The [shoplink 100018]Fuji X100[/shoplink] won the Camera Grand Prix Editors Choice Award! I guess nobody here is surprised to hear that :). That’s the conclusion form the jury: “Fujifilm’s FinePix X100 is a compact digital camera featuring a new hybrid viewfinder, which combines a projected bright-frame optical viewfinder and an electronic viewfinder system with approx. 100% field of view and a 1,400,000 dot LCD panel. A magnesium alloy body with manually operated control dials, an APS-C CMOS sensor and new EXR processor deliver the highest image quality in the history of FinePix cameras, the quality of which is so high that is almost beyond the performance of DSLRs.”
And here are two more new X100 reviews:
Ken Rockwell posted his final X100 review (Click here to read the full article). I like that part:
“The fixed lens is superb, but Fuji really could have stuck it to LEICA if they threw away the 23mm lens and replaced it with a hole, a LEICA M mount, and a full-sized 24 x 36mm sensor. Fuji could have called it the M10, and pitched it as “The Future of M Photography.” (LEICA has no trademark on the letter M or “M10” as far as I know.)
In a Japanese minute Fuji could have advanced LEICA photography by over 50 years. The LEICA M9 still uses viewfinder technology that is actually a cost-reduced downgrade from the superior finder of 1954’s LEICA M3. The X100’s finder is 60 years ahead of LEICA, which like Harley-Davidson, is decades of tradition unhampered by progress.“
CNET (Click here) posted a Fuji X100 review (including a video with Lori Grunin): “For some people considering this camera, autofocus performance won’t matter; for instance, it’s a great choice for landscape photography or portraits, or using it like a fixed-focus camera for street photography. If you want to use manual focus, you really should try before you buy to make sure you’ll be comfortable with the mechanism and viewfinder.“
Check the price and availability by clicking those direct X100 search links: [shopcountry 100018].
9 Responses
I hate you Ken Rockwell…
It’s Ken Rockwell, don’t take him serious. Don’t you remember what he said about the M9?
[QUOTE]Crowned the World’s Best Digital Camera
The LEICA M9 has the best image quality, the best portability, and is the easiest and fastest camera to use today.
Any one of these three critical elements used to be enough to get me to buy a camera.
The LEICA M9 embodies all three at the same time. I’m still pulling myself off the floor in shock.
[…]
Honestly, the LEICA M9 is the first digital camera I’ve ever used that just shoots; all the others are film.
Holy cow. If the Leica M9 did any one of these things alone I would have bought it. The fact that it wins on all three accounts at the same time makes it unquestionably the best digital camera ever made for travel, nature, landscape, interior and outdoor photography.
I mean unquestionably. Sure, I can always find nitpicks with any camera, but even my biggest whines about the LEICA M9 don’t detract from any of these three areas of excellence. Even with whatever few sillinesses I can find with the M9, any one of the three incredible ways the M9 goes about its business so seamlessly more than compensates for any other complaint. [/QUOTE]
Ok, ready far the all black version.
I’m pretty much craving one too. They Look super awesome! I’d imagine a great baby cam.
> … like Harley-Davidson, is decades of tradition unhampered by progress.
That’s true only if one judges things by their look.
IMO It is not much about X100, as much as Ken why ever pissed at Leica.
The headline to the CNET review says it all:
“Fujifilm X100 verdict: The next one should be great”
Having a couple of Leicas I love the solid feel and weight of this camera. Image quality is excellent however the current firmware for menu navigation could be improved and I hope the forthcoming firmware upgrade will fix this. We use DXO photo optics so it would be nice to get a profile for the x100 and also be able to do quality HDR using this camera.
You don’t have to take Ken’s word for it.
I’m looking seriously at buying this camera!
Here is another excellent review of the X100.
http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/blog/2011/05/fuji-x100-review/
As usual, Rockwell got his facts wrong, this time about the Leica M9’s viewfinder. It is emphatically not “actually a cost-reduced downgrade from the superior finder of 1954?s LEICA M3”.
What Rockwell is talking about affects only the coupled rangefinder ‘patch’ that appears in the viewfinder. He is correct insofar that a cheaper item was used after M2 production ended, which sometimes resulted in the viewfinder patch flaring.
However, this ‘downgrade’ was reversed with the Leica MP of 2003 and also applied to production of the Leica M7 shortly afterwards. The M8, M9 and M9-P all have the superior rangefinder optical system that is extremely flare-resistant.