Fuji X20 - A lot better than the X10 ?

John Young

John Young

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I have quite fancied one of the fuji retro looking cameras like the X10 or X20 - I was setting my mind on the X20 but they are hard to find ( I have a wanted thread on here ) and some are at silly prices.

I have seen a couple of decent priced X10 (as much as £100 less than the X20) - Is there a huge real word difference between the cameras for anyone who has used / owned both
 
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They are really good shots - I understand the built in macro is good to ?

I asked about the difference between the X10 and X20 because I saw an X10 on ebay for £110 (buy it now) and thought ....Hmmmm seeing as the nearest X20 is £150 and has a small mark on the lens and some X20 are way more. But some numpty has put a bid on the X10 so its now at £60 with six days to go... why people don't just buy it when its at a god price to start with instead of starting to bid is beyond me
 
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John Young said:
They are really good shots - I understand the built in macro is good to ?
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The built in macro setting is very good John, but it only works properly at the wide angle setting of the lens which means the working distance is very close.

I set mine up with either the Raynox-250 or 202 at the longest lens setting and do not apply the camera macro setting which gives me a greater working distance.

George.
 
Thanks George.

So what do you think of the X20 overall - worth buying ? I have an Olympus Ep1 at the moment and its a good camera (and looks good) but I miss a viewfinder and the macro is not very good.

I understand the battery life is not very good on the X20 and I read somewhere that the images are soft ???
 
John Young said:
Thanks George.

So what do you think of the X20 overall - worth buying ? I have an Olympus Ep1 at the moment and its a good camera (and looks good) but I miss a viewfinder and the macro is not very good.

I understand the battery life is not very good on the X20 and I read somewhere that the images are soft ???
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I think the X20 is an excellent bit of kit John. The battery life is not very good as is the same with all the Fuji-X cameras, it's much better though on the X-30 as that has the larger battery the same as the X-100s.

As for images being soft, I've never heard or experienced that, I shoot in RAW and convert all my images to DNG and have never been dissapointed with the sharpness of the shots (except when I mess up through operator error).:)

I've also made prints up to A3+ from X-20 shots and been very pleased with the results.

George.
 
The X 10 macro is as good as the X 20 John, if that helps.
 
Thank you both....I wish I could ask if anyone has gone from Olympus ep1 to the fuji X20 to compare. I love my Olympus its just the lack of viewfinder and naff macro with the 14-42 lens I have. I found an X20 on eBay for £150 but it has tiny mark off center on lens... Not sure if its worth a go or not as these cameras seem hard to find and I did want it for my holidays in a few weeks
 
John Young said:
Thanks George.

So what do you think of the X20 overall - worth buying ? I have an Olympus Ep1 at the moment and its a good camera (and looks good) but I miss a viewfinder and the macro is not very good.

I understand the battery life is not very good on the X20 and I read somewhere that the images are soft ???
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I have both an x10 and x20 the quality of results are indistinguishable. However the viewfinder on the x20 and the controls are much nicer to use.The batteries are the same and last as long on each camera.
I will probably add an x30 to the list when the refurbished price drops a bit more.
both my x10 and x20 were from fuji refurb and have been excellent.
 
Thank you very much... I would probably go for the X20 between the two. What is the X20 like at higher ISO as I read in some review that it was pretty noisy.....do you have any samples
 
John Young said:
Thank you very much... I would probably go for the X20 between the two. What is the X20 like at higher ISO as I read in some review that it was pretty noisy.....do you have any samples
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All cameras become noisier as the ISO rises Though modern firmware and Raw processing ameliorates the effect.
I rarely if ever use any of my cameras above ISO 400 as it is largely unnecessary except when you must have high shutter speeds in poor light, as in sports photography.
Small sensor cameras like those we are discussing suffer far more than Large sensor professional cameras. Of their type the X10 and X20 cameras perform much like any other make, neither especially good and certainly not badly, but rather on the better side of acceptable for the conditions.
I took this shot on my X20 a few days ago ISO 400 f3.2 at 1/8th. Noise is certainly not a problem.

DSCF2208n.jpg~original
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Yeah I was thinking about the other newer Olympus pens but they don't have a viewfinder either which is my main reason to want a new camera
 
I don't know about the X20 but I find the viewfinder on the X10 to be virtually useless. When you zoom the lens appears in the viewfinder which isn't particularly pleasant or useful to use. I got the camera because I wanted a viewfinder but in the end I use the screen and prefer it on the X10.
 
Merluza said:
I don't know about the X20 but I find the viewfinder on the X10 to be virtually useless. When you zoom the lens appears in the viewfinder which isn't particularly pleasant or useful to use. I got the camera because I wanted a viewfinder but in the end I use the screen and prefer it on the X10.
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Same here. I never use the X10's viewfinder either and it was one of the main reason for getting it. There's no shooting information visible in the viewfinder either on the X10, whereas I think it's successors do. Other than that (and the glacial autofocus), I've been really happy with it and I've had it for 3 years or so.
 
John Young said:
Well I think this answers the question quite visually the difference between the Fuji X10 and Fuji X20

x10_x20-2.PNG




x10_x20.PNG


I went for the X20 :)
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John, that's interesting and quite surprising, since the lens is the same. Do you know where the images came from, and how they were processed? I ask because if they were processed from raw, the X10 would be at a comparative disadvantage, as most raw processors (IIRC) throw out half of the EXR sensor's resolution. If they were both shot at 12 mp and from camera JPEGS, I'm very surprised.

All that said, I have a X10 which I love, but would happily sell to you to get myself a X20 (or X30). The real problem with the X10 is there is NO information in the OVF at all, which means it only gets used in light conditions that are too bright for the rear screen. I'd have done the upgrade myself already except it's not really worth it, since I mostly use film cameras now (full frame! Cheap! Fantastic pro quality lenses! Cheap!).
 
Wanted a pocketable compact so ended up with an XF1 rather than an X10. Had a play with an X10 so bought one 2nd hand. After a play with an X20, decided that the in VF info was worth the upgrade so bought one new. After a while realised that the info vanishes into the background sometimes and the artificial horizon isn't in the VF. Luckily the X30 addressed both these issues so I bought one of them as well! In the meantime, I had sold the X10 to help fund the X20 but have since done a deal with the X10's buyer and he's now got the X20 and I have the X10 and some cash back. Images between the X10 and X20 are hard to tell apart (JPEGs) and both will give good A3+ prints from SOOC JPEGs.
 
I will try and find the site again for those comparison photos it was some review site. But I did read lots of reviews on how good the X10 was and some even said better than the X20 but after reading lots of reviews I decided on the X20 and got a great example off the forum. Just been comparing high ISO photos to my Olympus ep1 which is also a good camera and a good size bigger sensor than the X20 but the X20 runs rings around it. I'll post some samples tomorrow
 
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