Fujifilm’s retro-tastic X100 has been selling like hotcakes since hitting shelves earlier this year, and the company is reportedly primed for another big announcement: the X50. According to rumors swirling around the web, the X50 will be a smaller and cheaper relative of the X100 that uses the same sleek design.
While both cameras shoot 12 megapixel photos, the X50 will use a 2/3-inch sensor (smaller than Micro Four Thirds cameras) instead of the APS-C one found in the X100. The camera is also rumored to have an optical viewfinder, raw capabilities, and 1080p video recording. What’s most attractive is the price: instead of the $1200 price tag found on the X100, the X50 will cost just $600. Expect to see an announcement within the next few weeks.
sonyalpharumors published the above image today showing what appears to be a pre-production render of an upcoming Sony NEX camera (reportedly the NEX-7). If the image is to be believed, then it looks like Sony is gunning for the customers Fujifilm is trying to capture with its popular X100 — people who want a retro, rangefinder-style camera with a viewfinder and large sensor. The camera is rumored to have a 24MP APS-C sensor, an electronic viewfinder, manual aperture and shutter speed controls (like the X100), and a comparable price of $1,200.
Fans of the Fujifilm X100 who are hoping the company will release an interchangeable lens successor to the camera may soon get their wish. Camera division chief Takeshi Higuchi strongly hinted at their plans for an interchangeable lens camera in an interview with Reuters:
The launch of a mirrorless camera, which has an electronic viewfinder, making it lighter and more compact than a professional-style single-lens reflex camera, would be an extension of Fujifilm’s effort to move upmarket and would put it in direct competition with Sony.
The X100 uses an APS-C-sized sensor found in many DSLR cameras. The company is currently in fifth place in digital camera sales behind Canon, Sony, Nikon and Samsung, but Higuchi says the company plans on passing Samsung by next year and Nikon within three years. Given how in-demand the X100 has been, we’d say Fujifilm is off to a good start.
Fujifilm recently put out this infomercial showing the company’s efforts to restore production capabilities after having their manufacturing plant damaged by the disastrous earthquake and tsunami back in March. We get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what the manufacturing plant looks like, and the assembly line that puts the X100 together.
One of our keen-eyed readers named Daniel recently opened up his July issue of Wired magazine and saw this advertisement for the popular Fujifilm FinePix X100. What caught his eye was the following line:
The FinePix X100 provides smooth tonal rendering, an exceptionally low S/N ratio and outstanding image clarity.
S/N stands for “signal to noise” and an “exceptionally low S/N ratio” would mean the camera shoots extremely low-quality, noisy photographs — hardly the thing you’d want to boast about in an advertisement!
Update: Title and tweet fail: we originally wrote “Kodak” instead of “Fujifilm” in the title of this post. Sorry Kodak!
Photographer Gary Cruz is one lucky dude — not only did he get his hands on a Fujifilm X100, but he got what might be the world’s first X100 cake as well! It was given to him by his talented wife Beverly.
While we’re on the subject of Fujifilm’s sizzlin’ hot FinePix X100, here’s what the camera looks and sounds like when shooting at its maximum rate of 5 frames per second. Silent but deadly.
If Fujifilm has been waiting to see whether the retro-tastic FinePix X100 would sell well before working on an interchangeable lens followup, they’d better start calling the engineers into the office. The camera is finally starting to become available in the US, but every time a handful of the cameras appear on Amazon, photography blogs alerttheir readers and the inventory is sold out within minutes. Reviewers are also heaping their praises on the camera — here’s what Steve Huff has to say about it:
The Fujifilm X100 ROCKS and it ROCKS HARD. No, it is NOT perfect but neither is the Leica X1, or NEX-5, or E-P2, or Ricoh. What the X100 has is a combination of looks, size, performance and technology all wrapped up into one classic and sexy well built design. $1200? It’s priced right folks. To be honest, this could be my only camera and I would be happy. It’s light enough to take anywhere, it’s a joy to use, and once you get used to how it operates and exposes, the results are up there with the best of the APS-C cameras. [#]
Look at the bright side: the price of the $1,200 camera has dropped on eBay from $2,000-$3,000 used to $1,600 new with Buy it Now!
Turns out Fujifilm’s new FinePix X100 isn’t just nice to look at — DxOMark just published results from testing the camera’s APS-C sensor, finding that it delivered better results in all aspects compared to the best Micro Four Thirds camera sensors (namely the Olympus PEN EP2 and Panasonic Lumix DMC GH2) and rivals the quality of the best APS-C sensors found in DSLR and SLT cameras. Now if only the camera would start becoming available here in the US…
If you somehow got your hands on a Fujifilm Finepix X100 already but don’t mind waiting a little longer to use one, you can double or triple the money you paid by selling it to desperate buyers on eBay. Fujifilm was already experiencing extremely high demand and possible shortages, but then the tragic earthquake in Japan completely halted production of the camera after Fujifilm’s factory 20 miles from Sendai was damaged.
There are a few of the cameras being sold on eBay right now, with one auction for a used X100 — with a scratched LCD screen, no less — at $2,300 already with nearly 3 days remaining. This is for a camera that will be selling for $1,200 new when it’s available.
