Fujifilm Joins the Mirrorless Crowd

The Fujifilm X-Pro1 is the latest entrant into the mirrorless camera market, with a 16.3mp APS-C sensor and a proprietary Fujifilm X mount. No low-pass filter (AA filter) is used over the sensor. Instead, the sensor is organized in 6x6 photosite blocks that have a high degree of color randomness to their CFA (Red, Green, Blue) filtration. Instead of RGRG on one row and GBGB on the alternating rows, we get this:

GBGGRG
RGRBGR
GBGGRG
GRGGBG
BGBRGR
GRGGBG

Basically, the sensor appears to be tailored towards resolution (and lack of color moire) at the slight expense of color discrimination. As with most Fujifilm cameras, the X-Pro1 supports the various Fujifilm "film simulations" and expanded dynamic range.

The X-Pro1 features a retro-based design with an hybrid optical/EVF viewfinder similar to that of the X100. Optical viewfinder magnification automatically switches from 0.37x to 0.6x for various lenses (90% frame accuracy quoted). As with the X100, the X-Pro1, the basic control design is highly retro, closely resembled the old Contax G in many ways. However, the camera is much bigger than the X100 (almost the size of the Leica M9)--it is not a small mirrorless camera. 

The camera will have a selling price of about US$1700 and be available in March 2012. Initial lenses for the camera will be an 18mm f/2 (28mm equivalent), 35mm f/1.4 (52mm equivalent), and 60mm f/2.4 macro (90mm equivalent). Eventually, nine lenses will be launched, with the widest being 14mm (21mm equivalent). An optional metal grip will be available, a Leica M-mount adapter will be another option. The camera ships with Silkypix as the supplied raw converter (a slight step in the right direction--Fujifilm's own software efforts leave much to be desired).

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