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Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.

Open Letter to Fuji — 15 Ways To Improve The Otherwise Excellent Finepix X100

Fuji X100 12MP digital camera
About $1200

See my Fujifilm Finepix X100 review in DAP.

Dear Fuji,

The Fuji team deserves gobs of credit for the courage to produce an unusual camera which pulls together high quality imagery, good looks, compact size and generally high usability as a camera. The color, sharpness, contrast, low distortion are all exceptional in such a form factor— class leading.

Unfortunately, the X100 gets a grade of at best an A-, not an A+, because it has some troublesome design choices which make no sense, impede usability, and generally cause frustration and annoyance when using the camera. Or in some cases, degraded image quality.

1) Eliminate all JPEG-related settings — by user option, offer a choice that eliminates all JPEG-related features. Ditto for video.

2) RAW/JPEG button is a risk, and should be programmable— I never want to flip to JPEG; I always shoot raw. The risk of switching to JPEG by accident is unacceptable. Make that button programmable, and along with the elimination of all JPEG features, it would simultaneously reduce the risk of using JPEG by accident, and allow additional useful functionality (programmability).

3) The ND filter— the ND filter is a critical feature that should be usable at the press of a button, not the press of a button that then requires using the awful command dial to navigate the menu system— too many button presses. Why can’t the ND filter be used automatically if the shutter speed would be too high (as per #4).

4) Preclude image degradation — disallow, at least as a user option and by default, the use of any shutter speed that results in image degradation, e.g., 1/4000 second at f/2 (and other combinations).

5) Fix the confusing menus — Eliminate the arbitrary placement of some features and two-pages-of-two-pages mess. Even after using it, the layout makes no sense at all. Also fix it so that one doesn’t have to re-navigate after making certain menu changes or turning the camera off/on. Add a My Menu feature that is at the top so we can get to the 3 or 5 things we really need frequently, perhaps with an option to hide everything else.

6) Command dial — I find it impossible to use the command dial without pressing the wrong button half the time— it’s just to small and my fingers too large. I have to operate it with a fingernail to be sure I won’t press the multi-selector incorrectly, or press the selector instead of the central button, etc. It’s as bad a design as the worst point and shoot. Consider a Canon style multi controller and a button that can be pressed without pressing something else.

7) Filter ring and shade — It’s absurd to pay $1200 for the X100, then be asked to pay another $130 to obtain a filter ring and a lens shade, and not even be able to buy one. I’ve been waiting 6 weeks now for one even to be available to buy. Include these items in the package.

8) Strap — Supplying an uncomfortable strap with a goofy attachment system that requires a tool to install it is not a Good Thing, especially if one wants to temporarily remove the strap. The X100 deserves a good wrist strap, and a neck strap ought to be a strap with a little “give” and a better form factor. Perhaps something from OpTech or similar.

9) Focus mode switch — This tiny switch is half the size it ought to be, and AF-S should be at the top, MF at the bottom, and AF-C in the middle, so one can select by feel. Better yet, allow that RAW button to toggle instead.

10) Move the tripod socket — with the smallest tripod plate attached, it is impossible to remove the battery. Move the socket so that it is centered under the lens, which will also help for rotation panoramas by keeping the lens centered.

11) Ship all owners a proper charger — the charger is a two-part bulky affair with a cheap plastic insert that is easily lost. Searching for that part between the car seats is not my idea of utility. Do the right thing here, and provide, free of charge, a single-piece charger with no extra parts to fall off.

12) Exposure compensation dial — the exposure compensation dial changes on its own constantly. Provide a feature to disable it entirely, or a locking mechanism, or at least make moving it require more force.

13) Fix the bugs — the EVF won’t show the settings I’ve customized for it, even though the rear LCD does show them. The camera gets confused when turning on/off, and won’t wake up when on sometimes; I have to turn it off an on again.

14) Increase the resolution in an X200 — the lens is terrific, so offering an 18-megapixel sensor, and a 21mm f/2.8 (equivalent) version would be terrific. A wider lens and more megapixels would extend the versatility of the camera in two ways: zooming by cropping, and a true wide angle lens for tight spaces.

15) Make a version that takes Leica M (and Zeiss ZM )lenses. This would solve the manual focus awfulness of the X100, and sell to every last Leica M owner out there. Such a camera could be a bit larger and heavier— that’s OK. Keep the EVF and the LCD, ditch all the extra cruft like JPEG, strip those buttons down, make it manual and aperture priority only.

— Lloyd Chambers, DIGLLOYD.COM


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