My first big gripe, and really my only one, is the uselessness of the viewfinder in normal shooting conditions. I've stated in my first impressions post that there's no sensor so the back screen is either on or you can choose to manually turn it off. If it's on, it's annoying seeing movement when you're looking through the viewfinder, and if it's off, there's no way to tell what your ISO, shutter speed and aperture are. The lack of information is okay if you're shooing on auto, but on manual, you either have to keep the settings constant, or turn the back screen on, change your options and turn it off again, which isn't very practical.
I have two smaller issues, one of which is basically a non-issue, while the other is me being picky. The first is the manual focus mode is annoying. Including manual focus is a touch by Fuji, but the only way to chance focus in manual mode is with the dial wheel in the back, and it takes forever to find focus that way given you have to turn the wheel a dozen times to get to where you want the focus to be so you can microadjust it. The second issue is the auto-focus can have tiny issues. Now, to be fair, I've pretty much exclusively used this camera in low-light conditions, making finding focus a bit tough on the camera. It also performs slightly better than I first thought in my initial post. It's not hard to figure out how the camera works after taking a few dozen shots, though, and I've only missed one or two shots because of focus issues. I don't think I'll have any other problems from now on, though. Tied to that is the lack of any kind of indicator inside the viewfinder. There's no dot or square to indication where the camera is focusing, so you just have to guess. This can become an issue if you're using the viewfinder and want to photograph various foreground and background layers within the shot. Unless you know where the focus point is (and again, a dozen or so shots will let you know more or less where the focus point is inside the viewfinder), the camera may not focus where you want it to. It also seems that the camera allows dust inside its lens pretty easily, and I do have one small speck of dust already. This does not affect picture quality in the least, and it's not very hard to get it cleaned, so I'm not going to complain about this too much.
Those are basically the issues I have with the camera. The most important thing - image quality - is astounding, especially in low light. As I've said, I've pretty much only used this camera when it's dark, both outdoors and indoors, the latter having both normal lighting and dark lighting. The camera finds focus most of the time and gives me clear pictures with great noise handling. The colours are fantastic and the RAW files are typical size for 12MP cameras (between 15-20MB each), giving you nice dynamic range and lots of room to play. In my editing, I've hardly played around with the saturation slider because the colours are generally spot-on.
The ergonomics of the camera are just as good. With the exception of the manual focus mode, everything is very responsive and easy to get to. Aperture and shutter speed controls are easy to change, and thanks to the customisable function button, you can choose a setting you'll always have access to. The X10 has a nice heft, but isn't heavy. The best way to describe it, is it's solid. Everything is well put together. The lens is crisp and clear, and I love the fact that, even at 112mm, it's still f/2.8. Only the Olympus XZ-1 is faster than that zoomed out completely (it's f/2.5). It's also slightly smaller than the XZ-1, which makes it a bit more portable, but it's still not very pocket-friendly. It will fit inside a jacket pocket without any issues. If you like that sort of thing, Fuji provides you with a nice, fake-leather-looking lanyard to hang around your neck. I don't mind the size considering it's a lot less intimidating for people than any SLR out there.
Battery life is also better than I thought. Under normal usage, the camera should get about 250 shots. I got slightly more, and shot a couple of videos on one charge. If I walk around using the viewfinder instead of the screen, I'll probably get even more shots out of it. All in all, I'd say this camera is worth every penny.
Fuji have recently said in an interview with a Japanese magazine that they will win the camera market thanks to their high-end compacts. With their X-series cameras, they are definitely on their way in accomplishing that goal. It's no surprise that stores can't seem to keep the X100 and X10 in stock. They are both tremendous cameras, and I do not regret spending this money one bit.
Onto today's pictures.
Frank
His note: Didn't have much to shoot today but saw this cone. Played with contrast, brightness and intensity and this was the result.
Shannon
Her note: Just finished watching this movie. Fantastic!!!
My shot
Champagne to celebrate the new year. 2012 started off well, and let's hope it keeps going in a similar fashion.
Tomorrow is the day where the holidays leave my system. Let's see how that goes.
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