I sometimes get frustrated when online blogs review equipment.
It’s getting better than it used to be, but it still happens with new cameras in new classifications. When the Olympus PEN came out, everyone continually compared it to cameras completely not in its category… which made it seem really great compared to a digicam but really awful compared to most DSLRs of the day.
Now people have been classifying the new Fuji X-series with other cameras that kinda function like it. And, as true as it may be, there’s still an apple-to-lemons comparison when you compare something like the X100 or X-Pro1 to a classic rangefinder. This isn’t a gripe because I can’t stand that certain factors of the X-series cameras are actually better than a classic rangefinder, but there’s certain factors that probably shouldn’t be compared simply because they’re not equal.
Autofocus is one of the significant differences. All the Fuji X-series cameras have autofocus; no Leica rangefinder has autofocus. This is an important difference that makes the process of making images with these two cameras intrinsically dissimilar. While using the X100, I’ve missed shots that I would certainly have easily made with the Leica rangefinder because the autofocus – though actually quite quick – is linked to the “wake-up” of the electronic viewfinder when you put the camera to your eye.
With the X-series, I had to get used to the following process: camera to the eye, camera wakes up, half-press shutter button for autofocus, wait a split second for autofocus, make the photo.
With the Leica rangefinders, my shot process is thus: preset shutter speed and aperture and focus scale, camera to eye, press shutter button, make the photo.
There’s a perceivable difference which must be relearned after shooting years of instantaneous non-autofocus, non-meter, non-eye-wakeup rangefinders.
So, the frustration becomes a relearning of a new platform and flow more than a disappointment with a certain technical facet like noisy ISO or funky bokeh.
They are different. Different enough that your purchase should not depend on a review but actual use of the camera.
But for full disclosure, this is all coming from a guy who choses Nikon above Canon largely because I find that the color reproduction of Nikon matches my perception of the world better than the artistically stylized saturated and/or muted primary colors of Canon. But that’s just my opinion.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
