I almost forgot a most important item on the Fuji X30. The GRIP. This camera has the best grip I have ever used from any OEM. When you hold it in your hand, it has a very secure feeling Shooting a horizontal is very comfortable and when you switch to a vertical, the camera pivots very smoothly. This is critical and many cameras including Andre’ the Fuji X100s fails with grip holding procedures. When I test a camera, I put a wrist strap on it. WHOA! Not one of those cheapies I use a real strap made by the Master Himself, Luigi. So, with the X100s, the camera has a terrible grip and when using a wrist strap, it will slip out of the hand many times during a shoot. The Luigi’s wrist strap keeps the camera from getting airborne and falling to the ground. This will never happen with the X30. The grip is amazing and I wish, every camera ever made or that will ever be made had this grip on it.
Then we are faced with the issue of the Thumb Grip. Ya don’t need it on the X30. Ya do need it on the X100s but….! The X100s with a thumb grip will make the camera safe and stable but will be an irritant in your pocket. I talked about this with Andre’ the Fuji X100s and he told me that with the thumb grip installed, he pushes himself against my leg because it’s a reminder that he belongs out of pocket and working. His firmware is more advanced than mine and I need an update.
The other method of course is a strap. You guessed it, I use a few different Luigi’s straps. My issue is that I am no longer allowed to wear a camera around my neck. I actually do wear Daido the Fuji X30 around my neck on a strap because he’s smaller and lighter and so far it’s ok and my Doc doesn’t know otherwise I would get sent back to the factory. So the camera really likes a wrist strap and you never have to worry about the grip.
Of course everyone is using the ACMAXX screen protector ao I need not mention that, right.
Almost every button on the camera can be reconfigured to do almost anything you could want. That’s remarkable. I don’t do vids with a camera so the button on top is set to ISO. Hold on, we don’t just get to set ISO with the Fuji X30, ohhh no.. there’s some magic brewing in there. See, I use Auto ISO always. I use M Mode almost always. Here’s the thing. I get to set the Aperture and the Shutter Speed. I need to be able to do this because, well, I need to be able to have some control. I trust the camera to make me happy even if I choose a wrong proper exposure.
For example: I set 1/250 f/8. Daido the Fuji X30 says, danggit shooter, your exposure is wrong for this light.He knows I’m wrong and then he sees that he can’t change either the aperture or shutter speed because I’m in M Master mode.So, he thinks real fast with the great firmware Fujifilm has installed in him and he says.
Eureka! I can change the ISO because that’s my part of working and then shooter won’t get angry cause I proved him wrong with an under or over exposed photo. So, I’ll just adjust the ISO to make peace and harmony.
For me. this is crucial in a camera and many have it so why the heck am I mentioning something every other camera ever built has in it? Great question and here’s a great answer………
The X30 has not one, not two but three, count em’ three Auto ISO modes and each is configurable. So you can set one for daylight say 100-640, one to say 400-1600 and maybe ont from 800-3200 and change the minimum shutter speed on each and set the default ISO. Amazing and oh sooo useful. I very often over expose intentionally for my Dreamcatcher series. This will make it easier and more creative for me and I’ll use this feature a lot.
Tomorrow I’ll shoot a few X100s and X30 shots at 35mm and then we can compare them side by side. I think it will be interesting.
If ya’s have any questions or request, please post a comment and I usually answer my readers very fast. Have a good one and go in peace my friends.
