Impressions of the Fuji X100S after (Very) brief hands on.

Readers of this blog will know I have been keenly awaiting the Fuji X100S, wondering if the revised offering was going to be a significant improvement.

I only had limited time to play with the camera on the Fuji stand at 'Focus on Imaging' but I did get an impression of what the company has achieved.

Firstly, when you pick it up it feels exactly the same as the outgoing X100, and is none the worse for that.

A very quick run through with the camera reveals a massively improved(if a little long) intuitive menu.

Shooting random objects on the stand the camera felt very 'snappy' and fast, a noticeable improvement on the X100, and I did enjoy the selectable autofocus points too.

Another department of improvement is the manual focus.

The super low geared 'focus-by-wire' manual focus on the outgoing X100 was about as useful as a chocolate tea pot.

Fuji have listened.

The manual focus gearing on the X100S is vey good indeed, in fact I nearly forgot it was 'focus-by-wire'....

What about the manual focus aids?

I found the split image was excellent and I was able to accurately manual focus.

Focus peaking? I'm not quite so sure.

It does work, but I found it difficult to read at times, particularly when I used it on people's faces.

I think though that the user will work out which manual focus assist works best for them in particular circumstances.

The X100S does also use the same battery as the outgoing X100, the good news being they are as cheap as chips, but with a question mark hanging over battery life for some users, though a Fuji spokesperson told me the new sensor uses less power.

From my fleeting time with the camera I would say the camera is a massive improvement.

Some existing X100 owners will see little point in upgrading their cameras, others, myself included, will covet this promising camera.

I will leave the final word to David Hobby of Strobist who owns one of the very first X100S.

'This camera is pretty close to perfect for the type of camera it purports to be'

You can read his overview of the camera over at petapixel.com