UKC

Following this: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=560192&v=1#x7459455, I thought that I'd report back on the first proper trip out with the Fuji X-E1.

I was up in the Lakes over the bank hol weekend and had a night out up at Bowfell to take some snaps and get some running in and test out some new kit before the OMM. This was also a great chance to give the X-E1 a whirl.

The results are in my gallery, here http://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/author.html?id=41

My impressions of the camera, when used with the 18-55 lens are:
- Brilliant handling once you get used to where everything is
- EVF is great: I don't miss an optical viewfinder on this camera
- Snappy AF (with the latest firmware for the body and lenses) until it got pretty dark but the manual assist edge highlighting worked a treat
- Extremely impressive image quality up to around 1200 ISO: above this, noise is an issue
- The battery charge level indicator REALLY needs work. It went from full battery to paperweight in 5 seconds which is really poor. Spare batteries aren't expensive but I don't want to have to always have one in my pocket.

Should I have carried my 5d3 up with me and would I have got better images with it? Possibly - but I probably wouldn't have been able to run with it and a heavy lens in my bag.

It's still not that small either so won't replace my S95 as my go anywhere camera. I expect that carrying the SLR into the hills will now be reserved for special occasions.

In reply to london_huddy:

I've both the X-Pro1 and X-E1. Noise over 1200?!?! Images shot at 3200 easily pass quality checks at Alamy and Corbis. Even 6400 can be useable to a degree. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to using it up to 3200.

As for replacing an SLR..... yeah, fully agree. I've already sold my 5dmkii. The 14mm & 60mm also make superb landscape lenses as well. Both are razor sharp. And the red / flat batter indicator comes on very quickly after half way!

The tiny flash, EF-X20 is also worth looking at. Very powerful and easily fits in your pocket. You can trigger it with the onboard flash with the X-E1 for off camera use or TTL on the camera or with a Canon Cord.

In reply to Duncan_Andison:

I'll work on my LR workflow - noise reduction is ok but not rendering well on export...

In reply to london_huddy:

Cheers for the report back Andrew. I'll be getting mine next week

In reply to london_huddy: Give Capture One a spin. They do a 60 day free trial for both the Express and the Pro. You'll get a surprise at the difference when using the X Trans sensor. There's a lot more detail, better colour as well as finer sharpness and noise control. They just look a lot better without doing anything to be honest.

In reply to london_huddy:

Forgot to add, I also used LR up until switching to Fuji. There are some very good export features in Capture One compared to LR as well. It's free to trial so worth a try.

In reply to london_huddy:
I should hope so. Cant see how u can compare film to digital anyway.

In reply to london_huddy:

Got the X-E1 good few months back now using it with the 18-55...impressive stuff for a smaller camera. When the going is easy both 5D2 and X-E1 get carried, if its steep hiking/climbing just the Fuji, great to have such good image quality in a lighter package.