Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review

Fujifilm X-Pro1

The Fuji X-Pro1 is the first Fuji SLD and it aims directly at the high-end market with its unique 16 megapixels X-Trans CMOS sensor and very mechanical retro design. It uses an 1.5X crop sensor with a 3:2 aspect ratio, just like the majority of DSLRs, except that forgoes an anti-alias filter thanks to its unique color-filter-array which is not prone to Moire artifacts.

With this camera, Fuji introduced its own XF lens mount which has a very short flange distance. This makes it easier to design high-quality lenses and lens-mount adaptors, including one made by Fuji for the Leica M-mount. Fuji launched this camera with three bright prime lenses, rather than the usual zooms, reinforcing the X-Pro1 as a high-end offering with a small footprint. This is crucial for SLDs since they must provide a clear advantage over DSLRs which have an iron-grip on the high-end digital camera market.

The Fuji X-Pro1 features a unique Hybrid-Viewfinder, perfected from the Finepix X100
Fujifilm Finepix X100, which can switch between a 1.5 MP high-resolution EVF and a rangefinder-style OVF. It also has a super-sharp 1.2 MP 3" LCD. There are mechanical dials for shutter-speed and EC plus a control-dial on the camera and an aperture-ring on all current XF-mount lenses. This gives it the direct and efficient controls favored by photographers. All this in a durable metal body with hot-shoe for external lighting.

This digital camera review analyses the usability, performance and image quality of the Fuji X-Pro1.

Fuji X-Pro1 Features

The Fuji X-Pro1 features a 16 megapixels sensor with a unique color-filter array which does not require an anti-alias filter. Normally, an anti-alias filter is placed right in front of the sensor to very slightly blur light reaching the sensor. This avoids the sensor trying to resolve details which are too fine and could result in Moire artifacts. The side-effect of this is that most camera sensors never get as much details as they can capture, assuming a high quality lens, of course. Incidentally this has been a selling point for cameras using Foveon sensors as well as the Nikon D800E
Nikon D800E DSLR which is the no-anti-alias-filter version of the D800
Nikon D800.

Having such a high-resolution sensor without an anti-alias filter makes the X-Pro1 suitable for large prints with extremely sharp details, as long as the lens in use is sufficiently sharp. This is probably why Fuji started the XF-mount with high-quality prime lenses. Otherwise, they might have wiped out the resolution advantage of the new X-Trans technology.

The sensor in this Fuji is as large as is currently found in Sony SLDs and in the Pentax K-01
Pentax K-01 which gives it good resistance to image noise. With a standard ISO range reaching 6400, the Fuji X-Pro1 can work in very low-light. Those shooting JPEG images also have access to expanded sensitivities up to 25600 and ISO 100.

This digital camera is built in a tough metal body with plenty of external controls including direct dials for shutter-speed, exposure-compensation and aperture (on the lens) for efficient access. Despite the high-end build, the X-Pro1 is not weather-sealed and neither are any current XF-mount lens. This makes it suitable for professional use but not in adverse weather conditions.

This SLD is equipped with the most sophisticated viewfinder system yet which lets users choose the behavior according to their preferences. This hybrid viewfinder provides a fully electronic view in the form of a 0.47" EVF with 1.4 megapixels. In this mode shows a sharp and detailed view of the scene with exactly 100% coverage. Sadly, this view is not Exposure-Priority, negating the most fundamental advantage of EVFs over OVFs. The optional Live-Histogram is of no help either since it is based on the display brightness.

The hybrid viewfinder also provides an optical mode with electronic overlay. This is based on the technology of the Fujifilm Finepix X100
Fujifilm Finepix X100 except with two levels of magnification, depending on the lens in use. In OVF mode this is officially a Reverse Galilean viewfinder. Similarly to an optical tunnel, it sees through its own window above the lens. This gives it a slightly different viewpoint than the camera and does not preview focus, exposure or white-balance. The viewfinder coverage is actually much greater than 100% but it depends on the attached lens. Fuji added an electronic overlay or HUD to show additional information. Most importantly, there is an overlaid frame which shows the 90% coverage area. Anything within that area hopefully makes it into the captured image.

Street photographers who must act very quickly to capture fleeting moments are advantaged by the OVF mode since they can watch the periphery of the frame, paying attention to elements as they enter the 90% coverage area. Because there is a separate optical path for the OVF, there is no blackout time whatsoever which greatly helps following a subject. On the other hand, this mode makes it impossible to precisely compose and results in images which must nearly always be cropped later on. The EVF mode provides the 100% coverage needed for precise framing but blacks out when the shutter is released and lags behind action, just like all current EVF cameras. The beauty here is that the Fuji X-Pro1 offers the choice.

A full complement of manual controls, including manual focus, choice of metering modes and custom white-balance gives photographers complete control over the creative process with the X-Pro1. There is also a RAW mode for those who with to process their images differently than the camera. This shortens the buffer-depth for 6 FPS continuous shooting from 20 to 12 which is still sufficient to catpure the height of action with up to 2s of anticipation.

All this to say that the Fuji X-Pro1 is suitable with most types of photography within the limitations of lenses at hand, which we discuss in the next section of this review. The lack of weather-sealing seems a curious choice by Fuji but should also be considered when deciding if the X-Pro1 fits your needs.