michael_bacon

<p>Les: It seems perfectly fine now, for some reason. Maybe I accidentally cleaned the contacts with a bit of jostle? Good advice though, thanks.</p>

<p>I'm very happy so far except one weird thing! After I finish completely charging the battery, it doesn't always start. I take it out, put it in the charger again, put it back in the camera, and then it works. Weird.</p>

<p>Frank:<br>

Are you recommending that I get an X-E1 in addition to my X100 or are you recommending that I sell my X100? I think I'll be happy with it. It was very inexpensive, though definitely more than $200.</p>

<p>Won an eBay auction from a well-reputed seller! Thanks for the advice.</p>

<p>Andy: If that was somewhat recent, jow much did you pay for what quality rating? (LN, EX, etc?)</p>

<p>I'm not looking for a mint X100. I just want a non-damaged one, which I realize now might sound a bit vague. I want it completely functioning. I don't care about scuffs and scratches, so long as they don't relate to the function of the camera (scratches on the lens = no purchase and scratches on the LCD = I'm less happy.) In fact, I tend to avoid "Like New" listings because of the increased cost.</p>

<p>Is that sarcasm about buying from Japan, or are you recommending that I should do that?</p>

<p>CWatson: The X-M1 looks like a fairly nice camera, but it's more expensive when combined with that lens (about $650 used instead of the $550-600 for the X100.) The lens is not a fast enough lens for me and has lower IQ according to forums I just checked. Also, that camera takes more space than the x100 (when it has a lens on it) and has no viewfinder. Can't see any advantages.</p>

<p>I'm considering Leo International trading, but I can't tell if that seems safe: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0043RS864/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used</p>

<p>HDR is not realistic. HDR is not boring. It's completely unrelated to those terms.</p>

<p>I want to buy from KEH, but they don't have any. I'm basically looking for the cheapest, non-damaged X100 I can find. KEH is usually a weirdly wonderful combination of cheapest AND best quality AND a 6-month warranty, which is why I would have started there.<br>

I've been looking on eBay, but bid prices usually rise to higher than Amazon's prices before an auction is over.<br>

I'm hoping to pay somewhere notably below $600. If somehow an X100s manages to fit in that range, I'd be just as happy with it.<br>

Would you help me narrow it down? Thanks!</p>

<p>P.S.<br />If you want to suggest an alternate camera, here's my use scenario: I already have a Nikon D5100, but want a good, speedy (f2.0 or better), 35mm (on a crop, that's 24mm) equivalent or wider lens for event, street, and night photography (all including candids.) The X100 happens to cost less than such a lens does, plus I can take it with me at all times and be somewhat inconspicuous with it + it has beautiful Fuji IQ. It's also essentially faster for night photography than a fast lens combined with my D5100 would be due to the nearly noiseless 3200 and 6400 ISO.</p>

<p>Well, here's an update after having not used the camera and lens very long at all yet. I'm very much enjoying the usage range and quality of my lens and I'm feeling very comfortable with the body and it's interface. For low-light photography (which will often be event photography in my usage), I use auto ISO with an upper limit of 6400 but might need to drop that to 3200 soon. I wish my lens was faster/brighter, but I still prefer it as my main lens to faster ones I've read about. I switched to back button auto-focusing, which I hadn't heard of before but am liking very much because it allows me to use manual most of the time with minimal effort to switch back to auto, which is important for moving subjects when not using zone focus.</p>

<p>You can see my results so far in Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/14294499@N06/<br>

I'm much happier with most of the more recent photos than the older ones, because I've become more serious and careful as I've become more comfortable and fluent with my D5100. (My favorites are the onions and the wooden landscape. I'll be deleting most of these after a bit, when my style sets back in and I'm technically competent.)</p>

<p>No need to look at this, but just in case you're interested, I might eventually buy ONE of these items (probably more than a year from now):<br>

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/11V8TYS21MU9W/</p>

<p>I'd like a fast, somewhat wide angle lens for night photography. Oddly enough, there are very few auto-focusing lenses that fit that description, which actually makes buying an x100 a cheaper option. Maybe I'll decide I'm content without autofocus. That Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 sure looks nice, but it's too expensive (for me.) Right now, they're all too expensive for me - I make more money at my (permanent) seasonal part-time library job than I do teaching as an adjunct professor (which is nothing unusual, but very little income.) Besides, I don't need to get a new lens until I've learned this one thoroughly, which I'll probably feel to be the case in a couple of months or so but will likely discover to be wrong as I adapt more fully to it.</p>

<p>Yeah, I wasn't very worried about it. I might buy an additional one depending on the size of the one they send. I (somewhat weirdly) like the idea of having a couple of smaller ones to force me to shoot in somewhat shorter bursts, like I did with film. That might help me to offload and process the images more often as well as trick me into spending more time preparing for a shot instead of just taking it as soon as I imagine I might have a winner.</p>

<p>They are sending me the SD card now. They're confused about how to list that the camera is capable of using an SD card and intended to say only that, not that it comes with one. Still, that's great of them to send me one for free (sort of.)</p>

<p>They are sending me the SD card now. They're confused about how to list that the camera is capable of using an SD card and intended to say only that, not that it comes with one. Still, that's great of them to send me one for free (sort of.)</p>

<p>Johnny: That does not resemble what I asked for at all. (The cheapest listing on eBay is $38 but has 2 days of bidding left.)<br>

I already bought my bag anyway, as you can see above.</p>

<p>KEH delivered my items Saturday. They're in great condition, but they left out the SD card, so I emailed them about that.</p>

<p>My stuff arrived Saturday. I'm very happy with it and the quality of it, though KEH didn't include the SD card they listed as coming with it. I sent them an email asking about it. The camera and lens are in great condition though, and I feel as if I've mostly adapted and learned most of the settings/controls.</p>

<p>Edward: the lowest price possible to protect it well. If you look at the post above, you can see that I spent $18.38 on a solution that appears to have more padding than the $40 lowepro bag you linked to.</p>

<p>We were discussing the classifieds system here which uses email earlier. For anyone curious about ratings systems for non-local trading/selling/buying forums, here's one of the simplest (but still effective) ones I've seen:<br>

<br /> <a href="http://www.steamtrades.com/user/Alexander26">This is a rating of a trader</a>. The important part is the green (positive) number and the red (negative) number. Every time a trade is finished, users rate each other. If one user has a 6 green ratings and the other has 140, the person with 6 has to send their item first. Then, after the person with 140 green ratings has received his/her item, he/she completes the deal. If no one has been cheated, both parties give each other a green rating. If things go poorly, at least one of them will give the other one a red rating.</p>

<p>The system at photo.net is ineffective because if I wanted to cheat someone, I would simply email everyone who wrote "WTB" and claim I had all or some of what they asked for, take their money, and then stop using that email address (though I really wouldn't even need to give up my email address.) If the trade took place in a forum instead, we could at least notice that a person has been accused of scamming repeatedly and that person would have to go to the bother of setting up a new account. That's not much deterrent, but it's a little bit. A standard ratings system like the one I described or like the one on eBay would make it much safer than a forum.</p>

<p>Roy: many people in various forums have said things similar to what you said, which is why I chose to order EX rated equipment at a lower price instead of ordering a higher quality. Thanks!</p>

<p>Parv: that's not how this sort of thing is done these days. Now we use seller/buyer/trading rating systems so that it can be possible to reference other people's opinions about whether or not a person is trustworthy. Changing this to an email-based system is very insecure because it encourages scam artists to use the forum, since there is no reason to protect your reputation.</p>

<p>Barry: I bought it from KEH today. The deal I was looking for: the best one available for equipment with no functional problems. I'm fairly sure that KEH turned out to be the best answer.</p>

<p>DL Anderson: Good information, but they don't have the lens I was looking for.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Padded-Camera-Bag-Insert-with-Back-Pack-/181324315532?ViewItem=&rd=1&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEAFB%3AIT&item=181324315532&nma=true&si=enNzb1lie%252FZihkc0AS5yqoT0XWU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557">My final solution</a> was an eBay auction. If I don't like it, maybe the insert will fit my messenger bag. =)<br>

<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTI2N1gxNjAw/z/2xsAAOxycmBS9ahh/$_57.JPG" alt="" width="50%" height="50%" /></p>

<p>JDM: Whoops, I confused you with Edward, which led me to read a more defensive tone in your post. Edited my reply to make more sense.</p>

<p>I wasn't asking for a $20 bag, just one that was somewhat comparable in price to the $17.50 one I linked to, as I asked in my first post.</p>

<p>Lex: Thanks, that's probably the way I'll go then. I already have a good bag I'm not using for anything, but it has no padding, so that seems appropriate.</p>