I fell in love while in Maryland – Fuji X100S Review

Last weekend I was in Maryland for my friend Mike’s wedding. Mike was my best friend while growing up and my best man on my wedding day 11 years ago. He has been with an amazing girl, Jenny, for several years and they finally tied the knot on June 1st, which was the day of my wedding. Since I was away from the wife and kids and at the wedding as a groomsman/guest I rented the highly regarded 16 megapixel Fuji X100S from LenRentals.com to play with for the weekend. Here is a quick image I shot of the Fuji X100S with my Canon 5D3.

After reading the reviews of the X100S by David Hobby & Zack Arias I knew I had to get my hands on one to see if it lived up to the hype, and it did! I love the quality of the sensor in DSLRs and have always been disappointed in how fast the image falls apart with little point and shoot camera. The Fuji X100S is a point and shoot with a fixed 23mm 2.0 lens (35mm full frame equivalent) for photographers that want the quality of their DSLR but don’t want to lug around all their heavy gear.  The image surpasses many DSLRs and I would have no problem using the X100s on paid jobs based on my experience and quality in the images you see below. I just wish I had more time with the camera to really get more comfortable with it and play with the leaf shutter and my off camera flashes.

All the images below were shot with Fuji X100S. Please note that my biggest concern on the wedding day was being a good guest and not getting in the photographer’s way so many times I wasn’t in the ideal place to shoot some of these photos.

The day before the wedding we went to try on our suits that we were renting. While I was busy catching up with some of Mike’s family I did capture this image of Mike. 1/125 2.8 1250 ISO

Mike give the groomsmen personalized cufflinks. The macro feature on the X100S came in handy! Here are my cufflinks which a are modeled after a camera dial. 1/60 4.0 1600 ISO

Here is a 100% of the original file. Looks very clean for 1600 ISO.

Here are my cufflinks with Mike’s and Tom’s. Mike’s of course has groom on them and Tom’s (another good friend from our younger years) has a logo from Pearl Jam Alive. 1/60 4.0 1600 ISO

Since I was at the wedding as a guest I made sure to stay out of the way of the talented Benson Lau, who was the hired photographer. Here are a few from the first look. All at 1/160 2.8 200 ISO

I am pretty jealous that Benson got to photograph this wedding because Jenny, the bride, prepared some amazing details herself. 1/500 5.6 400 ISO

Here is a 100% of the original file. Look at that detail!!!

Enjoying the macro feature with the X100S! 1/1000 2.8 400 ISO

1/250 2.8 400 ISO

1/250 2.8 400 ISO

1/250 2.0 200 ISO

Jenny was gorgeous!! This was very quick snapshot I grabbed of Jenny before we did groups shots which were before the ceremony. 1/1000 2.8 200 ISO

Just before the ceremony I grabbed this photo of the pastor talking to Mike and his brother. 1/125 2.0 200 ISO

I grabbed the next 2 photos just before hiding my camera for the rest of the ceremony 1/500 5.6 200 ISO

I am curious to see the image Benson captured. 1/500 5.6 200 ISO

Overall I loved the camera and it gave me something play with and keep me busy since I am so accustomed to working at weddings. If you are interested in picking one up please take a look at the Amazon link below. I can’t wait to own this perfect little travel companion which can also be used as an extra camera on a wedding day.