Re-photo

Version 1.10 firmware update

On Friday I spent rather a long time following the terrible instructions by Fuji to carry out the firmware update to the FX100. It would have been fast if I’d used a little common sense and done it my own way, but I was a little worried I might mess things up and so wasted several hours.

The Fuji site provided the firmware update along with a piece of software to copy it on to the card in the camera. Had they said you could simply copy it normally to the card and then perform the update it would have saved me a couple of hours, but their instructions told me I needed to install the Fuji software on my system, so I did.

I don’t know why, but I had to carry out the software install three times before it worked without an error message, although I think it still isn’t right, as it should start up when I plug the camera into the computer but it doesn’t.

I don’t intend ever to use Fuji’s MyFinePix Studio, but some time I may see if the SilkyPix RAW file converter does a better job than Lightroom on the FX100 files. Somehow I doubt it.

I suspect the only part of the software needed to perform the update the Fuji way is a driver or an information file so that the camera automatically installs as another disk drive on the computer when plugged into a USB port.  Fuji’s over-fussy instructions also told me that I needed to remove all other USB peripherals except the mouse to carry out the file transfer. Which, if true, suggests their transfer program is terribly badly written. Which given my problems installing their software would not surprise me.

Having done it their way, I realise that I could instead simply have formatted a card in camera, then it in the card reader and copied the file in the normal way – no need to use the Fuji software at all. But I wasn’t going to risk having to confess I hadn’t followed the instructions to the letter if anything went wrong with the update and I needed to send the camera for service.

The card had to be formatted before being used for the upgrade, and looking at it, the FPUPDATE.DAT file is simply in the root directory, with nothing else on the card. All I really needed to do was to format a disk, put it in a card reader and copy that file across, then put it in the camera and carry out the upgrade – just as with other cameras. Fuji’s instructions might have mentioned this possibility – it is after all how most other manufacturers manage the process.

The Result – A New Camera

But having carried out the upgrade to firmware 1.10 (once everything is set up it takes around 90s) I have to say I’m very pleased, as it seems to address nearly all of the issues I had with the camera.

In particular it no longer locks up after turning itself off (Fuji say “”) but now it comthe shutter release button was required to hold down halfway for a few secondes on straight away.

The camera now notices when the lens cap is left on and doesn’t show the bright line frame. Setting the ISO when you’ve assigned that to the Fn button is simpler too – just press and turn the control wheel.

I gave up reading on the long list of 23 improvements – possibly the longest ever for a firmware upgrade, really more or less making this a different camera. There seem to be some improvements that are not included in the list too.

I’ve not really had the opportunity to try it out properly, as I’m currently resting under doctor’s orders with my leg up, but the whole way the camera works just feels a little ‘snappier’ and the battery doesn’t seem to run down at the same huge rate. I took a number of rather boring photographs out of my bedroom and study windows and in the back garden over the course of the day, leaving the camera on most of the time (letting it switch itself off) and the battery is still indicating full.

The picture quality from the FX100 seems to be more or less as I’d expect from the Nikon DX cameras, so no problems there. The upgrade irons out a few exposure problems I’d not come across, as well as at least theoretically putting some exposure control at your thumb tip when using A or S modes.  (Actually you still need to use the Exposure Compensation dial which I have to keep taped up to do this.)

The camera also now tells you if you select the rather annoying ‘Eye Sensor’ mode by flashing up a little message (I guess someone must like it, but it seems to me to be a feature they only did because they could.)

The camera seems to do quite a few things more sensibly and I’m very much happier with it than I was before the upgrade. Though I’m sure I (and other users) will find a few more improvements to suggest for the next upgrade, 1.10 has really brought the camera to the state it should have been in before being released to the public. It just was not ready with 1.00 or 1.01.

Although it is a camera every photographer I’ve handed it too has fallen in love with – it feels good in the hand and the basics are exactly where you expect them, some problems still remain. This is a camera designed for small, delicate hands and although mine are perhaps less clumsy than the European average, the camera’s major controls, the Command Dial and Command Control are difficult to operate with the necessary precision; pressing the vital Menu/OK button at the centre of the Dial almost always selects one of the four functions obtained by rocking the dial, as also does attempting the rotate it.  The button simply does not stick up enough.

There is a partial fix in the software upgrade, although the English text had me fooled.

1. The following functions can be rocked during shooting by holding down [MENU / OK] button over 3 sec.

DRIVE / Flash / White balance / Macro (set on the Command Dial – 4 direction key)

In fact what this means is that these functions are LOCKED, making the control much more usable. You need to press the middle button for another 3 sec or more to unlock them.
The Command Control can be pushed left or right and is a rather curious slight knob that protrudes slightly from a raised housing on the back of the camera and springs back to the central position when released. I can seldom get it to perform whatever function the manual (and there is an updated version with the upgrade) suggests it should, and its main purpose appears to be to make the tip of my thumb sore, and occasionally when it should be altering exposure in A mode it instead seems to switch to the electronic viewfinder. It’s the one control I’d like to move more easily and more positively – and perhaps to have rather more use.

In S mode, where rotating the command dial is meant to adjust exposure according to the upgrade notes, it doesn’t seem to do so, rather keeping exposure constant while altering both aperture and shutter speed – but who knows, next time I try it I may find it works differently. Despite the great improvements I still get the feeling that this firmware needs some work on it.

In terms of hardware, both Command controls need a redesign for the Mark 2 version of the camera, although fortunately most of the time when you are actually taking pictures you don’t need to use them.  And with the new firmware, most things work really well.

The shutter speed and aperture ring work fine, the shutter release seems around perfect, the auto-exposure (and the AEL/AFL button when using manual focus) is fine. For masochists who like to use the focus ring, that works slightly better – a chunkier kind of motion that actually moves the focus in a slightly jumpy fashion rather than the getting nowhere stirring the porridge it had before. But frankly you have to be some kind of nut to do it that way. In use the FX100 seems a simple and elegant and very unobtrusive picture-taking machine and I’m itching to get out and work with it.

Another welcome new feature in the upgrade is AF Correction for close focus, which puts a second focus rectangle up on screen to fix parallax problems in AF-S mode. As well as the normal white rectangle, a second slightly offset ‘corners only’ rectangle appears slighly offset from the centre of the frame as a reminder you have this set, and when the camera focusses on something closer than around 1.5 meters, the green focus confirmation rectangle appears at an appropriate place. It means the optical viewfinder is now fully usable down to less than a couple of feet. The electronic viewfinder also works pretty close, perhaps just a little closer, so you seldom need to remember to set macro mode.

The most informative discussion I’ve found on this update is on SteveHuffPhoto and I would have saved myself some time and effort if I’d read it before attempting the upgrade.  Most of the problems that people are having seem to be either because they have card problems – it seems to be better to use a low capacity SD card such as the 2Gb I used rather than a recent high capacity one, or from a few Mac users, where I suspect the OS might sometimes be doing its own peculiar things with the card.

I find Steve Huff also has several other useful articles on the FX100, including The top 7 complaints of the Fuji X100 and how I get around them. Fortunately most of them have been addressed by the firmware update in one way or another, and Fuji do really seem to have been listening to what photographers (including many on other camera web sites) told them about the camera, which is good news for the future.

I’ve still to really make a great deal of use of this camera, though I’ve taken around 1500 pictures, few have been anything other than test shots, but I’m now pretty convinced that this is a classic, and one that will earn its keep for many of us. It is very much the kind of camera that Leica should have produced (and at a glance it is a Leica) but are never likely to manage (just as they never managed to produce the best compact ‘Leica’, the Minolta CLE, which is  perhaps the closest to the FX100.)

Photographers are never satisfied. So yes, I’d have preferred it in all black. With a 28mm rather than a 35mm. The integration between lens and camera is such that it couldn’t be done with an interchangeable lens, but perhaps Fuji could provide a high quality screw in conversion lens for the front to give roughly double the focal length? (A 28/50 combination would have been ideal for this.) And of course it should take 49mm screw filters and a lenshood out of the box – Fuji’s failure to do so is inexplicable, but could be easily rectified for future purchasers.

Obviously it isn’t a camera for sports or action, but for what it does it is very usable indeed and delivers great quality. Large heavy SLRs and zooom lenses certainly win on flexibility, but if you can live with a fixed 35mm lens (and in the past I did for some years with a Leica M2) this is a great camera, and one that will fit my jacket pocket.crosoft office 2007 cost; Purchase Autodesk Autocad 2008 microsoft office project tutorial;
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