Body conundrum | D4, D800 or X-Pro1?
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 8:01 AM 
There’s a lot of action in cameraland these days: D4, upcoming D800, X-Pro1. New Canons on the horizon as well. I’ve been watching this with a lot of interest since I’ll likely be in the market for a new body, finances willing.
Last night I got an email from photographer friend - and fellow canadian - Morten Byskov, asking me (tongue in cheek) where my blog post on all this was hiding. After emailing him back with some of my thoughts I figured I was probably ready to write about it after all ;)
To be honest, I’d love nothing more than to be David Hobby or Zack Arias right now (or any day of the year really!) and hop over to Phase One medium format heaven. Pretty big news from those two wasn’t it? In the same week no less. The problem is…. well, the problem is cash. That’s a re-mortgage-the-house kinda purchase. No way I can afford it. But reading Hobby’s thought process, I realized I was heading in a similar direction. I also realized this could explain my lukewarm feelings towards the Nikon D4 — beyond sticker shock.
I want my next purchase to be deliberate, well-thought out and based on actual need instead of technolust. And I don’t need video. Not really. I know it’s a new market with new opportunities yadda yadda yadda… but I’m just not interested. In a past life I did some video work, I worked in post both as an assistant and a video editor. I did some directing. Did some production. So I KNOW I’m not interested. Video isn’t the language I want to express myself with. I know there’s a lot more to the D4 than those new (stellar btw) video features, but I’ve scratched it off my list. Too much money for features I won’t use.
Now the D800… That’s been an odyssey. A year and a half ago it was a no-brainer: I was going full-frame and waiting for an update to the D700. Might as well right? But then it took awhile – D5000, D7000, System 1, multiple consumer offerings. And boom! the 36MP spec hit the rumor mill. Made me seriously scratch my head: 36MP? What about ISO performance? Speed? Workflow? And weren’t the rumours predicting the D4 with 16MP? Huh?
But if the 36MP rumor is indeed true (it seems to be), the picture is getting clearer: instead of positioning the D800 as a smaller D4, Nikon is opting for differentiation. Machine gun editorial machine vs large file studio centric body.
No more D700 price point though. That’s a shame.
And then there’s Fuji. The X-Pro1.
For a company that wasn’t even a blip on my radar two years ago, they’ve managed to make me question allegiances I didn’t think would ever be in question. My love for the X100 - faults and all - is no secret. So a sneaky what if scenario has been poisoning my drinking water: what if I jumped ship to this brand new system? Fujinon prime lenses, new 16MP sensor without a low-pass filter, kickass metal body with knobs and usable aperture rings… I mean, I could almost envision myself as a modern day David Bailey, wielding this retro chic jewel like the coolest cat around.
But Morten alerted me to the fact that it’s a 1.5 crop sensor, not a 1.3 like the APS-C in the X100. It’s a focal plane shutter so no crazy sync speeds with studio strobes. And those lenses? According to DP Review the manual focus is fly by wire.
Come. On.
Why? The worst thing about the X100 is its manual focusing. It would be the worst thing on a toy camera. It’s that bad. Useless. I can’t believe they’re using it in a system targeted for pro use, no matter how efficient the AF turns out to be. As intrigued as I am by this camera, it feels a lot like a deal-breaker.
Or a heartbreaker. Bummer.
So the way things are shaping up I guess the D800 is the candidate for me. Full circle. But I’m taking my time. Who knows? There may be surprises ahead - like a Leica M-mount adaptor saving the day.
The two pictures below are nothing special. Just driving back from a meeting. Still love that Fuji though… Even through a grimy car window.
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Reader Comments (5)
I'm in exactly the same position Patrick. I've been waiting on the D800 for well over a year and have even changed all my lenses to 1.4G primes while waiting (more than the cost of a D3. But then the 36mp leak came out and I was gutted. I want low noise, hi ISO! My first thought was to buy a D700, but I've got used to having Quiet Mode and the security of dual card slots on the D300s. These are essentials IMO for weddings. So I'll wait to see what the D800 is like. Could Nikon have some sensor magic up their sleave? I'd love a 36mp sensor if there was the option of halving the amount of MP to get good results in low light, or keeping the full resolution for studio work....that would be killer!
I'm ordering the X-Pro1 as soon as they start taking pre-orders, I can get by with my D300 & D300s and want to see how the D800 pans out and for the price to drop a bit. The Nikon's will stick to weddings and Portraits and the Fuji's will do the rest, but I'm interested in seeing if the X-Pro1 could replace a DSLR system.
I have a Yashica Electro 35 GTN and have wished for a digital version for a long time....Fuji has delivered. Even if it's only as good as the X100, I'll be delighted. I'll be over the moon if the manual focus works better though
Derek.!
Patrick. I'm just a bit confused about your reference to the X100 crop value of 1.3. As far as my understanding goes the X100's 23mm lens is effectively a 35mm full frame equivalent, i.e. 1.5 crop.
Now when the X-Pro 1 is out I'm seriously considering ditching my D300 and all Nikon gear and getting one of those. However, before I jump the ship I have to wait to see real life reviews to make sure that all X100 quirks have been fixed and the new Fuji sensor is as great as the company claims it to be. It's also worth noting that, according to Fuji's officials, X-Pro 1 is just first in a planned range of x-mount cameras. It'll be interesting to see what's next. A full frame X-Pro 100? ;-)
Great blog BTW. Found it only recently whilst searching for information about X100.
Mark.
Mark and Derek: we all seem to be facing a similar predicament aren’t we? A pretty strong testament to Fujifilm’s mindshare leap in such a short period of time.
The idea of a D800 capable of going either 36MP or half that - but with the corresponding ISO benefits - would be pretty astounding... And a heck of a nice surprise. We should know soon enough.
The one sure thing: the D800 will most probably fill my needs, even if ISO isn't as impressive as the D4. I can't imagine Nikon would stray too far away from what's become their headlining feature. Not at the rumored price point.
And therein lies the rub. IF the X-Pro1 delivers on both operating speed and IQ performance, and IF the price of the whole system is close to or on par with a D800 body... I'll be asking myself some serious questions.
I guess it's all ifs and buts until we can test it in the real world. Which means I'll let you wear the lab coat this time around Derek ;)
About that crop factor: I'm a total math dummy and just repeated what I'd heard. I may have gotten it wrong (!). From what I've read since posting both the X100 and the X-Pro1 indeed seem to be 1.5x...
Glad you like the blog Mark - thanks for dropping by :)
3 hopeful hints from the web
1. On the Fuji Guys first look video, Billy says the manual focus is improved as well because of all the feedback from the X100.
2. Fuji's Kayce Baker says in a YouTube video that auto focus is "smokin' fast" & "much faster than the X100".
3. One of the sample images on the Fuji website at http://bit.ly/yA26iq is of some sort off dried-up fruit of veg taken at 1600 ISO...awesome!
Lab coat and big googles at the ready:-)
I've also just blogged about why Fuji are getting it right.
Derek.
Didn't see the Fuji guys but I saw the Baker video. I hope it's a HUGE improvement. I checked out those files last night... I have to wonder why they can't post more inspiring samples. These are even worse than the ones they had for the X100 preview for god's sake!
They look fine I guess. Hard to judge the new sensor though. I'd really like to see portraits and examples of the new film simulations added. Speaking of which: couldn't Fuji add these film modes to the X100 in a future update? Maybe give us some of those interface improvements as well, if only to make the whole X series more coherent?
I'm heading over to your blog to check out your post. Goggles on indeed ;)