Thread: Fuji Introduces New X100S - Claims Worlds Fastest Autofocus

It does look like the shooting experience will be significantly improved. As for IQ, I suppose that's more personal. I feel the difference will be very significant in terms of detail and the overall aesthetic of the files. My final output is print, so I suppose that influences my view.

Originally Posted by Pelao

I feel the difference will be very significant in terms of detail and the overall aesthetic of the files. My final output is print, so I suppose that influences my view.

Exactly on the aesthetic, which to me is the most important part. The other improvements are nice. You can spend time in front of the computer emulating this, but I prefer not too. I also agree there is a difference if you print since I print quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Ray

The AF speed should be a LOT better. everything about manual focus looks improved, from the throw of the ring to the two new visual focus aids. The speed of everything from write times to shutter lag to shot to shot time sounds considerably improved.

I hadn't seen any mention of a change to the operation of the manual focus ring, and while the new focusing aids are cool, I find pretty much ANY focus-by-wire mechanism so disconnected from how it SHOULD feel that I only use it for special instances (and I'm speaking about the improvements they made with the firmware with the shorter throw distance increments). If it can ever be made to feel like an old lens, that would be a different story.

I also think you got rid of your X100 before they sped up the AF. After the firmware upgrades, I think the AF is pretty darn fast. It's fast enough that I'm able to shoot my wife riding a horse in a dimly lit barn (and wide open, too with the shallower DOF).

Originally Posted by Luke

I also think you got rid of your X100 before they sped up the AF. After the firmware upgrades, I think the AF is pretty darn fast. It's fast enough that I'm able to shoot my wife riding a horse in a dimly lit barn (and wide open, too with the shallower DOF).

+1 on this. As for focus by wire I concur. It's just not the same as a mechanical lens + OVF.

Originally Posted by Luke

I hadn't seen any mention of a change to the operation of the manual focus ring, and while the new focusing aids are cool, I find pretty much ANY focus-by-wire mechanism so disconnected from how it SHOULD feel that I only use it for special instances (and I'm speaking about the improvements they made with the firmware with the shorter throw distance increments). If it can ever be made to feel like an old lens, that would be a different story.

I also think you got rid of your X100 before they sped up the AF. After the firmware upgrades, I think the AF is pretty darn fast. It's fast enough that I'm able to shoot my wife riding a horse in a dimly lit barn (and wide open, too with the shallower DOF).

One of the Fuji Guys videos showed the focus ring using a much shorter throw to work through the range from zero to infinity - kind of similar to the X-Pro which I've never had any problems with. I agree about the manual focus aids. As I think I mentioned elsewhere, the focus peaking and the split image aids are pretty cool but not something I'd personally ever use. My use of manual focus these days is almost always for zone focus, where a good distance scale matters and nothing else much does. And the X100 AF had improved considerably by the time I sold mine - I didn't mind it when it was new and it only got better from there. But then I'd shoot it or the X-Pro back to back with the EPL3 or now the OMD and the difference was stark. Didn't matter for the kind of shooting I do with the Fujis, but it was not a small difference and it would matter for some people more than others. And I generally like the feel of a snappy camera - it just feels that much more connected and able to get any shot you're going for that way.

I'm highly unlikely to get the X100s (although if it was 28mm instead of 35, I'd get it and lose the X-Pro). If the 28mm extension lens was smaller, I might get it and lose the X-Pro. I shoot the X-Pro mostly with the 18mm and just prefer that focal length most of the time and the X-Pro with the 18mm is a handier package than the X100 with the wide angle extension lens. So not much of a decision. But there's a lot about the X100s I'd like more than on the original (and a couple things more than the X-Pro) and if I was good with a 35mm equivalent, I suspect I'd be very excited about that camera...

-Ray

so you're buying the X-Pro1S then

Originally Posted by Luke

so you're buying the X-Pro1S then

Beats me. But that's what I was thinking about in asking that other question about whether the initial X-Pro lenses would even be able to take advantage of any future bodies that might have the hybrid CDAF / PDAF focussing. If they don't, there might not be much point in upgrading, at least in the hopes of better AF performance. I guess time will sort it all out, but these recent announcements, while extremely interesting to a camera geek, seem to leave my butt cheeks welded pretty firmly to the fence for now. It's not like I find anything lacking in the X-Pro! So, maybe, maybe not....

-Ray

I'd skip the X-Pro1S, and wait for the X-Pro1X!

Used prices on the X100 are coming down already, so I can probably continue my routine of getting the second to the latest thing at a bargain. Yes! The E-P1 focused fast enough for me, so I suspect I'll be OK on the that score with the latest firmware. I'll get an S when the S2super-duper come along.

Ray, the later version from Fuji Guys definitely has the Q button and they call attention to it.

Dan