[Leica] Using the Fuji X Pro-1

[r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)]

I've had my X Pro-1 for two weeks now and in thought you might be interested 
in my impressions of the camera.  There are many images on line testifying 
to its excellent image quality at low and high ISO so I'm not going to add 
more--at least for now.  What they show is all true, though, in my 
experience.

If you've been following the discussions about the camera, not all of this 
will be new to you.     

In a nutshell, it is the most M-like digital camera I've yet run across.  
The aperture dial is on the lens where it belongs, ditto for the shutter 
speed dial and exposure correction dials on the body, and you can set the Fn 
button to bring up ISO settings, so everything you're likely to need in 
routine shooting is right out in the open.  The body is just a bit smaller 
than the M9 and weighs about half as much.  

With the Fujinon lenses, focus is just like the Leica, except it's 
automatic.  Aim the focus rectangle in the OVF at the point you want in 
focus, half press the shutter, watch the frame lines jump into place, 
reframe if necessary and shoot.  Perfect!  When you're close in you've got 
to use the lower right focus rectangle to correct for parallax, but 
otherwise the procedure is the same.  Focus speed is more than fast enough, 
but nowhere near as fast as my Panasonic GX-1.  

If you place the focus rectangle correctly, the focus will be spot-on. 

OTH, the camera, despite the inclusion of a "Multi-Spot" mode, really 
doesn't have one as far as I've can tell.  If you put it in Multi-Spot, it 
will choose the single most contrasty spot in the frame to focus on, whether 
it's your subject's eye or a lightbulb in the far corner of the frame.  I 
don't see why this method would work under any circumstances, but maybe one 
of you can enlighten me.  

The only way you can shoot from the hip is to lock focus on an appropriate 
middle distance and stop way down, again just as you would do with an M. 

I can see the frames lines and data in the OVF with my regular glasses on.  
If I'm wearing polarizing sunglasses and holding the camera horizontally, 
though, I can't either in the OVF or anything at all in the EVF.   With the 
LCD on the camera back it's the other way around.  It's readable with the 
camera horizontal, but not vertical.  

Opinions can differ on this of course, but for my purposes LR 4 does a 
better job of processing the RAW files than the Fuji RAW converter does.  
There is less blotchy chroma noise and sharpness is almost as good.  OTH, 
converting the RAW files to DNG and importing them into LR seems to take 
forever, maybe 3-4 times as long as it takes to import files from my D300.  

The only thing about the camera that drives me nuts is the power switch.  
Whoever designed it needs to go in for some remedial work on detent design.  
Even the slightest brush of the hand or the side of a camera bags turns the 
camera on.   Bad, bad, bad. 

Regards, 

Dick