Do you like the new Fujifilm X-T1 selector buttons?

X-T1 Selector Buttons shown up top,
X-E2 shown at the bottom

Never before in my entire history with photography have I ever jumped on the bandwagon and complained about things that the incessant Internet whiners and trolls have complained about for seemingly every camera that gets released.

When I reviewed the X-T1 I found it to be an outstanding camera in many ways – one that is a front runner for my 2014 camera of the year – BUT it has a design feature that I can’t ignore. In fact, the design feature is so problematic in my usage for the camera that I had to give this outstanding camera a not recommended rating. This was extremely painful for me to do because I loved the camera in many other ways, so I hate to discount that over something that on the surface might feel so petty. However, the number of shots I missed because of fighting with these buttons compelled me to face this issue head on for my readers who trust my reviews.

After my review I got a call from my contact at Fujifilm who expressed that the team at Fujifilm was confused by my review because they had not heard of ANY complaints about the new selector button design. In fact, the person I spoke with defended the design as being an improvement over the predecessor and that my subjective opinion was contrary to every other review they had read on the Internet. I was told that it’s not a problem for any real pro photographers. Hum, I didn’t know Zack Arias wasn’t a real pro photographer (see below).

Fujifilm, I do not think that I’m alone in my opinion of the new selector buttons.

I’ve been a straight shooter for this blog for the past 7 years and I’m not about to start sweeping things under the rug anytime soon. What I see on the web are multiple threads about the selector button issues which you can find here:

1. http://www.fujix-forum.com/index.php/topic/19115-want-to-fix-that-4-way-dial/ – this is my favorite as they hack a fix using electrical tape!
2. http://www.fujirumors.com/improved-d-pad-buttons-x-t1-yes-according-openbloom-video/ – fast forward to 3 minutes into the video
3. http://zackarias.com/for-photographers/gear-gadgets/fuji-x-t1-first-impressions/ – (see the Worst parts section at the end) – “I wish the 4 buttons on the d-pad in the back were larger or more pronounced. I’d like them to be identical to the ones on the X-Pro1”
4. http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Fujifilm_X-T1/ – “But the X-T1's buttons are small with shallow presses; the difference is particularly evident when comparing the cross keys on both cameras. They're just too small on the X-T1, and real-estate shouldn't be an excuse as the EM1 squeezes much larger ones into much the same body size. I'd urge you to pick up both cameras and compare the controls for yourself”
5. http://www.fujix-forum.com/index.php/topic/20647-x-t1-selector-q-and-focus-assist-buttons-are-different-on-my-replacement/
6. http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/11/5492410/fujifilm-x-t1-review - The four-way buttons on the back are small and fiddly,

If you search the web you can find more, but this gets the point across. I’m not really the ONLY one who has this issue.

Video Demonstration of the Issue

Here’s a video where I demonstrate the X-E2 which does things right and the issue I see with the X-T1:

Conclusion

The X-T1 is an excellent camera, and I love it in many ways – but this isn’t one of them. This is my personal opinion, and I just ask those of you who have actually gone out and shot more than a dozen subjects outside of a store with this camera – do you agree that this new design is an improvement over the previous selector button design?

I feel it is a disservice to prospective buyers not to be open an honest about the things that can be improved – on any product. With this in mind, I call into question the integrity of ANY reviewer who doesn’t bring up the issue of this new selector button design.

Perhaps I’ve come down too hard on this issue, but my opinion is that – my opinion. In my opinion, I would not purchase this product due to this design. I know I’m not alone as one of my readers has returned TWO X-T1’s he purchased because of this issue.

NOTE: If you leave a comment on this blog the comment must be screened and approved due to spambots. You only need to submit one time and I’ll approve the first chance I get. As long as your post isn’t spam to other sites and isn’t disrespectful, it will be approved – even if your opinion differs from mine.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm –Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with XF 23mm–The Greatest Fujifilm Camera & Lens Combo Ever? (Part III of III)

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with XF 23mm–The Greatest Fujifilm Camera & Lens Combo Ever? (Part III of III)

Fujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital Camera

I’ve reviewed a lot of Fujifilm products, and there is no question that the X-T1 is an impressive camera on many levels. I’m not ashamed to admit that over time I’ve become a bit of a fan boy of the X-Series simply because they do so many things right. However, I also review a lot of cameras from other makers so I’m not blind to the fact that these cameras are far from perfect.

On paper this camera seems to be the perfect one and when I look at the images I’m very satisfied with what I see, but I’m also a X-E2 owner so is this one so much better that it warrants an upgrade?

To find out I decided to do an extended review which is much longer than I often allow for a camera. This was partially due to my busy schedule, but also because I wanted to really live with this camera as if it were my own and see if it one that I’d keep or return. As a result, I had to break up my review into three parts and honestly I probably could have done a fourth. Here’s the first two:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm –Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…

While I tested with the very respectable Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS Kit Lens lens, my love for the x100s and rumors of the awesomeness of the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R Lens had me reaching for the 23mm more often than the kit lens. Sure, I eagerly await the chance to test the Fujifilm XF 56mm f/1.2 R Lens, and Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS Lens, but I didn’t have a chance – for now.

I loved this camera in many ways, but there were also things I hated which had a significant impact on my final opinion. Read on to see what I loved and hated about this camera.

Burst Mode Performance

f/4 @ 46.3 mm, 1/350, ISO 12800, No Flash (18-55mm)

I tried a variety of scenarios and I was very pleased at the burst mode performance of this camera with the continuous auto focus mode engaged. It did an above average job of detecting the right subject and tracking that subject sufficiently as well as sufficiently switching when I’d want to if I were personally controlling the innards of this camera.  The buffer was slow to fill which meant that I could rattle off 22 images with RAW+JPEG Fine enabled before the buffer would hiccup. At 8fps, that’s enough to catch most action situations. If you go just JPEG then I was able to get 46 before it dropped from full speed and nothing would cause the buffer to fill completely with either RAW or JPEG. Of course my test conditions are in blackness with manual settings so your performance in the real world will be slower, but the takeaway here is that this is very fast burst mode camera.

Here’s more info from the creators at Fujifilm about this camera’s excellent burst mode performance.

For my testing I used this card, but Fujifilm says maximum performance will be possible with a UHS-II card.

AutoFocus Performance Indoors

f/7.1 @ 20.5 mm, 1/60, ISO 2500, Flash

With burst mode and sufficient ISO this is the first Fujifilm that I feel comfortable recommending for parents as being suitable for kids. What’s more it has a very good flash with a quick refresh rate that makes it great for capturing wild toddlers and pre-schoolers as shown above (in single shot mode only).

The fact that the flash can be used in single shot mode at a rate of about one shot per second means that parents can often get shots that would be impossible with many cameras they’ve used in the past.

With that said, all isn’t not perfect in paradise. There were plenty of focus misses indoors as this camera struggles at times to find focus as I’ve always seen with Fujifilm cameras. A good DSLR like a 5D Mark III or Nikon D7100 will destroy it when it comes to AF performance, but in skillful hands with manual settings and sufficient contrast you’ll typically get a keeper shot out of your burst mode series without the flash.

I wouldn’t call this the perfect camera for parents, but it’s definitely the best performing mirrorless I’ve used with my hyperactive son.

Bookshelf Test

The following sample images were all taken on a tripod with a timer and no flash. The images are not processed in any way (no crop, rotate, sharpen, nothing). These are the in-camera jpeg’s that have simply been renamed and uploaded. You can click the photos to download the original files and you can visit the gallery to get more samples not featured in this article.

f/5.6 @ 23 mm, 5.3s, ISO 200 XF 23mm

While the gallery has shots with the 18-55mm kit lens, the best results are with the best lens so I’m focusing on the XF 23mm for my bookshelf comments. Simply put, this is a sharp lens with very good results that compare favorably to the Sony a7 but not quite as jaw dropping as the a7R. Since this camera is much more usable overall and has better in-camera processing (for those who care about the JPEG’s), I’d personally take this camera over the Sony’s – especially since Fujifilm has a better lens selection for the X mount cameras (compared to Sony’s E mount).

Minimal Diffraction 

f/16 @ 23 mm, 30s, ISO 250 XF 23mm

Like the x100s, this camera shows remarkably good image quality even when a sharp lens is closed down to its largest f-stop. The XF 23mm has a range of f/1.4 to f/16, and at f/16 it is pretty sharp edge to edge without a significant drop off as you’d see with cameras with optical low pass filters. Fujifilm claims on the x100s that they’ve virtually eliminated diffraction with lens modulation optimiser, and from what I see here I’d say they have accomplished it on the X-T1 as well. This is a huge feature for landscape shooters who want the depth of field without the tax of soft images.

Don’t believe me? Click the two bookshelf images above shot at f/5.6 (the sharpest aperture of the XF 23mm lens) and f/16 (it’s largest f-stop number). While the f/16 is a tad bit softer, I suspect that is more of a factor of the lens itself than the camera sensor. What’s more, it’s a very sharp image for f/16 that I’d have no reservations using for my own landscape shots. On my Canon cameras, I’ll typically start to worry about diffraction after f/11 and use large f-stops with caution, but not with the X-T1.

ISO Noise

f/4 @ 23 mm, 1/10, ISO 6400 XF 23mm with Noiseware Landscape Preset
Click here to see the NR –2 version as it came out of the camera

As I’ve mentioned in most of my other Fujifilm reviews, if you want the best results at higher ISO for this camera you MUST set the Noise Reduction setting to –2. The in-camera noise reduction is horrible, so you’ll be much better off using a product like Noiseware (Tutorial) to preserve the maximum amount of detail and remove the most noise. You can click the photo above to see the full size version with Noiseware’s Landscape preset noise reduction or click the link below to see the full-size version as it came out of the camera with the –2 setting (which honestly would print just fine without noise reduction).

I’d classify ISO 6400 as suitable for commercial work with Noiseware and 12,800 & 25,600 usable for personal work. While people may find some faults in this camera, ISO noise shouldn’t be one of them.

It should be noted that while Fujifilm advertises ISO 51,200, I only tested using the default camera controls up to H2 which maps to 25,600. H1 and H2 may be programmed to be 1 stop greater allowing for 51,200, but I saw no practical reason to test that feature. The quality I saw at 25,600 clearly is the maximum resolution I would feel comfortable using on a limited basis, and practical speaking I’d try to stay at 12,800 or less whenever possible.

Hands On Video Review

Fujifilm also has a great mini-site on this camera here. I encourage you to check it out, but come back here when you are done!

Compared to the X-E2, X-Pro1, x100s and Sony a7/a7R

f/16 @ 23 mm, 0.6s, ISO 200, Tripod (XF 23mm lens)
The x100s sealed body means no dust spots as I ended up with here on the X-T1

While the lack of an optical viewfinder on the X-T1 might turn some people off, I’m glad that Fujifilm elected not to put the expensive hybrid viewfinder found in the X-Pro1 and x100s in this camera. The electronic viewfinder on the X-T1 one is so good that I honestly don’t miss it, and the real-time exposure and focus peaking really deals with any concerns about low light scenarios.

I have despised electronic viewfinders (EVF’s) because so many I’ve used have been terrible, but 2014 seems to be the year of the great EVF!  What’s more, the X-T1’s is a lot bigger and better than any other models I’ve used. In fact, the EVF reminds me a lot of the optical viewfinder of my 1D X which is one of my all-time favorite optical viewfinders, yet it features more data and overlays than I get on my 1D X so I find it to be better overall.

Subjectively speaking, I’d call this viewfinder slightly better overall in terms of practical usability than the Sony a7/a7R, but the Sony’s are very impressive too.

The focus speed, burst mode, and the lack of any shutter lag whatsoever make the X-T1 SIGNIFICANTLY better than any previous Fujifilm that I’ve used. The x100s is pretty good, but the fact that I can change lenses and still get better performance on the X-T1 than on my X-E2 really makes me love this camera.

As a video camera, Fujifilm’s suck – big time. The Sony a7/a7R and just about any other camera wins that battle hands down over Fujifilm. You can see some video examples in the gallery here which simulate a standard consumer handheld video shooting result.

X-T1 Selector Buttons shown up top,
X-E2 shown at the bottom

The obvious place where the X-T1 wins hands down is its wealth of knobs that make it very easy to get the settings you want without fumbling through menus. This is great and it makes this camera one that’s easy to love, but the damn selector button change makes that part of this camera totally useless. Given the importance of the selector buttons, this is the ONLY thing that holds the X-T1 back from being the best overall Fujifilm camera ever made.

Aside from that design which I very much dislike, the X-T1 wins hands down with a better grip and overall layout of all the controls. I’ve seen a complaint about the record button being too easy to hit, but I never accidentally hit it. I would prefer to see that button be programmable (which seems doable with a firmware update) so that I could change or disable its functionality, but personally it never tripped me up once.

Conclusion

I said in my first article that the selector buttons on this camera are so bad that I couldn’t buy or recommend this camera due to this horrifically bad design, and I’m sticking to that. If it weren’t for that horrifically bad feature, I’d declare this camera my 2014 Camera of the Year until something else comes along this year to take that title. This camera is THAT GOOD, but the selector buttons are THAT BAD!

The folks at Fujifilm are smart and I don’t think I’m alone in my disdain for these unusable selector buttons. I’d personally pay money to change them out with the old kind (similar to feature upgrade programs Canon offered for the 5D Mark II/7D and Nikon offered for the D3). With that change I could easily see myself upgrading my X-E2 to to this camera because it’s just so much more enjoyable to use in every other way.

Fujifilm has been great at listening to customer feedback and issuing significant firmware updates to improve their cameras. However, their response for the selector buttons issue has been puzzling.

I wish they’d offer an upgrade program to get the better buttons or crank out a new model (like Nikon did with the D610). 

The selector button issue aside, if you are in the market for the best overall mirrorless camera money can buy the X-T1 is at the top of the list. Sure the Sony a7/a7R will win in some categories, but when you look at the entire user experience and system quality – the X-T1 is at the top of the heap.

If you haven’t already, please be sure to check out the other parts of this review here:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm – Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order it on the B&H web site. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

Click here to order the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R Lens.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm –Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…
• Fujifilm X-E2
• Mirrorless Mover Review and the Think Tank Photo TurnStyle 20 – great bags for this camera!
• Fujifilm XPro-1
• Fujifilm X20 (My personal P&S camera)
• Fujifilm X100s
• Fujifilm X-M1 Preview
• Fujifilm XQ1 (vs X20 & Canon s110)
• Fujifilm X-S1
• Fujifilm X-E1, X100s, X20 & X10 Compared
• Sony a7 (includes Samyang lens)
• Sony a7R
• Nikon D7100 - A Mini D800?
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 (with 2 lenses)
• Panasonic GF6 & LX1
• Canon 70D (Part II)
• Canon Rebel T5i/700D
• Canon EOS M
• Photographers Gift Guide / Recommendations
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories
• HOW TO: Drastically Improve Your Handheld Shots

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

I’d like to thank B&H for loaning me this equipment for this review.

REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm –Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…

Monochrome+Green Film Simulation and in-camera 1:1 Aspect Ratio
f/5.6 @ 23 mm, 1s, ISO 200, No Flash, Tripod (XF23mm Lens)
This photo has not been post-processed in any way, all results are in-camera

The first part of my review entitled REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III), started to discuss camera features but this article is just about showing some images that I felt showed off the quality of the sensor and in-camera processing of this camera.

Real World Sample Images

You can view the full set of casual snapshot photos at http://photos.ronmartblog.com/fujifilm/x-t1. Please note that this gallery currently contains images that up until March 16, 2014 were shot with the internal noise reduction feature set to the default of 0.

Please note that all of these images are the original jpeg’s as they came out of the camera. If you click the image you’ll see the full size version exactly as it came out of the camera. The file name and metadata will offer a clue as to what’s what lens and settings were used when the shot was taken.

You may download and inspect these images for your own review, but please delete them when you are done. You may not alter, re-post, print, or otherwise use these images in any way without my signed (on paper) consent. Copyright © Ron Martinsen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Click the images below to see the full-size 16 megapixel originals (4896x3264), then click them again in your browser to see them at 100%.

f/4.5 @ 44.4 mm, 1/58, ISO 12800, No Flash (kit lens)
While the in-camera noise reduction is bad, this is still a pretty good result
right out of the camera with no editing.

f/4 @ 30.2 mm, 1/38, ISO 12800, No Flash (kit lens)
Typically shooting in a dimly lit pub is disastrous, but
the X-T1 was up to the challenge

f/4 @ 46.3 mm, 1/400, ISO 12800, No Flash (kit lens)
Continuous focus did okay for this parade, but poorly everywhere else.

f/4 @ 55 mm, 1/30, ISO 3200, No Flash (kit lens)
While not perfect, the AF system can be brilliant at times

The included flash helped to give me enough light to freeze the departing drummer
f/3.2 @ 18 mm, 1/150, ISO 12800, Flash (kit lens)

f/4 @ 55 mm, 1/60, ISO 3200, No Flash (kit lens)
My wife owns a x20 so she felt at home taking this shot of me

f/14 @ 18 mm, 12s, ISO 200, tripod (kit lens)
Judge for yourself, f/14 even on the kit lens isn’t too bad

f/16 @ 18 mm, 7s, ISO 200, tripod (kit lens)
With f/14 looking so good I tried f/16 on this F1 race car

f/9 @ 18 mm, 1/10, ISO 3200, No Flash, Handheld (kit lens)
Using this setup, I was able to use crazy slow shutter speeds and still get a sharp shot

f/1.4 @ 23 mm, 1/105, ISO 400, No Flash, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
Click here to navigate through a progress of shots of this subject from f/2.8 through f/1.4)
The awesome AF assist beam made shots like this easy

f/1.4 @ 23 mm, 1/26, ISO 200, No Flash, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
At f/1.4 you just get a sliver of working area but you are rewarded with gorgeous bokeh

f/16 @ 23 mm, 5s, ISO 200, No Flash, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
At f/16 you get it all- - this case, the flower’s stem.

f/1.4 @ 23 mm, 1/45, ISO 200, No Flash, Tripod (XF 23mm lens)
Manual focus with focus peaking worked okay but the color choices are all hard to see

Bookshelf Tests

My bookshelf tests are coming in the next installment, but here’s one to chew on that was done with the amazing 23mm lens using camera default settings except noise reduction has been set to –2.

f/4 @ 23 mm, 2.6s, ISO 200, No Flash, Tripod (XF 23mm lens)

Conclusion

Click here to read my final thoughts and see my hands on video.

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order it on the B&H web site. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

Click here to order the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R Lens.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with XF 23mm–The Greatest Fujifilm Camera & Lens Combo Ever? (Part III of III)
• Fujifilm X-E2
• Fujifilm XPro-1
• Fujifilm X20 (My personal P&S camera)
• Fujifilm X100s
• Fujifilm X-M1 Preview
• Fujifilm XQ1 (vs X20 & Canon s110)
• Fujifilm X-S1
• Fujifilm X-E1, X100s, X20 & X10 Compared
• Sony a7 (includes Samyang lens)
• Sony a7R
• Nikon D7100 - A Mini D800?
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 (with 2 lenses)
• Panasonic GF6 & LX1
• Canon 70D (Part II)
• Canon Rebel T5i/700D
• Canon EOS M
• Photographers Gift Guide / Recommendations
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens Only $1799 ($500 OFF)

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
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Click here to read my review of this lens.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission.

REVIEW: Google Glass–Part II of II–Not Ready for Prime Time

Google Glass with Active Shade attached

I’m a geek and early adopter of cool gadgets, so when I first heard about Glass I thought – WOW, that’s awesome! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them, but it took quite a while for that to finally happen.

In early March I got my invitation and ordered right away! Without asking they were shipped overnight, but if I lived closer to a Google campus I could pick them up direct at their campus.

Initial Experience

When I took them out of the box I thought WOW, these are awesome! Even though I know I’m supposed to charge devices, I can’t wait so I just tried to turn them on. Most electronics companies these days send their products fully charged, so 99% of the time this works – but not here. My glasses showed me a flashing battery icon so I had to charge them before I could use them. I’d quickly learn that the reason for this is that Glass doesn’t last very long before the battery dies even if you have a full charge! Perhaps this is why they were sent overnight, but due to a signature being required I wasn’t able to get them until the next day.

Once I had a full charge I popped them on and was expecting some major coolness, but what I got was a very dim display with no diopter like you’d typically find on a camera with a viewfinder. Diopters allow you to make basic corrections to help you see a camera viewfinder better, so I was finding myself needing one to help me see the glass display better. Sadly the lack of one meant that I had to resort to prescription glasses which I hadn’t worn in over a year.

Google Glass with Active Shade attached
Interior View

Once I had my prescription glasses on the Glass didn’t fit quite right because my glasses interfered with the design. While there is an ordering option to get prescription glasses, I prefer to only use my glasses when necessary so I fall into that grey area for the design. I can add prescription glasses lenses but have to wear them all the time instead of as needed as I do to today, OR I’d have to fight to see the difficult to read display that isn’t much bigger than an average thumb nail.

WiFi Setup and Tethering Required

Determined not to let this bother me, I dealt with the problems – found a dark area and set up my Glass. The setup process wasn’t hard, but I found it odd that I had to manually type my SSID for my wifi network in. Hopefully the final version will include WPS support, or at least a better way to avoid having to type a network name instead of choosing from a list.

Another “oh crap” moment with my Glass was when I discovered that if I wanted to make the most of them when I was out of range of my WiFi that I’d need to have tethering support for my phone. Since I’m with AT&T this is an expensive option, so I don’t have that feature. While I don’t knock Google for this, it was starting to remind me of what it is like to own a iPad without cellular – major suckage! Of course an iPad makes it easy to join wifi networks, and glass doesn’t so once again I found myself very disappointed.

Since I couldn’t read the display very well I had a hard to time with the initial setup, and it wasn’t clear which way I needed to swipe. Sadly I got the swiping right by accident so I couldn’t read what it was telling me and quickly got lost. This resulted in me having to visit the website to learn what I missed and start over again.

Contact Management Sucks

Once I got them setup I was puzzled to see that there contacts that I didn’t recognize, but some that I did. Despite having a lot of contacts on various services and over 4000 friends in my circles, my contacts listed consisted of about 5 strangers and two people that I knew. While there was an app that you could use to add contacts, it wouldn’t let me just add an email or cell phone contact – it wanted to pull from some list that was never explained. Since I’m a iPhone and Office 365 email user, I don’t really use Gmail so my contacts weren’t stored in something that my glasses knew about. As a result, I found the whole contact management experience to be very poor – the worst I’ve used in fact since the pre-smart phone days. If you are a Gmail user this probably won’t be a problem, but honestly it annoyed me.

Camera Usage – Not as cool as expected

My first Google Glass Photo – Whoops!
f/2.5 for 1/15 sec at ISO-954 @ 3mm
Click for full-size original

Something went wrong during my setup so I never got prompted (at first) on doing wink to take a photo. As a result, I found myself pressing the button on the glasses or using verbal commands.

What I quickly noticed was that the little preview area for the photo was much different than what was actually captured, so I often ended up with really bad shots like the one of my empty plate above. The quality was crap too with very interesting values in the EXIF metadata (see above).

I wasn’t sure how to get to my photos so I just wanted to send it to myself. Sadly I ended up accidentally sending it to one of those contacts I didn’t know because my swipe was misinterpreted as a tap when I scrolling my contact list. In fact, 100% of the photos I tried to share with myself or others ended up going to complete strangers!

Eventually I discovered that my photos are stored in my Photos section on Google+ (private to me unless I choose to make them public).

My best Google Glass Photo – Sucks, huh!!!
f/2.5 for 1/15 sec at ISO-2176 @ 3mm

I was so unimpressed after 10 failed attempts of taking photos that I didn’t bother using the camera anymore.

Now What?!!!! – Let’s browse the web!

Frustrated by the camera and contacts I decided it would be cool to browse a web page or play a YouTube video. While I think the kinks will be worked out into something usable eventually, these tasks didn’t work out so well. Since you can’t type a direct URL (at least that I discovered), you have to Google search for what you want. I searched for my blog and my glasses read back to me a bunch of info about my blog. Neat, but not what I wanted.

Eventually I got to my site and they do have a clever mechanism for effectively using your head as the mouse pointer. It sorta works, but takes some getting used to.

Next up I repeated the process to play a YouTube video which at first seemed like it would work. Eventually I got the video to play but big controls covered up half of the video so it was really just a sliver of the video and audio that was played back – with a lot of issues (Bluetooth seemed to be the culprit).

Hum, how about trying out this has a hands free phone device?

With everything failing to impress me I decided to try to use my glasses as a hands free device. I eventually got paired with my phone which meant that my car didn’t want to pair with my phone when the glasses were paired. I resolved this by turning off my glasses, but I think there’s definitely room for some work here.

Using my phone I called some friends and family and everything seemed to work okay. This led me to the conclusion that I effectively had a $1500 Bluetooth headset that was bigger than any thing I’d ever used before.

The Social Experiment

Glass at the Dentist

Highly unimpressed with my weekend experiment with the glasses I decided to conduct a social experiment and wear my Google Glasses for a day around town and at work.

My day started with a dentist appointment where you get the sunglasses to protect you from the glare. This illustrates the problem I had with my regular glasses where things just don’t pair well.

Surprisingly my hygienist said my glasses didn’t interfere, so I kept them on – and did nothing because the battery was dead. I usually go to bed around 3:00 AM and with a 7:00 AM wake up time for the dentist, that wasn’t enough time to charge my glasses for them to be of any use this day.

For the rest of the day I wore my glasses turned off and just observed what people would do. Fortunately nobody got hostile as I’ve heard has happened to some, but I did have a couple guys ask me about them. For the most part I got lots of stares and double takes with some being more obvious than others. If you are someone who doesn’t like to be looked at then don’t get these because you’ll get stared at sometimes like you’ve got a unicorn horn on your forehead!

Despite being happily married, I suspected I might get a conversation from women about them – but like most gadgets women seemed to ignore them. Even at my high tech company during the day they seemed to be of more interest to guys than gals.

I also noticed that after a couple hours the off balance weight started to be noticeable on my head so despite their light weight, they got a little cumbersome to wear. I took them off for an hour and then used them again and I was fine. Lesson learned – they aren’t really for all day use.

I did have some friends laugh when they saw me wearing them, and my boss’s boss said I looked like a dork. I figured that was better than being called a Glasshole, so I ended my experiment after only a day of field testing. 

In the end I thought they were cool to wear around, but I’m a geek and don’t mind talking about geek toys. However, I can see people thinking it is showing off, which people once did to cell phone users. I’d feel more comfortable if they were mainstream before actually wearing them out in public on a regular basis, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having them right?

Conclusion

In the end it was fun to get a chance to try this product out, but I can’t justify spending $1500 for them. Even if my employer were to reimburse me for them (and they didn’t), it just isn’t worth the hassle of the expense report because I know I won’t use them. They already have sat and collected dust for over a week, so there’s no point in keeping them.

These should be called NASA glasses because I think Google is pushing the envelope in many areas that will result in inventions that become useful in other products (like the space program has done). I can see these being really cool 10 years from now, and if enough people are wearing them then there won’t be the social stigma associated with wearing them.

For about $500 I can get a Galaxy S4 and $30 will get me a decent Bluetooth headset which will give me everything I get in Glass, but in a much better and easier to use manner. I’d still need the phone with Google Glass, so really I’m back to my earlier statement of paying $1500 for the most expensive Bluetooth headset ever!

My advice to my readers who are jonesing for these is to find a friend who has them and borrow theirs for a day. They’ll let you use them because they won’t be doing anything with them, but be sure to get the battery charger – you’ll need it! After a day or two you’ll have your fun and the newness will wear off enough to where you think – why would I want this?!!!

I do think this product has potential and this is a pre-release product, so who knows what they will become with more bake time. As a geek I wanted these to be great and I planned to keep them despite the cost. However, there just wasn’t enough there to keep my attention.

Things I’d Like to See Fixed

If the following issues were addressed I probably would have kept my copy of Google Glass – assuming they were paid for by someone other than me personally:

• Needs a camera viewfinder-like diopter to better read the display for those who don’t wear glasses, but also don’t have perfect vision.
• WiFi setup is too cumbersome and not practical when roaming. Needs to behave like a cell phone.
• Cellular needs to be part of the glasses with a cheap signup option (like iPad’s with cellular offer).
• Battery life is unacceptable. They should last at least 18 hours on a charge with average usage, and at least 8 under heavy full-time usage.
• Contact management is poor and no current support from using your existing contacts if you aren’t on the Google platform (i.e., you use iOS, Exchange, etc…).
• Camera quality is poor, framing is difficult, and accessing them is confusing until you figure it out on your own. If it’s not as good as a cell phone then what’s the point of using it? (unless you’re a perv in which case that’s why some people hate this product)
• Integration with part-time third party glasses use needs to work better.
• Weight needs to be better distributed without so much weight on the right ear.
• Left eye version needed. My left eye has > 20/20 vision and my right is my bad eye, so I’d be better off with a left eye version.
• It needs to be harder to accidentally get a tap when making a swiping gesture.
• More durable – I still feel like they are going to break if I don’t baby them

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Google Glass – Part I of II–Purchasing Options
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• Where should I display and/or sell my pictures online? (Updated 2012)
• Which Printer Should I Buy? Epson or Canon?
• Which books should I read?
• Which camera should I buy?
• Which lens should I buy?
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories

Disclosure

By day I work for a Google competitor, but my role includes staying abreast of new technology and understanding what makes competing products great. As a result, I tried to be as unbiased as I could in this review and share my honest personal opinions – as a geek – not an employee at a competing company. This article was written with no input from my daytime employer and done at home during personal time using my personal property.

This product was purchased by me personally for ronmartblog.com use with the intent of reviewing this product for my blog. My employer did not order or pay for this product nor was any attempt made to be deceitful in any way. I’ve answered all questions by Google truthfully and tried hard to carefully understand abide by the terms of the sale agreement.

In 2013, Google was my largest blog partners and one of my top sources of income. My partnership mostly with Google ended when they closed the Google Affiliate Network such that my current revenue per month is not enough to keep both my household vehicles fueled for the month. While I hold no ill will against Google for this, I felt it important to disclose this fact.

I do not make a commission or earn any direct revenue by publishing this article or other Google related articles (i.e., Nik Collection by Google products).

REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-55mm & XF 23mm Lenses (Part I of III)

Fujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens

The 16.7mp, 1.5x crop factor Fujifilm X-T1 seems to be built from the ground up with the real photographer in mind. People who enjoy quick analog access to things like drive modes, metering, ISO and more are really going to love this camera (with one huge exception I mention at the end).

The included popup flash also proved to be excellent and much better than a popup flash found on your typical full-size DSLR. The viewfinder also impresses and an auto rotating text when in portrait mode to make it one of the more enjoyable viewfinders I’ve had the pleasure of using.

As a camera body, I only found the selector buttons (see later in this article) and the easy to accidentally open SD card cover the only real major flaws of what is a very fun camera to use.

It also feels very good in the hand even with the heavier kit lens with an outstanding raised grip that is a huge improvement over all of the other currently shipping X-Series cameras. In fact, it’s tough for me to go back to my X-E2 after using this DSLR-style grip!

In this part of my review I’ll focus on some real world testing with this camera in the mountains, but I’ll also tell you my thoughts on the kit and 23mm lenses I tested with. I’ve saved my video walkthrough and bookshelf test for the next installment, so be sure to come back for the second part where I give my final conclusions on my most anticipated camera of 2014!

Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R Lens with the X-T1

Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R Lens

Last October in New York I heard a former Fujifilm employee refer to the XF 23mm lens and the “future killer Fujifilm camera” (which I now know to be the X-T1), as being the best Fujifilm combo this person had ever used. This was this persons pinnacle of perfection from Fujifilm, even more than the x100s, so I made sure to have this lens along with me for this review.

When viewing my gallery of images, you’ll often see effective duplicate images. If you look carefully at the caption or metadata you’ll see that often the difference is between the kit lens and the XF 23mm taking the same shot (or video).

If you download the images and use Lightroom to pixel peep them, you’ll often see the 23mm difference – it is sharper, but not as much as I expected or hoped. Here’s an example:

18-55mm at 22.3mm vs XF 23mm on a tripod with a timer shutter release
Please click to view at 100%

One of things I discovered after my days out shooting with the kit lens is that the 23mm mark on the kit lens is sadly 22.3mm, so many of my comparisons aren’t he apples to apples comparisons I was hoping they would be. However, they are close enough to give on an idea of the extra sharpness you get with the prime. To see the originals, click the links for 18-55mm at 22.3mm vs XF 23mm.

There’s no doubt that the 23mm is a decent lens and better than the kit, but it’s not like comparing the Zeiss 55mm Otus to any other 50mm.

I’ll have more examples coming soon, but here’s also an example of the bokeh you get from the 23mm at f/1.4 in a real world scenario:

f/1.4 @ 23 mm, 1/4000, ISO 400, No Flash, XF 23mm

This is a good $899 lens (full retail price, $749 when on sale), but it’s not what I’d call a wow lens like I’ve seen from select lenses on Canon and Nikon DSLR’s. If you are someone who lives for the 23mm lens (35mm effective), then I’d suggest saving some money and going for the x100s instead. You can get that entire camera for not much than the cost of this lens and you don’t have to worry about dust on the sensor!

Unedited Sample Images

You can view the full set of casual snapshot photos at http://photos.ronmartblog.com/fujifilm/x-t1. Please note that this gallery currently contains images that up until March 16, 2014 were shot with the internal noise reduction feature set to the default of 0.

My biggest lesson learned after evaluating these images was something I expected before I took this camera out of the box – Fujifilm’s internal noise reduction sucks – big time! You are better off turning noise reduction to –2 and then using a product like Noiseware (tutorial) to get rid of the noise than to let this camera destroy your in-camera JPEG’s with its horrible detail destroying noise reduction. Of course if you only process the RAW’s (which sadly means you’ll miss some of the Fujifilm processing magic), then you’ll need to run your own noise reduction anyway – in which case I still recommend Noiseware.

The film mode choice was frequently Velvia which won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I like it enough that I typically don’t do very much post-processing on X-Series images shot in Velvia. That’s exactly what I want from a compact camera, so it’s one of the many reasons I like this platform.

Please note that all of these images are the original jpeg’s as they came out of the camera. If you click the image you’ll see the full size version exactly as it came out of the camera. The file name and metadata will offer a clue as to what’s what lens and settings were used when the shot was taken.

You may download and inspect these images for your own review, but please delete them when you are done. You may not alter, re-post, print, or otherwise use these images in any way without my signed (on paper) consent. Copyright © Ron Martinsen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Click the images below to see the full-size 16 megapixel originals (4896x3264), then click them again in your browser to see them at 100%.

f/8 @ 23 mm, 1/170, ISO 200, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
The dynamic range of this camera is pretty sweet!

f/16 @ 23 mm, 0.6s, ISO 200, Tripod (XF 23mm lens)
The x100s still seems to have the advantage on landscapes
and it’s sealed body means no dust spots as I ended up with here

f/8 @ 23 mm, 1/38, ISO 6400, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
Despite horrible in-camera noise reduction with the default settings,
the raw noise level is low enough that ISO 6400 is quite usable

f/1.4 @ 23 mm, 1/60, ISO 250, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
The 1.5x crop factor means this camera won’t blow away the full frame a7R,
but with a f/1.4 lens the bokeh isn’t too shabby

f/5.6 @ 23 mm, 1/125, ISO 5000, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
Nobody does in-camera panos better than Fujifilm, and the X-T1 doesn’t disappoint

f/18 @ 25.4 mm, 1/9, ISO 200, No Flash, Handheld (Kit Lens), Standard Film Mode, AWB
Highlights are always protected well, but dark areas can lose
detail quicker than some other cameras I’ve tested

f/16 @ 23 mm, 1/25, ISO 200, Tripod (XF 23mm lens)
Internal noise reduction ruined this shot, but even still I was
disappointed in the detail in this shot compared to what I saw with the x100s

f/8 @ 23 mm, 1/60, ISO 2500, Handheld, AWB, Velvia Film Simulation, (XF 23mm lens)
Velvia was a little over the top with the red of this wet red wood log

f/16 @ 23 mm, 1/60, ISO 2500, Handheld (XF 23mm lens)
The x100s made me confident to go to f/16, but this isn’t the x100s.
It’s not bad, but just not as crisp as the x100s. However, a light wind was a factor here too.

f/8 @ 18 mm, 1/13, ISO 200, Tripod (Kit lens)
While I favored the 23mm, the kit lens isn’t bad at all – and it’s handy to have on hand!

f/7.1 @ 25.4 mm, 5.3s, ISO 200, Tripod (Kit lens)
The kit lens was plenty sharp and I had no light leak issues detected

f/7.1 @ 21.4 mm, 0.7s, ISO 200, Tripod (Kit lens)
Fujifilm cameras always impress me with extreme lighting situations like this.
The bright lights are under control and detail is still visible in the shadows.

f/2.8 @ 18 mm, 1/1100, ISO 400, Handheld (Kit lens)
You aren’t going to get dreamy bokeh with the kit, but it’s still a nice lens

f/4.5 @ 55 mm, 1/42, ISO 800, Flash (-1 EV FEC)
The included hot shoe flash did a great job!

f/7.1 @ 20.5 mm, 1/60, ISO 2500, Handheld, Flash (-1 EV FEC) (kit lens)
Capturing toddlers is a challenge with this camera due to very slow focus locking
1 in 10 photos were misses during my first wave of testing due to focusing challenges

f/4.5 @ 55 mm, 1/56, ISO 800, No Flash (kit lens)
Despite occasional cooperation from my son, Kai, I was frustrated by the AF struggling
(Click to zoom to on the original to see how soft this shot really is and notice the in focus areas)

f/10 @ 39 mm, 1/5, ISO 3200, Handheld (Kit lens), AWB
I was testing high ISO (hence the f/10) and lens stabilization here,
but got surprised by the Auto White Balance (AWB) having a strong red tint on this one>
Fujifilm's internal skin softening seems to be alive and well, but perhaps less harsh
than its predecessors.

More images to come in part II!

Video Review

I’ll do my own video review in the next installment, but in the meantime here’s an enjoyable review from DigitalRev TV. While I don’t agree with everything that Kai says, many of his observations mirror mine:

 

 

Light Leak Issue

My test unit with a serial number starting with 41A0 did not exhibit any light leak issues that I detected during my testing. Here’s a couple tripod based long exposures that I took in bulb mode. Because I didn’t have a remote release I had to hold my finger on the release button, so these aren’t as sharp as if I would have had a proper remote release with me:

28 second bulb mode exposure - f/5.6 @ 18 mm, ISO 200

90 second bulb mode exposure - f/8 @ 18 mm, ISO 800

Apparently Fujifilm is stepping up to the plate and addressing this issue for serial numbers 41002001 to 41006000 with a fix. Click here to learn more.

The New Selector Buttons – How do I hate the? Let me count the many ways!

X-T1 Selector Buttons shown up top,
X-E2 shown at the bottom

At first glance one might look at the new X-T1 selector button design with its raised outer edge and think – wow, that’s an improvement! I’m sure some engineer thought this new design made perfect sense, so to out with the old tried and true design that worked very well (shown below – from an X-E2). However, I’m here to say that I would never buy nor recommend any camera with the X-T1 selector buttons as shown here.

To say that I hated these new X-T1 selector buttons is an understatement. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time I cursed them or struggled with them, I’d be sitting on an island right now enjoying my retirement.

The problem with the new design is that your thumb effectively goes into a bowl and its very difficult to feel the top, left, right and bottom buttons. As a result it becomes easy to hit the wrong one as your thumb glides to the raised edge trying to figure out what’s what.

In the bottom design for the X-E2 the edge is inverted so the first thing your thumb feels as it moves off the Menu Ok button is a raised edge. I know it seems very subtle, but in in practice this is a HUGE difference.

One of my readers and assistants complained of this problem and I figured it would just be a change that one needs to get used to, but after using this camera for two weeks I haven’t got used to it yet. In fact, I’ve wanted to toss this camera back in the box and say forget it – send me a proper set of selector buttons before I’ll continue my review!

I’ve actually thought about this one long and hard and I’d seriously PAY MONEY to send my X-T1 in and have the crappy new selector buttons replaced with the old X-E2 design because I hate them so bad.

The X-T1 is an excellent camera with a ton of things to love about it, but this one thing hurts usability and overall enjoyment so badly that I really couldn’t in good faith not raise this issue to my readers. This is more than an annoyance – it’s a significant usability problem that would frustrate you a heck of a lot more than light leaks or whatever other BS issues the web pixel peeping trolls are finding out in the wild.

Never in the 7 years that this blog has existed have I hated one feature so badly that I’ve called it out like this, so I implore Fujifilm to correct this problem with units that ship in the future and offer a replacement program for existing X-T1 owners.

See also my “Do you like the new Fujifilm X-T1 selector buttons?” article.

Conclusion

Click here to read my final thoughts, however you can see from the images that this is indeed a nice camera. Aside from the selector buttons that I despise, this is really a delightful camera thanks to the addition of physical knobs for ISO, drive modes, metering and more. New function buttons round things out to make this overall one of the best Fujfilm bodies I’ve ever tested, but those darn poorly selector buttons ruin it all to make it one of the more frustrating cameras to use as well!

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order it on the B&H web site. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 w/ XF 23mm –Unedited Real World Shots (Part II of III)–High ISO, Bokeh and More…
• REVIEW: Fujifilm X-T1 with XF 23mm–The Greatest Fujifilm Camera & Lens Combo Ever? (Part III of III)
• Fujifilm X-E2
• Fujifilm XPro-1
• Fujifilm X20 (My personal P&S camera)
• Fujifilm X100s
• Fujifilm X-M1 Preview
• Fujifilm XQ1 (vs X20 & Canon s110)
• Fujifilm X-S1
• Fujifilm X-E1, X100s, X20 & X10 Compared
• Sony a7 (includes Samyang lens)
• Sony a7R
• Nikon D7100 - A Mini D800?
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 (with 2 lenses)
• Panasonic GF6 & LX1
• Canon 70D (Part II)
• Canon Rebel T5i/700D
• Canon EOS M
• Photographers Gift Guide / Recommendations
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.