The X100 - Pain and Bliss
Saturday, 21. January, 2012 It is the latest addition to my camera bag - the Fuji X100.
Six months I had battled with the decision of whether I should spend a thousand Euros on a quirky camera. And I am still not sure. But the money is gone and so I'm making friends with this thing, this prima donna , this nuisance, this marvel.
It lacks everything I had in my old Canon compact, the S95: reliability, functional certainty, simple operation, a zoom lens, sufficient battery life, small size, and resistance to abuse. Yet if gave me the most important thing a photographer can hope for: stunning pictures.
But the joy is conditional. You have to coax the X100 into compliance, you have to stroke it and talk gently to it, whisper a compliment at the right moment and pull its chair out.
Just last night it drove me crazy. I sat in a restaurant with a friend and wanted to take her picture, because the light was so beautiful and she looked nice. The first picture came out completely dark. I couldn't see why. Second picture, same thing. I checked all the menus. Nothing. Third picture: starry night. The moment was gone, my friend started eating and I ordered another cocktail to wash down the disappointment.
After the meal I looked at the camera again and saw that the shutter speed dial had accidentally moved from the automatic setting to 1/4000th of a second, the position right next to it. This could never have happened with any camera I have ever owned and it is only one of many steps in the painful learning process that comes with the X100. You literally have to unlearn many of the things you took for granted and give in to the new rules.
Once you do, a new world opens up to you, a world that you cannot see with modern cameras. It's like records and mp3s. It's the same music, but it sounds better.









