Fuji X100 Digital SOMETHING from Fujifilm

[tapesonthefloor]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

Manual focus is not essential for street photography... fast AF works just fine as well.

Depends on if you're looking for a decisive moment or the decisive moment, I suppose. AF takes the art away from me, and turns the whole business into a guessing game. Personally, if I can't turn a focus wheel with my eye pressed against an optical viewfinder, it ain't photography.

But that's my opinion. I know it differs from most.

[M like Leica M6]

Originally Posted by CameraQuest

I just started a Fuji X100 forum.

This camera seems to have captured a lot of fan's imagination.

Stephen

Stephen, does Mr. Kobayashi have something similar, too, with a true rangefinder and M lens mount? Maybe with a "ZI" on it? Pleeeaaaasse....

[tapesonthefloor]

Originally Posted by RayPA

I'm with you on this, Vincent. A focus/distance scale was one of the first things I looked for on the lens. It would have been a very nice addition indeed./

How about an audible, beeping distance scale, where A440 = 2M?

[wgerrard]

Originally Posted by Pickett Wilson

The video does sell the sizzle.

The narrator sounds like the guy who does the safety videos for United.

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by PKR

......My guess is this is the first in a line of high end compact cameras from Fuji. I'll buy one, and likely up grade as the newer variants are released.

An M9 plus any Leica 35mm lens will set you back $10,000.

For that money, you can afford to buy the X100 now [said to cost ~$1800], add a wider- or zoom-lens version later...and then some.

[ywenz]

Strange.. there are definitely two versions of the X100 from the pics we've seen one with 35mm lens one with 23mm lens. WTF!?

[Pickett Wilson]

The M9 killer?

[Pickett Wilson]

ywenz, actually, I don't think there are ANY versions yet. It's an exercise in lust provocation.

[ywenz]

Originally Posted by Pickett Wilson

ywenz, actually, I don't think there are ANY versions yet. It's an exercise in lust provocation.

No there are different body and different lens. Lenses have different FOV and different size aperture ring tabs.

[PKR]

Originally Posted by coelacanth

Multiple Japanese articles are reporting expected MSRP of 120,000 - 150,000 yen so that sounds about right.

This camera is up for grabs next year. Today Silver is approaching $21/oz and Gold is close to $1,300/oz. What do you expect the exchange rate to be next year with a dollar losing value daily?

The value of gold and silver don't change. Only the relationship of the value changes, as it relates to the fluxuating value various world currencies. It's taking more dollars to buy the same amount of gold or Nikons, than it did last year at this time. And yes, the Yen changes too.

https://online.kitco.com/scripts/cgi-bin/texten.pl

[M like Leica M6]

Originally Posted by tapesonthefloor

Depends on if you're looking for a decisive moment or the decisive moment, I suppose. AF takes the art away from me, and turns the whole business into a guessing game. Personally, if I can't turn a focus wheel with my eye pressed against an optical viewfinder, it ain't photography.

But that's my opinion. I know it differs from most.

I think we are similar.

AF, matrix-metering, many fps... that sounds like Kyūdō, the traditional japanese art of bow shooting, with a rocket launcher. Or driving a Ferrari with an automatic gearbox - and a chauffeur.

Am I getting old? Or wise?

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by tapesonthefloor

Depends on if you're looking for a decisive moment or the decisive moment, I suppose. AF takes the art away from me, and turns the whole business into a guessing game. Personally, if I can't turn a focus wheel with my eye pressed against an optical viewfinder, it ain't photography.

But that's my opinion. I know it differs from most.

A pretty narrow view of what photography is... I don't see much difference between fast AF and zone focus honestly. I know I prefer manual focus with an M, but I'm certainly not going to say that when I use AF I'm not making photos ...

The art is not in tools used, but the finished image (to most people viewing the image).

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by ywenz

Strange.. there are definitely two versions of the X100 from the pics we've seen one with 35mm lens one with 23mm lens. WTF!?

Prototype 1 and Prototype 2? I would go with the one in the brochure... by 35mm they probably meant equivilent on the one and actual on the other.

[Miserere]

Originally Posted by arturo

To those regretting or complaining about the fixed lens: I think this is a constraint imposed by the OVF. I would be too complicated, particularly for a first attempt, to build a zoom optical viewfinder.

That's the whole point of rangefinders, that the OVF doesn't zoom, it has frame lines. An interchangeable lens X100 would keep the same OVF, but the photographer would have the option of seeing through the lens by switching to EVF view.

[semilog]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

Prototype 1 and Prototype 2? I would go with the one in the brochure... by 35mm they probably meant equivilent on the one and actual on the other.

Pretty obvious that that's what's going on here.

[tapesonthefloor]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

A pretty narrow view of what photography is...

Definitely. But I'm a pretty narrow guy, and photography can be whatever I want it to be. Fortunately for us all, I am both unable and unwilling to impose that definition on anyone else.

[xayraa33]

Originally Posted by Jaime M

But there looks like 2 cameras! One 35mm lens, big strap lugs and the MF, AF-S, AF-C dial on left position


And the other one 23mm lens, little strap lugs, and the MF, AF-S, AF-C dial on right position


Maybe both are pre-production, maybe prototipes, or maybe an epic fail

Maybe it is secretly an interchangeable lens camera

[Pickett Wilson]

By the time this camera is actually introduced, it will never live up to the hype it has received from those lusting after it!

[semilog]

Originally Posted by tapesonthefloor

Definitely. But I'm a pretty narrow guy, and photography can be whatever I want it to be. Fortunately for us all, I am both unable and unwilling to impose that definition on anyone else.

I think that we all have to adapt to our tools, to their strengths and weaknesses, to a greater or lesser extent.

Many of us have a very, very tight relationship with our MF rangefinders, and I daresay that this is especially so with Leica M's.

Perhaps we should remember that all tools require compromise. Even our beloved rangefinders!

This new camera offers some things that the film and even digital M's never offered.

Real-time DOF preview.
DOF scales in the finder.
Focusing to 10 cm.
Perfect parallax correction, all the way down to 10 cm.
Real-time in-finder histogram.
In-finder display of aperture and shutter speed.
etc.

All of this is potentially very useful.

If I can have one or two scale-focus presets (even *just* 2 m would do), I'm good to go.

[coelacanth]

I really hope this E/OVF hybrid will become a new trend and adapted to other large sensor compacts.

[PKR]

Originally Posted by xayraa33

Maybe it is secretly an interchangeable lens camera

Not likely, but maybe in a second or third generation. The camera(s) we are looking at are prototypes. Until you can put your hands on one or read several reviews, it's a guessing game. Who knows, there may be some major advance in the chip driving the AF servo by the time the camera is in production.

It's foolish to get too carried away at this point. But, since it's Fuji, a major player.. there will likely be a camera of this type on the market next year.

I have no idea as to the cost. i would hope under $2,500, given the price point and their claim of "professional" in the description. It could be a lot more. $1,700 would fit both Pro and Amateur markets. Who knows what the dollar vs. Yen will be next year?

[Matus]

This camera was compared to fuji MF fixed focal cameras, but I do not think that this is a reasonable comparison especially because this camera is digital. I do not doubt the quality of the lens or of the body to make it clear. But the sensor will be old at the time it will be released. With a film camera you would just buy a new film once it would hit the market. With digital in 2 - 3 years you have a camera in hand which, if you want to get a newer model, you will get very little $$$ for and money wise you start from beginning. Realizing this I would be willing to invest less to digital camera than to equivalent film camera (just forget the huge differences in workflow here). So I do not expect buyers standing in a queue if the price will be around $1500. Whether the camera Fuji is preparing for us can be made for less is something I do not know.

Still - this camera jut may be the last nail in the coffin of my resistance going to Photokina this year.

[coelacanth]

Looks like my Fujica will meet her granddaughter in the spring.

[ywenz]

Originally Posted by Matus

This camera was compared to fuji MF fixed focal cameras, but I do not think that this is a reasonable comparison especially because this camera is digital. I do not doubt the quality of the lens or of the body to make it clear. But the sensor will be old at the time it will be released. With a film camera you would just buy a new film once it would hit the market. With digital in 2 - 3 years you have a camera in hand which, if you want to get a newer model, you will get very little $$$ for and money wise you start from beginning. Realizing this I would be willing to invest less to digital camera than to equivalent film camera (just forget the huge differences in workflow here). So I do not expect buyers standing in a queue if the price will be around $1500. Whether the camera Fuji is preparing for us can be made for less is something I do not know.

seriously are we really going to start the digital vs film talk again?

[PKR]

Still - this camera jut may be the last nail in the coffin of my resistance going to Photokina this year.[/quote]

Matus; Please go to Photokina and shoot some photos of the cameras and report back. Get your hands on some of these "vapor" cameras and tell us what you think. I'll send you beer money!

pkr