Continuing the blog serialisation of my popular X-Pro Series lust/hate/love story:
Part 116: Images Compared: A Bit of Fun with the X-Pro1 and X-Pro2
You might remember last week that just for kicks and giggles, I compared the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and the Leica M9 in very non-scientific (yet very real world) way. The premise of this test was that both cameras enjoy a legendary status within various internet communities as image making devices that provide us with images that have a certain je ne sais quoi about them.
This is of course a rather hard thing to define… defining the indefinable would be a little like telling a four year old that there’s no Father Christmas…. it’s something that really ought to be done, but it can wait by which time hopefully they’ll have figured it out for themselves.
No, the fun of last week’s article was just seeing just how closely the images would stack up in terms of look. And it was win some/lose some. Always is when you compare things like that.
Compared to the X-Pro2, both the X-Pro1 and M9 feel their age… sometimes I JOKE that the magic of the those cameras is that you’re able to use them for photography at all… after all, one doesn’t have AF, the other has quite bad AF, neither are weather sealed, the M9 can’t adjust its frameline size for anything further away than a meter and the X-Pro1 can’t adjust it’s framelines for parallax until you half press the shutter. Not to mention neither has IBIS, an electronic shutter or dual card slots.
How did we all cope a few years back eh? 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Anyway, I digress
For this week’s article we’re going to exactly the same thing. But this time with the X-Pro1 and X-Pro2.
I see someone else (on one of the Forums) has decided to flip his X-Pro2 and return to the X-Pro1…. We might not be able to define and quantify what we love about X-Pro1 images, but we sure can quantify what it means to those that like them. It appears that once the X-Pro1 gets under your skin, it’s only way out is via a John Hurt chestburster scene 🙂
Now before we get into this….
The light on the day I took these was HORRIBLE.
I’d have waited but I’ve been blue arse fly busy lately. My Mum was in town, I’m hosting a photowalk tomorrow and I’ve got a exhibition coming up in 12 days. (Which knowing my luck will probably get cancelled after I order the prints!!!!)
There wasn’t another day to do this.
So horrible harsh light (same for both the cameras though, and it’s a massive leveller making any camera’s output look nasty), both cameras equipped with the XF35/1.4 and both sets of images edited in SilkyPix Pro, and Astia used for both cameras.
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
X-Pro1
X-Pro2
Depending on the feedback I get… I might try this again when the light’s better. A pure blue sky doesn’t deliver much besides very hard light…
They’re closer than I thought actually, but then again that light is a leveller… There’s some subtle differences to the colour palette (not so subtle with the sky, which the X-Pro1 did closer to reality), but without more meaningful light, it’s very hard to appraise the tone curve, which is what IMO separates the two X-Pros the most.
That said the images that aren’t completely interchangeable to practical purposes, the X-Pro1 does perhaps give a little more life to the image, less bite and contrast than the X-Pro2, but maybe a little more depth.
As ever, comment or drop me a line and I’ll get back to you.
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Adam Bonn Fotografia 
All I can make out looking at the images on a retina screen is that the major difference between the two cameras is in greater saturation and perhaps contrast and it is possible that the xpro2 which exhibits these two differences may also be underexposing compared to the xpro1 by and 1/3 of a stop. I do like the reds better in the xpro1 and all of the xpro1 one images seem more subtle. To that point perhaps changing the color in the quick menu to -1 and setting the exposure compensation to +1/3 to achieve the same subtle look of the xpro1.
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Hi Elliot,
There’s a few more parts of this post to come where I look at that further.
The XP2 does tend to select a darker exposure if left to chose it’s own parameters
You can close the look up in post or in camera a lot, but the extra pixels of the XP2 will always give an image with less subtly
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The XPro2 is snappier, higher in contrast, more “in your face” than the XPro1. I’ve never been as thrilled as others by the Fuji color palette but the XP2 appears to do reds more realistically than the XP1 which makes reds more orange–one of the reasons I’m not a fan of Fuji colors. The XP1 has more a subtle rendering, which I prefer. However, most people apparently like the “in your face” saturated color and high contrast of cameras like the XP2. Personally, I shoot Raw and convert to B&W the vast majority of the time so the color issue doesn’t often come into play. The XP1 still maintains an edge for B&W, in my opinion.
I admit I use the XP2 more today than the XP1. That’s not because the pictures look better with the newer camera, it’s because the XP2 handles better. I also use the Fuji 35/2 lens more than the Fuji 35/1.4 and the Zeiss Touit 32/1.8 lenses I also have–these are both superb lenses. The f/2 lens simply has better AF and it is smaller but it doesn’t provide better image quality.
Your website has been a favorite of mine for XPro information. Thanks so much.
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Thank you very much.
The appreciation for the differences in the rendering will come down to persona preference, but the trend these days does seem to be for higher contrast images. Maybe they stand out more on social media?
The XP2 is by far the easier camera to use, especially if you want to use it quickly
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To my eye the XPro2 has a definite edge in shadow detail and highlight component. Sky rendition is much better. The sharpness is clear and natural.
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The XP2 has more DR than the XP1 and the XP2 raw files aren’t lossy compressed either.
The sky colour can be a bit unnatural with the XP2, although the different film sims play a part in that
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