Bridge camera for stills and movie - Fuji X-S1?

Kev M

Kev M

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I know it's going to be a compromise buying a bridge camera but I really can't be bothered getting into the while dslr or csc arms race,I just want one body and lens and I'll live with it's limitations.

The Fuji X-S1 seems like a very goods bridge camera providing you get the orb thing sorted but I can't find any reviews another that talk about the video recording capability. The one thing I have found that could be a deal breaker is that it only records in 30 fps, is this a real problem or just a theoretical one though?

If not the X-S1, what others should I consider?

Things I like about the Fuji are the manual zoom and manual focus ring, not those motorised ones you seem to get on lots of bridge cameras.
 
If you're more interested in video I'd look at the Sony HX200v and the Panasonic FZ200. Both have manual focusing, both give you an assortment of frame rates (I'm sure the Panny can do 120fps at 720 aswell). Both cameras get slated for their heavy noise reduction at low ISOs, I have a Sony HX that has the similar JPEG engine and I don't find it that bad, but others simply can't get used to it.

On image quality I've no doubt the X-S1 will be better, though. I've noticed a member on here with the X-S1 recently, hopefully he/she can add something to it.
 
Just had my X-S1 returned from Fujifilm where they replaced the lens and sensor, but not had a chance to get out there and play with it.
Not done any videoing with it at all, but did last night as I read this thread.

If you're using the camera to view on a big TV, then in Settings, you'll have it enabled for PAL, which means it's doing the pulldown internally before outputting over HDMI, and Standard Def down-converting if using the provided CAV cable.

If watching on computer screen, it uses .mov as the container, so it'll playback in Quicktime no problem, and if you've a Mac, will be editable in iMovie.
Need to read the manual, but not 100% sure what's the deal with focusing whilst in movie mode.
I had it on manual, and it picks up the sound of the focus ring being moved.

Just playing again with it indoors, and quite frankly, it's p1ss-poor for videoing.
I really need to read the manual, to make sure it's not faulty, but the focusing is utter crap, IMO.

Right, read the manual - set it to AF-C (continuous) and focus to Tracking, seemed to make a bit of a better job, but pointing the camera outside to the car, and once past a certain zoom level, the focusing goes completely to pot, and again manually focusing at max zoom is doable.
So I'm not sure if that's indicative or unique to mine - if a local Jessop's has one, take an SD card with you to test it out for yourself.

As a stills camera, it's much better, and quite nice to use with the access to various features only a button or two presses away.

I'll play around with video mode to see if there's something I'm (not) doing that's resulting in it being so pathetic in this day and age, but if you find one for the right price, it's definitely worth looking at.
It's certainly the last of the real bridge cameras - Panasonic having gone for the toy look with the FZ200, by comparison to the FZ50 I had previous to the X-S1.
 
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Cheers for the replies. I've had a look at the Sony in store and don't like the focus control. It uses a ring Burr not like a normal lens, it goes via a motor control and the zoom is motorised too. The Panasonic seems to function in a similar way.

Thanks for the video info on the Fuji, I'm not fused about the sound issues, I'll either buy a mic or not have sounds for what I'd use it for. The focus control is the big thing for me. I'd appreciate any updates you gave as you try it out more. I'd be editing the video footage rather than outputting straight to a TV too.
 
No worries Kev, it's the focusing as I zoomed the lens that has given me cause for ponderation.
 
I've read about that elsewhere mate. Apparently the slow AF is more noticeable on the Fuji because you can zoom so quickly. With other bridge cameras with a motorised zoom it should only zoom as fast as the AF can cope with.
 
Kev M - If you only want the X-S1 for video you may be better buying a video camera? The X-S1 is very expensive to just use for video, and it has otherwise (photo use) several faults :thumbsdown: such as lens droop/creep, orbing on brightly lit/night lighting photo's. Fuji reckon "You may be lucky and buy one that doesn't have all or any of the faults - not much of a recommendation?
Good Luck. :thumbs:
 
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