It certainly looks like it has a manual focusing ring on the lens from the link posted above with more info. The MTF for the lens looks very promising and the built-in, three stop ND filter was a stroke of genius for Bokeh freaks. This looks to be a very well designed/ thought out camera. I'm really curious about how this camera will be priced. My completely uneducated guess is somewhere between $999 - $1399.
I like the big shutter speed dial, it looks easily accessible with the eye on the finder. Anything smaller would make it more of a shutter priority camera like some Leica Ms.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
It certainly looks like it has a manual focusing ring on the lens from the link posted above with more info.
But no distance scale. Maybe it has focusing distance info in the VF... good enough for such a wide lens
Looks wonderful and hope the hybrid VF is as good as it sounds, but I wish it had shipped with say a 23-50 f/2, even it meant a bit more bulk, or was IL camera. I'd still strongly consider even with the fixed FL though.
One curious thing is why they didn't employ their new hybrid AF they announced recently?
Aperture ring, speed and exposure comp dial. But what about iso?
It doesn't seem to be an actual rangefinder though. How do you focus?
Interesting lens. Pretty wild design. Wonder why they still had to go to the hassle of offset microlenses although the lens being highly asymmetrical.
The MTFs look great but they are clearly calculated and do not account for diffraction.
I can imagine it working like a rangefinder still. The EVF can overlay the picture as captured by the sensor (maybe stopped down lens slightly) into the optical viewfinder image. If the camera knows the focus distance of the lens, than it could align the picture in the EVF accordingly to give the rangefinder experience. Possibly over a greater picture area than in traditional rangefinders (even state of the art M9 is pretty tiny, actually).
MichaD wrote:
OK repeat, so how do you manually focus?
Just scale focus or through the evf/screen then I guess
Yep scale focus. Which is something you cannot do with any M4:3 camera because they dont display distances anywhere. The X1/Sigma DP/Canon s90/Lumic LX3 do. From their website snapshot it seems like it also gives you an idea of dof on the scale, based on aperture used and distance focused.
But this is obviously not manual focusing per se, it is pre-focusing and batch focusing in zones, or hyperfocal. Good for landscape and any type of stopped-down shooting.
I'm still trying to work out if you can focus manually on a shot-by-shot basis through the VF. I guess it does offer the magnified view through the LCD but I'm not a big fan of that (too slow and awkward).
Basically it looks like a digital version of the sublime and delicious Konica Hexar AF.
This looks the most interesting digital camera in at least a year or more, to me.
Between this and the newly announced GF670W, Fuji is pretty much at the top of the list of camera makers with equal dedication to film and digital, and marching to their own beat. Gotta love that!
This appears to be the same size. And I bet ISO 1600 is far better than the ISO 1600 I used to shoot with film. If the price is reasonable, I gotta get my hands on this.
Ed Sawyer wrote:
Basically it looks like a digital version of the sublime and delicious Konica Hexar AF.
Yeah this is exactly what I thought, I have a Hexar AF and use it regularly and it really reminds me of it, only with even better controls (the Hexar has buttons for shutter speed and distence focus) and better shutter speeds (the Hexar only goes up to 1/250). It probably is smaller too, never mind that you can change ISO and all the other benefits of digital.
But the Hexar owes a good part of its fame to its silent shutter and the ability to AF instantly and accurately even in complete darkness. It also has a VF which is as big and as bright as a Leica M6, I dont know how good is the Fuji in those departments.
