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“Fujifilm X-Pro1 Official Press Release: All the details on Fuji’s new interchangeable lens camera system: bit.ly/wdGNZq
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Here it finally is: The long awaited, rumored ‘better’ and lens-interchangeable version of the popular FUJIFILM X100 camera. I’ve loved almost everything about the X100 I’ve seen, but the only thing that kept bugging me was this one thought: “Damn I wish they’d have the same camera, with interchangeable lenses.”
Well, here you go, except it’s not the same camera, but an even better camera – plus interchangeable lenses. -
The social-network generally accepted widespread one sentence summary of the X-Pro1 is:
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… wait a minute: “poor man”? Now, as far as I know the price hasn’t been announced yet, but I expect it to be prrrreetty expensive. How much is prrrreetty expensive? Don’t know. I heard 1,600 US$ for body only. I’m quite sure it will be around that which is just incredibly expensive for a poor university student.
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I will not even go into all the specifications, as they are summarized way better than I could ever do on sites like dpreview:
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Fujifilm X-Pro1 Preview: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review
1 hour ago … The Fujifilm X-Pro1 inherits its basic design philosophy from the FinePix X100, but in a larger, chunkier body that mana… -
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What I’ll say about the specifications, though, is that it all sounds pretty damn awesome in terms of image quality. More than you could ever wish for if you’re just a ‘hobby shooter’ or one of the many who just want to have a nice camera to take travel pics. To put it in an even more snobby way: I doubt that many people out there can even really appreciate the superior image quality this camera promises.
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At the core of it is of course the sensor. A 16MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor that Fujifilm is claiming will out-resolve the full frame 21MP Canon EOS 5D Mark II, according to dpreview. Now who of us can even fully appreciate that? Clearly, the professionals, but I daresay even most of them could get the same results they have with less quality. I realize this is a very critical look at this certainly awesome sensor, which probably stems from my historical constant lack of money and having to do with equipment that is way below the class of a camera like that. Hell, I’m still using my Canon EOS 400D for most of my work. Even so, I could get professional results, published in magazines, etc.
Now that I have that out of the system, I have to admit that for those who can afford it – this is the important part so I’ll repeat it – for those who can afford it, this is certainly an amazing thing. The awesome sensor that maybe out-resolves the one of the full frame 21MP Canon EOS 5D Mark II. And I’m not even being ironical. -
“Fujifilm X-Pro1: Radical new sensor layout smashes image sharpness limits extremetech.com/electronic… via @extremetech #photography #fuji
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So, the two other things I want to shortly mention here are 1) the new lens mount and 2) the viewfinder.
As for 1) I am looking forward to the 35mm f/1.4, 60mm f/2.4 and 18mm f/2 lenses for this mount. Personally, I want prime lenses for a camera like that and I’m fairly convinced that those three lenses will have great quality. 35mm (about 50mm equivalent on that camera) with f/1.4? Fantastic! Already enough to shoot great images.
As for 2) I have to admit I never really tried a viewfinder of that kind so I can’t say much about it except it sounds sorta cool with all the electronic overlay information and I’m a bit worried how to focus manually on that camera in an effective way, that is, without focus rings or the like – which I guess won’t be there. I mean, it’s a rangefinder. -
So having established (in a not very detailed way – bear with me) the technical superiority of this camera, which I hope will become more clear soon with people actually going out and shooting photos with it after it’s released, let’s turn our attention to the more obvious side – the outside.
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As one (probably thousands) puts it:
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“That Fujifilm X-Pro1 is looking mighty sexy.
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And yeah, damn well it does! It looks great. Personally, being a “gold-age guy” that loves old stuff like typewriters and telephones with cords because it symbolizes a better world which was much slower than now and in which people didn’t have to multitask while rushing from one place to the next (at least in my fantasy), I like the looks. It reminds me of the film cameras I started out working with. Those I take from my shelf for some ‘relaxation shooting.’
The one point I don’t like that much – I’ll mention that first to clear the way for the good stuff – is that it’s bigger than I had expected. I sort of expected it to be the same size like the X100 which seemed just about perfect for me. The X-Pro1 turned out to be quite a bit bigger than that.“But it still looks sexy!”
It certainly does. And I love the manual controls on it, the imagined feel of it, etc. Actually I don’t like the looks of the backside of it all that much, the buttons are a bit too bright (the writing on them) and clunky, but apart from that it’s a beautiful piece.
Now, don’t underestimate the looks of a camera. Oh boy, that’s where many people get stuck-up or angry and say that the looks don’t matter and there’s way cheaper cameras that have almost the same quality etc etc. It almost sounds like the typical Apple Mac and Windows PC discussion some years ago (maybe still?) in which Mac users pay twice or more just to “be cool” and windows users pay way less for better hardware, not getting why anyone would buy a Mac. To transfer it to Cameras, some say you shouldn’t get that camera because it looks good when you can take pictures that are just as fine with another camera. Now you are completely right about the latter part – you can take awesome photos with another camera, of course. A much cheaper one. An ugly one. A big one. Anything, really. Equipment is way over-rated, the skill and vision of the photographer under-rated, all this stuff. C’mon, you should all know that tedious discussion by now already. Chase Jarvis takes nice photos with a Lego camera (plus a definitely not-cheap flash and a definitely not cheap ND filter) so why shouldn’t you be able to take nice photos with, well, anything that takes photos. Especially when the specifications are not much different. And you know what, that all makes sense and stands true.BUT. But…it feels SO much better to go out shooting with a camera you love. Love to look at. Love to hang around your neck. Love to touch. Love to… okay it’s getting weird. Point is, when you love your camera and have an emotional relationship with it – which is what those kind of designs and hyping them and the ‘good ol’ times’ creates – you’ll just have soooo much more fun taking photos. You’ll take it so much more with you. You’ll have it hanging around your neck just so much more often – and at the right moments. And therefore you’ll take better photos. Easy, right?
Which brings me back to why the bigger size is affecting me more than it maybe should: If it’s too big, maybe like my SLR, then this will be a huge factor in NOT bringing it with me all the time, or most of the time, or even just lot of times. Doesn’t sound spectacular, but it’s a big factor and I guess I’ll have to wait and test it to see how it feels. If it feels to big, oh well, might just as well take the X100.
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above: FUJIFILM X100
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Especially the recently released limited all-black version of the X100 is super sexy:
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Fujifilm X100 Black Edition Camera | Uncrate
8906 products … Great. Now we have to decide between the all-black X-Pro1 and this all-black X100. Identical in tech specs to its sil… -
So, yeah, that’s my basic very un-revolutionary thoughts about the FUJIFILM X-Pro1. In a couple of words, I’m poor. I don’t want to spend that much on a camera. I also want a compact camera with great image quality. And I want it to be sexy.
After all, the price makes this camera unavailable to me anyway. I’d rather take a bit worse image quality if it got a couple hundred bucks cheaper. It is a bit overkill, after all. And the X100, after all, doesn’t allow me to change lenses.
困った – as the Japanese would say.And since I lost my thread – in other words everything has been said – I’ll stop writing right here and leave you to your thoughts. Thanks for bearing with me.
most stuff on tumblr these days
In Uncategorized on October 4, 2010 at 11:19 pmHey, just wanted to let you know, in case you haven’t noticed, that most of the quotes and snippets I post these days are rather short – and therefore on my tumblr.
You can access it here:
old proverbs
In onthegorandom on September 7, 2010 at 8:09 pmTwo proverbs that contain the very essence, two proverbs that can change a lot if you actually follow them:
“Don’t cross your bridges until you come to them.”
and
“Don’t cry over spilt milk.”
yes, I do know they are cheesy and stuff, but thinking about their meaning I fall in awe more and more upon the gravity of what they contain.
black color quote soldier. 