Fujifilm eating Leica's lunch?

I woke up earlier that usual this morning. Not sure why. I wonder if it had something to do with the slight slowing down of the Earth's rotation, possibly caused by Leica Camera AG executives and their collective sphincter tightening.

Why are so many Leica executives experiencing a slight laxative effect? This is why - the Fujifilm FinePix X100 large-sensor compact:

I will leave it up to you to read up on the specs of this camera. DPReview can do it so much better than I can. What I will say is that this is the camera that many photographers have been waiting for, for many years. Already I have had several phone calls today, from interested photographers, asking whether I've heard about this announcement, and, without exception, all of them want this camera. That simple! There's been no information about price yet, yet every single photographer that I spoke to today, *every single one of them*, wants to buy this camera!

It's simple to see why! Until now, in the digital world, the needs of photographers who require a small camera have been met by slow, ugly-looking contraptions, mostly made of plastic. Most digital compacts don't have optical viewfinders, and if they do, they are usually atrocious to use. The sensors are small and have lots of electrical noise at high ISO speeds. The lenses are mostly average, and generally slow. The controls are finicky, and usually menu-driven. The list goes on. Recently, the Micro Four Thirds cameras from Panasonic and Olympus have started a trend - the sensors are bigger, the cameras are small and reasonably fast. Other manufacturers have also started to "see the light", and a couple of large-sensor compacts have appeared. But, alas - still no usable optical viewfinder. Nothing of note, anyway.

If you wanted a (reasonably) small digital camera with a great optical viewfinder, there was only one choice, and it was the same old choice - Leica. And even Leica could not make a compact digital camera with a proper optical viewfinder, unless you wanted to spend around USD $7,000 on the Leica M9 body. Then you needed more money for a lens! Your other option was the Leica X1, a good-looking little compact, unfortunately plagued by other issues, such as slow autofocus. No viewfinder, either. And not cheap, at USD $2,000!

But at least you got the simple controls that photographers love (and one of the reasons why Leica is still so well-regarded).

So it is a breath of fresh air to hear that Fujifilm will be bringing the Fujifilm FinePix X100 to market. Check this out:

Yep. A real aperture ring on the lens! Two simple dials on the top plate, for shutter speed and exposure compensation. Why did it take so long? I have no idea. Photographers have been asking for something like this for the last decade. Yeah, there are still buttons, but they are for the less important functions of the camera.

The good news? It has an optical viewfinder. With a twist! Also a large APS-C CMOS sensor, and more.

The better news is that it's nearly here. And it comes from Fujifilm, a well-known and respected lens and camera manufacturer. See details here, and follow the discussion at The Online Photographer, to see just why so many photographers are truly excited to see this camera!