On our recent vacation my ultra-wide angle lens, the Panasonic 12-32mm, broke on day 1 - because of a simple fall. I was left with wide, but not wide enough lens for landscapes, the otherwise exceptional pancake Panasonic 20mm. It was only after I returned from the trip and consolidated the photos from my camera and my phone that I realized how I missed the ultra-wide perspective.
So I looked into getting a cheap used one - but I also considered why not just get a separate truly compact camera, just for travel, where carrying the slightly bigger lens - even the pancake one, is not pocketable. I was hoping someone in the micro four third's world made just a camera like this. And there are a few of them, which could be used with a pancake, or expandable lens, but none with a fixed lens (Panasonic LX100 comes close, but not quite there). So I looked at other formats too - presuming I'll get a fixed lens one anyway. And the one that interested me the most was the Ricoh GR II/III, which has a cult following. But the GR II seems to have dust issues over time, and the III was a bit costly for my budget for a secondary camera. The alternatives recommended for GR II included Fujifilm XF10. It seemed intriguing - and after reading up bunch of reviews I decided to take a swing at it.
The Fujifilm XF10 has a 18mm (APSC) lens and it's quite pocketable. It appears quite well suited for landscapes, travel use and some street/portrait photography - with the inbuilt upscaled digital crop. I took some samples at nearby parks and such, it seems to be what it is, so far so good. The handling is fine, the controls are easy and straight-forward (simple even compared to my Olympus EM10), and the image quality is better than my expectations. And then I used some of the film simulation modes that Fuji has in most of it's pro/prosumer cameras. The film simulation modes may seem gimmicky like Instagram filters - but boy they are not! I'm kind of surprised with the photo processing and color science that Fuji uses, and the impact of their subtely. The black and white modes are so good, I'm now inclined to take most of the photos in black and white. I'll see how it fares, after it goes on full field test - one of our next travels.
But despite all of it's promises, one word of caution. It may pose like a natural progression for a casual smartphone photographer, being a compact, fixed lens camera - but it's not. To get the most out of camera, you need to have had some experience using a non-point-and-shoot camera. But once you figure those things out, I think this is a very capable camera without appearing too serious - mine even has a light gold and leather finish!
So I looked into getting a cheap used one - but I also considered why not just get a separate truly compact camera, just for travel, where carrying the slightly bigger lens - even the pancake one, is not pocketable. I was hoping someone in the micro four third's world made just a camera like this. And there are a few of them, which could be used with a pancake, or expandable lens, but none with a fixed lens (Panasonic LX100 comes close, but not quite there). So I looked at other formats too - presuming I'll get a fixed lens one anyway. And the one that interested me the most was the Ricoh GR II/III, which has a cult following. But the GR II seems to have dust issues over time, and the III was a bit costly for my budget for a secondary camera. The alternatives recommended for GR II included Fujifilm XF10. It seemed intriguing - and after reading up bunch of reviews I decided to take a swing at it.
The Fujifilm XF10 has a 18mm (APSC) lens and it's quite pocketable. It appears quite well suited for landscapes, travel use and some street/portrait photography - with the inbuilt upscaled digital crop. I took some samples at nearby parks and such, it seems to be what it is, so far so good. The handling is fine, the controls are easy and straight-forward (simple even compared to my Olympus EM10), and the image quality is better than my expectations. And then I used some of the film simulation modes that Fuji has in most of it's pro/prosumer cameras. The film simulation modes may seem gimmicky like Instagram filters - but boy they are not! I'm kind of surprised with the photo processing and color science that Fuji uses, and the impact of their subtely. The black and white modes are so good, I'm now inclined to take most of the photos in black and white. I'll see how it fares, after it goes on full field test - one of our next travels.
But despite all of it's promises, one word of caution. It may pose like a natural progression for a casual smartphone photographer, being a compact, fixed lens camera - but it's not. To get the most out of camera, you need to have had some experience using a non-point-and-shoot camera. But once you figure those things out, I think this is a very capable camera without appearing too serious - mine even has a light gold and leather finish!
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