[shuttertalk]

Looks like the rest of the world has caught on too... the X100 looks to be in short supply.

http://www.photographyblog.com/news/fuji...rt_supply/

Blaming higher than expected demand for the shortage of the X100, the LC-X100 case and the LH-X100 lens hood, Fujifilm have promised to urgently increase production to satisfy orders. The X100 officially starting shipping in Japan last week, and reports are filtering through that small numbers of pre-orders have been met in the UK from this week.

Any one here managed to snag one of the pre-orders?

[Zig]

Nope.
See my post of 23rd Feb on supply to the UK.
Fujifilm is talking nonsense and lying through its hat.
There is no way a multinational company hyperinflates the hysteria round its flagship product, then coincidentally drags its heels over production for best part of a year, then forgets to have any mention of its firmware or lens until 6 weeks before its release date, unless it knows darn well what it is doing.
And what it is evidently doing, if it's half a brain(as opposed to half a conscience), is knowing exactly how many units its made, stockpiling them, then like the Harkonnens on the Planet Dune with the Spice Melange, sits on the pile, ratcheting up demand, having already known exactly how many to supply.

As I said in February, a mere 200 units were tagged for the first wave of retail in the UK, distributed throughout a mere 10 "platinum dealerships" (more arcane bollox designed to ascribe an air or hermetic mysticism to the whole panting-match).
You're not telling me that Fuji has suddenly been struck with an inverse and chronic autism that strikes them with immediate mathematical blindness here, like, "Oh dear, Company-Director-San: even though this is such an ace camera, we suddenly had an attack of market-agoraphobia, leading us to underestimate the demand of the cunning westerners; consequently, we only thought 200 people in the whole of the UK would actually buy it. The price is a bit steep, old son..."
" Arggh, yes you're right...I shall ritually disembowel myself immediately. Looks like our world domination, I mean market share, is shafted then, Grasshopper."

I mean, come on. They've got stockpiles of X-100s racked up to the rafters. They've purposefully trickled out a small smidge of these just so as to get us all slathering in a frenzy and making sure we get one too.
You see, they also know darn well they were really too late with this camera and have shafted themselves on pricing because of "economic downturn" and all that....they are relying on their woven and purposeful illusion of "short" supply, so as to keep emotion and heart ruling the head. Because if we wake up and see what else there is to buy for a grand,or more if you add on the lens filter adapter, we might just go for something else.
Nope. Fuji restricting supply is purposeful, with aforethought and actually fed by panic and greed.
I reckon a few UK punters will score one this time around...I mean, there's bound to be a cancellation when you've got 37 pre-orders taken for 20 units, right?
And of course, when are the new ones coming in?....because you'd expect, IF Fuji were caught out as they lie about, for supply not to catch up for a few months. Er...well, most odd: by May the second lot wil be in the shops.
My, they must have really worked then...
...yeahright...just unlocked the storeroom where they've all been sitting for a few months more like.

Of course, all this will be forgotten, as all the fanboys fall out of the woodwork in a month or two, about how it's the best thing since sliced sushi, and how it's "worth" all the money in the world because " you just can't put a price on IQ, you know..."
Well, Fuji can, and it's a thousand quid.

Still might get one mind....

[Toad]

Don't sugar-coat it Zig. Tell us how you really feel...

[Toad]

The Panasonic GH-2 has also seen serious supply chain problems. They are still not available in any but dribs and drabs in North America even though this camera was announced last September. Maybe there are sensor yield issues or other problems getting in the way beyond artificial marketing constraints.

Back to the X100. IS the price really that high? Buy an Olympus EP-2, add the Panny 20mm F1.7 and the external viewfinder to it - and you are banging on the same door, price wise. Now you could make the argument that the EP-2 has interchangeable lenses and thus is a superior beast, but it don't look that way to me. I am *really* liking what I see with the X100, and if I didn't have the Leica already, I would be on that artificially generated waiting list for a X100. Its not a system camera per se, but as a carry around, it looks like it has the goods. Of course, we haven't really seen any serious reviews of production quality units yet - so maybe its just hype. Good hype if it is.

Panasonic better start moving its butt right now to keep up. The GF-1 is an amazing camera, but the EVF sucks. Instead of challenging Fuji by releasing a proper upgrade, they released the dumbed-down GF-2 (a downgrade if there ever was one).

I have to say that of all the players, I like what I see Fuji doing the best.

[Pavel]

I frankly do not get this argument. I appreciate the visual appeal, the aesthtics appeal and the retro aspects but these emotions aside, we really do not know that much about this camera. I am still to hear from any of the enthusiasts of what is it that they can do image-wise with the Fuji that they can not do with a decent DSLR with a decent lens mounted on it. I recognise that Fuji is smaller and may be lighter. However carrying a decent DSLR with a prime 21mm/35 mm lens is not really back-braking for healthy people. The flexibility of DSLRkicks in with the great flexibility. At the end, it is the quality of the photographer and not of the equipment that really matters. For our wedding 20 years ago, we got a set of great Henkel knifes and yet we are still not great shefs.

P

[Toad]

I agree with what you are saying here re the flexibility of DSLRs over all compact cameras, but in my own *personal* experience, I tended to only carry my DSLR when I was actually going out deliberately to take pictures. I found that I missed a lot of images because my camera was home in the drawer. I found (again - my personal experience only) that the amount of time that I actually had a camera with me increased dramatically when I got my GF-1 and continues with the Leica. For me, size/weight does matter when I am deciding whether to take my camera with me or not. That doesn't mean that I am prepared to accept point and shoot or cell phone camera quality.

I also have zero plans to ever get rid of my DSLR - even though I only use it about 25% of the time. Different tools for different jobs.

[matthew]

Remember that the customers that Fuji's supplying cameras to isn't the people who'll be using them, or even the stores that will sell them, but the regional and national distributors. The launch inventory that any new model needs is worth many weeks, or even months, of the actual sales volume.

And for that matter, inventory availability routinely fluctuates even for established cameras. Every now and then people get all excited when the 5D.2 or D700 runs out – the unicorns are coming! the unicorns are coming! – but a month or two later everything goes back to normal.

Not that I have any insight into the specifics of this particular item, but a couple of Fuji's spring P&S models have been pushed back by an additional month. Those models were essentially complete when I got to play with the demos, but the X100 was still solidly pre-release without the finished viewfinder system. As that hybrid EVF/OVF is one of the headline features of the camera, it's impossible to guess if that's because it wasn't finished or if they were keeping it under wraps.

[Toad]

3 pages? When was the last time that you saw a camera announcement get three pages on this site? Seems to have struck a nerve, yes?

[matthew]

Yes, absolutely - and we're also approaching the six-month anniversary of this thread.

With this much anticipation, I really don't know how the actual product will meet its expectations. After all, it is just a camera.

[shuttertalk]

Hate to add salt to the wound, but here's a review from someone got their pre-order shipment (tongue in cheek)
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/f...00_review/

More info on how the OVF/EVF works in practice:

Written down, the hybrid optical viewfinder / electronic viewfinder sounds pretty complicated, but in practice it's actually very intuitive to use. The X100 has a built-in eye sensor so that you only have to hold the camera up to eye-level to switch between the rear LCD and the hybrid optical viewfinder / electronic viewfinder (or you can press the View Mode button). Then it's simply a case of using either the bright OVF or the slightly darker EVF. I used the former for 90% of the time, helped by the camera automatically switching to the EVF to instantly playback the image, with the latter as a backup for moments when more precise framing was required or when I wanted to make a menu selection. Just make sure that you turn the electronic level on when using the OVF to help combat parallax error and keep your horizontals and verticals straight.

Nice summary:

The Fujifilm Finepix X100 is a brilliantly-realised, beautiful and intuitive camera that's well suited to its principal use of unobtrusive, candid street photograpy. There are a few weak points in terms of its overall ease-of-use, most notably the slow write speeds and slightly sluggish auto-focusing (at least compared to a DSLR), but as a first-generation product it's remarkably well thought out and put together. Now let's find out what the X100's Image Quality is like...

[Zig]

Thank you Jules, that's very useful! No, I'm delighted that folks are getting hands-on, as now we can start to weigh things up.
The reviewer occasionally seem to contradict himself, firstly lauding its realisation and intuitive qualities..then speaking of exactly the "weak points" a street-snapper would not be comfy with: slow burst mode and slow AF.
The statedly slow "focus by wire" manual focus concerns me more, to be honest, as I'm sure anyone already in the practised groove of street snapping really needs to get to open-aperture quickly..
.but....I do think though that the ability to get it "rough-focused" in advance is a thoughtful and intuitive inclusion, then to fine-tune with the wheel after, given the amount of travel the ring has to do on this camera. I would thus think that the true "Leica-esque" habit of prefocusing and attuning the eye to anticipate the decisive moment using the outside of the "rangefinder" window, is quite achievable with a bit of practice.
I'm wondering how much street photography this guy has done, to be honest, as he mentions the ND filters as though a photographer has always needed 1/1000s at f2(!) which is a slow aperture relatively speaking..and how many street shots have unbroken full sun in them...?
But I'm giving him a hard time needlessly I fear, as generally his comments are useful and enlightening....I wonder if the ND filters have any effect on the focusing speed?
Image quality: needs to be pretty good...and it looks as good as a Canon 35mm f2 on a DSLR, maybe better in zones B and C. In fact, at ISOs greater than 800 it would give my 1DsII a run for its money, for less-tired arms!
The jpeg output and in-camera monochrome would be superfluous to me..and I wonder if they would also be so for the very "niche" pro-sumer it is targetted for?...but I do very much like the flash and its modes, particularly the forced/fill and second(rear) curtain modes...marvelous for outdoor portraiture and the latter for movement effects.
Do you know, I realise again the reviewer has picked up on the cost/price, and normally my own penny-pinching makes its own equations...but Toad's questioning of this has got me reviewing my own reaction: IS the Fuji X-100 actually any pricier than alternatives, given the nature of what it can do?

I'm quite happy to leave my own jury out to debate for a while yet...until someone has actually used it extensively "in the street". The flash, pre-focus, dual-finder and the I.Q. all speak highly for its defence.. yet the slow burst-write, the less-than-DSLR AF(and even, maddeningly, the manual focus) raise a case for my personal prosecution. I'm wondering too if it'll be frustrating to be able to anticipate a shot so well, yet have to wait for the focusing to catch up, as wouldn't this be a case of watching the very decisive moment hove in and out of view whilst waiting for the focusing to make an appearance?
These are merely my own gut woolgatherings and weighings, and neither an argument for or against the camera.
I really am looking forward to as many other people as possible getting their hands on it before I do, putting it through its paces intensively in a street session...I reckon my ideal guinea-pig for this experiment would be a Leica-user who has his/her M in one pocket and the Fuji in the other!

[Toad]

I reckon my ideal guinea-pig for this experiment would be a Leica-user who has his/her M in one pocket and the Fuji in the other!

Feels like overkill, though, doesn't it?

[matthew]

I do enjoy Photographyblog; they typically get reviews up very quickly, but inevitably – almost – they love everything.

Fujifilm has issued a press release saying that the factory where the X100 is being made was damaged, and that production has stopped.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1300125365.html

[Zig]

It had more than crossed my mind that some camera/photo manufactories might have been badly affected by the consequences of the earthquake/tsunami. I remember all too clearly laying into Fuji in my overblown rant-in-cheek style not 48 hrs before the disaster. Thus what a strange and sobering blow to read that release that Matthew draws attention to above....eyes and discernment of a hawk as usual, thankfully for us. If the X-100 becomes as rare as hens' teeth over the next couple of months I'll retract both my rant and my foot from my facial orifice.
Now, I'm not blessed with the most good sense abot economics, but am wondering about the effect of the tsunami's consequences on camera/photographic production and supply in general. Presumably much of what we have taken for granted might become rare if its production has been based in the north of Japan...?

[shuttertalk]

Yes, there has been reportage of many electronics factories being damaged through the earthquake / tsunamis... LCD manufacturers, electronics, etc. Very sad, but not surprising given the magnitude of the destruction...

[Zig]

Yes indeed Jules; we are indebted to Japan for so many things in the west, not the least all manner of consumer and electrical goods, cars and their components. I would guess by extension there'll be no part of the globe untouched and unaffected long-term by that one terrible disaster.

[Zig]

Over at a forum with the poetical name of seriouscompacts-dot-com(honestly) there are several examplars of the way that quasi-apocryphal stories, conjecture and the supply/demand curve all get a good stir in the mix, particularly when awaiting a hyped product.
There is the "mate of a mate", for instance, who has reportedly paid about twice the list price for a copy of the x-100, and that re-sales are a popular if quickly over way of making a bit of cash, as rumours about availability drive up demand into a frenzy..
There is oddly the figure of 200 coming up again, this time for Australia... which I was also quoted by a Fuji "platinum dealer" several weeks ago as being the amount of units in the vanguard to reach the UK: this time, the expected figure has mysteriously been truncated to a mere 30-something, presumably as supply issues outwork from the earthquake-affected factory in Japan.
To fuel it all, there are also the "thank God it's them and not me" apocrypha emerging: one baneful rumour is that the first wave of x-100s contains several units blighted by alignment problems with the optical finder.
I'm almost thinking this camera is becoming a religious icon, or a grail, comparable to bodyparts of Thomas a Becket in the middle ages
: hailed as a messiah well in advance, spoken of in hushed tones as having the Godly essence of the near-divine Leica...foretold and awaited with bated breath as rumours increase...only to be born in a time of extreme adversity, almost with an aura of tragedy and doom, as if too perfect for a fallen world..and it disappears like Peter Pan, or is even yet a symol of an impossible dream.
I know I sound a little ironic or cynical but I'm actually attempting to be quite serious, just not managing the words too well.

[Toad]

Few cameras in recent years have resulted in quite so much speculation and chatter. I suspect that it will be very hard fro the X100 to live up to its hype. Its undoubtedly going to be a very capable performer, and a lovely thing to put in your pocket and wander around town with, but we really need to be cautious about expecting too much from it. Setting expectations that are unrealistically high is the best way to take something that you would otherwise really enjoy and making it into something that doesn't quite hit the mark. I think "wait and see" is the correct attitude to take right now - and I certainly wouldn't pay over-list price for it.

What surprises me is that the competition hasn't rushed X100 clones to market - you'd have to be deaf and blind to have missed the excitement that has been generated by this camera. That can't be too far ahead - and its a pity that Fuji can't capitalize on the demand frenzy with supply. Kindof reminds me of Panasonic in that way...

[matthew]

What surprises me is that the competition hasn't rushed X100 clones to market - you'd have to be deaf and blind to have missed the excitement that has been generated by this camera.

That's a good point - but perhaps Canon and Nikon are still directing all of their development efforts to copying the Panasonic G1 and the six mirrorless cameras that they've released since then.

(Either that, or they're hard at work on the D3200 and 650D.)

[Toad]

A few thoughts on the X100's touted manual controls...

What's with the dedicated "RAW" button on the back of the X100? I would sure hate to press that button by accident and end up shooting jpegs all day just because I didn't notice it. They should get rid of that button (obvious menu setting) and replace it with a dedicated ISO button. RAW is something that I set on the first day I bought the camera and never touched again. ISO is something I play with quite a bit.

I also don't like the location of the Trash button on the control wheel. Bit easy to make a mistake there, IMO.

I do like the exposure compensation dial on the top of the camera.

All the buttons to the left of the LCD look weird to me. Separate AF and AE adjustment/lock buttons? Display mode? Odd choices for multiple dedicated buttons. Others may disagree.

[shuttertalk]

Bit of a cryptic message that Fujifilm have resumed production of the X100. Apparently they were shut down due to the nuclear incident - understandably so.

http://dpnow.com/7950.html

[matthew]

For what it's worth, the camera has indeed reached at least one camera store in Toronto. The quantity is quite small, and not up to the pre-orders and reserved units, and there's no way of knowing when the next batch will be in – but it's probably not soon.

The camera has actually been improved a bit since the pre-release camera that I saw, with a better control wheel and an overall better feel. I'm still not about to buy one, but it's a decent little machine.

[Toad]

Luminous Landscape has published a good working review of the X100:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/review...port.shtml

Overall, he is very impressed except for a few user interface issues and some of the back controls (like the RAW button that I was complaining about).

Worth a read.

[Toad]

Another decidedly luke-warm review on Steve Huff...

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/04/03...s-bandera/

There's an old phrase that "if it seems to good to be true, it probably is".

Whatever the deficiencies of this camera, I still think it is one of the more exciting products to be released in a long time. Imagine what the X200 will be like?

[Pavel]

There are rumors of Nikon mirrorless desinged for pros with its own line of lenses. It may be interesting to wait and see.