Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
A full day at CES yesterday, and I made straight for the Fuji stand in the central hall as my first port of call.
Fuji had a good display of technology from snappy cams through the X series, to pro TV cameras and lab photo printing machines.
I spent about an hour with the Fuji team. looking at the new equipment and asking as many questions as I could.
X100S
It looks and feels exactly like the original X100 - only the S gives it away.
All accessories fit the new camera, and they have designed a new leather case with a built-in flap for the battery/SD Card slot.
The rear of the camera has a minor change, the RAW button is now the Q button.
Manual AF is easier as the lens now requires fewer turns to move focus.
The Menu for MF allows you to select split screen focus (shown above) which delivers a nice digital form of the old focus technology - it's easy to decide if focus has been achieved, and it works well.
You can also select the focus peaking feature.
This shows areas that are in focus with a ring type highlight - and is very effective when using the EVF. Its's very clear what is in focus using peaking - a good addition for MF users.
The Fuji reps said that both features required the new focus sensors in the X-Trans II, so would not be implemented in older cameras using firmware.
The X100S is silver only for now - they were tight lipped about a black version - but one rep suggested that three months after launch there might be more news...
Over-all the camera looks the same, performs faster for AF, and has the new features - a good upgrade.
X-20
I've not used the older X-10, so this was all new to me.
Very similar look to the X100S - also available in black from day 1. Good build quality and weight - very small with zoom retracted.
AF seems snappy and the rear screen is good - no focus peaking or split screen as far as I could tell.
Both the X100S and the X-20 were pre-production models, so I was not allowed to take any images with them.
X Series 14mm Lens
I got the chance to fit the 14mm lens to my X-Pro1 and take some test shots at the show - the lens needs new camera firmware to enable all functions, which was unavailable, but it seemed to perform AF just fine.
Here's the 14mm on the X-E1 (ignore the incorrect lens hood)
And here are some test shots taken with my X-Pro1
Close Focus - which is extremely close!
The 14mm has fast AF, and very little distortion - it feels solid and well made, with smooth AF, and a typical aperture ring just like the previous primes.
The additional manual focus scale is a nice feature.
Very happy with the quick test - I will be buying this lens as soon as available - Fuji reps suggested within the next 2 weeks.
Lenses
There was an additional case of X Series Lenses - with many future lenses represented - these lenses were not available to handle or use, so could have been pre-production dummies. I was told that Fuji plan 12 lens releases by the end of 2013.
Activity was high on the stand - lots of interest - and the X-20 had just won an award at CES so the Fuji team were very buoyant.
They confirmed that they had not seen the cameras at all until Monday - they were kept completely under wraps by Fuji Japan.
Fuji had a good display of technology from snappy cams through the X series, to pro TV cameras and lab photo printing machines.
I spent about an hour with the Fuji team. looking at the new equipment and asking as many questions as I could.
X100S
It looks and feels exactly like the original X100 - only the S gives it away.
All accessories fit the new camera, and they have designed a new leather case with a built-in flap for the battery/SD Card slot.
The rear of the camera has a minor change, the RAW button is now the Q button.
Manual AF is easier as the lens now requires fewer turns to move focus.
The Menu for MF allows you to select split screen focus (shown above) which delivers a nice digital form of the old focus technology - it's easy to decide if focus has been achieved, and it works well.
You can also select the focus peaking feature.
This shows areas that are in focus with a ring type highlight - and is very effective when using the EVF. Its's very clear what is in focus using peaking - a good addition for MF users.
The Fuji reps said that both features required the new focus sensors in the X-Trans II, so would not be implemented in older cameras using firmware.
The X100S is silver only for now - they were tight lipped about a black version - but one rep suggested that three months after launch there might be more news...
Over-all the camera looks the same, performs faster for AF, and has the new features - a good upgrade.
X-20
I've not used the older X-10, so this was all new to me.
Very similar look to the X100S - also available in black from day 1. Good build quality and weight - very small with zoom retracted.
AF seems snappy and the rear screen is good - no focus peaking or split screen as far as I could tell.
Both the X100S and the X-20 were pre-production models, so I was not allowed to take any images with them.
X Series 14mm Lens
I got the chance to fit the 14mm lens to my X-Pro1 and take some test shots at the show - the lens needs new camera firmware to enable all functions, which was unavailable, but it seemed to perform AF just fine.
Here's the 14mm on the X-E1 (ignore the incorrect lens hood)
And here are some test shots taken with my X-Pro1
Close Focus - which is extremely close!
The 14mm has fast AF, and very little distortion - it feels solid and well made, with smooth AF, and a typical aperture ring just like the previous primes.
The additional manual focus scale is a nice feature.
Very happy with the quick test - I will be buying this lens as soon as available - Fuji reps suggested within the next 2 weeks.
Lenses
There was an additional case of X Series Lenses - with many future lenses represented - these lenses were not available to handle or use, so could have been pre-production dummies. I was told that Fuji plan 12 lens releases by the end of 2013.
Activity was high on the stand - lots of interest - and the X-20 had just won an award at CES so the Fuji team were very buoyant.
They confirmed that they had not seen the cameras at all until Monday - they were kept completely under wraps by Fuji Japan.
