Fuji X100 - getting closer?

[nikkortorokkor]

Is this getting closer to what we want?



Fuji are billing the Finepix X100 as "the professional's choice", but with an APS-C CMOS sensor, a fixed, 23mm (35mm equiv.) f2 Fujinon lens and a "hybrid" evf and optical viewfinder, the beating heart of the new Fuji appears to be the high quality compact rangefinder of the 1960s which were largely the province of enthusiastic amateurs.

I'm sure that with all the discourse on this board over EVFs and LCD screens, the Fuji, with its 'hybrid' finder is getting closer to the qualities which attracted us to quality Japanese 35 mm cameras. It certainly looks gorgeous to me.

Here's Fuji's site for the X100

www.finepix-x100.com/en

Michael.

[Deleted]

Nice looking camera. I refuse to EVER own a digital where the only option is to compose your picture on a display on the back of the camera.

I don't think I could like any non interchangeable lens camera $1,200 worth.

[mickeyobe]

After reading all the hyperbole I could find nothing about any other lenses and, therefore, conclude that it is a fixed lens camera.

For ONLY $1,200.00!!

I must have a very warped sense of values.

I presume it is primarily a classy "necklace" camera.

Mickey

[nikkortorokkor]

Mickey, I did some price/inflation comparisons with a classic Canon QL17 GIII.

Taking inflation into account, the GIII would sell for just about US$500 today, based on its 1972 price.

Thus, the Fuji is expensive by comparison.

OTOH, the X100 is arguably now a niche model, whereas the QL17 was marketed in huge numbers; economies of scale surely apply.

With a magnesium chassis, good sensor and fairly tricky lens, the X100 appears to be trying for flawless construction. Also, of course, there are not the same ongoing costs with any digital camera and since you are buying the image capturing media as well as the lens and body, one might expect the initial cost to be higher.

But the Ricoh GXIII, arguably a conceptually similar camera to the X100 (though without the "hybrid" viewfinder) retails for about half its price.

Given the highly stylish finish, construction and the niche nature of a fixed lens, your necklace accusation might well be accurate.

Still, I hope it flies and even morphs into a Contax G series type system. I guess we retrogrouches are hard to please. We complain about lowest common denominator manufacturing and marketing, but when the quirky companies like Fuji pull the stops out in concept and quality, we don't like the price.

MT

[nikonbob]

I think Fuji is trying to give us a camera that feels and operates more like the film cameras most of us are used to. It certainly looks the part and contains a very interesting VF. Yea, I am very interested in the X100, maybe not $1200.00 worth, but that could quickly change when I am able to actually handle one. I hope it generates enough interest that other manufacturers see fit to introduce a mirror less FF, interchangeable lens digi cam with with similar controls. As for it being a "classy necklace camera", I think that is the undisputed domain of the Leica M9. I personally don't think $1200.00 gets you much jewelry cache these days. Anyway, I hope it is a success for Fuji.

Bob

[mickeyobe]

Michael,

I have no argument with your arguments.

I merely wish to commend you on coining a word that perfectly describes me, "Retrogrouches". I feel quite comfortable with that description.

If Shakespeare and Churchill can invent suitable words so can Michael Toohey.

Well done.

Mickey

[Randy]

Pocket change!!! ;D

This is just another example of what the market will bear.

[nikkortorokkor]

Mickey,

I can't claim to have coined the phrase. Retrogrouch or Retro-grouch was coined back in the 90s to describe (mostly baby boomer) cyclists who only rode steel framed bicycles with old-style components rather than the aluminium or carbon fibre frames which were becoming the norm. I think that the term probably fits many rangefinder owners, especially those who howled loudly when Leica stopped making film bodies.

It is a badge I wear with pride!

MT

[mickeyobe]

Feb 6, 2011 13:22:35 GMT -5 nikkortorokkor said:

Mickey,
It is a badge I wear with pride!
MT

Michael,

I too would proudly wear such a badge.
Perhaps a slightly stooped person, with a cane, in a running stride with head on backwards.

Mickey

[daveh]

Nice looking camera, but it's not for me.

[Deleted]

Cut the price in half and it would start getting my interest.

Wayne

[PeterW]

Michael,

I can't lay any claim to being a retrogrouch, but I know several people who are. They too moaned when Kodak stopped making Koachrome and Leitz stopped making film cameras.

So I asked one of them how many rolls of Kodachrome he bought a year when it was still on the market, and if he had ever considered buying a new film Leica. He admitted he didn't and hadn't.

So there you have it. A simple lesson in company management. Falling sales mean falling profits, and the first duty of a company's management is towards its shareholders who expect a company with which they have entrusted their money to make reasonable profits and pay reasonable dividends.

To me, many retrogrouches are people who talk about the "good old days" without ever having lifted a finger or spent a few bucks to try to make those good old days last.

It's just an expression of nostalgia and, as all retrogrouches must know, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be. ;D.

I like the look of, and the idea behind, the Finepix F100, and would like to have one. But at $1200 its just way out of my budget range. For far less than that I could buy a near-new DSLR and a couple of interchangeable lenses. That, for me, would be a better buy.

So I'd be sorry, but have no right to moan if the Finepix F100 doesn't take off in the marketplace.

PeterW

[nikkortorokkor]

This is getting all rather philosophical, but Peter, I do agree with most of what you've written.

In the bicycle world, however, several niche companies have specialised in supplying retrogrouches with "classic" bicycles and parts. The photography equivalent would be Cosina Voigtlander.

Like Bob, my verdict on the price is deferred until I get one in the hands. I'm not a pro photographer, so for me taking photographs is a leisure activity. The right camera definitely adds to the experience. A solid, well made camera with a belter of a lens, even (maybe especially) a fixed one, might provide a more fulfilling experience than the 'usual' route of a DSLR kit.

MT

[vintageslrs]

I love it and would buy one if I could afford it..........
but I can not......but I am very glad Fuji is going to produce it.
The hope is maybe others will too. And then maybe price comes down.

Bob

[mickeyobe]

Feb 6, 2011 23:59:45 GMT -5 PeterW said:

Michael,
To me, many retrogrouches are people who talk about the "good old days" without ever having lifted a finger or spent a few bucks to try to make those good old days last.
It's just an expression of nostalgia and, as all retrogrouches must know, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be. ;D.
PeterW

PeterW,

You should see my 1972 decorated house.
I have no cell phone.
No cable TV (Telly) .
My TV is almost 30 years old.
My washer and dryer are approaching 40 years of age.
No blueberries or blackberries or gooseberries or iPods or WII's. Admittedly there are some fresh strawberries in my refrigerator.
My bicycle is still steel, not carbon fiber.
My few records and tapes don't have much music past 1959.
I still have numerous hand tools in my messy garage woodworking shop.
I wont get into my cameras but my unused basement darkroom still exists.
My body is circa 1932.

Oh. I could go on but nobody wants to listen to an old retrogrouch who must occasionally lift a finger and spend the odd buck to keep things going. But I am as happy as a pig in ....... a kosher butcher shop.

Mickey (RG)