Yesterday at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, I chanced to meet Tom, who was shooting with the Fujifilm X-E1. We chatted for a while, and I learned that he is one of a growing number of photographers who have sold off their DSLR gear in favor of the Fujifilm X-system. As you can see, Tom’s a pretty happy guy.
We also talked a little bit about the differences between the X-Pro1 and the X-E1, the biggest of which are the viewfinder and LCD screen. The X-Pro1 has a unique feature that allows switching between an old-style optical viewfinder and an OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF). The X-Pro1 also has a larger 3″, 1.2 million pixel rear LCD screen vs. the X-E1’s 2.8″, 460K pixel display. The same LCD is used on my X10, and it’s amazingly good. The EVF on the X-E1 features 2.36 million pixels, where the EVF on the X-Pro1 offers a little over 1.4 million (This puts the EVF on the X-E1 on par with that in the Sony SLT-A65 or SLT-A77).
Most everything else on the cameras is the same, although the X-E1 does have a tiny built-in flash that can act as a “commander” for Fujifilm’s EF-42 flash, allowing wireless off-camera use. Tom showed me a little trick with the X-E1 flash — it’s possible to bounce the flash by putting your finger under it an tilting it up when shooting!
Talking with Tom helped with my thought that the differences between the X-Pro1 and the X-E1 may not be worth the $400 price difference — that I would be absolutely as happy with the X-E1 as I would with an X-Pro1. To be sure, though, I’ll probably rent one of each from Lensrentals.com or Borrowlenses.com. At very least, I’ll make a bus-trip to New York City and visit B&H or Adorama to put my hands on them.
Tom and I also talked about other photography-related-but-non-gear-specific things like the proliferation of cell phone cameras and the resultant erosion of the point-and-shoot camera market, as well as the explosion of not-ready-for-prime-time-photographers trying to break into the ranks of the professional and their detrimental effect on profession of photography.
Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m holding a dollar bill in the lead photo in this story. While Tom and I were talking, someone dropped a dollar bill on the ground in front of us. Tom picked it up and proclaimed it to be the first dollar in my fund to buy my XE-1! So, it looks like I’m on my way.