ISO50

$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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Finally, a Leica that’s not a Leica.

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.

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.

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…

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?

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.

Francisco,

What the Sony NEX series isn’t is a rangefinder. That’s a HUGE distinction and what makes the X100 unique.

This is retro crap for the fixie market.

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.

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!!

@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.”