New Fuji X-T1 has arrived

I made it home safe and sound from Bermuda!   Was sad to leave my friends but happy to be home to Jen, Erin, Jackson and the rest of the zoo.   Immediately took myself to the hospital the next morning to have my arm checked after my fall and they confirmed it's just twisted muscles, 7-10 days and it should be fine.  It's been feeling a bit better each day and mobility is returning.

But the nice surprise was the arrival of the new camera and lenses late in the afternoon of my first day back.   I had ordered the Fujifilm X-T1 camera, XF-14mm, XF-35mm and XF 55-200mm lenses back in Feb with the hopes of having everything for my Bermuda trip.   It was not to be but had great fun photoshooting Bermuda with a fixed lens camera, it was a challenge and the X100S did itself proud.

What were my first words when I unpacked the X-T1?   "Holy shit is it ever small!", said the same thing when I opened the XF-14mm and XF-35 and "wow, this is a lot bigger" when I opened the 55-200mm.   I'll post some pictures of the gear at some point but just look around the internet, there are pictures everywhere and reviews as well.

I impatiently waited for the battery to charge while drooling over the lenses and the body.   The construction is first rate.   The camera is magnesium alloy and feels great in the hands.  The etched writing on the dials is so cool.   The lenses are also metal construction and feel very solid despite their small size.   My only complaints about the lenses are;  I find both the lens caps and hoods a pain in the ass to put on and off, I'll figure it out as I'm probably just not used to how they go on and off smoothly.  The 55-200mm has a really nice rubber feel on the barrel.   The 35mm has a very unusual, but cool looking hood, but it doesn't allow you to put the lens cap back on so you have to use a rubber boot.  Probably not an issue for me as I have a habit of walking around without the caps on anyhow.

The battery finally charged so fired the camera up.   Having the experience of the X100S really helped and the menus were very easy to navigate and required no ramp up time at all.   So if your coming from the Fuji world you probably won't even look at the manual, it's that intuitive.  I put my eye up the view finder - OMG!!!!   The EVF on this thing is amazing.  I read others who rave and rave about this EVF, they were not wrong.  You really have no idea it's an EVF, it appears to be optical.   It is bright, huge and no lag at all.   There is so many cool things visible in that view finder, all nicely laid out and easy to read.   The pictures truly are "what you see is what you get".   There is no need to hit the play back button to see the picture.  What was in your viewfinder is what it looks like on the computer.

Here are some of the initial pictures from each of the lenses.   I have changed no settings on the camera yet and these are from the JPG's with very minor contrast/exposure changes.

XF-35 F1.4

XF-35 F1.4

XF-35 F1.4

XF-35 F1.4

XF 55-200mm

XF 55-200mm

XF 55-200mm

XF-14m

XF-14m

XF-14m

XF-14m

XF-14m

The one lens I thought I would be the most comfortable with was the XF-14mm but so far that is the one I have struggled with.   Probably just me at this point as working with a prime lens at 14mm is new for me.   The 35mm is amazing.   I have never played at F1.4 before and was shocked to see the cats nose in focus and the eyes out of focus.   Shows just how depth of field works at F1.4.   That is going to be a fun lens.   The feel of the photos from both the 35mm and the zoom (55-200) I really like.  The softs are soft and the sharpness is in all the right places.   Completely floored by the quality of the images straight out of this camera without tweaking anything.  The one day I have had with the XF-14mm has been with a very moody sky and tricky lighting.  Others like the pictures but I'm not sure if I do or not.  Need some more time shooting with this one to really tell if I like the results.  They almost seem too sharp.....never thought I would say that.... :-)

I had completely talked myself out of getting this camera while I was in Bermuda.   The day I shot in St George I was so impressed with what the X100S was doing that I decided I didn't need all this new Fuji gear.  I would stick to the small X100S and call it a day.   I had ordered the gear in late Feb and we were now in May and there was no sign of the gear so I figured I would cancel the order.   When I arrived back at the house I found an e-mail from Henry's Camera indicating that my gear was ready to ship.   I took it as fate that I should get the order and look at it.  I ordered all the new equipment in Feb during a huge lens price discount and I discovered that the same order today would cost me near $700.00 more.  I decided that if I didn't like this system then I would sell it and easily make a small profit.   Well now that I have it, there is no way I would sell it.   I can see Jen using my X100S more and more as I use this X-T1.

The lake and woods pictures above were taken on my daily dog walk.  I had the X-T1 with the 14mm lens around my neck for 45 minutes.   No strain nor did I really notice it.   The package is small and lightweight, exactly what I'm looking for.   I wish I had my old D200 to do a side by side shot as the difference is amazing.  Even sitting beside Jen's Canon Rebel you see a difference, and that Rebel is pretty small.   As for the image quality, it is miles ahead of my old D200.   Would I go back to an SLR?   Probably not.   Maybe if I had a studio where the camera stayed on the mount.  Am I concerned that it's not fullframe?   Nope, the quality is as good or near to what I'm seeing coming out of at least the lower end fullframes on the market and the big D800's and MK III's are too rich for my blood anyhow.

Any dislikes?   A couple of things have jumped out at me with just having it in my hands for a few short hours.   There are the lens cap and lens hoods that I mentioned above but on the camera itself it has been a couple of the fn buttons that I find are too easy to hit.   The first is the movie mode button, I have hit it twice now, I will be looking to see if I can remap it to somewhere else and the fn button that is on the front of the camera.   I have remapped the front fn button to the AF focus area as that is a button I use alot and I don't like having it on the d-pad.   As for the d-pad, mine is not mushy as was reported on the earlier ones but I do find them hard to find with my thumb.   I have a partially amputated thumb and I have problems with most D-pads on any camera.   I would like to see a bump or something on the buttons so I can easily find them.  I might put something on myself.   Otherwise no other complaints are jumping out at me but we'll keep looking over the coming days/weeks.   These points are very very minor.

Tulip festival is running here in Ottawa so fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and I can get out this weekend for some photos.   The Rideau Canal opens this weekend as well but with my arm I don't think I'll be paddling for another week or so yet.

That that is my initial thoughts and photos from the X-T1.   I have no regrets selling all my Nikon gear.   This kits is great!  I am definitely and Fuji X-shooter now.   More to come .....