chrisnyee wrote:
I hope it won't be, but won't be surprised if it is around $1400-1600
Yes, i think that is a better bet. The Leica X1 is $1999. God knows Fuij can produce and sell a comparable camera for a lot less than Leica. Just not having that red dot on the camera should alone save you a few hundred.
I am assuming that this is not a "limited edition" exercise like the Fujifilm Klasse and the Fujifilm GF670. Given that it has a "custom sensor", they probably need good volume to cover the cost/investment required.
I don't even know where to start with that lens design. That odd 3rd element is seriously bizarre. You really need a full ray-trace to make any sense of that I think. I looked for the patent online briefly and didn't turn up anything.
This is pure speculation on the eve of a huge trade show, but considering how one photo pundit site put it...
"Work is still early on the {X100}, and Fujifilm doesn't expect to launch it until early 2011. Most of the hard specifications, as well as the price and availability, aren't yet ready"
...I am going to take this as a sign that we are going to see some pretty neat EVIL system equipment at Photokina, and that Fujifilm's hoping that this news, however pentax 645D-esque (read: premature) it may be, will keep people from pre-ordering any GF2s or E-P3s (or Nikon Qs or Canon 'whatevers') that we're likely to see available for Xmas shopping lists.
I think the front of the lens is on the left side. The rear element is enormous to lessen the angle of the light rays that strike the edges of the sensor and to improve light distribution. It kind of reminds me of the lens on that old full-frame Olympus supercompact P&S film camera (I think it was called the XE). The front element was small and the rear element was made enormous because the distance between the film plane and the rear element was so tiny.
I just noticed the front is on the left side of that diagram too. Makes it even more bizzare and interesting! The rear element is HUGE, bigger than the sensor it looks like.
Knowing which way the light goes, it looks like the rear 3 elements are basically to correct and straighten angle of the the rays from the front 5 elements, which taken together, are slightly similiar to some near-symmetric rangefinder designs. The only lens I can think of offhand that is even slightly similar to the front 5 elements is the 65mm used in the Fuji GSW690III, which has a pretty symmetrical construction.
I wonder if one of those rear elements incorporates the ND filter somehow? How would they implement that, I wonder?
btw, the Oly being mentioned above was the XA not the XE. They had 4 versions of it.
Ed Sawyer wrote:
I just noticed the front is on the left side of that diagram too. Makes it even more bizzare and interesting! The rear element is HUGE, bigger than the sensor it looks like.
Actually it looks like the front element is smaller than you might expect (see the image of the front of the camera). Accordingly, the rear element isn't that big, and probably not bigger than the sensor.
I just compared the measurements with my Olympus 35 SP, and they are similar in both height and width, and the depth of the body is similar, but the Fuji has a smaller lens. My 35 SP isn't exactly small, so, if I do decide to buy the Fuji, it'll have to go along side my NEX-5, rather than replace it.
For a fixed lens digital this is actually a rather large camera. Almost as large as a Leica M with pancake lens and certainly much larger than the likes of Sigma DP, Leica X1 etc. That puts it in a different category I think, def not a pocket camera.
........... It does 1280x720 video as well.