Depends. For $$$ shots - probably not. For fun shots - absolutely.

My wife and I were at Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, Hawaii when I learned a Hula Show was about to begin. I happened to have my Fuji X-Pro 1 so I decided to give it a go. For those unfamiliar with Ala Moana, it is the largest outdoor shopping mall in the U.S. and there is a center stage with many free, live performances. Little did the Hula dancers know they would soon be captured with a Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm lens.

Earlier in the day I had been shooting with the 35/1.4 and trying out the Neg. Pro H high contrast film simulation. I switched to the 60mm lens, knowing full well this is a portrait, macro lens with a reputation for slow focus. By the time I put the lens on, the Hula show had begun. I didn't change the film simulation so I knew the photos would be a bit more contrasty than normal. Also, I shot aperture priority with a minus one stop compensation - didn't want to blow out highlights if direct sunlight was on a dancer.

I decided to use the focus trick described throughout the internet. Basically, the trick is to set the focus to AFS and then quickly press the shutter. The camera then takes an image when focus is acquired. Sometimes focus is quick, sometimes not. Obviously it takes more time for the camera to acquire focus if the focus point changes distance. If I shot the same dancer from the same distance, then focus was almost instantaneous for subsequent shots. 

In addition, I alternated between using the LCD and OVF. For closer shots I used the LCD because I was concerned with parallax issues. For more distant shots where parallax was not an issue, I used the OVF.

Also, I was continuously moving the focus point in order to compose my shot. I did this because once I pressed the shutter, I couldn't recompose as I normally do when the camera is set to manual focus.

So how did the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm lens perform?

Here are the stats. I took about 180 photos during the 15 minute performance, About 30 were completely out of focus. Most out of focus shots were at the beginning when I was  trying to get into a rhythm. By the end of the performance I was nailing the focus. Of the 150 in focus, about 110 were non-keepers. The non-keepers were a combination of poor timing on my part, shutter lag or images I just wasn't happy with. About 40 photos were keepers. Of these I will only post a few below, but here is a link to all the keepers:  http://www.thesmokingcamera.com/fuji_xpro1_60mm_hula.

So how would the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm lens  compare to a DSLR or the x100?

Warning, pure conjecture ahead.

Now this is a guess based on my years of shooting dance performances. If I used my Nikon DSLR, I would have taken about 300 to 400 shots, about ten completely out of focus, about 200 to 300 non-keepers and about 100 keepers. If I used my Fuji x100, I would have taken about 100 shots, about 20 completely out of focus, about 70 non-keepers and roughly ten keepers. In other words, with the DSLR I would have at least twice as many keepers and with the x100, only a quarter of the keepers. 

Pure conjecture complete.

Now here is the kicker: I would never have had my DSLR with me on this excursion so the theoretical 100 keepers would have never happened. Never. Well for the most part. The only way I would have had those 100 keepers is if this were a paid gig and I had taken my Nikon DSLR. Hah! How often does that happen at a free performance? More likely, I would have had the x100 so I would have ended up with a few keepers, but probably nothing worth posting. 

In conclusion, the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm lens will never achieve the same  number of keepers as a DSLR. However, it will produce an acceptable number of keepers for most fun shoots.

Moral of the story - you should probably not use the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm lens for paid action shots, but for fun why not. I followed my advice and unexpectedly came away with 40 keepers, a handful of lovely Hula images and of course, no $$$.