With excellent sharpness, color and noise reduction, the Fujifilm FinePix delivers excellent photo quality, justifying its high price.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
The X100 delivers extremely clean images as high as ISO 800, with usable ones as high as ISO 1600. I was most surprised by the quality of the camera's JPEG processing; I couldn't easily get better noise-reduction results from processing the raw version, which is unusual.
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Noise, ISO 3200
Although the results get a bit soft at ISO 3200, images don't look like they've been run through a filter, and they remain very saturated.
(f2.8, 1/30 sec, spot metering, AWB)
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Sharpness
The X100 renders natural-looking but sharp images, in part due to a thinner-than-usual high-pass filter over the sensor, as well as a solid prime lens.
(f5.6, 1/125 sec, spot metering, AWB)
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Reds
My only complaint about the X100 is that the sensor doesn't handle reds as well as I'd like; I noticed hue shifts in very saturated reds, as well as the tendency to blow out details. This shows a 100 percent crop of the red channel of the inset image, with almost all detail obliterated.
(f5.6, 1/125 sec, spot metering, AWB)
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Color
With the exception of the red problem I mentioned in the previous slide, the X100 delivers excellent color accuracy albeit with a tendency to oversaturate very saturated colors.
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Distortion
As I'd expect from an expensive prime lens that's not especially wide, there's little distortion. It also has excellent edge-to-edge sharpness, falling off only in the extreme corners (not shown).
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Midrange detail
One of the most difficult things for digital cameras to resolve is massive areas of detail like grass and leaves in the distance. Though not perfect, the X100 does a great job of it.
(f11, 1/35 sec, ISO 200, evaluative metering, AWB)
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Beautiful bokeh
The 9-bladed aperture and undistorting lens in the X100 yields lovely round, soft, out-of--focus highlights.
(f4, 1/140 sec, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB)
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Film simulation bracketing
Fujifilm's profiles to simulate its films is a nice feature if you're drawn to the X100 for its retro appeal.
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Exposure latitude
You've got a decent amount of latitude for fixing underexposed images without suffering from excessive noise.
(f2, 1/40 sec, ISO 800, manually adjusted white balance, spot metering)
