pros ! Some might even say, whatever the cons, it can only be great, but...

Cons: slow, very slow operations, dodgy user interface, AF is slow and MF is absolutely unusable (7 ring turns to focus 1 meter further, WTF)

X100 @ F2 ISO 400. The lens is definitely way on top in the compact world.

Why is that more of a pain that it might seem? Changing ISO while shooting was nearly unresponsive when I used it, a real pro used to rangefinders can manually focus and can do it quick. It is impossible here hence the all purpose of the camera is quite questionable. I would say a pro will be terribly frustrated and yet tempted: it's a beautiful object, it's nearly what we are dreaming of (full frame sensor + faster response of electronics + proper focusing would make it perfect), but it will be very frustrating when missing a shot because it takes 3 seconds to write on the card, or won't focus well.


Why not a proper rangefinder instead?

If you are a pro and can spend 1200 dollars on a portable rangefinder, you might be better off spending 80 bucks on a actual full frame film rangefinder, and shoot 1120 dollars worth of 35mm film...(150 rolls). Dynamic range on film is unbeatable, the classic journalist B&W shots will render way better on film (tone range of B&W film is unmatched), the full frame will allow greater definition, bigger files after scanning, deeper images. You travel in unsafe countries? It gets stolen? Ah whatever, order an other one, or 2. If you don't care about cost, you have a Leica M9 (Digital), or a Contax G2 / Leica M6...well you spend the extra bucks that will get you what you really want.

However you might want a X10; keep on reading.

The X10...

Here comes my main and I hopefully most insightful point of this post. If you are an amateur, is the X100 the holy grail? I would nearly say so. You will be able to shoot DSLR like shots with a pocket format, a lens that beats any DSLR kit lens, and a DSLR size sensor. The weaknesses of the camera won't bother you too much because you never shot a Nikon F5 or a Contax G2. So I would nearly say it's the perfect advanced amateur compact camera...if Fuji was not about to launch the X10.

Well let's face it, the X10 is likely to avoid the flaws of the X100, it has a zoom lens with high aperture (pretty uncommon and really cool to have on a compact), it's even smaller, looks as good, will cost half the price of the X100. The only thing is the CMOS sensor VS the DSLR like sensor of the X100, but once again, a DSLR sensor is not a full frame sensor, so it's not thaaaat mind blowing either, and mostly an amateur would hardly see the difference between the two (medium & large formats are the real thing). If the shoot is good, it's good no matter what sensor anyway.


Final recommendation:


First of all, if you bought or really, really want an X100, you're fine. You're miles away from making a mistake. I'm discussing details here and it is an excellent camera, with all essential features on top. Even the AF is not so bad, just not good enough VS a cheaper DSLR.

If you are to upgrade your G2, your S90, or some other premium compact as your main camera, wait a bit. The fix lens of the X100 is awesome, but it might be too much of a constraint never being able to zoom. The X10 should be more versatile, wait and try.

If you own a DSLR, get a fix 35mm 1.8 lens on it for 200$, don't buy a X100. Get a X10 as a portable backup, that will be way more complementary (providing that the X10 images come out good, we'll know quite soon).

If you're a pro looking for the small toy you can have in your pocket just in case, the X10 might be what you actually wanted, depending on how well its lens will perform. It's even smaller and since you shoot full frame or larger format, you find COMS and DX sensor similarly underperforming anyway.