Fuji 35mm-e f/2 fixed lens rangefinder-like digital camera

charybdis

I'm surprised this hasn't turned up here already.

• manual controls with non-LCD based shutter speed dial and aperture ring
• new viewfinder design allows optical view of scene with superimposed information or full TTL electronic view
• APS-C size sensor
• 23mm (equivalent to a 35mm lens in 35mm film terms) f/2 fixed lens

They're not finished developing it yet, so this announcement could be a bit premature. Supposedly the intended price is about $1000.

This camera is interesting because it looks like it's going to be the first of a new class of digital camera. The m3/4 cameras and other similar mirrorless EVIL models are different in that they don't incorporate an optical viewfinder in the design and the digital rangefinders like the Epson RD-1 and the Leica M8/M9 are different again as they're rangefinder cameras. This camera is really a digital equivalent to the Contax G1/G2 or probably moreso the Konica Hexar AF.

Needless to say, want.

magicbastarder

that is lovely looking.

Cosmo K

How much is it? Looks very good, now, how do I tell .....her?;)

AnCatDubh

that's so weird. I had a 2nd browser window open with a half composed post about it - just came across it on an Amateur Photographer piece.

Yup, It would be a nice purchase if you had €1000 to spare.

A little surprised they didn't spec it with an interchangeable lens system rather than fixed - even if only from a corporate marketing perspective, but then again I haven't read into their concept.

There's something very classic with it. Should be interesting when sample pics hit the streets.

eas

DROOOL - hello santa!!!

Personally I like the single lens aspect, keeps everything nice and simple.

Smokeyskelton

Ooh la la!

That's gorgeous, but at such a price, I'll have to worship from afar.

Ghost Train

I like the design but do like black cameras, not sure I'd like all the silver on this camera

the idea is cool though

TinyExplosions

Looks fantastic, don't think I'd spend a grand on it though

charybdis

Well the price that's being bandied about is 1000 USD which (at current exchange rates) is about 750 Euro (although companies seems to go through some very strange maths when arriving at European prices for their wares relative to their pricing elsewhere). 750 Euro is a fairly typical cost for a low-end DSLR and a basic fast prime, and I think this camera would obviate the need for a DSLR in a lot of cases. Obviously, it's not going to be much use in a lot of specialised cases: sports/wildlife/macro, but they're niche markets anyway, and you'd probably have to spend a lot more than the cost of this camera to get a decent setup for any of them.

This camera is clearly intended to work in the role that rangefinders had traditionally filled: working handheld, quietly & unobtrusively, often in less-than-ideal lighting conditions, with control over the camera where you need it and without impediment when you don't. I suspect this camera could replace a large number of DSLRs in most situations in which they are used and probably do the job better.

If I was in the market for a camera, I'd have a hard time not buying this one (based on available information and when it's available).

sNarah

Mh - Like!

I'm a sucker for picking camera's purely based on what they look like (usually "oooOoo, Pwetty suffices) so obviously that yolkie is making me drool! I do think you make a valid point of it fitting in snugly being as (more?) capable of DSRL shots but being much more compact to carry around.

I think a new trend in DSRL will be reshaping popular or outstanding film SRL's into digital - including a retro design. The Olympus Pen (on my not-so-little wishlist) is a prime example of this.

I wonder if at some point there will be a model where can switch between digital and analog in the one and the same camera. I would buy that for sure.

magicbastarder

sNarah wrote: »

I wonder if at some point there will be a model where can switch between digital and analog in the one and the same camera. I would buy that for sure.

never going to happen. would be waaay too awkward.
i was once told that some company in the states came up with a patent where they would make a digital back to retrofit to popular film SLRs (a one-way conversion, afaik), but that sony bought the company and buried the patent.

nice conspiracy theory, but colour me skeptical.

TinyExplosions

With a Hasselblad you can switch from digital to film....

enda1

magicbastarder wrote: »

never going to happen. would be waaay too awkward.
i was once told that some company in the states came up with a patent where they would make a digital back to retrofit to popular film SLRs (a one-way conversion, afaik), but that sony bought the company and buried the patent.

nice conspiracy theory, but colour me skeptical.

But sure isn't that how digital started with kodak or the like?

Ghost Train

sNarah wrote: »

Mh - Like!

I'm a sucker for picking camera's purely based on what they look like (usually "oooOoo, Pwetty suffices) so obviously that yolkie is making me drool! I do think you make a valid point of it fitting in snugly being as (more?) capable of DSRL shots but being much more compact to carry around.

I think a new trend in DSRL will be reshaping popular or outstanding film SRL's into digital - including a retro design. The Olympus Pen (on my not-so-little wishlist) is a prime example of this.

I wonder if at some point there will be a model where can switch between digital and analog in the one and the same camera. I would buy that for sure.

would be nice if somebody came out with a 35mm sensor you could insert into any old camera instead of using film

The first kodak slrs were a bit like that using modified nikon film bodies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_DCS

CabanSail

Ghost Train wrote: »

would be nice if somebody came out with a 35mm sensor you could insert into any old camera instead of using film

I did hear that someone was looking at making such a beast, squeezing the battery & electronics into a module the size of a 35mm canister. IIRC it was dropped as the market was seen as being too small to justify the development costs.

DaireQuinlan

It's a nice looking camera all right, I'd buy it like a shot if it were a film camera Fuji have been doing this for a while though for film cams, the natura, the klasse and klasse w, that 6x7 folder they did last year and the new 6x7 wideangle they announced in photokina. Going by the progression with the natura I'd say this fixed lens model is the talking point, the buzz generator, and will sell for a hefty premium and will do fantastically well in Japan and maybe not so well elsewhere. The next model will be similar but have a bog standard P&S zoom stuck on the front.

Ricoh are another company who have been making similar cameras, both in film and digital. Fixed lens compacts with sufficient manual controls to make them interesting. Fuji has combined this with a rather attractive aesthetic, that's for sure.

davmigil

CabanSail wrote: »

I did hear that someone was looking at making such a beast, squeezing the battery & electronics into a module the size of a 35mm canister. IIRC it was dropped as the market was seen as being too small to justify the development costs.

Silicon Film were developing it. Seem to have vanished without a trace.

From memory would only really work with small sensor size as the directional light gathering abilities of sensor so different to film. Would need microlenses for larger sensors, which would be prohibitive for cost and size, plus you would probably need a slightly different design for each camera. I really really would love a full frame one of these though.

sNarah

On a slightly related note (since it's similar I thought I'd be okay to keep it in this thread) - Elven posted this earlier today:

http://www.saikatbiswas.com/web/Projects/Holga_D.htm

Digital HOLGA (concept)

duffarama

I'm buying one of these as soon as I can!

Was going to sell off all my digital equipment anyway and be film only for a while as I never take my digital stuff out anymore.

The X100 though, wow, drool!

It's just what I want, I was considering an Olympus EP2 and the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 but not anymore.

Can't wait for Q1 2011, €1000 at the ready!

punchdrunk

looks beautiful,shame it's APS-C

magicbastarder

why is that an issue?

charybdis

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

It's a nice looking camera all right, I'd buy it like a shot if it were a film camera

You could just buy a Hexar AF, it's basically the same camera, but uses film.

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Fuji have been doing this for a while though for film cams, the natura, the klasse and klasse w, that 6x7 folder they did last year and the new 6x7 wideangle they announced in photokina. Going by the progression with the natura I'd say this fixed lens model is the talking point, the buzz generator, and will sell for a hefty premium and will do fantastically well in Japan and maybe not so well elsewhere. The next model will be similar but have a bog standard P&S zoom stuck on the front.

It'd be difficult for them to stick a typical 35mm style P&S zoom on an APS-C camera like this without making the lens huge. If they were to make it a zoom camera, they'd probably have to change the sensor for something smaller to keep the size of the camera manageable.

sNarah wrote: »

On a slightly related note (since it's similar I thought I'd be okay to keep it in this thread) - Elven posted this earlier today:

http://www.saikatbiswas.com/web/Projects/Holga_D.htm

Digital HOLGA (concept)

I remember seeing this a few months ago. It's a nice idea, but it'd have to be very expensive given the cost of fabricating full frame sensors. I realise they've tried to appear to have mitigated this point by qualifying full frame with "last generation" but most of the cost relating to fabricating full frame sensors comes from the difficulty in fabricating chips of such a large physical size as opposed to the actual sensor technology involved, so they're not going to suddenly get a lot cheaper. Hopefully, the fabrication process will get better and they'll get a higher yield of full frame sensors per silicon wafer, bringing the cost down eventually, but it'll be a long time before a camera like this costs significantly less than a full frame DSLR.

punchdrunk wrote: »

looks beautiful,shame it's APS-C

Have you seen how much the full frame Leica M9 costs? Brand aside, it isn't cheap putting a full frame sensor in a small camera. If this camera did have a full frame sensor, it'd be less than half the price of the cheapest currently available full frame camera. Making it full frame would require a larger camera body and a larger lens.

I think they were right to go with APS-C.

cnocbui

davmigil wrote: »

Silicon Film were developing it. Seem to have vanished without a trace.

From memory would only really work with small sensor size as the directional light gathering abilities of sensor so different to film. Would need microlenses for larger sensors, which would be prohibitive for cost and size, plus you would probably need a slightly different design for each camera. I really really would love a full frame one of these though.

That acceptance angle story was put about by Olympus as the reason why they would not produce an OM Zuiko adapter for their 4/3 cameras. Then Canon and Nikon went and proved them wrong - or at least overly perfectionist - and you had the incredible irony of being able to get an adapter ring to mount OM lenses on Canon digital bodies but not Olympus ones!

Olympus eventually came up with an adapter ring to mount OM lenses on 4/3 bodies.

I seem to recall that there was some talk of Foveon making a digital back for OM bodies, but it never happened, unfortunately.

Old Perry

What do people think would be a reasonable price for a little gem like this.

Sleepy

When it gets to around €400 second hand I'll pick one up if it feels as good in hand as it looks...

Placebo

the successor to this is going to be announced tomorrow, speculated price is €1300, which i find is ridiculous, but with that small size, cant resist


http://thedigitalvisual.com/this-is-the-first-official-look-at-the-fuji-x-pro1

magicbastarder

i picked one up in the airport recently and played with it. the UI is horrendous.

Placebo

how much did you pay for it?
Did you update the firmware to the latest ? apparently they improved some bits.

magicbastarder

sorry, i literally meant i picked one up, just to play with it.

Placebo

heres the successor
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilmxpro1/
http://fujifilm-x.com/x-pro1/en/index.html


i think its over 2k USD? jeez

the_tractor

I don't think the X-Pro1 could be considered a successor to the X100.

They are totally different cameras, on with a fixed prime lens, and one with interchangable lenses.

The X-Pro1 is also near twice the price of the the X100.

They look damn good though.

alfalad

the_tractor wrote: »

I don't think the X-Pro1 could be considered a successor to the X100.

They are totally different cameras, on with a fixed prime lens, and one with interchangable lenses.

The X-Pro1 is also near twice the price of the the X100.

They look damn good though.

Agreed think they tested the water with the X100 and have now released the lower end x10 and the higher end model X-Pro1, all aimed at different market segments. Still think the X100 looks the best.