Fuji Switching from M9 to XPro1 -- an interesting and provocative review

The legend of Leica has never really been built on digital bodies. The lenses are wonderful and the film bodies were beautiful mechanisms. But Leica asks a big premium and diminishing returns makes that a hard route on which to deliver. I'm not criticizing any Leica body as an image making tool; it's just not a surprise that others can do something essentially equivalent, or better, for less money.
 
I think that Mr. Weeks has a huge chip on his shoulder. Any useful insight he may have into the Fuji X-Pro 1 is completely drowned by his vitriolic attack on Leica and Leica users.

Antonio
 
The first two paragraphs:

Let’s see … I know I’m many months late with my impressions of the Fuji X-Pro 1. I’m sure there were “reviews” before the camera was even released. Even if there weren’t I’m sure there were thoughts – probably numbering in the thousands – on forum sites. Quite honestly, I didn’t read any of them.

Then again, I never really do. How is the experience of a retired engineer or a
forum-whore-turned-blogger going to help me? They’re not.

Who does this guy think he is, and why does he deserve to be read? I didn't continue onto the third paragraph.
 
It's not really obvious why he was so bitter. He liked his XPro1 and that should make him happy. Maybe he's sensitive about not looking like "a real photographer"?:tongue:
 
I've read a few articles in the past from Mr Weeks, and this is the most readable yet and light on profanity too. I suspect he's been in more than a few Leica flame wars.
 
There's an awful lot of Leica commentary written by those who have never used the product or walked in Weeks' shoes.

Agree with Weeks or not, as a long time Leica film and digital M user the guy has at least come to develop his opinions based on actual experience with the cameras and as a member of the Leica user community.

His writing style is... challenging. But entertaining. ;)
 
His writing style is... challenging. But entertaining. ;)

+1

Chris Weeks has been around the block for a while, way before I started enjoying photography about 3+ years ago. He's brutally honest about his opinions, and he doesn't sugarcoat anything. I don't agree with him on a lot of issues, including many non-photography related issues. But he does take good street and editorial photos. And his video about street photography is a must watch for anyone interested in the genre. If memory serves me correctly, he did have a good relationship with folks like Steve Huff and Thorsten Overgaard. But I have no idea what happened.
 
Interesting review and opinions, and coming from a person who field tested the M9 prototypes, too. I don't like his characterizations of Steve Huff and Thorsten, though. I've always enjoyed reading Steve's reviews and articles, and I consider Thorsten a font of knowledge regarding Leica related matters.

Paring aside his style, his points about the X-Pro 1's usability are making me think about one again. I don't agree that digital has to be autofocus, but I do think that AF is simply more convenient. Heck, I use my OM-D more than my M9 for that very reason, not to mention the video. Oh dear! But now the X-E1 has arrived, cheaper and smaller than the X-Pro 1 and promising to be faster, too. But the lack of really good Lightroom support bugs me about the interchangeable lens X cameras at this time.

One point he raised about film interested me, though. Developing black and white film at home. I've never done it, even though I have some chems and a tank in a cupboard somewhere, and a handful of black and white rolls that have been sitting in the fridge for over a year now. I keep vacillating between wanting to try home development, and reading the comments of others who say that they will never touch a bottle of chemicals again because digital is just so much more convenient!
 
Interesting read. I like a little salt in my blog reading, so I don't mind the anger. As has been said, he's had enough experience with the products he's unhappy with to be well informed. It did strike me, though, that most of what he complained about was a card write issue on one camera body. Only the price and upgrade problems apply to all of them.
 
All this discussion and also Antonio's other thread made me curious enough to read the article despite the arrogance shown in the early bits. I found the whole thing kind of bitter and inconsistent.

The most glaring of these inconsistencies is his assertion that digital should be autofocus. I completely get wanting to autofocus. That's something I want too, and there's no way I'd use a manual focus as my primary camera, but what does that have to do with digital? If autofocus helps not to miss shots, and he argues that is the case, then do film shooters want to miss shots? Also curious, he argues that a $7k camera should autofocus but seems perfectly happy with the fact that his $5k Leica MP does not.

The X-Pro 1 is awesome. I personally would choose it, without hesitation, over an M9 or any other M. What's with the bitterness though? Nobody forced the guy to shoot an M9 before :confused:.
 
Great to see you here more, Armando - you were missed!

As for Chris Weeks, if he's so upset about having drunk the Kool Aid, he's got one person to blame for that, and it isn't Steve Huff or Thorsten Overgaard.
 
Not that I am in any way a fan of this style, I just think his writing is very aggressive and confrontational for shock and awe entertainment, (not much different then the endless blogs and posts about the end of the DSLR for “Pros”) but if you get beyond the posturing there are many valid points, about the equipment choices of the working pro. I would be willing to guess that the vast majority of Leica M digitals are not owned by pros or even serious amateurs but instead by the same people who buy Porsches and drive them way under the speed limit, or buy baby grand pianos that just sit idle in the living room or build super kitchens and never cook. We do this with lots of things, I have said a few times before that I own way more guitars than I should, considering how bad I play.
For me I have never been able to rationalize the increased cost of Leica, without any real measurable gain in the quality of the image. I also understand the emotion and visceral thrill of shooting with one camera or another, so if one believes in the camera, one just might be that much more inspired and shoot more. Just buy what turns you on regardless of what anybody else thinks.
He has another diatribe on his site about Canon, even though I came to a different conclusion in what I did, I do not disagree with a lot of his points about why he switched back to Nikon. Where I could care less about Nikons superior TTL flash abilities, something that apparently is important to him, I do care about AF speed and camera handling. I completely agree that Canon took way, way too much time to start delivering the new IDX, almost enough time to make me buy a Nikon D4. In the end I am sticking with Canon for the time being but it was close.
 
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