Two of our regular contributors, William Fagan and Bill Palmer, were quick to pick up their new Fuji X-Pro 2 cameras as soon as they hit the dealers this week.
Interest in the Pro 2 is white hot at the moment and this is proved by the number of page hits for any mention of the camera.
I believe is the X camera everyone has been waiting for and I am impatient to hear further test results and specimen shots.
I have Bill’s and William’s initial thoughts. First William from Ireland:
“Got mine today. Just some initial thoughts and impressions. The RAWs won’t work in Lightroom without the latest version of LR. I have used Adobe DNG convertor to get over this but that is a bit of a pain. I am sticking to jpegs until I figure out what to do about Lightroom¹.
“The EVF seems not as good as that in the X-T1, but maybe I need to make some adjustments. Leica lenses work well with an adaptor but you need to set the ‘no lens’ option for that. Manual focus using the small window works OK but is still not as good or as quick as an optical rangefinder.
“With manual wide-angle non-Fuji lenses you will not see what the lens sees in the VF unless you switch to EVF or use the back screen.
“The OVF is nice but you have to be careful when focussing using single point and the OVF as the single point can ‘focus through’ a subject to details beyond.
“This is less of a problem with zone focus for some reason I cannot fathom. With the EVF single point is fine as you will see the object, being focussed on, sharpening on the EVF.
“Apart from those few quibbles the camera works very well and feels much lighter than a Leica M. The 35mm f2 lens which I got with the camera is also very good. It is not quite a ‘poor man’s’ Summicron but it is better than most autofocus 50s that I have used. Shooting in anger starts tomorrow, with the real test being a classic car show on Saturday.”
Bill Palmer, who has written a number of popular Fuji reviews for MacFilos, responds:
“Some good points there, William. Some of the things you point out – setting “no lens”, for example, are common across the Fuji range; ditto WYSIWYG with the OVF, unless of course you set the focal length in use on the camera or on the Fuji M adaptor (if that is what you are using). I haven’t done much with the viewfinder yet, but I have set the dioptre so that I can use it without spectacles – eye relief!
“After 20+ years of Leica use – most of that with film Ms – I will be drawing some comparisons of my own… Watch this space!”
Back to William, who has been out today with his X-Pro 2 for the first time. Occasion was the National Classic Car Show in Dublin. He mounted Leica’s wide-angle Tri-Elmar (the WATE) which, with its full-frame focal lengths of 16, 18 and 21mm gives the Fuji the chance to shine at 24, 27 and 33mm, ideal for close-up exhibition shots.
Says William “these are some of the first shots I’ve looked at. A lot more are waiting for processing. The Pro 2 and the WATE makes a killer combination when you get the focus spot on. The jury is still out here as to whether the OVF with the ‘little screen thingy’ in the bottom right corner or the EVF with focus peaking is better.
“RAW images from the X-Pro 2 will take a lot more abuse in Lightroom than those from the X-T1. Some people are reporting ‘unauthorised resets’ back to factory settings and I had one yesterday. The reason may be that because the internal battery is charged from the main battery it takes time for this to get up to speed. I have had none since, touch wood.”
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¹ William has since taken advantage of Leica’s 25% discount on Adobe Creative Cloud and now has the latest version to match the X-Pro 2.