Should I buy a Fuji X-M1?

postcardcv

postcardcv

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Peter
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I have been fancying giving a Fuji mirrorless a go for a while now and the current offer on the XM1 is making it very tempting... I really do not need a new camera but have just sold some bits on eBay so have some money in the camera fund a figure if I am going to get one it will be this week while I can get the second lens free. So I am looking for opinions on the camera, especially how it compares to other mirrorless options from other brands.
 
I'm sure there will be views either way. I am a big fan of the Fuji X series cameras and have an X-E1 myself.
Personally I would not buy the X-M1 because it has no viewfinder at all so is all on the lcd. I could not live with that, if you can then it is certainly worthy of consideration and you can always upgrade bodies later.
Fuji have some great lenses for the X series and the lens road map is encouraging http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/xf_lens/roadmap/
 
In my experience, Fuji has the nicest IQ. M43 has the best AF and video.
 
I bought an XM1 just to get the free lens and intend to sell the camera as I'd rather have one with a viewfinder. Having said that, it's every bit as good as the other Fuji X cameras, and the tilting screen is a great asset over the XP1 and Xe1/2 in my opinion.
 
Oh dear... Just made the mistake of reading reviews of the XA1 and am now more confused. Having read a lot about the quality of the Fuji sensor it is odd to see some reviews showing basically no difference between the sensor in the xm1 and the normal bayer one in the xa1. The free lens with the xa1 is more appealing too so now I'm wondering if I should go that way instead. But is there really any advantage to that compared to other cheaper CSC options with bayer sensors (like the Panasonic Gs or the EOS M)?
 
The only difference between the XM1 and the XA1 is the sensor, and they charge less for the XA1 so you'd expect it to be inferior. In practice the differences seem to be small...
 
Well I decided against buying one as common sense prevailed.. but I wasn't sure that I made the right choice and found myself looking again this week only to find that the free lens offer is back on. Very tempted now just need Fuji to confirm who I can buy from and get the lens as it seems to be a lot less retailers than last time. WEX at £429 looks the best choice at the moment to get the free lens, or I could buy from amazon for £389 - no free lens but you do get £100 of amazon credit so the camera woudl effectively cost me £289... not sure which way to go but suspect I will have bought one before this set of offers ends.
 
postcardcv said:
Well I decided against buying one as common sense prevailed.. but I wasn't sure that I made the right choice and found myself looking again this week only to find that the free lens offer is back on. Very tempted now just need Fuji to confirm who I can buy from and get the lens as it seems to be a lot less retailers than last time. WEX at £429 looks the best choice at the moment to get the free lens, or I could buy from amazon for £389 - no free lens but you do get £100 of amazon credit so the camera woudl effectively cost me £289... not sure which way to go but suspect I will have bought one before this set of offers ends.
Click to expand...

A list below of approved sellers from current deal.

Previously you could get the £100 cashback and free lens when purchasing from Amazon themselves and not Amazon Sellers. Perhaps the current £100 cashback from Amazon is underwritten by Fuji? As I would assume Fuji have had a admin nightmare in the past with people putting claims in from non approved sellers.

I recently sold my Fuji 55-200mm to buy the 50-230mm as I thought I could do with the extra reach, I bought mine new from split kit for £174.00. They are currently selling around the £200 > £230 mark on ebay. So If your happy with just the 16-50mm kit lens, sell the 50-230mm free lens and you could be around £80.00 > £100.00 up on the Amazon deal.


http://free-fujifilm-lens.co.uk/retailers.pdf

http://free-fujifilm-lens.co.uk/
 
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You are right that I would be better of getting the free lens and selling it on rather than buying from amazon. To be honest I suspect that if I do go for one I would want to meet the second lens anyway. Now the dilemma is whether to buy the XM1 or to save £80 and go for the XA1? I just spoke to someone at Fuji about some details of the promo and asked his opinion of the two. He reckoned that the difference in IQ between the two sensors was negligible and would only notice on really big prints. So the xa1 is getting tempting again... Has anyone shot with both of them?
 
postcardcv said:
Oh dear... Just made the mistake of reading reviews of the XA1 and am now more confused. Having read a lot about the quality of the Fuji sensor it is odd to see some reviews showing basically no difference between the sensor in the xm1 and the normal bayer one in the xa1. The free lens with the xa1 is more appealing too so now I'm wondering if I should go that way instead. But is there really any advantage to that compared to other cheaper CSC options with bayer sensors (like the Panasonic Gs or the EOS M)?
Click to expand...

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/fuji-x-a1-vs-x-m1-what-do-you-want-to-know.538353/

:)
 
Just a word of caution on the 'free lens' deals.
It would appear that the free lens offer is for CF lenses and not XF lenses.
CF are fujis 'budget' lenses and whilst not bad, the build quality and resolution is not as good as the XF series.
 
FredDee said:
Just a word of caution on the 'free lens' deals.
It would appear that the free lens offer is for CF lenses and not XF lenses.
CF are fujis 'budget' lenses and whilst not bad, the build quality and resolution is not as good as the XF series.
Click to expand...

I had read that but it sounds like they are quite decent for budget lenses... That said I am already eyeing up a couple of the primes!
 
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