Digicameinfo and Fujirumors are spoiling all Fuji secrets and this is what Fuji is going to announce soon:
In January will announce a new high end and weather sealed X camera with Fujica ST classic alike design. Rumored features are:
– bigger and better EVF
– APS-C X-Trans sensor (16MP)
– double SD-card slot
– weather sealed body
– price range between X-E and X-PRO line
– FujicaST-like design
– faster AF than the X-E2
And this should be the new XF lens roadmap:
– XF 16-55mm F2.8
– XF 50-140mm F2.8
– XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6
– Large-diameter wide-angle lens
– Super-telephoto lens (200mm or more?)
P.S.: The X30 will come in February/March.
2 Responses
What about the 56mm f1.2?
Nice line up of pro level fast zooms coming up! My guess is that they should have lens stabilization built in.
X30… curiously interesting as I once owned a X10 and I liked how the X20 improved.. I wonder what else is new and improved in an X30? I think a constant aperture throughout the zoom range would be great… it seems to be the trend with a lot of the newest compact do it all in one camera like the Sony RX10 and Olympus Stylus 1.
Hmm.. A new black X100S? I hope they don’t make a stupid move and mark up at least $500 just to get the same X100S camera in black like they did with the old one… otherwise, you could do almost as well with the price reduced older black X100 with lens hood and case and limited edition.
With the latest firmware update to the older X100, it sounds nearly as good, performance-wise, to the current X100S camera.
I think the main “downgrades” to owning the older X100 as oppose to the new X100s are:
1) You will get slight lower megapixel count and less sharp images because it still has the low pass filter.
2) Also, the X100 has lower res EVF and rear LCD (not sure if that’s been improved since?)
3) No MF assist such as split-image, though you will have focus peaking now since the latest firmware update.
4) No Phase Detect AF… I doubt that both X100 and X100S should be used for any fast action photography anyways, but it may simply be faster and more accurate in the general AF department… not sure how that aspect compares to the latest firmware update for the X100 which supposedly has made the AF (&MF) even faster and accurate than ever?
As with the new weather-sealed X camera that’s based on the Fujica style of camera. That looks promising with all the new features. If it holds up well and true to the vintage slr-look it is supposedly inspired from, I think it may be a nice alternative to the Nikon Df. Sure, it ain’t full frame, but the Fuji APS-C X-Trans sensors are pretty damn good in their own right.. I think if they nail the style and in particular the size and proportions of this new camera just right.. actually small and compact much closer to a true film camera, then it will be extremely hot! I think Fuji can do it! Besides, advantage mirrorless… it will definitely be more compact and slimmer.
But, this begs maybe another question, will this new X camera that’s Fujica-styled, be the new flagship?.. Maybe no more X-Pro 1 (or whatever number)?
I mean most news suggest no new X-Pro 1 successor in the near future and they want to keep upgrading the old one (the only X-Pro camera, that is).. which is fine, but maybe it’s because they don’t plan to have a new X-Pro rangefinder-style camera?
To be honest, I really love the X-Pro 1, but it has it’s shortcomings and issues… You really can get the best out of the X-E2 for that type of camera at present.. the OVF is pretty cool in the X-Pro 1, but to be honest, it’s not much use and not really practical.. if you want to take a proper photo and be sure you frame your shot just right (and be able to check exposure and focus), you really should stick to using the EVF which is why the X-E2 is probably the best most practical of the X rangefinder-style cameras… has everything the X-Pro 1 can do, but costs less and nothing extra you don’t need or can live without.
Don’t get me wrong, I welcome a new and improved X-Pro 1, but I’m wondering how will it be that much better than the X-E2? or, the new Fujica-styled weather sealed X-Camera?.. other than some “gimmicks” like the OVF which adds a few $100 and honestly isn’t quite better to use in practice than an EVF? They’d have to really up the sensor capabilities and IQ and throw in every single bells and whistles to make it shine above anything else. I’d like to think they can get truly fast and accurate AF and maybe if there’s a way they can make the OVF REALLY ACCURATE (as rangefinder VF’s go with unavoidable parallax correction), then maybe it will be something really cool, outstanding and special and make one go wow!
Anyways, a lot of exciting news on the horizon and can’t wait to see the facts start pouring in in the next couple of months.