Waiting for the X100s by Renaud Perez

February 26, 2013 essay, follow ups, Fuji, Guest Post, Inspiration, Just for fun, Mirrorless, User Reports 41

Waiting for the X100s by Renaud Perez

Dear Steve,

At first, thanks for this website, all the efforts you’ve put inside and sharing all this pictures from other readers / photographers.

I’m a French guy living in Beijing for about 7 years now and I can say that China helped me a lot in my photography. I guess there are two reasons for that, the first one people do not really mind the way you look at them here, my personal feeling is that they do not judge based on the outside and the result is that you can walk in the streets look at a guy and shoot, either he smiles or he don’t care. The second is that it’s not better than any other places, but it’s so different, and this give me motivation and creativity!

About my photography experience, I guess it starts to become a routine for you reading this but like many I started with a Nikon D40 then D80 then D7000 and then STOP!!! All were super cam’, I loved them BUT they were all at the same time too heavy, too bulky, not discreet etc… About one year and half ago I sold everything and bought a Fuji X100. And I can say right now that it is the BEST camera I ever had, plus it helped me so much improving my photo skills. I like it, I always wanted to take it with me and shoot shoot shoot.

I have so many pics that I even don’t know which one to send you. But there is one I wanted you to publish, the X100 reflection through my apartment window in Beijing, it’s kind of my way to thanks Fuji for such a great camera. For me the best word to define the X100 is “emotion”.

The other ones are a portrait of my friend Pedro, cycling in the Beijing Hutong (old streets). One of a women eating in a restaurant in northern Sichuan, where I was backpacking with a friend last summer.

There is also a sweeping panorama I did with the WCL-X100 attached on it (in Huanglong national park).

And as a bonus a macro of my mother’s orchid.

Now I’m just waiting for one thing, the new ”s”, I already sold my X100 waiting so badly for the new X100s and if Fuji really managed to get rid of the slow AF and all quirks I think it’s a camera I will keep for years.

Enjoy,

Renaud.

Pedro

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41 Comments

  1. Two weeks ago, I switched from the Nikon D700 with all sorts of lenses to the X-PRO1 with the 18-55mm and 60mm lenses and couldn’t be happier. Love the Fujifilm concept and the IQ is outstanding. I have no doubt the X100s will be a significant improvement over the X100.

  2. I have a few shots like No.1..

    Interior HDR shot distractingly screams, “HDR!”.

    The river shot is interesting – for a moment I thought the water was yellow instead of the rocks mimicking rapids.

  4. Hi Renaud

    Great post!

    I have been living in Beijing for 20+ years, maybe too long…though I love this place but its too crowded and busy nowadays. And the weather… you know..ahah.

    Hope you still having a good time here and enjoy your life in this big city! : )

  5. Hi Renaud

    Great post first!

    I have been living in Beijing for 20+ years, maybe too long…though I love this place but its too crowded and busy nowadays. And the weather… you know..ahah.

    Hope you still having a good time here and enjoy your life in this big city! : )

  6. Great post. It will be interesting to see whether people who have experience with the X100 feel that the X100s is a worthwhile upgrade. In the UK the new camera will be exactly double the price of the old so it will have to be significantly better. I’m hoping we’ll get some bargain priced used X100 cameras coming onto the market so that late adopters like me can get their hands on one at a giveaway price (well, I can dream, can’t I…)?

  8. I wrote out a big comment about trying the X100s here in Japan right next to the old X100, says it’s still awaiting moderation… never had that before, I wrote it very soon after the article came out, maybe it’s too long?

  10. i wait for that damn thing too…cant wait my new x100s, only thing that will keep my dslr equipment is my carzeiss glass, i hate dslr but i love my carl zeiss lenses.

    When you make one portrait with carl zeiss 85/1.4, that’s it you are carl zeiss fan.

    Cheers people.

  11. Thx for the comments!
    I expect to be able to get one X100s in ~2 weeks in China. As soon as I have so nice pics I will share them with Steve.
    This time I’m not going to wait for his review to purchase it because I love the X100 plus it perfectly suits my budget eheh 😉 It’s a win/win package!
    The RX1 seems amazing but that’s too much for me. Right now I’m quite in the concept of large sensor + fixed lens cam’. I forget about the gear and just focus on shooting. Not having the choice can be nice sometimes.
    I’m also following closely what Olympus is doing, their OMD + primes seems so good + so compact! I guess with technology going on (and when I have some space in my purse) I would love to invest in their system too.

    @ Steve, thx for publishing and keep working on your site, it’s so nice!
    Actually I have a request, in China it’s quite difficult to access YouTube, the site is blocked and you need a VPN, connection is slow, unstable… Arrrfffff!
    If it’s not using too much of your time, I would love that you post your video on Youku too (the Chinese Youtube)! http://www.youku.com
    Problem for you is that the website and software are in Chinese. I try to look for an English version but no, not now.
    Or maybe if you have a friend reading Chinese he could help you to set up and upload process.
    Anyway if I find a better solution I will let you know.

  12. Sorry Steve, but it’s getting harder and harder to actually learn anything here…There’s just too much random user-generated content. This is not a comment on the post, but on the site in general.

    • Well maybe if you want to pay me $50 per month I can put content up just so YOU can learn something. In case you did not remember, this is all free and updated DAILY. You may not see something you like every single day, week or month. But since it is 100% free it costs you nothing to stop by. So Sorry Dan, but I do not cater to YOUR needs…this is a site for everyone.

  14. I am currently living here in Japan, and could test the X100S this week in a dep store! Now I have a M6 and the x100s manual focus made me shake my heart towards it, it is really amazing how it works and how well the controls were implemented, so with 1 lever and two wheels u go from a full auto point n shoot mode to a leica-ish manual experience. Image quality is also very good! I just didnt like the bokeh, but maybe I am spoilt by the summicron

  15. Nice images and creatively done.
    If the X100 or the X100s inspires your creativity then that is what it’s all about .

  17. I, too, am waiting on my X100s to arrive. Since you are in China, I imagine you will get yours well ahead of me. I sold nothing at this point to make sure the X100s is where I want to go. I have been shooting 24mm and 35mm lenses on D2H bodies (APS-C) for the last several months to get accustomed to a different way of seeing. Too many years of fast zooms for work have been ingrained into me and I want a new way of “seeing” for the next step in my photolife….

    Nice images out of the X100, especially #2!

  18. Émotion et créativité, c’est cela, Bravo Renaud, tes photos sont sympas et tu as du talent!!!

    Richard

  19. Rediculous, i send my daily inspiration along time ago. Never got a reply. Is this how you thank the effort of writing a Daily Inspiration?

    • Come on get over it. I assume Steve is getting plenty of daily inspiration suggestions and can (or wants to) choose only one per day. I submitted one myself and didn’t get chosen either. So, what? I enjoy to see the wonderful, truly inspiring work of others. And if we both try to get better hard enough, maybe one day our own work will prove original and worthy enough to be accepted.

      Best regards,
      Wolfgang

  20. Interesting timing, i’m a Kiwi (New Zealander) living in Japan and today I headed out to Shinjuku in Tokyo for some casual street shooting. I happened across the X100s in store, and right next to it was the regular X100. Couldn’t believe it, no one seemed interested, though I don’t know how long it’s been there and it’s a big store and likely in many stores around these parts I just haven’t looked lately.

    So I went about comparing them, first reaction was hmmm the af is definitely not OMD speed, so straight up I was a little disappointed, I kept playing with it, it seemed to lock on about 90% of the time, I was getting more and more disappointed until I tried out the old X100 (which I don’t own but have used in store many times since it’s so sexy looking) well…. I can say it was night and day, the old x100 failed to lock on about 50% of the time is seemed, took forever to af and overall was just crazy slow compared to the X100s. I of coure picked up the X100s again and as if holding it for the first time again it seemed very good.

    I went and tried out the OMD on another stall to compare and yes, the OMD is still faster by quite a bit but the X100s is easily fast enough, I would say it’ll struggle on moving targets but it seemed great. They were selling the old X100 for 90,000 yen, roughly $950 (Aussie dollars, but I think they’re worth more than US now) and the X100s for 129,000 and also had the wide angle converter which I tried out and loved (for 29,000, cameras are actually generally more expensive in Japan which came as a shock when I first came here a year ago) but is strangely huuuuge or I should say long, but well worth it, turns it into a two lens kit almost, and I prefer the 28mm focal length too (28mm and 50mm, not so much the 35mm)

    All in all I think people will be happy, the EVF seemed nice, it seemed slightly heavier but that might just be the one hand makes things lighter than the other, they were tethered so I couldn’t quite switch hands. I would say the AF just seemed all round decent, but not lightning quick, but then again this was in a camera store, not the best conditions, perhaps in daylight it’ll be a speed demon. And yes I was focusing on things close to me then things far away, not just constantly at infinity like I see in many camera reviews that bugs me.

    Enjoy it, i’m sticking to my Fuji GW690, similar in a lot of ways but also much much different.

    • Japan and Korea has indirect tax system which means taxes are included in the retail price already. Also, there are many taxes applied! As such, generally, items sold in Japan and Korea are more expensive than ones sold in USA where retail price does not include local taxes. However, when an item produced in Japan or Korea exported, those taxes are not applied any more, and that’s why Japanese cameras or Korean cars are cheaper in the USA than they are in their native countries.

  21. Of course, great images. Misleading header though. What’s got the X100S to do with these images?

  24. It’s easy to see why you can’t wait until the Fuji X100s arrives. Love the shot of the woman in the restaurant, and the orchid.

  25. Fabulous photos Renaud!
    And I hear what you’re saying about the X100 – I’ve been loving mine for two years now.
    But, I am waiting for the X20 to compliment my X100. If image quality just comes close…

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