Fuji interchangable-lens camera leaked!

[shnitz]

Man, this forum has really slowed down since the texasphotoforum days, I can't believe it's not posted yet!

Fuji LX mirrorless camera leaked | Photo Rumors

Imagine an interchangeable lens X100. Or, another way to think about it is a Leica M9 with an APS-C sensor and autofocus. It will supposedly initially have 3-4 lenses:
-18mm f/2
-35mm f/1.4
-A zoom (I'm assuming an 18-55?)
-Potentially a 60mm as well

Personally, I can't wait! Just another reason to not build my m4/3 kit up too much more, although they are kind of different markets. The Nikon 1 and m4/3 cameras are more to replace your SLR that you don't want to carry, while this is a digital rangefinder.

[Tom]

[d2creative]

Bummer it's not full frame.

Also, it's not a rangefinder.

[groovyone]

Interesting...

[Dobick]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Bummer it's not full frame.

Also, it's not a rangefinder.

from the photos it looks like it has a rangefinder window?

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by Dobick

from the photos it looks like it has a rangefinder window?

I am guessing it will have the hybrid VF ala x100.

[Snarfy]

Yeah, I'm imagining my X100 with a small 35mm 1.4 and... well, I'm aroused.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by Dobick

from the photos it looks like it has a rangefinder window?

It has a viewfinder and what looks like a flash.
I don't see a rangefinder window.
But it also mentions a zoom lens which means the view is through the lens.

[Jake]

I'm interested.

[Tom]

It moved.

[Snarfy]

mmm the plot thickens. Designer interpretations, and a handful of other juicy bits.

What Fujifilm’s Upcoming Mirrorless Camera Might Look Like

[Dobick]

well I guess I am kinda confused, because from what I could tell, the little box that you would look through on the back, lined up perfectly with the larger window on the front, so that it would appear that this is not an EVF.

Either way, looks pretty dang cool

[SCone]

OK, I'll ask the question..... aren't most all P&S cameras "mirror-less"?

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by Dobick

well I guess I am kinda confused, because from what I could tell, the little box that you would look through on the back, lined up perfectly with the larger window on the front

That would be called an OPTICAL VIEWFINDER. Which is just a clear window with brightline frames projected into it for framing your subject.

Here's an illustration that shows the key parts to a rangefinder, mainly the bright frame window and the rangefinder window.

[shnitz]

Originally Posted by Dobick

well I guess I am kinda confused, because from what I could tell, the little box that you would look through on the back, lined up perfectly with the larger window on the front, so that it would appear that this is not an EVF.

Either way, looks pretty dang cool

Haha, is that why you mentioned that it's not a rangefinder? I was confused about that, I thought that you were adhering to a stricter definition of what constitutes one, so I just let it be instead of asking for a clarification. In that first image, it looks like I can see through the viewfinder; it appears to be an OVF to me, although I could almost guarantee that they will include the hybrid capability of the X10. So, this camera and the X10 look like a rangefinder to me, or at least the modern interpretation of one, barring any intricacies about what constitutes a camera to be one or not.

While full frame would be great, I would guess that would knock it up to 2/3 the price of the Leica, especially with trying to get such a large organic sensor. It's rumored to be $1,400 right now, but I assume that to be conservative. Given the performance they've been able to get so far with APS, I think they'll be fine sticking with it. Plus, there are enough optical issues to overcome that Fuji has to seriously weigh the cost/benefit; even with their current surge in the market, they don't have the draw of Leica. I will probably not give up my Panasonic system for it, but I'll be keeping my eye on this. If all my student loans are paid off soon enough, I'd consider treating myself before splurging money on something like a car.

Originally Posted by SCone

OK, I'll ask the question..... aren't most all P&S cameras "mirror-less"?

Yes, but P&S cameras don't have competitive image quality to DSLRs, and they don't have interchangeable lenses. They also most often (if not always?) don't have a mechanical shutter.

Originally Posted by d2creative

That would be called an OPTICAL VIEWFINDER. Which is just a clear window with brightline frames projected into it for framing your subject.

Here's an illustration that shows the key parts to a rangefinder, mainly the bright frame window and the rangefinder window.

For the sake of argument, let's try to pin down exactly what makes the camera a rangefinder. Both my Leica III and my Olympus XA are rangefinders. They both have that ghost-image focusing, and a distance scale. First, the XA2 is exactly the same as the XA, but they took away the distance scale, so that the only way to focus is split-image; no guessing the distance with the XA2. So, for argument's sake, is the XA2 a rangefinder, being equal to the XA besides a distance scale? I would argue that it's still a rangefinder. It's still the same style of camera, that functions in exactly the same way, for the most part. Also, technically, the distance scale is not the "rangefinder" part of the camera, the rangefinder "ghost-focus" is.

Second, if you use the advancements of technology to make the rangefinder feature digital, and you don't have the analog rangefinder window, would you stop considering the camera a rangefinder? I say no. If I were to take an XA for example and take away the ghost-image, and instead make a small readout on the bottom left that shows you the focused distance, along with a focus confirmation light (and maybe focus indicators, like on the D7000), then it still has a rangefinder feature.
Look at this image of a D7000 viewfinder. Feature [7] is a focus indicator and focus assist arrows that tell you to either focus forwards or backwards.
Nikon D7000 Review by IR

So, if I now took our theoretical camera, with Nikon's feature [7] in the viewfinder, and a readout of current focused distance, and I now remove the focused distance readout, is the camera still a rangefinder? Like the XA2, it no longer tells you where you're focused distance-wise, but with the XA2, you at least knew how far out of phase you were. If the ghost image was very far away, you knew that you need to change focus more. With our theoretical camera, we just know if we're frontfocused or backfocused or not.

What if you took a theoretical Leica M10, and it was exactly like the Leica M9, but with autofocus instead of the split window, would you consider the Leica M10 to be a rangefinder?