The Fuji X100 comes with a number of ‘digital compact’ features that seem rather out of place on such a straightforward camera. I guess Fuji’s marketing staff wanted to avoid ‘missing’ marks in comparison tables for (supposedly) hot capabilities… The X100 thus offers settings and tricks I do not much care about.
That doesn’t mean of course I may not get curious and wanting to find out what these features are all about. So let’s try…
…the ‘sweep panorama’ capability? A very attractive proposition on paper: easy to use, with flexible options, and promising great results with little or no pain. Ah, you’ve guessed it too!
Of course I have only my poor technique to blame, but I found it very difficult to get panorama shots without disturbing stitching artifacts. You sometimes must look carefully on the back display in full-size ‘play’ to notice, but those d**n jumps surely will pop up on the computer monitor later. My results did improve with exercise and my success rate on 120° panos got reasonable by now, but it remains a tricky and frustrating experience. Needless to say: all my trials were done handheld, no tripods around while vacationing…
What did I learn? First, make sure to use a fast shutter speed, to avoid motion blur while sweeping. Next, select a scene where most points of interest lie at about the same distance, and pick an aperture giving sufficient depth-of-field (combined with rule #1, up go the ISOs!). Focus and lock exposure at an ‘average’ part before you start your sweep. And last but not least: try (again and again) to pan smoothly at the right speed, keeping the camera moving horizontally across a straight line.
Easier said than done, but with a little luck you will get results that are ‘acceptable’ for the family album. Don’t push beyond that, though! Gear notes: Fujifilm X100
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