Tuesday, March 27, 2012

More Reviews Of The X Pro 1 Pour In

The Fuji X Pro 1 appear to be marching toward the same unenviable state as the X100 did, namely, it's amazing in some ways and laughably bad in others. Much like the X100, I imagine that when DPReview posts its review, they will write a special page near the end, listing all of the odd quirks and problems with the camera. To my knowledge, the X100 is still the only camera to ever deserve this "honor."

Luminous Landscape continues their rolling review with Part Deux, and the two big points in this review are that, not only does the autofocus suck, but there are tons of bizarre aspects to the camera that defy all logic. For example, you cannot change your focus point. What? This isn't a Canon EOS from 1988. Fuji's implementation of Auto ISO is incomprehensible, as well. Without going into detail, it is rendered useless.

The other point is that disappointment with the 18mm continues unabated. After the first few shots from the lens seemed to show something exceptionally good, it has been revealed to be rather sub-par. Its sharpness is similar to some kit-zooms, and for a prime lens, that is a shocking indictment. The 60mm and 35mm are sharp as hell, but, yet again, their autofocus is terrible. And without any form of focus peaking, I cannot bring myself to use manual focus lenses for any sort of demanding application.

The reviewer focuses, so to speak, on the 35mm and picks it out for exceptional performance. He compares it to his Leica, because, duh, he owns Leica gear. This gives the X cameras their go-to lens. The 60mm is a bit too long and slow to be that. With an effective focal-length that makes the camera Fuji's "fast fifty," it's the lens everyone will buy. It also appears to make it the sharpest fast-fifty lens on the market. Because, lord knows, the fifties from Canon and Nikon are soft as hell when wide-open.

Finally, as we are starting to get accustomed to hearing, they can't sing the praises of the sensor enough. I hope Fuji patches up the issues with the camera, soon, because I'm starting to drool.

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