Fuji X-Pro1 – Mom Approved??

Continuing with our very popular “Mom Approved” articles, this time we’re looking at the Fuji X-Pro1. We want to see if this camera is truly “Mom Approved”. In the “Mom Approved” Series of Articles we focus on:

1. Ease of Use
2. Focus
3. Handling
4. Value to Cost Ratio

I’ve been shooting the Fuji X-Pro1 for a couple of weeks now and I must say that I’ve been pretty impressed by the lenses, that Fuji has put out for this camera. This camera being an interchangeable lens camera the lenses are a big part of the performance of this camera. Fuji has started out with a good range of lenses giving us the standard wide-angle, normal, and telephoto lenses. They have the Fujinon 18mm F2.0, Fujinon 35mm F1.4, and Fujinon 60mm F2.4. All very good lenses.

Ease of Use

Out of the box, Mom’s will be very happy, as there is minimal setup with this camera and the controls are fairly self-explanatory. Mom’s maybe a little intimidated with the amount of buttons on the camera, as there are some that without experience may seem overwhelming. Focusing on the ones that matter like menu, playback, display, will make things seem a lot more simple. With out too much work it’s fairly easy, just look though the EVF/OVF point and shoot. With the auto parallax correction, it’s easy to frame your subject and shoot. What maybe frustrating for mom is when using the Optical View Finder the auto focus indicator may flash green, indicating a focused image, but in reality the focus is off. I guess that could be annoying for anyone, not just moms. Also when using the EVF the lag of the live view image right after you release the shutter is somewhat like mirror blackout. For fast-moving subjects such as children it may be best to stick with the OVF (optical view finder).

Focus

When used with the normal Fujinon 35mm F1.4 lens the focus is pretty fast, when used with the Wide angle Fujinon 18mm F2.0 the focus is acceptable, and when used with the Fujinon 60mm F2.4 macro, the focus is slightly slow. This is much more noticeable when mom is chasing around Jr. When chasing Jr, I wouldn’t recommend the Fujinon 60mm F2.4 the lens is just too slow. The best lens in my opinion is the Fujinon 35mm F1.4. The focus is fast and the wide aperture doesn’t hurt either. With the Fujinon 35mm F1.4 you can focus on a running child and 6 out of 10 shots will be focused. If your kid is like mine and loves to run towards the camera that number might fall to 4 out of 10 shots. As you can see in the sample images throughout the post, capturing your active child is more about timing, and where your child “will” be or where he/she will have to “slow down”, because the auto focus is not that fast. Really though, there aren’t many autofocus systems fast enough to capture a fast toddler! 😉 Honestly, the focus is not the strong point of this camera system.

Handling

For me the camera fits very well in my hand for moms it may be a little large. For Daddy’s though it may be perfect. So if you are a Daddy or this may be more worth it than for Mom. One observation that my wife made while using this camera, was that the camera did seem slightly large for her hand but when she saw the images it didn’t matter to her. She loved the quality that the camera produced that she was willing to deal with the extra heft. We’ll see if she’s as enthusiastic if she has to carry it in her purse for a whole day! 😉 The grip and access to the buttons is good and if you can deal with the Heft then the camera is easy to hold and make images for extended periods of time.

Value to Cost Ratio

Considering the competition out there, I give the Fuji X-Pro1 a Medium Value to Cost Ratio, when it comes to Moms. I feel that the use of fixed focal length prime lenses, is more suited to Enthusiast or Pro’s wanting a Portable High Quality Image making tool. I feel the flexibility of a zoom lens would fare better with the Mom crowd. On the other hand, the quality of output from the Fuji X-Pro1 system is very high, and for moms that demand the best quality, this may be the camera for her. I feel this is more of the exception though, then the rule.

Conclusion

As always, you will get an honest answer from us here at photoheadonline.com. There are many cameras out there that I feel are better suited for moms based on the criteria stated above. So I wouldn’t say that for the masses that this camera is Mom Approved. That being said, if mom happens to be a photography enthusiast or pro-photographer, this may be the perfect camera for her. This camera’s image quality is very high and the high ISO performance is very high also. There is not much I can say that’s negative about the camera or the system. I just don’t feel comfortable recommending a camera that may not be used to its potential by a demographic that is for the most part going to use the camera for a handful of specific situations. Happy Image Making!!

You can find the Fuji X-Pro1 here at Adorama. Also the Fujinon 18mm F2.0, Fujinon 35mm F1.4, and the Fujinon 60mm F2.4, They have great deals and if you buy from them it will help support this site. You won’t pay any more then usual, we just get a small referral fee. Please consider supporting the site is this way or consider making a small donation using the donate button on the right sidebar. I’m committed to giving you the best info that I possibly can and hopefully save you a bunch of money.

So do you agree with my opinion or not? Use the comments and let me know yes or no and why!!