yeah i salivated!

oh snap!!!!!!!!! I'm aroused.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the focusing...

hmmm "Focus • High-speed contrast AF"

I wonder what the manual focus option will be?

Fuji are pretty renowned for their high quality optics - and 35mm ! *swoon* this could be the digital camera I use to compliment my filmies :D

I WANT :D

looks great. like a digital hexarAF.

needs to have fast AF with easy setting to hyperfocal distance, no shutter lag and easy manual exposure control.

I just checked out the top view. now I really want one.
a.img-dpreview.com/news/1009/fujifilm/X100_top.jpg

aperture ring on the lens. (and maybe focus ring too).
shutter speed dial and separate EC dial on top.
'A' position on both aperture and shutter dials for easy Av Tv and M mode.

yeap its pretty damn nice - pretty much all the things that make my Voigtlander / Mamiya 6 a joy to use !

I saw this on a few of the tech sites this morning while waiting for the new Pentax release.
I just don't get it with cameras like this and the Leica's .. but what is so good about these cameras? Spec wise a lot of the DSLR seem to be way above and beyond. Is it because of the portability?
I am not trying to be a troll and start a my camera is better than your camera debate but just wondering why cameras like these are so sought after. I know I must be missing something :)

Eh, 'specs' are just a numbers game. Megapixels, autofocus points etc don't take images.

There are a number of photographers who want tactile manual control over their cameras, to physically change the aperture or change the focus is a very different experience to changing a setting in a menu or half pressing a button.

It's not for everyone, but I think this camera will cater to a number of photographers as the above replies indicate.

Anyone else want to chime in?

The control layout on this camera is one of the most attractive features.
- Tom is spot on with the tactile manual control thing. I wish my DSLR had dials to control exposure. I don't need a mode dial, I need a shutter speed dial.

size is the next most attractive feature.
- especially since it fits in a sensor that has a better chance of producing acceptable image quality than most compacts. we will have to wait and see.

total bonus is that the lens is at my favourite focal length and quite fast.

It's a bit of a niche camera. Most of use who want it won't have it as our only camera. just for certain purposes.

Exactly what Tom and Kev said.

It will be a very niche camera but great for those of us who love the 35mm focal length and are used to shooting film rangefinders.

One thing I would have loved to have seen is a depth of field scale and distance scale on the lens - perhaps before it is released in 2011 they will add one?

Woah focus distance scale in the VF ! Looks like the white area in the focus distance scale indicates the depth of field - swish!

www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/1854/

Video showing it off

what a nice viewfinder display. (built in!)

cheers for the input guys. It's all personal choice I guess.

Wow.... I want one! I wonder what the price will be, I'm guessing nothing under $1500

Portability is a big factor for me rejecting all of my Nikon SLR's and DSLR's, and going to rangefinder (Leica).

This fuji looks amazing!

This pure photographic Viagra. I want it badly.

hehe it's funny to see all the Rangefinder lovers come out of the wood work.

Haha the thread on Rangefinder forum is hilarious - people are going nutz for it :D

I need a new range finder my Voightlander R2 went to camera heaven on Friday :( I'll have to get something soon the withdrawals are killing me !! ;)

oh noes what happend Paul?

www.finepix-x100.com/

The site is up... mmmm drool :)

I'd offer my thoughts but it's too hard to type one-handed..

... damn..... either I'm deliriously sick with this fever or in love....

that's one beautiful digital camera

@ -Heather-

I'm afraid that $1500 would be optimistic that's about what the higher end micro 4/3rds come in at ... my guess as a marketing price it will be positioned to marginally undercut or compete directly with the Leica X1... maybe street price at $2000 to $2300 'ish.

still if the test hold up for lens and high ISO that would be about as nice a travel camera as you could get

Can't WAIT to see these in action, seriously hope they have a display at the upcoming expo so I can have a look!

yea I'd expect it to be at $2k - still gonna get one :p The Fujinon lens looks like it's gonna be a cracker. The X1 is dead with this announcement :D

unfortunately the X1 dead, or alive, for better or worse, wears that little red dot that to many adds $$$ cache that other features/specs can't

oh yeh if it's $2000 and if prints holds up at at least 1600ISO for colour or 3200ISO for B&W then I'm on board.

Why can't we have full frame though???

Yes, what I am looking for is a full frame m mount digital range finder...

.... for 2k...

^ Nate hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

The reason is the the distance between the lens flange and the sensor is very small and requires a lot of high tech wizardry in terms of sensor manufacture. Couple this to a very limited market means little chance of spreading R & D costs over a large consumer base.

If we look at the pre Photokina expectations on the Fuji/Bessa 667, a lot of people were hoping that it would hit the market at $1200. That little number retails at $2895 from Mainline the importer. I would expect this little baby to retail for at least $2500 AUD.

El Jonbre the R2 went into a terminal dive while I was climbing a rock out crop on Mt Brown and landed badly shattering the mag alloy body. The 25mm lens also died. A funeral service will be held after a suitable mourning period. However I've still got a 35mm and 75mm that are just begging to be used, so it's either sell of a superfluous organ/body part and buy an M9 or just stump up the cash for another R2.

full frame would be nice... but for a fixed lens (and with an effectively moderate wide angle lens) range finder use such as street shooting travel etc it's probably not as critical as with portraiture and landscape.

as an aside... looking at the shots in the official/semi official media.. damn it looks like they did there testing here in Western Australia... or their PR department stayed in Tokyo and surfed the web for Australian stock images...

Paul - the Bessa III has been out for a while now - I've seen them for as low as $2k on ebay from Japanese shops.

news.cnet.com/2300-17938_3-10004897-5.html?tag=mncol

oh... it's tiny! (for large values of tiny).... it's certainly small enough for a coat/jacket pocket that's for sure

Yes I know the Bessa III has been out a while, but I didn't like the focal length as I prefer 35mm or its equivalent depending on format. The new GF670W is more my cup of tea. It looks like 2011 is going to be an expensive year with the X100 and GF670W, I reckon I'll need about $6K to purchase that lot. At least they look very retro so I can tell management that they're "old" cameras and don't cost much.

My apologies Paul - I didn't read it right.

I didn't realise the GF670W sported a 55mm lens!

I already love my Mamiya 6 with the 50mm - but the X100 is gonna be a definiate purchase :p GAS

... one fly (well two actually) in the ointment.... no rangefinder focusing in OVF mode... that means to manually focus you'll have to switch to EVF mode... or get good at zone focusing.
Hopefully the EVF will be up to notch to allow for fast autofocusing in low light 'cause with contrast detection autofocusing of the imaging sensor don't expect DSLR focus speeds .. and hopefully it will be more Pano GF1 focus speed than Oly pen

Judging from the video, it flares like a bitch... Freaken lens flares everywhere...

That said, it does look sweet!

Not such a problem with street photography - just hyperfocal the little bastard and shoot :D

^^^ ...seems to be no distance markers / DOF scale on the lens...

its in the VF - take a look at the pic I posted earlier.

...doh! So, yeah, at night, EVF would be amazing for hyperfocal / manual focus...

....this thing is a beast..

@ NoSpareTime

curse you and your sense of humour ;P
... you just had me googling for 30 minutes trying to find sample video to see this elusive lens flare

Want.

I hadn't even heard about the gf670w. I also avoided the gf670 as the lens was too long for me. ended up with a mamiya7+65 kit in the end.

Fuji make so many great cameras from the klasse, 645 RFs, 670 folders, to 690 RFs. Now this amazing digi... awesome.

GF670W!!!! oh man i need a second job.

It's made to be lady hand friendly :p just like the Olympus 35RC :D

Does that mean you need hands like a lady to use it? :p

@ therealmarxz: :)

I saw mention of a 3stop ND filter that can get enabled / disabled. What a sweet feature! Is that something that other cameras have had in the past?

Coming soon? Auto-polariser filter - two modes: max blue skies, kill glare / reflections.

>>Is that something that other cameras have had in the past?

My old Canon Powershot G5 had one - was really annoying when you forgot it was on, actually.. :)

My G3 had one from memory :D

Now all I want is for Fuji to make a digital version of the "Texas Leica" and I'll be in heaven.

hah the Texas Leica is awesome :p I was looking at one of these beasts before I got my Mamiya 6 :D

so would that make a Sandgroper Leica a large format rangefinder? (you know, given that we're like 4 times bigger than texas?)

thinking about it I own a 35mm, 6x6 and 4x5 rangefinder :p rangefinder love :D

This is the Sandgropper RF

www.fotomancamera.com/product_list.asp?id=335

that's not a Sandgroper RF

THIS is a Sandgroper RF:

www.cameratruck.net/Site/Landing.html

Marx - that ain't nothing but a glorified pinhole jeez :p go impress some lomo kids with that :D

THIS is a Sandgrouper RF :D



and yes I use the coupled rangefinder when on the street and it is accurate :D

OH SNAP !

Fujifilm has just confirmed that its FinePix X100 will retail from March at around $1000

www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/17...

and yes I'm buying one the minute they're available *NEED* :p

Why can't it come out in December.... I want one earlier than March!

El Jonbré Grandé Where will you put the film dude?

that's not an official announced price.... just an informed guestimate US price... hopefully the australian dollar gains against the yen ('cause we're over valued against the US but the Yen is overvalued against both) so that we can see this for $1500AUD or less.

so.... were do we pre order?


EDIT ... oh it seems to be an "officially unofficial" price i.e that's what FUJIFILM are suggesting it might, possibly, sell for, maybe but their not sure.

El Jonbré Grandé says:

Marx - that ain't nothing but a glorified pinhole jeez :p go impress some lomo kids with that :D

oh all a bit rich coming from the toy camera squad..... .

I'd hardly say a Rolleiflex, Bessa R2a or Mamiya 6 were toys :p

mmm... looks yummy

my b'day is in march. sweet.

Good timing Kev :D

@El Jonbré Grandé
i'd say "BBF" but that would pot calling kettle

more GASterbation shots:
www.cnet.com.au/fujifilm-finepix-x100-339306147.htm

no no not the scruffy faced git but look at its proportions! ohhhh it's like all Yashica 35GX sized....

My birthday is in April so it might well be a nice little pressie to myself. But the problem is how am I going to wait? I suppose really it does not exist as these are just shots of 2 different prototypes, and place of manufacturer and a few other bits and pieces haven't yet been decided.

@Marx - but I don't own one of those :p I saw the error in my ways heh

4 months later

for those of us wondering if the media silence after the bang was Fujifilm wimping out.....

Fujifilm have been dribbling out infrmation on the X100's microsite
www.finepix-x100.com/

but it just got a showing at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in the US last week FujiFilm let Gizmodo and a few others get their grubby little on a more up to date working prototype said to be the "final form" though I think it's interesting how the LCD bulges out instead of sitting flat with the rest of the back... maybe a swing or tilt screen for final release?

www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=4624

still apparently on track for March release in the US

still on track for $1000 to $1200 USD

I'm in the pre-order queue at DigitalRev.... so tucking all my spare change away to be able to put the money down the moment it's officially released.

Want.... So ....bad. But I was given a gf1 only a month ago...can I justify both?

Damn for a little pocket rocket this baby has the goods, just a pity it has a fixed lens. At first glance I thought it was an old 35mm film, then I realised that it's lines may be retro but what it can do is far from yesterdays technology. We are looking at the future with this little lady.

tim.. the magic word was "given" so you didn't buy the GF so you can't say you "bought too many cameras"

I must admit I'm in a quandary myself... with the Voigtlander body and Leica mount lenses I've been seriously thinking about getting a NEX5 with a Leica to NEX adaptor.... (I know I bagged the NEX's interface when I first tried it but the OS update for it seems to make things tolerably better)


@ Chris I've been building up a wish list of lenses for my Voigtlander but decided there's no point getting anything else except maybe a 12 or 15mm ultra wide as after almost 15 rolls of film through it I've not even thought about the need or want to unmount the 35mm lens.
The 35mm (equivalent) focal length seems to be the ideal documentary photography lens length... anything longer than 50 mm and you're out of a compact camera's raison d'etre anyway.
My guess is that one or two of high end adaptor lenses, say a 75% and a 133%, which may upset the purists, will give the average travel photographer all the versatility they need.

Are there actually any sites showing extensive photos produced by this camera..? Or has it not reached the preview/trial stages yet?

ay, there's the rub.....

the camers that are being handed around at the CES can and do produce an image (viewable on the rear screen) but apparently no one's allow to pop out the SD and load up the images.

this is why I'm not putting any actual money down yet (and will willingly slip back in the queue) as there are no sample images out.

can be as sexy as hell but if its a lemon .....
but Fuji's Finpix are generally well regarded (as were their DSLRs) so they are no Johnny come lately

Very wise the M8 was a very sexy looking beast but it was a dogs dinner, released too early to market with a lot of problems.
I really want this to be good, very good, so here's hoping that my hopes won't be dashed.

The camera is in pre-ordering now, RRP US$1200.

Been keeping up with the news on this, I can see myself picking one up used in a year's time or something. Really looking forward to having a go on one when they arrive here though.

lets place bets on how much local prices deviate from the $1,193 AUD.

I call $1500

$1699 but they'll give you a free 4Gb memory card

Camera Electronic just posted that the RRP is $1299. Not sure if that means they will sell at that price.

cameraelectronic.blogspot.com/2011/02/fuji-x100.html

www.finepix-x100.com/

:D

So who's gone out and pre-ordered themselves a new toy recently =)

I pre ordered one but will have to hand in my ticket to the front of the line due needing to reallocate those funds elsewhere.

I'll probably end up getting one with this years tax return instead.

Am I the only one missing something ?? I just had a look at this camera and thought .. it looks OLD :) ...

Lol I think that's the whole point Albedo! I read a write up on this camera just last week and that was a major selling point!

Well apart from the quality of the entire camera and the LENS!!

The article I read didn't have a picture of the back..... I'm assuming that's more modern looking what with the LCD etc but from the front it looks almost identical to an old camera that someone recently left me in their will!!

I would get one in a heart beat if it wasn't so expensive...... and we won't even mention the fact that I already have 9 cameras and would probably be killed if I got another...... although given how it looks I could probably pass it off for an older camera purchased at a swap meet! lol

The "looks old" comments amuse me :) go take a look at the cameras still being produced by Zeiss, Voightlander and Leica :p

The biggest attraction to me fir this camera us its sensible controls layout (just like a film rangefinder) - I'll be purchasing one once available :)

I think "looks classic" would be a more apt description. I'd say that they are targeting the retro market (no harm in marketing if done right) but to me its the combination of a, hopefully, high quality lens and large sensor with easy to use manual controls in a reasonably compact unit.

Essentially it's the antithesis of 99% of compact cameras on the market which paradoxically combine an almost total lack of user control with feature overload and produce very average, at best, IQ files "

Perhaps I got into photography a bit late to appreciate the likes of Leica, Zeiss, Voightlander, but to me these companies are like dinosaurs fading away in history paving way for the likes of mammals such as Canon & Nikon that seems to evolve and adapt much quicker.

I find it hard to comprehend why a Leica M9 is the same price as a Nikon D3X? Obviously there are still some people that’s willing to pay that sort of money, but the question is how long would that last before these dinosaurs disappear altogether.

I think your looking at a Lotus Elise and wondering why people buy that instead of a Holden Monaro

different strokes that's all.

Basically in most situations a DSLR is exactly the wrong camera.

In days of film past you could grab a Oly trip or a canon rangefinder or similar with high quality glass

But unfortunately except for a few compacts like the Canon G series and certain Lumix models there was no digital alternative to the heffalump of a DSLR.

with the new Pens and and other Micro 4/3rd units and now the x100 units like that around means the M9 will simply return Leica to were they were before - at the higher end of the practical camera.

note I do love my DSLR but it sits at home most of the time because it's about 2 KG to heavy about 3 times to big physically and far too obvious when wanting to be discrete

>>I think your looking at a Lotus Elise and wondering why people buy that instead of a Holden Monaro

Perfect example.. (I think, I don't exactly know what a lotus elise is.. maybe a Tesla Roadster would have worked too)

^ jeremy, this is an elise....


..and can you imagine the shots if the iso works well at a band gig!! Antz would go crazy! (not to mention if "no dslr allowed' this would win hands down!)

What's the best pre-order prices around Perth these days? =) I think the classic Leica look will be around just as long as the current DSLR shape/appearance, if not, longer. It's a luxury brand on its own in the world of photography.

IF Jeremy need electric then we can give him an electric Elise (by "give him an electric Elise" I mean "give him an electric Elise as a point of reference")

The Tesla was originally prototyped using an Elise, and some of the non electric tech and body gear of the later prototypes and production model is still directly derived or modified from the Elise.

closer to home UWA eng school. have an electric Elise (and an electric Hyundia Getz - and let me say no normal Getz can accelerate like this one can) that can sometimes be seen driving around Perth.


@ Digital Nostalgia - I had mine with a couple of Hong Kong stores as no Perth stores had official pre orders until a few weeks back.
prices? don't know but looks like around $1250 to $1300 is going to be the go for Perth street prices (another reason for going the SE asia route as it looks like it might be under a grand (and escape GST) from HK and Singapore)

Team Digital, Camera Electronics and Gerry Gibbs all have "official" waiting lists

www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod7248.htm

now officially released to stores.

but alarmingly Digitalrev are listing the australian price as $1859.99 which as an internet retailer significantly higher than the originally quoted price of $1200 or less for the australian street price.

looks like no X100 for me until next year

:(

Still only $1,219 (or whatever) on the link that Alistair posted above..

Great hands on review - with video taken through the Viewfinder !

www.digitalrev.com/en/fujifilm-finepix-x100-hands-on-revi...

theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer...

X100 production halted.

Another review:

www.ephotozine.com/article/fujifilm-finepix-x100-15857