I haven't used any of the Fuji cameras, but your description validates my decision not to buy any of them. While it would be comforting on some level to have a camera that looks like something from 50 years ago and has visible shutter speeds, etc., it seems that they have continued with the mistakes of other manufacturers with regard to how manual focus feels and works with camera that were intended to be used with auto focus. My studio workhorse is a Pentax K 1 DSLR used with an assortment of lenses from several manufacturers but mostly Pentax. It is a great camera and the Pentax lenses that I use are uniformly excellent in terms of sharpness, lack of distortion, etc., but since most of my work is in a studio I never use auto focus and the manual focus sloppiness is the one thing I would change if I could. When I go back to some of my manual focusing lenses ( a Pentax 85 mm f/1.8 from 1978, in particular) I really appreciate the feel of those lenses. And if I want retro, I shoot with my Rolleiflex 3.5 E or my Contax or Nikon RF cameras from the 1950's.
These characteristics seem to me to be product of marketing rather than consulting actual working photographers and finding out what they need/want. They are probably correct in assuming that most consumers are happy to have a camera that makes them look like skilled photographers even if everything is set on auto. If I shot weddings or sports for a living I might feel differently about auto focus, but fortunately for me I don't.
As I said, I find I make very different pictures and take a very different approach based on the camera I'm using... If I use my modern cameras optimized to react without shooting film for a while I sometimes FORGET to take full advantage of the magic of how cameras actually see the world. One of the reasons I support Leica no matter what kind of nutty stuff they do.
Today's lens of the day for me happens to be the 21mm Super-Angulon f/3.4 as long as you embrace flaws and the amazing things it does at the same time. A joy to shoot on the M4/M6/M-A or any of the digi-M cameras.
I haven't used any of the Fuji cameras, but your description validates my decision not to buy any of them. While it would be comforting on some level to have a camera that looks like something from 50 years ago and has visible shutter speeds, etc., it seems that they have continued with the mistakes of other manufacturers with regard to how manual focus feels and works with camera that were intended to be used with auto focus. My studio workhorse is a Pentax K 1 DSLR used with an assortment of lenses from several manufacturers but mostly Pentax. It is a great camera and the Pentax lenses that I use are uniformly excellent in terms of sharpness, lack of distortion, etc., but since most of my work is in a studio I never use auto focus and the manual focus sloppiness is the one thing I would change if I could. When I go back to some of my manual focusing lenses ( a Pentax 85 mm f/1.8 from 1978, in particular) I really appreciate the feel of those lenses. And if I want retro, I shoot with my Rolleiflex 3.5 E or my Contax or Nikon RF cameras from the 1950's.
These characteristics seem to me to be product of marketing rather than consulting actual working photographers and finding out what they need/want. They are probably correct in assuming that most consumers are happy to have a camera that makes them look like skilled photographers even if everything is set on auto. If I shot weddings or sports for a living I might feel differently about auto focus, but fortunately for me I don't.
As I said, I find I make very different pictures and take a very different approach based on the camera I'm using... If I use my modern cameras optimized to react without shooting film for a while I sometimes FORGET to take full advantage of the magic of how cameras actually see the world. One of the reasons I support Leica no matter what kind of nutty stuff they do.
Today's lens of the day for me happens to be the 21mm Super-Angulon f/3.4 as long as you embrace flaws and the amazing things it does at the same time. A joy to shoot on the M4/M6/M-A or any of the digi-M cameras.