Fujifilm X-Pro1

Like its X-series brethren, the Fujifilm X-Pro1 hits the market as the only camera quite like itself. The photo-enthusiast community had been hoping and even expecting something like the X-Pro1 after last year’s successful X100 fixed-lens premium compact, but it’s still a surprise when something so bold actually gets announced.

It’s a mirrorless compact system camera, but it’s the only one so far that’s been aimed directly at professional and semi-pro photographers (and really just a subset of those power-users). The boxy, retro-rangefinder chassis looks like it’s straight out of the disco era, and the only lenses that will be available at launch for its new mount are a handful of fixed focal-length pieces that we’re told will cost about $650 each. It takes geeky, technical risks that don’t pop off the spec sheet at all (how many photo buffs honestly know what a primary color filter array or low-pass optical filter do?), and it’s going to cost around $1,700 at launch—about $500 more than its closest system-camera competitor.

Those brave design choices are a big part of why the X-Pro1 is the most endearing system camera we’ve seen in years. We can only really comment on the design and handling since we haven’t been able to run it through our battery of image quality tests. But from what we’ve seen, it’s a sweet, slick shooter. The OVF/EVF hybrid viewfinder (first seen on the X100 and updated for this system) is excellent, the redesigned menu system is a notably easier to wrangle than the hieroglyphics in past Fuji models, and the control scheme and handling made us feel like we were really controlling this camera, at least more than we usually do with auto-oriented system shooters.

That said, the manual, almost mechanical operation isn’t for everyone. For photographers raised in the digital era, the control scheme will take some getting used to. There are no scene presets, very little hand-holding, and it’s subject to the complicated nature of a tunnel viewfinder (even one augmented with an electronic overlay). It’s really chunky, and not particularly fast—something that Fujifilm willingly admits to. And despite Fujifilm’s claims that the image resolution will rival and even surpass that of a full-frame camera, we also can’t be sure how the photo quality will stack up, especially considering all the new, unproven components within the optical system.

And then there’s the matter of the competition: The Sony NEX-7 is a heck of a camera, one that draws on the features of the digital age and incorporates them into a new-age rangefinder, rather than the X-Pro1’s approach of adapting a classic to fit modern needs. The NEX-7 also sells for a comparatively frugal $1,200, with a wider variety of lenses available (and more affordable ones at that, though not necessarily higher quality). On the other hand, the X-Pro1 also competes directly with the Leica M9, a $6,000 camera, so if the Fuji can even come close to the Leica’s quality, it’s sure to snag tons of users away from that system.

We’re eager to get the X-Pro1 into our labs for testing to see if it truly is a camera worthy of the pro and semi-pro segments. A lot of questions still need to be answered, but it’s a promising camera that’s already inspired plenty of envy, and stopped a few folks from spending their holiday bonuses on the NEX-7. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching this race unfold.