No negative opinion on Fuji X-E1 so far?

I am surprised with lack of negative comments about Fuji X-E1 camera on the dpreview's Fujifilm X forum. The dpreview forums are "enriched" with the "equipment scrutinisers". The Fuji X-E1 body is available for some time now in different places around the globe including Australia. Granted, Fujinon XF18-55mm F2.8-4 lens came out for sale (in Europe) just a couple days ago, and many people are waiting for the zoom kits. Most "complains" I've seen so far were either about problems appeared in difficult conditions (inflorescent light) or resulted from sub-optimal camera settings. It seems that nearly all early adopters have very positive impression on the first Fujifilm XF zoom lens, too. From what I've read on the web, the autofocus is fast on both X-E1 and X-Pro1, and the optical image stabilisation works fine, too. People also like the build quality. I mean "real users" not the "professional" reviewers, because the latter are generally very positive with any equipment :-) So, it seems that Fujiifilm finally made "a perfect camera" :-)

With the bright zoom and a competitive price tag, Fuji X-E1 is poised for popularity among many photographers with affection for direct camera control and famous Fuji colors. It probably would not affect X-Pro1 sales much because (I suspect) the sales were pretty low in the first place. The X-Pro1 is a niche camera, and many people who want it already have one. Actually, with the big price drop, some people may even consider X-Pro1 over the X-E1. The X-Pro1 was a big hit after the announcement but relatively high price tag and things like a slow autofocus with the original firmware and lack of a proper third-party support of the RAW format/conversion do not help with the high demand. Now things are changed, the price went down, firmware 2.0 (or current 2.1) transformed X-Pro1 into a speed demon (sort of), and the company works with major players in RAW conversion. With all these changes the X-Pro1 is more attractive camera than it used to be just a few months ago. People who love an optical (hybrid) viewfinder and prefer more substantial body can get it for essentially the same price as X-E1 (at least here, in Australia. I guess it is also possible to add an optical viewfinder to X-E1 if needed but I doubt that many will do it :-)

In meantime Thom Hogan wrote that the next Fujifilm Pro model (X-Pro2 or whatever) may have a better focusing because of implementation of the technology used by Nikon in their Nikon 1 cameras such as V1. I mean "technology" in broad sense, as an approach. Indeed, the focus speed is the major issue poised for improvement in most mirrorless cameras. Some, such as Olympus OM-D E-M5, focuses relatively fast but DSLRs do it even faster. However, the focus speed is also depends on lens, e.g 18-55mm has new/different motor compared to the available prime lens. The second issue is electronic viewfinders but this issue can be resolved through high refresh rate (and faster readout from sensors). There is no word on the release day for X-Pro2 :) It is encouraging that the company works on the system. Frankly, I am not interested in a Pro model but rather in 55-200mm lens scheduled for the release in the first half of the next year :) In meantime I still will carry Olympus E-30 with ZUIKO 50-200mm SWD lens attached.

Bird and dragon | Olympus E-30, ZUIKO 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 SWD