Valhalla, N.Y. – Fujifilm North America said Tuesday that its
FinePix X100 premium digital camera will begin shipping in March.
The X100, which will ship in March with a $1,200 suggested
retail, is a high-performance compact digital camera that was developed in
response to requests from professional and advanced amateur photographers.
The camera offers high-precision features in a traditional camera
design. Images are captured using a d-SLR-equivalent
12.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, a Fujinon 23mm single-focal-length fixed f2
lens, a 2.8-inch 460k-dot LCD screen, and what Fujifilm is calling “the world’s
first hybrid viewfinder.”
“The combination of a hybrid viewfinder, large APS-C sensor and a
precisely matched prime lens make this camera unique to anything else in the
market, and is presented within a rangefinder design that makes it an instant
modern classic,” said Go Miyazaki,
Fuijfilm N.A. imaging and electronic imaging divisions president.
The FinePix X100’s APS-C CMOS high-performance sensor was
internally optimized and developed exclusively for this model. Optimization of
the angle-of-incidence in conjunction with the specially developed lens
maximizes light-gathering efficiency, extending to the perimeter of the sensor
for a sharper image with exceptional clarity.
When shooting HD movies, the combination of the large-sized
sensor and the large aperture F2 lens, lets users create a soft out-of-focus
image — a capability not available in conventional compact cameras. The combination of a fixed-focal-length lens,
high-sensitivity sensor (approximately 10 times the sensitivity of a
conventional compact) and a high-performance image processor captures quality images
in conditions from low sensitivity to high sensitivity. In standard form, the planned ISO range is
from 200 to 6,400, but this can be expanded to include 100 and 12,800.
The 23mm f2 lens (135mm equivalent in 35mm) has a non-collapsible
lens structure that produces sharper resolution from the center to the
corners. It employs eight elements in
six groups. The adoption of a nine-blade aperture diaphragm combined with the
large f2 aperture and high-quality optics takes photos with a circular soft effect
for backgrounds.
The lens includes macro shooting capability for close up from 4
inches away, and a built-in neutral density (ND) filter can be switched on or
off.
The hybrid viewfinder combines the window-type “bright frame”
optical viewfinder found in rangefinder-type film cameras with the electronic
viewfinder system incorporated in most compact or mirrorless digital cameras.
By integrating a prism for the 1,440,000-dot LCD panel image on
the viewing screen in the reverse-Galilean optical finder, the hybrid viewfinder
can show both the shooting frame and a variety of electronic shooting data.
It has the ability to instantly switch between optical and
electronic viewfinder modes using a “one touch” control.
The camera will capture images in RAW quality, enabling full
image with advance photo-editing suites.
In addition, photographers can use the built-in RAW development
function to process the RAW data in-camera using the camera’s image quality
settings.
The camera also offers the choice between the 49-point auto EVF
focus area or the 25-point OVF auto focus area as well as the selection of five
different focus area sizes in EVF mode.
Users can capture HD videos in 720p resolution, and they can
capture movies with aperture-priority AE to produce a soft, defocused
background effect.
A built-in HDMI mini connector allows a direct connection to an
HDTV for playback.
A motion panorama function captures 180-degree and 120-degree
panoramic photos. The results can be
printed as 11.7-inch by 16.5-inch enlargements.
A multi-bracketing function has four modes: AE, ISO, dynamic range
and film simulation.
