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FujiFilm X-Pro1

FujiFilmX-Pro1

it. The pricing is going to have a lot to do with this too, as it zooms straight to the top of the class ahead of Sony’s NEX-7 – the other CSC with real enthusiast-level camera credentials – by a handsome margin. Being essentially a rangefinder-style camera, the X-Pro1 is more suited to some applications than others so, as far as professionals are concerned at least, many won’t be abandoning their D-SLRs, but then some can justify having two systems. For the amateur photographer, the X-Pro1 is similarly priced to a semi-pro D-SLR so some more deliberation might be required. That said, the X-Pro1 essentially lines up against the Leica M9 – particularly in terms of the design configuration – and here it’s around six times cheaper!

A Sermon on The mounTFujifilm’s new X-Mount is a three-claw bayonet configuration with an all-electronic interface comprising ten contacts, and lenses are fitted with a short, 45-degree clockwise twist. The flange back distance is only 17.7 mm so the lens can be mounted much deeper into the camera body – down to just 7.5 mm from the mount surface – which allows for a very short back focus distance of 10.2 mm. As a result, the rear elements can be made larger to enhance the centre-to-edge uniformity of both the optical resolution and the brightness can be improved. To explain, the flange back distance is that from the mount surface to the sensor while the back focus distance is that from the lens’s rear element to the sensor.

Fujifilm’s X-Mount lenses are designated ‘XF’ and there are three models to start with, all of them primes with fast maximum apertures. The system’s standard is a 35mm f1.4 and the alternatives are an 18mm f2.0 wide-angle and a 60mm f2.4 short telephoto that’s also a macro lens. As the X-Pro1’s sensor is ‘APS-C’ format, these are effectively a 53mm, a 27mm and a 91mm. All have manual aperture rings and focusing collars, although the latter is fly-by-wire rather than mechanical. They’re all shorter physically than a comparable 35mm rangefinder system lens, but the X-Pro1 itself is very similar in dimensions – and also styling – to the Leica M9. Not surprisingly, one of the first new accessories for the camera will be an M-bayonet mount adapter, providing access to ‘legacy’

W ithout a platform of its own, Fujifilm’s days in the D-SLR

market were always going to be numbered and, when the excellent S5 Pro finished, the brand pretty much vanished off the radar as far as enthusiast-level (and pro) photographers were concerned.

Mind you, quite a few photographers have kept their S5s working long after they should have been replaced so there’s been a hope that, sooner or later, Fujifilm would be back in high-end cameras. This hope was bolstered by the arrival of the FinePix X100 and the expectations it generated, almost immediately, that an interchangeable lens version couldn’t be all that far behind. Fujifilm did nothing to hose down the rumours because, as it happens, the X-Pro1 was already in existence when the X100 was launched.

At the camera’s Australian press launch, Hiroshi Kawahara – who is in charge of product planning at Fujifilm Corporation’s Electronic Imaging Products Division in Tokyo and essentially the ‘godfather’ of the X-Pro1 – revealed planning for this camera began three years ago and well before the X100 was launched.

“To build the brand we needed to come up with a professional camera,” he explains, “and what the X100 told us is that there are even more people looking for an authentic product with high quality than we had imagined.”

While Hiroshi Kawahara says the X-Pro1 “is the pinnacle of the X-series”, he also stresses, “This is not our last goal, but the beginning. There will be more X-mount products in the future”.

By this he actually means both camera bodies and lenses, although the immediate emphasis is on the latter, including at least one more this year.

As with the X10 compact and the X-S1 superzoom model, the ‘FinePix’ name has been dropped and the emphasis on the ‘X’ model designation which essentially denotes a higher level of everything, but primarily designs targeted at either enthusiasts or professionals. Technically speaking, the X-Pro1 is Fujifilm’s first compact system camera (CSC), although it’s not especially compact because, the company emphasises, it’s intended to be a “first option camera” rather than a “second option camera”. In other words, unlike many CSCs, the X-Pro1 is intended to replace a D-SLR kit rather than supplement

“In terms of comparisons with the Leica M9, Fujifilm is suggesting that the design of its all-new ‘APS-C’ format CMOS sensor helps make up important performance ground over a 35mm-sized imager.”

Love mAchineFujifilm’s first ‘mirrorless’ interchangeable lens camera continues the retro styling theme of the X100, but is designed to be much more of a workhorse than a pretty plaything. it’s still gorgeous though. report by Paul Burrows.

lenses from Leica, Voigtländer and Zeiss. On the way is a 14mm f1.4 ultra-wide (i.e. a 21mm) and a 28mm f2.8 ‘pancake’ lens (42mm equivalent.) and, supposedly, an 18-72mm f4.0 zoom (27-108mm). None of the existing lenses have optical stabilisation and the camera body doesn’t have sensor-shift stabilisation either, although the current focal lengths aren’t really long enough to make this a major omission.

In terms of comparisons with the M9, Fujifilm is suggesting that the design of its all-new ‘APS-C’ format CMOS sensor helps make up important performance ground over a 35mm-sized imager. The key to this is the absence of any low pass filters made possible by devising a new colour filter array which employs 36-pixel arrays – i.e. in a 6x6 pattern – rather than the conventional Bayer filter with its 2x2 RGGB arrays.

Fujifilm has been experimenting with sensor designs right from the very beginning and the new ‘X-Trans’ CMOS is another clever piece of thinking outside the square. The new array also means there are RGB pixels in every vertical row and horizontal line which translates into enhanced colour fidelity. More

Compared to the X100, the exposure compensation dial is fully recessed and now much more difficult to accidentally engage.

As on the X100, there’s a cable release socket set into the shutter release button.

This lever on the front panel switches between the electronic, optical and hybrid eyelevel viewfinder configurations. It also changes the magnification to suit the lens focal length.

The PC flash terminal is located near the base on the camera’s right-hand side (as viewed from in front).

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FujiFilm X-Pro1

of the latter. The card compartment is located within the battery compartment and both are in the camera’s plate with, curiously, the tripod-mounting socket positioned off-centre so it’s right alongside. Consequently, changing memory cards will require the camera to be first removed from the mounting plate.

coLour And conTrASTIn terms of its image processing functions, the X-Pro1 inherits everything from the X100, but with some additional capabilities. Chief among these is the addition of two new ‘Film Simulation’ modes called Pro Neg Hi and Pro Neg Standard which are colour presets primarily designed for portraiture and with two levels of colour saturation. The remaining eight film modes replicate the look of the Fujichrome transparency films Provia, Velvia and Astia (which equate to Standard, Vivid and Soft respectively) and for B&W capture with the options of adding yellow, red or green contrast control filters, or sepia toning.

The colour saturation, sharpness and highlight and/or shadow tone (i.e. the contrast) can be adjusted for the selected film mode. As on the X100, there’s a choice of three manual settings for dynamic range expansion processing – called 100%, 200% and 400% – or an automatic correction which assesses the brightness range in the scene and tweaks both the exposure and the tone curve accordingly. Auto bracketing modes are available for exposure, the ‘Film Simulation’ settings (which now allows the B&W modes to be included), dynamic range expansion and sensitivity. All capture a three-frame sequence, but there still isn’t a white balancing bracketing option.

The X-Pro1’s white balance controls are the same as those of the X100 with the automatic correction based on scene recognition analysis and supplemented a selection of seven presets, one custom measurement, fine-tuning and manual colour temperature setting. The latter’s range is from 2500 to 10,000 degrees Kelvin while the fine-tuning is available over nine steps in the colour ranges of red-to-cyan and blue-to-yellow. Obviously all this is previewable both on the LCD monitor and in the EVF. Noise reduction can be manually set to one of five levels (Low, Medium Low, Standard, Medium High and High).

importantly though, the more ‘random’ arrangement of RGB pixels – or, in technical terms, its higher aperiodicity – effectively lowers the frequency at which a moiré effect will occur (caused by interference) with repeating patterns, eliminating the need for LPFs and so enabling more of the sensor’s resolution to be realised. Moiré isn’t entirely eliminated, but the circumstances where it could possibly happen are now much fewer. Incidentally, with the two LPFs gone, the focal plane shutter can be located much closer to the sensor’s surface which also helps enables the shorter back focus distance.

PiXeLS AT WorkThe X-Trans sensor’s imaging area is 23.6x15.6 mm and the effective pixel count is 16.3 million, but it would appear this is pretty much the total pixel count too, due to the larger 6x6-pixels pattern and the more sophisticated demosaicing algorithms required (which interpolate the RGB values of each pixel). Consequently, there aren’t really any redundant or unusable pixels at the edges of the sensor.

However, the new sensor’s more complex pixel pattern does require a processor with considerable grunt. Fujifilm calls it the ‘EXR Processor Pro’ and it’s able to deliver a continuous shooting speed of 6.0 fps, but none of the published specifications quote burst lengths so this is something we’ll be determining in the ‘Speed And Performance’ section.

The sensitivity range is equivalent to ISO 200 to 6400 with two stops of ‘push’ to ISO 25,600 and a one stop ‘pull’ to ISO 100. The maximum image size at the standard aspect ratio of 3:2 is 4896x3264 pixels and JPEGs can be captured at two smaller sizes and one of two levels of compression. Additionally, there are three image sizes available at the 16:9 and 1:1 aspect ratios which are both crops. Not so the panorama modes which are created, as on the X100, by panning the camera while a rapid-fire series of images are recorded and then stitched together. If the camera is held vertically, the maximum image size is 7680x2160 pixels. There are two RAW+JPEG capture settings so the appended compressed file can be either large/fine or large/normal. The X-Pro1 accepts SD format memory cards with a single port that supports the SDHC and SDXC types, including the higher-speed UHS-1 version

Fujifilm claims its ‘APS-C’ format ‘X-Trans’ CMOS sensor can deliver superior performance to even a 35mm-sized imager thanks to the absence of any low-pass filters. The image quality is, indeed, quite stunning, particularly in terms of the absence of noise and a very good dynamic range even at the lowest expansion setting. These test images were taken at the Australian unveiling of the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider with the sensitivity set to ISO 800, the white balance to auto and the ‘Film Simulation’ mode to Vivid. The classic Ferraris – including the F1 racers – were on show to celebrate the marque’s 60 years in Australia. The oh-so-elegant X-Pro1 fitted right in.

The X-Pro1 arrives with an initial choice of three XF-series prime lenses, but Fujifilm is promising to expand its X-Mount system pretty quickly and there will be an M-bayonet adaptor very soon. The camera is shown here wearing the 18mm wide-angle which is the most compact of the trio.

New X-mount has a flange back distance of just 17.7 mm, made possible by the sensor’s architecture which eliminates the need for low-pass filters in front.

Rear panel layout is significantly improved over that of the X100. The 7.62 cm LCD monitor screen is fixed and has a resolution of 1.23 million dots.

“The X-Pro1’s standard finish is black with the traditional leather-look inserts and, quite simply, the thing looks drop-dead gorgeous.”

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FujiFilm X-Pro1

The X-Pro1 also allows for the processing of RAW files – so the images can be viewed in-camera – with adjustments for colour, sharpness, highlight and/or shadow tone, noise reduction, colour space, exposure, dynamic range and white balance (with shifts) and the application of a ‘Film Simulation’ mode or an adjustment called ‘Reflect Shooting Conditions’.

As with the X100, you get the feeling that video recording is very much a secondary consideration on the X-Pro1; provided because it has to be rather than for any other reason. Nevertheless, Full HD footage is recorded with stereo sound at the cinematic speed of 24 fps and the aperture-priority auto exposure control mode is available for increased control over depth- of-field.

The ‘Film Simulation’ modes are also available, along with the white balance presets (and fine-tuning) and continuous autofocusing, but there isn’t a dedicated movie start/stop button or provisions for fitting an external microphone.

TAking conTroL The camera control systems are also pretty similar to what’s on offer on the X100, starting with a choice of three metering methods employing up to 256 segments for multi-zone, centre-weighted average or spot measurements. These drive a standard set of ‘PASM’ control modes with the usual auto mode overrides – program shift, exposure compensation (up to +/-2.0 EV) and an AE lock.

The shutter had a speed range of 30-1/4000 second plus ‘B’ (which has a maximum duration of 60 minutes). The shutter speed dial is marked from 1/4000 second to one second, after which selecting a ‘T’ setting accesses the slower timed speeds. As it has a focal plane type shutter, the X-Pro1 doesn’t have the top-speed limitations imposed by the X100’s combined leaf-shutter/diaphragm arrangement.

Flash sync is up to 1/160 or 1/180 second, depending on the selected exposure mode and, unlike the X100, the X-Pro1 doesn’t have a built-in flash.

Instead, Fujfilm offers a very compact accessory flash – called the EF-X20 – which is operated from the camera in the same way as a built-in flash and has auto, fill-in, slow sync and red-eye reduction modes (the latter operates in conjunction with automatic red-eye removal processing). In addition to

finder is obviously one of the X-Pro1’s key attractions.

Switching between the LCD monitor and the eyelevel finder can be done manually or automatically using proximity sensors in the eyepiece. The eyelevel finder has three configurations namely purely optical (with no displays) or purely electronic or – the really neat trick – optical with superimposed electronic displays. Both the hybrid and electronic displays can be switched between standard and custom settings, the latter adding the distance/depth-of-field scale mentioned earlier, a real-time histogram, superimposed grids and a level indicator (the latter three are all switchable so any desired combination can be had). This, combined with the wonderful clarity, colour and contrast of the optical viewfinder makes for a superb viewing experience.

The EVF is a 0.47-inch LCD panel with 1.44 million dots resolution and gives 100 percent coverage. However, it looks positively muddy when immediately compared with the hybrid display and lacks both the brightness and dynamic range of Sony’s OLED EVF. The hybrid finder provides roughly 90 percent scene coverage.

The external monitor screen – which has a resolution of 1.23 million dots and is actually a joy to behold – has a third display mode for info only which includes an AF point grid and a swag of camera status indicators. New to the X-Pro1 is a ‘Quick Menu’ display which is activated via a button marked, logically, ‘Q’ and provides direct access to a range of the most commonly-needed capture and camera setting adjustments... 16 of them to be precise. These include the ISO settings, image format and size, the picture parameters, white balance settings, ‘Film Simulation’ modes, noise reduction levels and the AF modes. Navigation is via the four-way controller with the rear command wheel used to adjust the settings. Unlike some quick menus, clicking on a function tile doesn’t bring up a sub-menu and instead the settings are simply changed within the tile. It’s not totally intuitive, but it does overcome some of the clunkiness of the X100’s control interface. The menu design is also much improved and employs tabbed individual pages, eliminating the need to scroll through everything to find what you want. The pages are pretty logically organised too, so for example, page

The live view display (and the EVF) has Standard and Custom configurations. The lat-ter, shown here, can include a superimposed grid, electronic level and real-time histogram.

A distance scale provided along the bottom of the Custom display also provides a depth-of-field indicator.

The LCD monitor can also be set to an info-only display (not shown in the EVF) which includes the AF point grid as well as various camera settings.

The Standard display is a lot less cluttered and provides only exposure-related read-outs.

New on the X-Pro1 is a ‘Quick Menu’ display which provides direct access to a total of 16 camera/capture settings.

one in the shooting menu has the ‘stables’ such as ISO, image size and quality, the ‘Film Simulation’ modes and the dynamic range expansion settings. Progressive right clicks lead to the sub-menus and settings.

The playback modes include a variety of multi-frame displays, zooming on the focus point and something called ‘PhotoBook Assist’ which allows for up to 300 images to be organised for reproduction in a photo book (with the first as the cover shot).

in The hAndThe external control layout and body construction follows the X100 in terms of having dials for setting the shutter speeds and exposure compensation, but is significantly revised on the back panel.

Most notably, the clumsy combination of navigator and command wheel is gone replaced by a set of conventional four-way keys and a horizontally-orientated input wheel located separately. Additionally, thanks to the ‘Q menu’, the navigation keys aren’t dual function except for the top one also selecting the macro focusing mode. However, this can be locked off to avoid being accidentally engaged. As on the X100, a user-assignable function button is located on the top panel and can be set to a range of duties including setting the ISO, image size or quality, the ‘Film Simulation’ mode, the AF modes or the dynamic range expansion levels. The exposure compensation dial is now recessed into the top panel and has stronger detents so it’s much harder to inadvertently move it... although we did still manage to do it on a couple of occasions. The shutter speed dial now locks on the ‘A’ setting, and the release button is located in its centre. Both the ‘Q’ and AF/AE lock buttons are located on what’s essentially a thumbrest so there is the risk of accidentally hitting them too, but in general terms, the X-Pro1’s operation is much smoother and freer of hiccups than the X100’s.

It’s rather nice to still see a common-or-garden cable release socket sitting in the middle of the shutter release button. The standard finish is black with the traditional leather-look inserts and, quite simply, the thing looks drop-dead gorgeous. It’s beautifully made too, comparing very favourably with the fit and finish of the Leica. The external covers and the chassis are diecast magnesium alloy

Fujifilm has tidied up the X-Pro1’s menu system quite markedly compared to the X100. These are now organized into tabbed single-page screens, eliminating the need for continuous scrolling.

components and the markings are engraved rather than screen-printed. The dials are milled from solid metal blocks and the lenses are supplied with metal lens hoods. The rubberised handgrip is small, but quite sufficient for the job, so the X-Pro1 feels comfortably balanced with any of the three current XF lenses fitted. These lenses, too, are very nicely made with metal barrels and the same satin black finish (apparently the barrel markings are hand-painted). The aperture rings are also precision milled and click-stopped on one-third EV increments. Everything works with the ease and efficiency you’d expect of analog controls, confirming again that some things just don’t need to be changed. We’re still using steering wheels in cars because there is no better way of doing the job, and the same is true of dials and control collars on cameras. These, combined with the tidied-up menus and the ‘Q menu’ direct access, make the X-Pro1 feel pretty much like second nature both in the hand and in the field.

SPeed And PerFormAnceWe suspected fast cards were going to be the key to getting the most out of the X-Pro1’s in terms of its continuous shooting capabilities. So, loaded with an 8.0 GB Panasonic SDHC UHS-1 device, the camera fired off a sequence of 18 frames – at JPEG/large/fine quality – in 3.306 seconds which represents a speed of 5.614 fps. It’s fractionally below the quoted speed of 6.0 fps, but most likely accounted for by the file sizes being in the order of 6.9 MB.

Switching to RAW capture, the burst length was ten frames in 1.799 seconds, representing a shooting speed of 5.56 fps (the file size being 24.9 MB). The camera will go on shooting past these burst lengths, but it slows significantly. It also took a fair while to empty the buffer to the card after the RAW capture sequence which is a bit surprising. It’s also worth noting that, at 6.0 fps, the AF and AE are set to the first frame.

The autofocus is reasonably snappy, especially with the 18mm lens, but certainly not the fastest in the CSC world. However, the shutter lag which is the scourge of the X100 is virtually non-existent on the X-Pro1 and is quoted at 0.05 seconds by Fujifilm. The 256-segment metering is exceptionally reliable, and it’s rare to encounter a digital camera

The viewfinder eyepiece incorporates proximity sensors for automatic switching between the LCD monitor and the eyelevel ’finder.

Top panel ‘Fn’ button can be assigned a variety of duties, including setting the ISO, ‘Film Simulation’ modes and dynamic range expansion levels.

The navigation controls are now a four-key cluster separate from the rear input wheel which is located above (and horizontally orientated).

the hotshoe, the X-Pro1 has a PC flash terminal.

Autofocusing is via contrast detection measurements made by the imaging sensor and uses 49 points in a 7x7 array for the LCD monitor screen and the EVF, or 25 points in a 5x5 array with the optical viewfinder. The former provides almost complete coverage of the frame area. Automatic or manual point selection is set via the main shooting menu and the latter allows for the focusing area’s size to be reduced or enlarged (with five options compared to the X100’s three). A selector located on the front panel alongside the lens mount switches between the single-shot AF, continuous AF and manual focus modes. Manual focus is assisted by an enlarged image in the electronic displays, coinciding with the focus zone’s position which, strangely, now isn’t adjustable for size. It’s possible to re-activate the autofocusing momentarily by pressing the AE/AF lock button and there’s a distance scale which also appears in the optical viewfinder when it’s in its ‘hybrid’ configuration. This scale also serves as a depth-of-field indicator. The manual focusing rings on the lenses can be set to turn in either the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction to match whatever you’re familiar with.

Finder keePerThe X-Pro1’s viewfinder has a bit more to do than the unit in the X100 so it’s called the “Hybrid Multi Viewfinder II”. The extra duties relate to switching between the lens focal lengths which is achieved via a combination of superimposing bright frames and changing the magnification. Increasing the latter ensures the frames for the longer focal length lenses aren’t too small. The viewfinder magnification is at 0.37x for the 18mm and automatically switches to 0.60x for the 35mm and 60mm lenses. It’s also possible to manually switch between the frames and the two magnification settings.

As with all rangefinder camera viewfinders, there’s a limit to the focal lengths that can be accommodated and it looks like the 27mm to 90mm range is about it – it might just be able to handle a 24mm – so it will be interesting to see how Fujifilm deals with any wider-angle X-mount lenses it might have planned. Of course, there’s still the LCD monitor screen, but the hybrid optical/electronic eyelevel

“We’re still using steering wheels in cars because there is no better way of doing the job, and the same is true of dials and control collars on cameras.”

Fuji

Film

X-Pro1,

$2499*

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Type: Fully automatic digital camera with Fujifilm X bayonet lens mount.Focusing: TTL automatic 49-point or 25-point wide-area system using contrast-detection via imaging sen-sor. Manual switching between one-shot and continuous AF modes. Adjustable AF frame (five settings). Full manual override with zoom assist. Sensitivity range is EV 0 - 18 (ISO 100). AF assist provided by dedicated illuminator. Metering: 256-point multi-zone, centre-weighted average, spot and TTL flash. Metering range is EV 0 to 18 (ISO 100/f2.0). Exposure Modes: Continuously-variable program with shift, shutter-priority auto, aperture-priority auto and metered manual. Shutter: Electronic, vertical travel, metal blades, 30-1/4000 second plus ‘B’ (up to 60 minutes). Flash sync up to 1/160 or 1/180 second depending on exposure mode. Exposure compensation up to +/-2.0 EV in 1/3-stop increments.Viewfinder: Hybrid optical/electron-ic type. LCD-type EVF has 1.44 mil-lion dots resolution and 100% verti-cal/horizontal scene coverage. OVF has 90% vertical/horizontal scene coverage and 0.37x/0.6x magnifica-tion (according to the fitted lens). Automatic brightline frame adjust-ment and superimposed digital displays (including real-time histo-gram) Automatic/manual switching between the OVF/EVF and the LCD

monitor screen. Eyepiece strength adjustment built-in. Flash: No built-in flash. External flash units connect via hotshoe or PC terminal.Additional Features: Magnesium alloy bodyshell, AE/AF lock, auto exposure bracketing (up to +/-1.0 EV over three frames), multiple exposure function (two shots), multi-mode self-timer (2 and 10 second delays), audible signals, auto power-off, cable release connection.

DIGITAL SECTION

Sensor: 16.3 million (effective) pix-els ‘X-Trans’ CMOS with 23.6x15.6 mm imaging area and 3:2 aspect ratio. Sensitivity equivalent to ISO 200-6400, extendable to ISO 12,800 and 25,600.Focal Length Magnification: 1.5x.Formats/Resolution: Two JPEG compression settings, RAW output (lossless compression) and RAW+JPEG capture. Three resolution settings at 3:2 aspect ratio; 4896x3264, 3456x2304 and 2496x1664 pixels. Three resolution settings at 16:9 aspect ratio; 4896x2760, 3456x1944 and 2496x1408 pixels. Three resolu-tion settings at 1:1 aspect ratio; 3264x3264, 2304x2304 and 1664x1664 pixels. 24-bit RGB colour for JPEGs, 36-bit RGB colour for RAW files.Video Recording: H.264 MOV

format at 1920x1080 pixels, 24 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio and 1280x720 pixels, 24 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio. Stereo microphones built-in. Clip length limited to 29 minutes and 59 seconds. No stereo audio input.Recording Media: SD, SDHC and SDXC (UHS-1) memory cards.Continuous Shooting: 18 JPEG/large/fine frames (as tested) at up to 6.0 fps or 10 RAW frames (as tested). Low speed mode captures at 3.0 fps.White Balance: TTL measurement. Auto mode, seven presets and one custom settings. White balance compensation (amber-to-blue and/or green-to-magenta) in all presets, and white balance bracketing. Manual colour temperature setting from 2500 to 10,000 degrees Kelvin. Interfaces: USB 2.0 and HDMI mini connector.Additional Digital Features: Sensor cleaning, 7.62 cm RGBW LCD monitor (1.23 megapix-els), ‘Film Simulation’ modes (Standard/Provia, Vivid/Velvia, Soft/Astia, Pro Neg High, Pro Neg Standard, Monochrome, Monochrome+Yellow, Monochrome+Red, Monochrome+Green, Sepia), ‘Motion Panorama’ modes (vertical and horizontal, two sizes), dynamic range expansion (Auto, 100%, 200%, 400%), adjust-able image parameters (colour saturation, sharpness, highlight

tone, shadow tone), histogram display, electronic level display, grid displays, guidance displays, depth-of-field preview, bracketing functions (AE, Film Simulation, Dynamic Range, ISO), high ISO noise reduction, long exposure noise reduction, seven custom set-up memories, sRGB and Adobe RGB colour space settings, playback/editing functions (RAW Conversion [11 adjustable parame-ters], Erase, Crop, Resize, Protect, Image Rotate, Red-Eye Removal, PhotoBook Assist), image search modes (Date, Face, Favourites, Type Of Data, Upload Mark), auto playback (with fade), multi-image playback, 9/100 thumbnail displays, zoom playback, silent mode, PictBridge and DPOF support.Power: One 7.2 volt/1260 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack (NP-W126 type).Dimensions (WxHxD): body only = 139.5x81.8x42.5 mm.Weight: body only = 400 grams (without battery or memory card). Price: $1799 body only. $2499 with Fujinon Super EBC XF 35mm f1.4 R prime lens or XF 18mm f2.0 R prime lens. Each of these lenses separately priced at $699. Fujinon Super EBC XF 60mm f2.4 R macro lens priced at $749. The optional EF-X20 flash unit is priced at $359.Distributor: Fujifilm Australia, telephone (02) 9466 2600 or visit www.fujifilm.com.au

* with the Fujinon Super EBC XF 35mm f1.4 R or the XF 18mm f2.0 R prime lens

The top panel layout is pure classic RF camera – flash hot-shoe, shutter speed dial and exposure compensation dial.

and colour saturation. In the Vivid mode, the JPEGs have an almost film-like quality – particularly in terms of balancing definition and smoothness – that we haven’t really seen before even in cameras with bigger sensors. In all then, the imaging performance, especially in terms of the absence of noise even at the highest ISO settings, is nothing short of stunning.

The verdicTInterestingly, the X-Pro1 is rather less ‘cutesy’ retro than the X100. It seems to be a whole lot more purposeful perhaps because of its larger size, but certainly because of the interchangeable lenses. The classical styling is still most definitely there, of course, but the overall emphasis appears to be more on the function than the form.

Furthermore, the balancing of the traditional and the contemporary is even cleverer, and it’s been a long time since we’ve picked up

a camera that immediately felt so right. That you don’t need to go near the instruction manual to work everything out is another testimony to the sheer competence of the X-Pro1’s design at every level.

that doesn’t require some degree of exposure compensation to ensure a good brightness range. Additionally, the dynamic range is exceptionally good even when set to the lowest setting of 100%. The overall image quality is exceptional with loads of beautifully defined detailing, wonderful colours and extremely smooth tonal gradations. Noise levels are exceptionally low across the sensor’s full native sensitivity range and so, at ISO 6400, are exemplary for an ‘APS-C’ format camera. There’s some slight graininess evident in areas of uniform tone at ISO 12,800, but it’s pretty minimal and, even at ISO 25,600, everything still holds together exceptionally well. The same is true for the RAW files which you’d expect to be noisier than the processed JPEGs, but actually aren’t and remain excellent all the way up to ISO 6400. Of course, the JPEGs can be tweaked in-camera for sharpness, contrast

The superlative imaging performance certainly also helps put the price tag into perspective.

The X-Pro1 isn’t entirely flawless, but it is undoubtedly a truly great camera.

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