The Fujifilm X-Pro 1 - A Leica M Alternative - For PEANUTS!

This rangefinder style digital camera from Fujifilm is quickly gathering a cult following, and it's now very affordable indeed!

Its rangefinder styling makes it a very beautiful camera to use, and it's an effective alternative to a Leica M digital body, for much less cost! It also makes unique and beautiful images that few other digital cameras can match!

Check out the episode to see how I got on with it! Go on, you know you want to!

Thanks for watching!

#camera asmr #camera chat #photography asmr #photography chat

[camerarover]

Hi Nigel, I’ve been counting down the Sundays for years for your review on this very special tool of choice.
Thank you 😊

[justcallmesando]

You really take your time for trying this amazing camera's features on a personal level beyond the already widely known specs. Nice approach. I just got mine on 2022 and this is a really exciting camera for me.

[SeanC]

My only digital camera is the Xpro-1 and I love it. Bought it new over 5 years ago and have never had any regrets. Thanks for the excellent and informative video Mr Z.

[PublicUniverse]

Love the XPRO 1! The viewfinder is always disappointing when you preview the pics, but the actual pic quality is amazing. I use a Turbo II speedbooster with m42 lenses and it's a great combination

[boris.dupont]

This sensor is the most organic Fuji have made and it's actually based on film. There's something unique about it that you can't forget or replace. The way it captures texture makes it shine in black and white especially with the Acros film simulation. The shooting experience with the X-Pro1 is very special too. That's why it's not as cheap as other Fuji cameras which came out later, it has become a bit of a cult camera. I have the X-Pro3 too but I keep shooting with the X-Pro1, especially for black and white portraiture. Anyway, thanks for sharing, I appreciate it!

[stvdicorsa]

Despite having, due to GAS, a quite extensive collection of even newer cameras, the x-pro1 with the 35mm f2 is the one I always have with me. Thanks for sharing.

[GeorgeK]

Thank you for this video, Nigel.
As you may know, I am a huge fan of the modern Fujifilm cameras, the X-E series in particular.
I looked at the X-Pro 1 a while ago and found it a good camera, but missing some of the features found in the "cut down" X-E series. My current camera of choice, the X-E3, will probably be my favourite for some time to come. I have compared it to it's younger sibling, the X-E4, but for my money the 3 is a much better camera,

In fact, I'd put my neck on the block and say that it's almost the perfect camera, at least for me.
If you ever get the chance to try one out I'd be interested if you came to the same conclusion.

I like the new format of your videos too, with the images tagged on at the end. I could recognise some of those shot with the CZ lens, but it might be a good idea to have some onscreen information as to which lens is being used?
Just a minor point - the Zenography remains the same.
Regards
George

[stevesteve]

I bought one of these just over a year ago with a 35 1.4 fuji lens.. and have bought Viltrox 23 1.4 and 85 1.4 . These lenses are electronically compatible with the fuji. With this camera I have found you can be quite casual with your composition and you can compose taking your time both methods are equally lapped up by the X-pro and I never look at my shots before I download. My recommendation to anyone thinking of purchasing this camera is... buy it, it's liberating and you'll become your own photographer, its limitations are its pure gold. Put a 23mm on, get wrist strap and be relaxed and spontaneous, you'll be really surprised how good you will become.

[saltydog]

Hello! First, I would like to thank you for your videos. You have a great approach to photography. I love the fact of the retro/hybrid philosophy in utilizing vintage and modern photo gear. I left photography for many years when digital really started to get hold. It just seemed too overwhelming to me. Well, I decided to jump into it again.

Based primarily on your channel, you have convinced me that I can, at least utilize my old lenses as well, on a digital camera. I made the plunge today and bought a used Fugifilm X-T2. I researched some, and decided that I don't need all the latest and greatest for the simple photography that I will be doing. Thank you for being an influence for this decision.

I do have a question. What adapter(s) do you use for your vintage lenses? Pardon me if you have mentioned it in another video. I probably haven't seen it yet.

Again, thanks for your videos and keep them coming! Take care.

[michel]

Hi Nigel, bought one 1/2 year ago. Really like it. Rather then a tool it feels like a good old companion you like to travel or hang out with. I have the XF18/2 and XF35/1.4 and they are a bit slow and noisy, still workable. Same as the EVF. Tried the XF23/2 and wow, different camera, way faster, near silent. Worth trying one of the newer fuji lenses. I use a 7Artisan 35/1.2 as well, love the combo. Whish the focuss peaking was a diff color though and using the OVF (zone focussing with the indications on the lens) the framelines are dimm, hard to see in daylight (not so with the fuji lenses, couldn‘t make out why….if someone knows how to fix it?

Cheers from Switzerland
Mitch

[jkkb]

I bought one new in 2013 and cant part with it mainly due to the fact that it's worth peanuts in trade in which I am so pleased now, I agree you really do have to take your time with this beast, auto focus I think it might have a clockwork mechanism lol but the images it produces in my opinion are the best I have ever had that creamy look to the images I just cannot achieve with anything else, and this just comes out natural time after time, like you my eyesight is not what it used to be and I find in bright sunlight I feel I am shooting blind half the time, a good tip you gave turn off the auto review of images ..I am definitely going to go with that ..thanks for the video well interesting

[cdavey]

Forget tripods and pan heads, the X-Pro1 aligns the images automatically when hand-held.

Point the X-Pro1 up or down by a constant amount during the pan and it magically corrects! If you wiggle, no problem: the X-Pro1 automatically fixes it all.

The X-Pro1's huge dynamic range is a huge help taming the huge variations in lighting encountered in panoramas. The X-Pro1's viewfinder system is the world's first combined optical and electronic hybrid finder on an interchangeable-lens camera. (The fixed-lens Fuji X100 is the first.) This unique viewfinder system sets the X-Pro1 in a class by itself. If LEICA could do this, it would bring LEICA 60 years ahead of where it is today.

The X-Pro1's eye control selects the rear LCD or viewfinder automatically.

The front lever switches between optical (OVF) and electronic (EVF) viewfinders. The EVF has a very high-resolution LCD with sharp optics. Unlike Sony's sequential-color EVFs, the X-Pro1's EVF image is stable no matter how fast you move your eye, and never shows any residual color fringes.

One can operate the entire menu system, playback and zoom, through the electronic finder. One never needs to look at the back of a camera in public, and the EVF lets one work in dark theaters without disturbing others. When it gets dark, the EVF is brighter than reality making it easy to see, focus and compose in any light. It's like night vision, but in color! The rear 3" LCD is sharp, and is well color-matched to the images as seen on a calibrated monitor.

Like every camera in 2012, I had no problem seeing it in daylight. The X-Pro1's LCD is more accurate than the colors on Nikon D800 and D4's LCD, It's small, light, and handles like a dream. It sounds smooth and quiet, and the grip works and feels very good. It's easy to set the Fuji X-Pro1 purely by feel. The exposure modes are easy to set without looking. If either shutter or aperture is set to A, that value is controlled automatically based on the other. If both are set to A, both are set automatically, giving the professional, or "Program, " exposure mode.

Once learned in a few days, the X-Pro1 handles faster than a DSLR because of direct shutter, aperture, compensation and focus and exposure mode dials.

It's easy to set even manually-set custom white balances without taking the camera away from your eye! Auto ISO uses 1/(equivalent focal length) as its slowest shutter speed. It's perfectly normal to see ISO 800 come up in daylight. It's not because it's dark, it's because the highlights are so harsh that the ISO 800 setting is needed to retain the highlights.

Nikon and Canon do the same things with the effective ISO when their dynamic-range optimization systems are enabled, but their software is designed not to scare anyone and conceal the fact that they've also bumped-up their effective ISOs.

Don't worry if you see ISO 400 and ISO 800 popping up with Auto DR and Auto ISO enabled in broad daylight; it means the system is working. Auto DR works great. I leave it on all the time. It kicks-in automatically only as needed, and always makes photos look better.

Auto DR knows the dynamic range of the image from the sensor, and alters exposure and region-by-region sensitivity to optimize every part of the image.

It really works, works well, and is completely automatic. Highlights are astounding with AUTO DR active. Highlights simply can't blow out. If you're shooting for black-and-white, this gives a great film-look.

The X-Pro1 has an uncanny ability to control any highlight, even looking directly into the sun. Instead of a big white circle as we get from DSLRs, extreme highlights always look natural, presuming you activate this feature. The highlight rendition of the X-Pro1 is better than DSLRs, gracefully and naturally rendering difficult highlights.

The Fuji X-Pro1 quietly packs every image-processing trick Fuji learned in making DSLRs into a compact body, instead of another me-too DSLR. Fuji is changing the game, making cameras for photographers while Canon and Nikon are too busy chasing vidiots and computer hobbyists. Given a few more years Fuji might send Nikon and Canon back to where LEICA is today: a fond memory for most of us, but no longer relevant. The X-Pro1 is half the price of a Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon D800, so if you already have a 5D Mark II or D700, you might want to step all the way up to the X-Pro1 for half the price of the 5D Mark III or D800, each of which are mostly the same as the older models, while there is nothing like the X-Pro1. Even the LEICA M9 handles like a pig with it's all-manual focusing and no way to see what you've really got in your image until after you look at the rear LCD, compared to the X-Pro1. You can't get better than Fuji's lenses, and other lenses, even awesome LEICA lenses, won't autofocus or open and close their diaphragms for you as you shoot and focus.

With other lenses, manual focus might not be that much of a problem, but you'll have to open and close the aperture by hand every time you want to focus or shoot or focus. Forget other lenses except for the 12mm Voigtländer for ultrawide, or longer lenses from LEICA. LEICA's 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FAG isn't better than Fuji's 35mm f/1.4.

[markstorer]

Good to see you out and about 👍 thoroughly enjoyed this episode thanks.

[maxheadroom]

Well Nigel I have two of these as love them so much, reminded me of my old Zorki too!. Have other cameras but can’t bear to part with my Xpro1’s, both mint and with minimal shutter actuations. The JPG’s are phenomenal out of them! They make you slow down and make a more considered approach. Glad you are revisiting some of the older cameras as so many get caught up with GAS.😎🇦🇺👍

[dummatube]

Thanks for this. Great shots and well conveyed feelings of using an older classic digital camera to re-live the traditional 'analogue' shooting experience. I guess some of us are soon destined to become 'Digital Hipsters' ;-)

[LuqmanHM]

I bought 1 used for less than $300. And i love it!! Planning to adapt vintage lenses on it

[Narsuitus]

I was using an X-Pro1 and X-Pro2 until I could purchase a Leica M10. After I finally purchased the M10, I discovered that I really preferred the performance of my Fuji cameras.

[tonyjedioftheforest]

I picked up a Fuji XE1 body a few months ago from MPB to use with my vintage lenses but have not tried it yet. I was just wondering what you would recommend as a standard Fuji zoom for it as my eyes are not so good at the moment for manual focusing. I am due an operation shortly to remove a cataract and fix a stuck iris in my dominant eye but I still will be left with a macular oedema on my optic nerve so auto focus is my only option.

[WilliamWallaceRoss]

So, they are a step up from the X100 Series. I'm still trying to wrap my head around my X100S and might eventually settle on an X-Pro Series, if the price is right.

[barnabovichblacksmith]

Hi!
That was another nice video, another nice camera it is always nice to see You. However it was cool idea to come whit the camera out and do it outside!
See You next week!!
Take care!!