Torn between X100S or X-Pro1

I am heading to London later in the evening, and surely this long haul flight is gonna suck *$$. I love travelling but i hate the flying part. One, there's the long flight, crammed in a confined space, cant straighten your legs, and the elbow resting invasion. its either you or him, that get to rest their elbow on the elbow rest. i love the aisle but this time i got checked in the middle like sandwiches, sitting next to a stranger. I'm socially retard and i'm not good at making small talks. breaking the ice is worst. Two, there's that thing called turbulence. Man, i hate it when the plane trembles, shaking like you're in a cocktail shaker. Thats when you'll remember god. Oh please god, save me. Third, take offs and landings, especially take offs, my mind goes wild when the plane starts rising at 45 degree angle, the plane at full throttle against the wind, i hate my life for seeing that youtube video where the plane take offs and rise to an angle of 90 degree upwards (thats a straight line upwards) and goes round all the way till 180 and boom. i'm not sure if i was looking at a real plane or a big scale model that looked like the real thing. but still that thing look real as sh!t. and me being a worrier, i have a lot of negative things in my mind when flying.

Travelling to London plus Italy, is a photography opportunity, be it street, buildings, landscape and snapshot photography. and dont forget food photography! So which camera is the best? I have the x100s and the X-pro1 but bringing both is not an option. i dont want to lug 2 cameras for travelling. Just not my style. i love photography but i'm not really that 'serious' into it, what it really means is that i'm not about to bring a tripod, 2 cameras, few lenses, and do long exposure shots. Mostly i just get away with snapshots. I want to enjoy more on the travelling, exploring the city and the camera is just for recording the memories. I dont want it to be a burden. and i'm not about to sell a poster of the tower bridge or the tower of pisa. I just need one camera. The ultimate camera.

Both have their pros and cons. I've already decided to bring the X100S but i'm having second thoughts.  I prefer the JPEG images that i got out of it compare to the X-pro1. I found that there's more headroom for editing the X100S Jpegs. and its more punchy and contrasty compare to the X-pro1 but to be honest they're similar but x100s is better/cleaner. Speaking of cleaner thats also the cons of the X100S, the noise reduction is too aggressive at high ISOs. Skins would turn to plastic or wax. I love shooting low light and indoors, thats the worst light for taking pictures of humans with the X100s, ISO bumped up to 3200 - 6400 and humans turns to mannequins. I used to love Fuji skin rendering and when my eyes were 'open', it was actually the effect of aggressive noise reduction. i wish i could turn off the NR or turn off my NR 'eyes'. Maybe future firmwares but i doubt it, it seems that the NR is built into the sensor. Oh wait, they said RAW did not have this wax skin problem. I havent try it though.

The X-pro1 is much more versatile as the lens can zoom. i have the 18-55 kit lens. and its also one of the reason that i didnt want to bring it with me. its just too long. Not DSLR long, but its no compact too. I want a smaller camera, thats where the X100S shines. Its size being smaller than the X-pro1 makes it much easier to bring it anywhere. But since i acquire the Wide Converter Lens, it's always on the camera. and it adds a considerable amount of length. I love 28mm. Just nice wide angle. Really good for taking pictures of the city. More objects/subjects to fit in. But the size of the X100S is now similar to the X-pro1. Arghh. Choices, Choices.

If i remember correctly, the reason i bought the X-pro1 is for this planned trip and GAS. I have a love and hate relationship with this camera. I love it and then i hate it. I just recently used this camera for my evening coffee with friends. and i'm in love with it again. its like an old fling. Sometimes the feelings just comes back. LOL. I love how it feels good in my hands. But i also bought the WCL for my X100S for this trip. WCL is a much more recent purchase. and i love the versatility. 28mm? no problem. 35mm? perfect! But i have 3 batteries for the X-pro1, surely thats enough. I only have 2 for the x100s which i still doubt if its enough for a day. The battery life on the X100s sucks.

Looking at both cameras, i love how handsome the X-pro1 look and i kinda have a change of heart.
Sorry X100s.

You're still coming with me.

Below are photos taken from iphone4 OOC.

Almost similar in size but the X-pro1 is bigger. Sorry for that messy desk.

 X-pro1 is definitely longer and bigger

The WCL fitted to the X100S makes it similar in size to the X-pro1.
Choices, choices

I'm stopping by Dubai on the way to London, i might get myself a Ricoh GR.

Oooops.

Fuji EF-X20, not a review...

Just recently received my new Fuji "GAS" flash, the EF X-20, i bought used on Ebay, haven't really put it to use, just some light testing, just to test if its working properly. As you can see above it works marvellously, and wirelessly.... It's not really wireless, but it is not wired, its in slave mode, as long it detects a flash, it will fire simultaneously. really nice for off camera strobing, too bad this wont work on the X-pro1 as the pro didnt have a built in flash to fire the flash, this works great on x100s but i haven't really test it to its full potential. Of course my Yongnuos are better. Sorry for the heavy crop on the picture above, my desk is really messy and to i need to crop some 'unwanted classified for my eyes only' 'stuffs' on the desk. LOL.

All in all for being smaller in size, i think its a good travelling flash and pair it with the x100s, should be nice to have off camera flash to play with. But in theory in broad daylight it might be having difficulties to detect the master flash from the x100s, i haven't try it, i'll make an update on another post when i have the time to test it.

While the x100s built-in flash is nice but if you want more power, this is a great combo.

And i love the direct hard flash ala Terry Richardson outcome!

Oh what's in the mail???

The post office here is so slow. Period. I've ordered stuffs from ebay, and the wait period is like a month or two. and its only from China. The US stuffs came here pretty quick and i thought China is closer. Apparently, the stuffs arrived early but the post office or the postmen here decided to keep it in the store room for a month or so as they are busy partying. no joke. I've lost tracked of what i ordered, but those with tracking numbers are safely sound while the others that dont have tracking numbers, well.... be prepared for doom.

Anyway, i've bought my self a fake leather sling shoulder camera bag and its pretty neat. i love it. its small and looks good. i also bought a canvas type but thats bigger and heavier. I was on GAS, so i bought both bags, maybe i'll add another one. this fake leather is nice. I want a bag that i can use for travelling and carry my camera, i think i've found it.

I'm into desaturated colors these days so trust me, its not your monitor, it doesnt need calibrating.

It can fit both my X100s + X-Pro1 with the 18-55 kit lens, a nexus 7 tablet, a selfie monopod (ahaks), 2 X-pro1 batts, 1 x100s batt, an earphone, a few sd cards....

I also received my soft release shutter button shown in red on the X-pro1.

There are 2 front pockets, 1 back pocket and inside there's a camera padding insert.

I have a trip to London coming. I have the bag but cant decide which camera to bring. X100S or X-pro1 ..... arggh like i said, i hate choices.

Just search on Ebay using these words "Vintage britpop camera bag" ... if you're interested. Mostly the sellers are from Hong Kong or China.

Hello Kuala Lumpur

Went to Kuala Lumpur last week over the weekend for a family trip, i thought i would take a lot of photos and man i was wrong. When you got your hands on the kids stroller all the time, you don't have a chance to take your camera out of your bag. Even if i did, we were quite rushing going places and there's no quality time with my X-pro1. I guess thats why i'd still prefer my iphone as a camera, its easy just slip in my pocket, cant do that with any of my Fujis. Looking to see if i can fit the new Sony Rx100 iii into my pocket, then it'll be my new toy!! C'mon Fuji, announce your new cameras!

7 adults and 7 kids and i'm being kind of the tour guide as i'm bringing first timers. there's no stopping, just walk, eat, shop and go! I don't want to bore or make them wait for me to take photos. 3 days are not enough for first timers going to Kuala Lumpur, too many places to visit, so it was like rushing/amazing race all the time. It was fun actually, my only gripe was the bullshit driver of ours who seems to be much more in a rush than us. All in all it was a great trip, too bad i didn't take a lot of photos as i liked to.

Silhoutte 

Above the clouds 

Lost balloons 

Busking N Robbins 

Not bad, not bad at all

Sunway

Night Market

To photogs nerds, these are all shot with an X-Pro1 + 18-55mm lens, edited in Lightroom with VSCO film presets. 

I'm also trying a different perspective, unconventional, quirky, unorthodox, screw-rule-of-thirds, out of the box ways of taking a photos+compositions. Just trying to be different than what i'm used to. Pretty or not, improve or not, as long as it captures the moments, the story, its fine with me.

So whats next?

Next on my wishlist will be a few lenses, hopefully not another camera. I hope i can skip the X-T1. So tempting and yet so not necessary. I'm in love with my X-Pro1, i'll be shooting with it exclusively. Now my X100s just sits in the bag, it is still my favourite camera but the X-Pro1 being the new toy, needs to be played more lol. I like the X-Pro1, its like the X100S but with different focal lengths. I didnt realize that i'm a fan of telephoto. Usually my type of photography just needs the 28, 35 and 50 in 35mm format. Now with the X-Pro1 with 18-55, i tend to use 55mm a lot more which is about 82mm in 35mm format. I used to be a wide angle guy. Now with the 55mm, I like the tight crop that it produced. More and more photos from my X-Pro1 are at the 55mm focal length, which of course led to GAS-ing the 60mm 2.4 lens. For a start, this lens is getting cheaper now, the prices are dropping, because there's a new kid in the block, the 56mm 1.2 which is selling like hot cakes.
Next, i would love to get the 35mm 1.4 but then according to fujirumors, there will be a new version, a version 2 of this 35mm lens. No more information about it, just rumor of a new version, it could be faster, or sharper, i dont know but i'd like to wait before buying the old 35mm. So the list goes like this, it might change in the future Ha!

1 - 60mm 2.4 lens
2 - 35mm 1.4 lens
3 - 14mm 2.8 lens or 10-24mm lens

Here are some random 55mm shots, my eyes through X-pro1...

Thoughts from my X-Pro1....

Just some random snapshots.....

i'm loving my X-Pro1 and if i had a chance to press the shutter, i go for it.

Lets call it my X-Pro1 journal...

My first impressions on my Fujifilm X-pro1

So far.... So Good.... So What!... - Dave Mustaine

Fuji X-Pro1 18-55mm at 39mm 1/75s f/3.6 ISO3200

I know this is old news, right now its all about the new X-T1. The X-Pro1 is.... sort of forgotten. Everyone that i followed who used a Fuji in their professional work, they seem to all talked and upgraded to the new Fuji X-T1, no harm done, i would have but instead i chose to get the X-Pro1, for one reason only, the rangefinder looks..... and of course the great deal its on. Hahah...condemn me all you want but that's just me. i just love the looks. Maybe next time X-T1. I'll wait for your weather sealed lens bundled kit. 

I owned the X100S and i just loved the JPG files that i get from it. Great image quality, High ISO is so good, clean and the grain is just film like, so my standard IQ must equal or higher to the X100S and not lower, thats why i sold my Olympus as , to my eyes, its not on par with the X100S but maybe that is just me. 

So when i test fired my X-pro1, the files didnt look anything like my X100S. I was gutted. I thought the IQ should be the same. it must be the same. But after comparing images between the two fujis, i could see that the X100S is a stop cleaner and better. My X-Pro1 just seems to generate a lot of noise and looked washed out. Ever since i owned the Olympus i turned into a noise-pixel-peeper. Zooming in every pictures looking for noise level. Its not healthy. To my eyes, the X-pro1 files are similar to what i could get from my Olympus. and to be honest, the Olympus is a better camera feature-wise. I have a slight regret of selling my Olympus too soon. and its not helping seeing it everyday, making things worse, seeing my friend playing with its features, touch screen to take pictures and wifi abilities..... i'm screaming silently! lol.

So what is wrong with my X-Pro1? I thought i had a bad copy. It could be the old vs new X Trans sensor and the old vs new EXR II processor. I searched the internet and no one seems to mention about these two cameras. No one compared the IQ. They all said its the same IQ...... being a Fuji. But thats not what i'm seeing. I do found some words of encouragement from fellow blogger who said that the new Fujis are a tad better in terms of image quality. But still i find that hard to believe. I'm in denial. "The IQ should be the same", i said to myself. 

If i'm not making myself clear, here is a summary of my first impressions on my Fuji X-pro1.......

1 - I see DEAD Pixels. (Ok, so i assume this is normal, its only 3 out of millions. But how come i never came across this on my x100s and x-m1? .... maybe i wasnt pixel peeping back then)

2 - Its prone to HOT Pixels. (Yep, at higher ISOs, these white specks randomly appeared especially on shadows area, its like dandruff as i've always seen it on hairs but.... theres a but.... i've never seen this on my other Fujis)

3 - Its MORE noisier than my x100s. (I am making myself believe that this is due to the new processor on x100s which makes its files cleaner)

4 - The JPGs files have not so much "headroom". (I tend to underexposed a picture and upped the exposure one stop in post processing. This is fine with x100s but with my X-pro1 the hot pixels start to appear)

Is there a number 5? i'm not sure.... but all these problems only occur when i zoomed in at 100%. Its not nice being a pixel peeper. Where is thy joy? On standard view, the IQ is awesome, its what you would expect from a Fuji files. So how do i find the remedies that i mentioned above? .....Google is my friend.

a - All digital cameras have dead pixels, you were just not looking.... and mine have 3 dead pixels out of millions? ... it sure bugs the hell out of me but i just have to take it out of the equation. its not visible, unless i looked for it. thats why pixel peeping is bad, it takes out the joy out of photography.

b - To confirmed myself on the HOT pixels mentioned, i searched the internet for Fuji X-Pro1 and the X-E1 High ISOs pictures, since they shared the same sensor and processor and indeed the hot pixels are there too! Those white specks just appeared randomly especially at ISO3200 and onwards. I noticed that its less on RAW files. But since i'm a Jpg shooter, the HOT pixels are not so bad, its still not visible unless i zoomed in...... i can live with it. This also shows that the newer cameras, the x100s, XE2 and XT1 can handle the HOT pixels better.

c - Well noise is noise. I'm lucky that Fuji's grain are film-like. I also believe the newer technology in the X100S handles the noise better and produce better image quality. Look for lens modulation optimizer.

d - About it being not-so-much headroom, i just had to change my way of taking shots. i need to get the exposure just right... i mean thats the best way to take a shot anyway, the best/right exposure. Even if i have to upped the exposure in post processing, its only HOT pixels i have to deal with, which only a problem if you pixel peep or zoomed in at 100%. I mean, i'm not gonna print big canvas any day now... if i would i should have shot in RAW and get the exposure right!

I mean Phewww... i thought i had a bad copy. I'm just obsessed that it needs to be on par with my X100S. But then the X-Pro1 is older and used older technology. which in a way makes sense that X100S is better in every aspect. eg. IQ, faster AF

Like i said, all these problems only occur when i zoomed in 100% and in JPGs. The pizza shot above is fine to my eyes, no lighting involve except the house indoor lights .... thus the high ISO. I'm so used to seeing my x100s files, i find all other files inferior. In fact, i compared so many images of my X-pro1 to my X100S and found out that the X100S seems to used a lot of noise reduction in camera. .....How about that??...... I was too worried that my X-pro1 was inferior, in finding the weakness of my Xpro1, i exposed the weakness of my x100s, maybe not a weakness to some but it is using too much noise reduction. Sometimes i find the faces gets a little smooth and waxy. Now i'm on the lowest setting of my NR.

But thats the thing with my X-Pro1, I am more forgiving to it than i am with the Olympus. I dont know why and to be honest i think my EM10 is a better camera. Small, Fast and Grainy pictures... my X-pro1 only has grainy pictures, minus speed and size lol. 

So thats basically my first impressions, i have yet to put it through its paces, just some random shots and VSCO it to death. and i gotta say i'm liking those grainy pictures of the X-Pro1!