I had the M5 (still have it, actually) and owned the M6 Mark II three times. (Long story there) Yes, I’m still satisfied with the switch, but the autofocus from Fujifilm is a very large step back even behind the old M5! Using Fuji cameras is just pure fun and enjoyable…it makes taking photos on vacation a lot more exciting to be so connected to the camera turning dials and thinking before you shoot. I’ve even brought the X-100V into the pits at the past two races I worked and really loved it’s size/weight/image quality.
As for the thread, it was deleted by the moderator. (I may have taken a screenshot, but I’m not sure where - I just looked.) But I can show you all the dialogue between me and the shithead moderator that was clearly on a power trip. I can then show you the email I sent to DPReview pleading my case and the email I got BACK from DPReview where they said their moderator was not in the right and that they would be speaking with them about it. Haha
Basically, you have a gear list on DPReview. I just sold the XF27mm f/2.7 lens and moved the lens from “Own” to “Owned” and left a short little 3 start review. I was completely unaware that this isn’t just a review like you see on B&H or Amazon…no, it’s an entire thread in their Fujifilm forum. So, unbenounced to me, there is a thread posted that has 3 pages in less than 24 hours. Comments like “It’s not overrated, it’s sharp!” Or “How can you not like this lens, it’s a pancake, it can’t be perfect.” Apparently if you’re a Fuji owner you can only have a hive mind thought on every lens or camera. If you speak poorly about something in your opinion, you are digitally tarred and feathered. Haha
Well, because I wasn’t there nurturing the comments section making replies, the moderator had already suspended my posting privileges when I returned - my comments had to be reviewed by moderators before they could be made public. I also have an incredibly arrogant private message from the moderator explaining to me etiquette for using their forum and how to properly review a lens - yes, seriously. I clarified my statements with him privately then made a post about it. It was at this time that I realized my posting privileges were suspended. My next post I wanted everyone to know what just happened - so I broke down exactly what I just said privately and that in less than 24 hours this guy’s immediate response was to suspended me all because I left a 3-start review on a lens he likes and wasn’t there to explain myself all day.
Moments later, I get an email informing me that I was permanently banned from DPReview. I protested it immediately with another employee and was reinstated in less than 12 hours. The whole ordeal took roughly 48 hours and I made 3 posts total. They admitted he was wrong and they would be speaking to him about it. The guy was on a power trip.
I’m not sure this was a conspiracy of them not wanting to say anything negative about a product on their site - that’s a little too “tin foil hat” for me. But this was a stupid Fujifilm fanboy with too much power that he flexed on me. Fuji is a weird camera system…it’s hard to define why there is so much passion behind their cameras and lenses…but I can tell you that I shoot with the X-T4 and XF70-300mm lens and I feel like it’s 1985 and I’m working for National Geographic and I’m having a blast using this thing. Meanwhile that lens is losing its mind as you zoom and pulsating focus to pretend it’s parfocal, and the camera body is finding a face in a tree behind a person’s face - and you don’t care. LOL
...and also this from LSXPhotog (posted while composing a response):
PRECISELY!!!! My comparison point was and has always been the stunning EF-M 22mm lens. So I got the 27mm in the kit and was immediatly let down by everything it did. haha
Hopefully the moderator was at least suspended or reprimanded for what he did. DPReview doesn't make it very clear that when you review a lens it creates a public thread to discuss your review. Why?! I would have posted on the forum for that. haha
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Where to start here...
Thanks for letting us see behind the DPR curtain--I'm not surprised with anything in your report. In fact, what you've described seems quite reasonable. Of course, DPR as represented by the 'rogue' moderator was in the wrong. LIke you, I do not sense any systematic bias, though.
I suppose the DPR critics will say that the place is full of rogue moderators--not my experience, though, as a semi-regular poster there. Of course I could be mistaken.
And I share your admiration for the EF-M 22mm lens; both of our daughters have returned from overseas trips with images obtained with that lens mated to both the original M...and later, the M6 & M10 bodies...and I couldn't believe my eyes--the large sensor/tiny lens/small body combination delivered on all counts for two young adults who had (and have) never pressed the shutter button of any DSLR.
I have virtually the same respect for the EF-M 11-22 IS lens...I presume you have tried that one as well (I see from your list that you own the Fuji 10-24...at a kilobuck it is out of stock at B&H today). Especially when paired with the M6MkII's 'sort-of-still-modern' sensor, the IS properties of the 11-22 enable some amazing indoor/night-time vacation and travel shots...all in a package that, in my hands, works well with only a tiny (in fact, point-and-shoot) wrist-strap for handling.
Evidently the dials on your favorite (fun-to-shoot) Fuji are superior, in your view, to those found on the M6MkII. Of course I'm interested in the details...as many often point out, ergonomics matter a lot.
I guess the demise of the M format means I'll be looking closer at any-and-all APS-C bodies and lenses, particularly those that are small-and-light.
Who knows...