Fujifilm FinePix X100 review

From a market standpoint, the pricey Fujifilm FinePix X100 is a bit of an oddball. Though we traditionally call models like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 or Canon PowerShot G12 "large sensor" compacts, their CCDs are relatively tiny compared to the APS-C-size CMOS in the X100. ILCs like the Sony Alpha NEX or Samsung NX series have APS-C sensors, but they're higher resolution with smaller photosites. The X100 also sports a prime lens with a 35mm-equivalent focal length, while the less expensive, more mainstream-focused compact models incorporate zoom lenses; no matter how short the zoom range, a prime will usually deliver superior sharpness and clarity. But you can stick a nice prime on those ILCs as well.

So what does the X100 deliver? Stellar photo quality and disappointing performance in a tanklike semicompact body with a cool but frequently frustrating operational design, all for a high--but circumstantially justifiable--price.

As far as I can tell, the X100 delivers better photo quality than all of its less-expensive competitors, generally comparable to or better than the midrange dSLRs in its price range. It produces extremely clean images as high as ISO 800, with usable ones as high as ISO 1600. Although the results get a bit soft at ISO 3200, images don't look like they've been run through a filter, and they remain very saturated. Furthermore, it supplies a decent amount of latitude for fixing underexposed images without introducing excessive noise.

I was most surprised by the high quality of the camera's JPEG processing; I couldn't easily get better noise-reduction results from processing the raw version--your mileage may vary--which is unusual. It renders natural-looking but sharp images, in part thanks to a thinner-than-usual high-pass filter over the sensor, as well as to the solid prime lens. As I'd expect from an expensive prime lens that's not especially wide, there's little distortion. It also has excellent edge-to-edge sharpness, falling off only in the extreme corners, and no fringing that I could spot. The nine-bladed aperture and undistorting lens in the X100 yields lovely round, soft, out-of-focus highlights.

While the X100 delivers excellent color accuracy in its default standard film profile, it does tend to oversaturate very saturated colors, especially reds. I noticed hue shifts in very saturated reds, as well as the tendency to blow out details in reds compared with other colors in the scene.

You can shoot 720/24p videos with the X100, with control over aperture and continuous autofocus. The video looks good, especially nice in closeups at wide apertures, and the built-in stereo mic is reasonably sensitive. But my shots with sky in them had that vignetted appearance with center bleached out and gradual darkening to a cyan around the sides.

	Canon PowerShot G12	Fujifilm FinePix X100	Nikon Coolpix P7000	Olympus XZ-1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
Sensor (effective resolution)	10-megapixel CCD	12.3 megapixel CMOS	10-megapixel CCD	10-megapixel CCD	10-megapixel CCD
	1/1.7-inch	23.6 x 15.8mm	1/1.7-inch	1/1.63-inch	1/1.63-inch
Sensitivity range	ISO 80 - ISO 3200	ISO 100 (expanded)/200 - ISO 6400/12,800 (expanded)	ISO 100 - ISO 3200/6400 (expanded)	ISO 100 - ISO 6,400	ISO 80 - ISO 3200
Lens	28-140mm f2.8-4.5 5x	35mm f2	28-200mm f2.8-5.6 7.1x	28-112mm f1.8-2.5 4x	24-90mm f2-3.3 3.8x
Closest focus (inches)	0.4	3.9	0.8	0.4	0.4
Continuous shooting	1.1fps frames n/a	5fps 10 JPEG/8 raw	1.1fps n/a	2fps 23 JPEG/8 raw	2.5 fps JPEG/n/a raw
Viewfinder	Optical	Optical/EVF switchable	Optical	Optional EVF	Optional OVF or EVF
Autofocus	n/a Contrast AF	49-area Contrast AF	99-area Contrast AF	11 area Contrast AF	23-area Contrast AF
Metering	n/a	256 zones	256-segment matrix	324 area	n/a
Shutter	15-1/4000 sec	30 - 1/4000 sec; bulb to 60 min	60-1/4000 sec	60-1/2000 sec; bulb to 16 min	60-1/4000 sec
Flash	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hot shoe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LCD	2.8-inch articulated 461,000 dots	2.8-inch fixed 460,000 dots	3-inch fixed 921,000 dots	3-inch fixed OLED 610,000 dots	3-inch fixed 460,000 dots
Image stabilization	Optical	None	Optical	Sensor shift	Optical
Video (best quality)	720/24p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo	720/24p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo	720/24p H.264 QuickTime MOV Stereo	720/30p Motion JPEG AVI	720/30p AVCHD Lite Mono
Manual iris and shutter in video	No	Iris only	No	No	Yes
Zoom while recording	No	n/a	Yes	No	n/a
Mic input	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Battery life (CIPA rating)	390 shots	300 shots	350 shots	320 shots	400 shots
Dimensions (WHD, inches)	4.4 x 3.0 x 2.0	5.0 x 2.9 x 2.1	4.5 x 3.1 x 1.8	4.4 x 2.6 x 1.7	4.3 x 2.6 x 1.7
Weight (ounces)	14.2	15.8	12.6	9.6	9.2
Mfr. Price	$499.99	$1,195.95	$499.95	$499.99	$440
Availability	October 2010	March 2011	September 2010	January 2011	August 2010

And now we head from the sublime to the ridiculous: By any metric, the X100's performance is slow given the camera's price, especially if you use autofocus. It's roughly comparable to far less expensive models like the Canon PowerShot G12, and significantly slower than competing interchangeable-lens models. In its default configuration it takes 2.6 seconds to power on and shoot--that's a shot missed in street-shooting time. You can turn on Quick Start mode to reduce it, but that will decrease the already way too-short battery life. In optimal conditions, shot lag runs 0.5 second, and in dim that increases to about 0.9 second. That's mediocre enough, but the focus is inconsistent as well, especially in macro mode; during my shooting, it frequently thought it had locked focus but clearly hadn't.

Macro performance becomes especially important because of an inconvenient optical characteristic of the lens: in standard mode, it can only focus at 2.6 feet or beyond. That means you'll end up using macro mode far more often that you might otherwise.

Two sequential JPEG shots take about 1.5 seconds--raw, 1.7 seconds--mostly because of inefficient autofocus, but also because it takes a little longer than it should to write images to the card. Flash bumps that up to 2.1 seconds.

You can alleviate some of the performance issues by using manual focus or continuous autofocus. Unfortunately, neither of those is an optimal solution. I really don't like the manual focus ring; it doesn't feel precise or responsive enough to me, and even with magnification the view seems too coarse for accurate focus. It would really benefit from peaking. Continuous AF solves the speed issue, but once again drains the battery.