Fujifilm Unveils Compact System Camera

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 1/10/2012

Las Vegas - Fujifilm is taking a huge step into a tiny camera category at International CES as it presents its first mirrorless compact system camera bringing with it a return to the interchangeable lens camera field.

Fuji is also showing 19 point-and-shoot models slated for the spring lineup, including an advanced point-and-shoot SLR-like model and a new long-zoom model in the sophisticated F series line.

The highlight of the show for Fujifilm is the X-Pro1 compact system camera. Pricing and availability date will be announced.

The X-Pro1 will build on the success of the X100 model, with camera that features a custom-developed 16-megapixel APS-CMOS sensor incorporating a new filter array and the company's proprietary EXR processor technology.

The camera also includes a second-generation hybrid viewfinder and takes three prime interchangeable Fujinon lenses, all with fast aperatures.

The lenses include: the 18mm (27mm equivalent) f/2.0, 35mm (53mm equivalent) f/1.4 and 60mm (90mm equivalent) f/2.4.

Meanwhile, the SLR-looking X-S1 will ship in this month at an expected $800 suggested retail and F750EXR will ship in March at $350.

The X-S1 has the look and feel of a traditional d-SLR, and includes a large 2/3-inch 12-megapixel EXR CMOS sensor and a newly-developed, bright all glass Fujinon F2.8 wide-angle to F5.6 telephoto lens with an ultra-smooth 26x manual zoom (24-624mm equivalent).

The Fujinon lens includes 17 glass lens elements in 12 groups, has a metal cam design and smooth zoom control.

An intelligent digital zoom is said to effectively double the telephoto capabilities for up to a 52x total zoom effect, and a Super Macro Mode that captures images as close as 1cm.

The EXR processor enables extremely fast auto focus while minimizing shutter lag. It supports high-speed continuous shooting of approximately seven frames per second at full resolution.

The camera's EVF offers 1.4 million dots of resolution and uses two glass lenses and one non-spherical lens to capture realistic lighting, to complement the 3-inch titling LCD that includes a Monitor Sunlight Mode for viewing in bright sunlight.

The body design includes a rubberized grain texture coating for superior grip, and a hot shoe mount to add additional accessories.

It will record video at up to Full HD 1080p resolution.

Meanwhile, the new FinePix F750EXR offers a sleek compact body design with intuitive user controls, a ½-inch 16-megapixel EXR-CMOS sensor with strong low light shooting capability, and a 20x super wide-angle lens (25-500mm equivalent) with an Intelligent Digital Zoom that effectively doubles the range to 40x.

The F750EXF also features a 3-inch clear, high contrast 460,000-dot LCD with Monitor Sunlight Mode, high-speed shooting at up to 8 frames per second at full resolution (11 fps max speed at medium resolution), and full HD movie capture at 1080p (30fps) with stereo sound.