FujiFilm has just released a gorgeous, large-sensor compact camera that was inspired by traditional analog film cameras. The camera, called the FinePix X100, has a 12.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor (approx. 1.6x crop factor). The X100 also has this new feature called the ‘hybrid’ viewfinder that allows the user to switch between optical and electronic viewfinders and project shooting information into the optical viewfinder. If all that was too much for you, check out this video.
More importantly than that though, I find the subtle design of the lip over the LCD, the viewfinder flip switch and the shutter and aperture controls to really sell me on the design. Listed below are also more of the features that are sending me head over heals. Oh wait a second, news just coming in: the camera ships March 2011 for $1000!
I’m very tempted to pre-order, but what are your thoughts on the camera?
Specs to consider:
• 12.3MP Sensor
• 1280 x 720 HD Video w/ sound
• F2-F16 Lens
• ISO 100-12800
• 5 FPS Shooting
• 2.8″ LCD
• 127(W) × 75(H) × 54(D) mm in size
• More info here
That is beautiful. If only Canon would put Rebel T2i guts in my old A-1.
$1000 is a lot to pay for this type of a camera. The thing that bothers me the most about it is the lense, it’s fixed and a bit too wide for me to like.
Yeah, I would love to have this as my go-to point and shoot. Definitely not quite as compact as something like the Exilim or similar cameras, but definitely makes up for it with a sense of class on the exterior and interior. If I hadn’t have already dropped my cash on the Canon T2i, I might consider it.
I agree with OMER about the fixed lens, but it is a point and shoot. Not comparable necessarily to a DSLR. With that said, perhaps they will release one later with optional lenses if this one sells well. Who knows? Technology moves so fast nowadays.
I am very happy with this announcement. I’m not sure if I’ll actually buy one of these but a nice big sensor in a smaller than DSLR size is great. I also don’t see why this having a fixed lens is a letdown. with the sensor size the lens should be nearly (maybe a bit wider) than a 50mm equivalent on a full frame camera. By having a fixed lens you get 3 huge advantages over a zoom. The lens would be bigger if it were a zoom, the lens would likely have a slower largest F stop, the lens would likely be less sharp. Most mid range zooms don’t do a whole lot more than taking a few steps forward or backward can’t accomplish anyways.
The biggest thing for me about this camera though is that it is a digital camera that looks like it would handle like a real camera. You can compose through a viewfinder where you see the actual world and not a laggy digital screen. You have real knobs and a aperture ring.
I think that this will be a go to snapshot camera for photographers. This isn’t an item for people in the standard point and shoot market in my eyes. It seems simple enough to use for anyone, but it looks like it will really shine in the hands of someone who wants the freedom to adjust basic exposure settings without digging through a menu or squinting at a screen in daylight. You can grab the knobs and do you adjustments with your eye never leaving the finder. This is a key feature for me in a camera and one that has left me unsatisfied by just about all digital point and shoots.
I for one welcome this new Fuji offering and wish it huge success so we can see more offerings like this from them and other manufacturers. Plus maybe if it sells well they will come out with one with swappable lenses which seems to be the biggest complaint from most early commentary on this.
Looks stunning, but for $1,000 for a point and shoot…?
I consider this to be aimed at enthusiasts & professional photographers as a ‘play’ cam and not really just a point and shoot. As for the price tag of $1000, I find it extremely reasonable. It’s really one of a kind in its class (Leica is not in the class). Sure we’re looking at it and just saying its a film body + digital, but thats just the thing. There haven’t been any designs, digital -> analog that have been this good in a while.
@Randy I do agree with you. I believe that the fixed lens is not a letdown. I for one wouldn’t put any other lens on here. If I were to do that I might as well pull out the 1dmk2 and not shoot the X100. I do believe that a 50mm would be great on this, but 35/36mm is a fun lens to shoot with (at least on 1.4x/1.0 bodies).
It’s quite beautiful but I think you should go for the Olympus digital PEN line rather than this. I mean this looks pretty great and it has the exposure controls on the body which is pretty great but it probably lacks the power and photo quality of the PEN. I’m choosing Olympus because that’s also a damn fine looking camera, especially the E-P1 and E-P2. Plus, you get proper Zuiko lenses.
Also worrying from the shots are all the plastic bits.
Still, 1000$ for this is WAY too much if you ask me.
I’m trying to look at this camera for what it is. It is not meant to be an all-around general purpose point and shoot. It is not meant to directly compete with something like a DSLR, even entry-level. It’s a specialty camera for a unique market.
It obviously competes with cameras like the Sigma DP1 (http://www.dpreview.com/news/1002/10022012sigmadp1x.asp) or the Olympus PEN or Lumix GF1.
Compared to the Sigma, it easily gets respect for having a much faster lens (f2 vs f4, two stops of extra light and shallower DOF), and two viewfinder options. Blows it away in my opinion. This is probably it’s closest competitor considering the same sensor size and fixed focal length lens.
Compared to the Micro 4/3 cameras like the Olympus PEN and the Lumix GF1 and others, it lacks the interchangeable lenses, built-in stabilizer and it’s slightly larger. If you slap on the pancake lens on say the Olympus, I imagine they’d be pretty similar in size, with the Fuji a tad bit wider.
What I look forward to with this camera is it’s larger APS-C size sensor, a built-in rangefinder-like viewfinder and amazing looks, and a sharp 35mm f/2 lens. If the noise performance lives up to Fuji’s history of great noise reduction, and the autofocus is fast, or even if the manual focusing is remeniscent of a real rangefinder, this camera is a winner for me. The $1000 price point, in my opinion, is a bit high, however. Considering a Panasonic GF1 with a 20mm 1.7 lens would cost much less and includes a few extra key features, it makes $1000 a bit harder to justify.
I love this camera! It has a Leica charm to it. Great post.
yeah it’s a pretty camera. I guess if you want to look pretty while you walk around shooting you would pay the 1000 dollars. Overpriced in my opinion.
If it’s going this far to copy the Leica M-series, it needs to have interchangeable lenses. If there is any success to the camera, Fuji will offer a body with a nominal range of prime lenses, rendering this style obsolete. Still I admire the concept.
Now if they will just bring back the lever advance.
I must be honest, though beautiful, it’s not very practical.
The cropped sensor will help make the 23mm closer to 35mm, if not 45mm, but the ƒ2 just doesn’t seem low enough to be worth it. At ƒ2, you can have a fairly decent shallow depth of field, but the lens will be horrible in low-light. The value of this kind of camera would be greatly increased if the lens was at least a ƒ1.4
If their target market is the amateur photographer with money to throw away, then this camera is great, but I don’t see how a professional photographer could use this.
Personally, I’d rather have a Full-Frame DSLR and a film camera with a 35mm. At least that way you can actually be legit, as opposed to have a camera that looks the part but doesn’t adequately play the part.
@HIWAY441 This is actually very far from copying the Leica series. Leica is a whole different camera. The X100 really can’t be compared to the Leica cameras. I agree a lever advance would make this thing even cooler than it is.
@Zach, ƒ/2 at such a wide angle is plenty and horrible in low-light? I’d have to disagree solely based on the recent performance of many of the new sensors’ ability to perform in light sensitivity. The sensor is supposed to handle 100-12800. I’d almost be fine with this camera even at 2.8.
If I were to bring experience into play: I’m constantly shooting with a 50 1.4 on a 1.4x body—a much older body, Canon 1dmk2. Talk about not being able to handle light well…
First of this is one of the coolest cameras to come out in a long time. And being a photographer this may not be my go to camera as far as shooting but it would be the one I want to shoot the most. The best part about a film camera was the feel the look and the stability it gave you when you held it in your hands. Ridged knobs, metal, and physically changing aperture and shutter speeds by by choosing them rather than spinning the magic digital scroll wheels.
In response Zak being and being a Professional I think that f2 is amazing for a little almost point and shoot style while it really is only one stop away from being a f1.4. This thing can product amazing depth of field and shoot in just as low light as a f1.4 well from the specs I would hope.
None the less this camera looks like a must have for my bag could just be my next favorite traveling camera. Great Job Fuji!
Aw, it doesn’t go all the way to ISO50 😉 hehehe.
Finally, a Leica that’s not a Leica.
Brilliant . . . just wish that Canon and Nikon would follow with similar products. What I REALLY want is my D80 inside my Nikon FE.
I very much welcome the Leica-esque style and actually find it not clean enough for that matter. All those bumps here and there. Fuji could have made it more like their Klasse S camera and called it the Klasse D.
f2 is not that hot
I am very fond of my Fuji Finepix, very quick, very light sensitive, but several years old. I´m very tempted to go on this stylish looking one, too.
No one has mentioned focus yet, you commenters are a bunch of arm chair photographers.
If it focuses well (manual or auto), it will be a delightful camera to own. The image quality will be excellent from a Fuji camera, they know how to make a camera that takes great pictures, and I think that is the primary focus here. The lens would be worth $500 dollars alone, and it will show in the image sharpness, the beautiful bokeh, color and contrast.
Hopefully it has a autofocus assist light.
One thing that is amazing about having a fixed focal lengh is that your images will all have the same perspective, the same look, and as an artist that can be a valuable asset to a collection of photographs.
And if you shoot street it is perfect.
I wouldn’t use it in a studio however….
I will own one at some point.
The camera has so much style.
Why couldn’t they create an announcement video that matched that style? Looks like a (bad) promo from the 80s…
I have no doubt it will be brilliant; with a large sensor and a great lens it can’t fail in my opinion.
Aesthetically it’s stunning; a bit like the Leica X1 which by the way is my point and shoot 🙂
I just can’t envisage this being a flop and if you can live with a prime lens it is worth a pre order.
The body reminds me of the Contax G2, and the price seems to be almost like it.
Would anyone give up there g2 for this camera?
I really love the vibe of this camera – the subtle touches from the past, but having a number of features we would like to see on cameras now. My only problem with this camera is that its a fixed lens you can not change. Now I know back in the rangefinder days, people often only had one lens to shoot with, but I am greedy. I want to change lenses. If this created a new ILC system, or fed into a current system (would an APS-C sensor work with a m4/3 lens eventhough the APS sensor is much larger than the m4/3 model).
Nope, I have to say I would choose purchasing another lens, or upgrade my camera body before this. But my camera body is three generations old (10mp K10 and been eyeing a 70-200 2.8 and 24 1.4) so that influences my decision.
The Sony NEX series already has a APSC sized sensor, better video mode, and interchangeable lenses, and its cheaper. This camera is overpriced and overall cant compete.
I’ve been using the Fujinon GSW69, a medium format rangefinder film camera with a fixed lens, as my professional workhorse for nearly twenty years. I think it’s important to acknowledge that there are many different pursuits that a professional photographer can take, and those pursuits are reflected in the gear they work with. In my case, a fixed lens (which was not fast at all, by the way: wide-open at f5.6) that was incredibly sharp, with a moderately wide angle view, was perfect for my needs.
As such, the new X100 is, in my estimation, a legitimate digital successor to my old Fujinon. The lens will simply be exceptional, and the DSLR-sized sensor sets it in a whole different category than the “point and shoot,” which is really not an accurate description of the X100. Make no mistake: this is a professional’s camera. Does that mean it will meet the needs of every professional photographer out there? Of course not. But it meets mine, and I’ll be buying one.
Francisco,
What the Sony NEX series isn’t is a rangefinder. That’s a HUGE distinction and what makes the X100 unique.
Unique, maybe. But not better. To each his own I guess.
This is retro crap for the fixie market.
This is the camera I’ve been privately asking for over the past few years. A compact digital with full manual control in the quick and easy way of an 35mm rangefinder. I’m sold on the camera, not so sure about the price though.
Being a compact, aps-c sized sensor camera with a true optical VF is a big deal in the digital domain. You’d have to look at something like the Epson R-D1, Leica M8 or Leica M9 to get that. All of those cost more and offer more versatility, but Fuji is onto gold here.
35mm is a very useful focal length in a compact everyday camera. It’s what most people are used to from their cheap P&S cams anyway, most of them being 35-105mm, 3x zooms (135 equiv.). People power their 3x zooms on and rarely zoom in.
Don’t let the retro design distract you. This will be a very capable tool even for pros.
If I had the money, I’d have pre-ordered by now. I love everything I’ve read about this camera, and I love what I see as well of course. For those who think it looks like a rip-off for a “point-and-shoot” it’s all about the lens. Not having tried the camera, we can’t know for sure, but for all the information available it looks like that lens is going to be a beauty.
There’s a few things I’m still interested in learning about it, such as what the shutter lag is like. Is it about the same as an SLR? I suppose that will also be dependent on the focus speed, and what that’s like.
Bottom line, I really love the look and the idea of this camera. As far as the fixed, wide-ish angle lens, I love it. I find that with my point-and-shoot, I never zoom in. I always take images at the widest angle because the images look like garbage when the lens zooms in. But I don’t mind being stuck with one focal length. I think it forces you to be more creative. Not for everybody, that’s for sure. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. But it is for me, or at least I think it is. I think it’s priced right, even though I can’t afford it at the moment. Maybe late next year. We’ll see.
I love the idea of a small camera that I can carry around or have in my car or at work. Back in the film days you could have such a camera and still get the benefits of a full frame shallow depth of field and a good lens. I had a Pentax UC-1 with a fixed 32mm lens and I loved it as a “take anywhere” camera. Then the digital revolution happened. And everyone cared only about megapixels and gadgets. If you wanted a small, good camera you had to accept a tiny sensor with endless depth of field, which in my opinion, is just terrible and goes against the essense of photography.
This Fujifilm camera is stunning, has a large sensor, and the image quality will no doubt be outstanding. For those of us who can’t afford the Leica X1 this is a God send! I applaud Fuji for bringing such a carefully crafted, beautiful tool. I think the $1000 is pricey, but worth it if you use this camera for what’s it made for. And, keep it for 30 years and no doubt it will be a desirable collector’s item.
The three things in my opinion that will make or break this camera (assuming all the other promises as far as image quality are kept) are:
Shutter lag- or the lack of it! for capturing the moment you want to capture.
Writing speed- so you can get the next shot quickly and not wait for the camera to process and write the image on your card.
Auto focus- has to be pretty good, with a reasonably easy manual focus for back up.
Get these points right, Fuji, and you have an instant classic!!
I’m getting one !
@omer the lens is actually why this camera is awesome! check this out:
“The X100 lens is not just about focusing on a part of the scene and capturing only that area in sharp detail, it is about achieving beautiful quality that extends to the out-of-focus parts of the image. In designing this lens, we paid attention to the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light and especially the beauty of the background “bokeh” effect. You could say that the X100 lens enables you to effortlessly achieve superb image quality. With this lens, I aimed to make the most of the superior image quality combining low distortion with high resolution to capture stunning landscape photographs.”
I’ve taken thousands of shots with a Contax G1, and learned to adore it’s simplicity, size, handling, and image quality. But, it’s become inconvenient and expensive to use film, so I’ve struggled through various suboptimal digital solutions, including a very fine but ultimately unwieldy and unnecessarily complicated (for me) Canon 40D with a 50mm f1.2 lens.
But what I want to use, what feels right, and what works for me is a rangefinder with high quality glass, an optical viewfinder, and basic aperture, shutter speed and EV control on the body.
Contax went out of business before they could create this product (no vision), despite having produced a brilliant film version of this concept. Leica did it with the M8/M9, but at a price that’s simply not viable.
So, the X100 is what I’ve been seeking for about ten years. I’m OK with the FFL, since I’m trying to simplify anyway. I can deal with having to walk up to my subject. What I can’t deal with is the nauseating design of most new cameras, the bulk of DSLRs, the lack of an optical viewfinder on P&S cameras, and the price of leicas.