Fujifilm has just eliminated one reason why we would want to upgrade to the X-Pro1 from the X100 — you can read our in-depth real world review of the latter right here. The camera maker has just announced a new wide angle conversion lens for the Fujifilm X100.

The WCL-X100 conversion lens attaches directly onto the X100 and effectively multiplies the camera’s focal length by a factor of 0.8, converting it from a 23mm (35mm equivalent) focal length to a 19mm wide angle (28mm equivalent).

The wide angle conversion lens is made of four glass elements in three groups and Fujifilm promises comparable image quality as the X100′s excellent fixed lens element. Fujifilm also mentions that the WCL-X100 will have no negative effect on autofocus speed, the X100′s 10cm macro capability and the hybrid viewfinder.
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If you’ve been into photography long enough you would have encountered the name Manfrotto. The Italian company is most famous for its quality tripods, but that’s not all the company does. Manfrotto also makes some really cool-looking backpacks, cases and pouches especially with camera gear in mind.

At Stuff-Review we like to keep our gear safe and stylish, so we’re always on the lookout for nice-looking and functional cases. I’ve also long pronounced my love for compact mirrorless cameras and when I came across the Manfrotto Nano pouch range I knew that I’ve just found my new favorite small camera bag.

The Manfrotto Nano range starts from the Nano I, suitable for tiny point-and-shoot cameras, and goes up to the Nano VII, the largest of the pack. We’ll be looking at both the Nano VI and the Nano VII, which are suitable for mirrorless cameras.
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We thoroughly reviewed the Fujifilm X100 here, which we loved for its amazing image quality. Our main gripe with the camera was its secondary controls. Well, Fujifilm has just released a new firmware v1.20 for the X100 that tackles these specific issues.

First of all, we asked for the ability to be able to customize the RAW button in the back, i.e. use it as second function button, and it seems we got our wish. Next up, ISO Auto Control has now been moved to the more logical ISO menu. Unfortunately however, it is not accessible from the FN/RAW buttons when you pull ISO settings, you still need to go into the menu to enable or disable it.
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Let’s just say that the we respect the 12.3-megapixel APS-C sensor, 23mm f/2 lens Fujifilm X100 digital camera immensely; but for a more in-depth look better have a read at our lengthy review here. After almost a year since the original X100 was released, Fujifilm is following up with an all black edition of only 10,000 pieces worldwide.

The appropriately named X100 Black Limited Edition set includes a sweet black X100 digital camera, black leather case, adapter ring, lens hood and a 49mm filter. The package can be had for $1,699.95 over the $1,200 which would buy you the plain old two-tone X100. That’s a hefty premium considering you can get the leather case and the adapter ring and hood for less than $300.
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I have to foreword this review of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 by saying that I am not a professional photographer or a camera expert, nevertheless I think there is value on a review done from the viewpoint of the average user. Thus, this review will be very different from other technically focused reviews; instead I will tackle the camera from a real world perspective.

I’ve tried to balance the review with a healthy number of sample shots. To depict the camera’s image quality, rather than my Lighroom skills, the images in this review have not received any software treatment, except from the odd straightening/cropping. The shots are mostly out of the camera JPEGs. Rather than photographicw merit, I’ve tried to include shots that demonstrate the camera’s capabilities.

It’s also good to note that this review of the Fujifilm X100 comes late to the party; the camera has been out for almost a year now, though initially it was impossible to get hold of one. I’ve had my own unit since late last summer. I do consider however that despite more recent mirrorless camera launches, and even Fuji’s own X-Pro1, the X100 still is a very unique camera with a very unique offering.
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The Fujifilm X100 is an amazing camera (and you can read our extensive real world review here), but it is plagued by one well documented manufacturing defect — at least the early batches of this mirrorless camera. The ‘sticky aperture blade’ issue results in the lens diaphragm blades not closing down as they should and hence leaving the aperture wide-open even at increasing f-numbers f/8, f/11 and f/16.

The first indication that your X100 may be suffering from the sticky blade problem would be if it tends to overexpose images. Because the aperture doesn’t close as it should on high f-numbers, more light reaches the sensor and results in an overexposed image. The issue won’t be apparent at wide apertures, like f/2 for example.
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Fujifilm has just released a firmware update for its retro-looking X10 enthusiast point-and-shoot camera. The update to version 1.03 brings a host of fixes and improvements to the excellent X10 including compatibility with Mac OS X Lion, better face detection and the ability to customize the “RAW” button’s function. The update also promises to reduce the ‘white orb’ blooming effect that many users have complained about, though it doesn’t eliminate it.
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A hundred seems to be Fujifilm’s lucky number. The Japanese camera-maker slid an interesting piece of info in its third-quarter earnings presentation. Sales of the X100 high-end compact camera surpassed the company’s expectations, with Fujifilm selling 100,000 units in just nine months.

It’s quite an accomplishment considering that the X100 is selling for around $1,200 and that it’s a niche camera product with a fixed prime lens and not the most straightforward controls. Bear in mind that for the first few months of its release, it was practically impossible to get hold of one. No wonder that every other camera manufacturer is trying to get into the same bandwagon, i.e. release a retro-styled high-end mirrorless cameras.
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The holiday season is a period for introspection and some quality time with our favorite gadgets. As a gadget blog, looking back into what we have covered during 2011, there are a few pieces of tech that really stand out. These are the gadgets that got us excited because they were pushing new boundaries, or they instantly became an integral part of our lives because they perform their task really well. Here are our favorite pieces of tech for 2011, they might not be the most obvious choices, but if you read through you’ll find out why they earned a place in our hearts.
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With the successor to the GF1 finally announced, Panasonic is coming back strongly to the space it helped create. The Panasonic GX1 is the company’s new high-end rangefinder style mirorrless camera. But, as we’ve discussed in our initial in-depth coverage, unlike its predecessor it’s coming up against some very serious competition.

To put things into perspective, we’ve the GX1 against the top competitors from Sony, Fujifilm and Olympus. Our comparison includes the super-high-end NEX-7 with an APS-C sensor and the amazing OLED EVF, the excellent fixed lens APS-C Fujifilm FinePix X100 (full review here) and a fellow Micro Four Thirds camera, the Olympus E-P3. So, read on to check out how our new MILC holds up.
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The X100 shoots amazing photos, in general, and some of the best low-light pictures of any compact camera — it looks the part too. You can read our in-depth real world review here. Unfortunately, it’s not a speed demon; specifically, auto focus, startup time and SD card write speeds are relatively slow. This means that it’s not the ideal action shooter.

Nevertheless, there are things that you can do to get the camera to perform faster. The X100 includes a ‘Quick Start Mode’, which Fuji claims to reduce startup time to about 0.7 seconds compared to about 2.2 seconds when the mode is off. This mode is accessible on page 3 in setup. Fuji however, warns that, setting the mode to on will drain your battery, reducing the number of shots per charge.

It’s also been suggested that a fast SD card will help reduce startup times and of course file write times. So, with this suggestion we set out to test the X100′s performance with three different SD cards: a top of the range SanDisk Extreme Pro card claiming 45MB/s write speeds, a SanDisk Extreme III card with 30MB/s write speeds and finally a cheaper Transcend 16GB Class 10 card.

We measured the amount of time between switching the camera on and the camera becoming responsive, i.e. being able to focus, first, with the quick start mode off, and again with the quick start mode on for each of the three SD cards.

Then, we shot eight continuous RAW files, with each of the cards, in burst mode, and measured the time between pressing the shutter button, taking the 8 shots and the camera becoming responsive again, after writing the files to the SD card.

You can see the results, of our lengthy tests, below — note that we examined the video of our tests in slow-motion to assess the time better and avoid reaction time errors:
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The Fuji X100 is a fantastic camera that takes amazing low-light pictures, but like most works of genius, it has its quirks. The most frustrating of all, as we’ve found out, is macro (close-up) auto-focusing, it’s really slow and it doesn’t always focus correctly.

Fujifilm has just released an update for the camera which is said to improve macro auto-focus performance and also includes a couple of software fixes — full info after the break.

To check which firmware version you are running, turn on your camera while holding down the ‘DISP/BACK’ button. To update, download the update file here, copy it to an empty SD card, insert the card in your camera and then switch it on while holding the ‘DISP/BACK’ button. The camera should then guide you though the firmware update.
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We’ve already shown you how Sony’s NEX-7 digital camera stacks up against other high-end compact shooters. However, Sony also announced a pair of incredibly specced single-lens translucent (SLT) cameras, the Alpha A65 and Alpha A77, poised to take conventional Nikon and Canon mid-range DSLRs head-on. We will soon have a look at how these compare to DSLR cameras at the same price range.

Now, we have compiled a comparison between these three higher-end Sony cameras, the Alpha A77, A65 and NEX-7. We are finding it just so damn hard to decide between them, we are sure you as well, and time has started ticking as all cameras are already available to pre-order, so hopefully this will help. We’ve also added our current favorite camera, the Fujifilm FinePix X100, to the mix. Head over after the link for a detailed spec comparison.
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Sony’s just announced NEX-7 digital camera is a real contender as the new king in the compact mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera realm. We’re sure that you are itching, same as we, to see how it stacks up against the competition. We’ve pitted the NEX-7 against two Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras, the new Olympus E-P3 and the Panasonic GF3 — although we are sure Panasonic is secretly cooking a high end shooter, the GF3 is currently their higher end compact MFT camera. We’ve also added the excellent fixed lens Fujifilm FinePix X100 to our comparison; the NEX-7 shares some of same genes having a no-nonsense retro look, APS-C sensor and lots of controls. Head over after the link to see a spec fight-out.
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Fujifilm undeniably rocked the digital camera world with its retro looking FinePix X100 digital camera. The X100 went against the flow, with Fuji opting for complexity and a fixed focal length lens, and in the end the bet paid off. Unfortunately the X100 is out of most people’s budget at around $1,200. Fujifilm is now said to announce a smaller and cheaper but still capable retro looking camera, the X50.
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If you are one of the very lucky owners of the FinePix X100 camera, or are considering to buy one, you’ll be happy to know that Fujifilm has made available an updated firmware for the very capable camera.

The FinePix X100 features a large APS-C sensor, super-sharp fixed focal length lens, in a compact, very solid and very beautiful body. Nonetheless there have been some qualms regarding the usability of the camera and Fujifilm is addressing a number of these issues in this update.

Firmware v1.10 brings a total of 22 fixes and add-ons; with the list of fixes/additions after the break together with a link to download the firmware and a how-to update the camera guide.
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