So far this year’s Photokina show has impressed with many new cameras of all different shapes, sizes and types, and our favourite is the XF1 from Fujifilm.
Announced this morning, the new XF1 is a compact digital camera with style and appeal by the bucket load, especially if you’re into retro-looking gadgets. It joins Fuji’s building range of stylish compact cameras, including the X-E1, mixing a clean and smooth aluminium finish with a synthetic leather grip wrapping around the front and back.
The whole look is rather sleek, with buttons and dials recessed in to the body to make it easier on the eye. The flash unit itself hides away in the top of the camera, and can be popped out quickly by sliding across a switch on the back.
Low light photography is considered something of a specialist area for this little camera, thanks to its super wide-angle f/1.8 lens. Due to the lens’s wide angle and low aperture, the camera can take in more light to produce an accurate photograph without the need for raising sensitivity levels. Optical Image Stabilisation also ensures minimal blur and loss of quality around edges in low light shots.
The front of the XF1 is mainly the synthetic leather plate, and nestled to the right of this is a 25-100mm manual zoom lens, which can be controlled a la DSLR using the zoom ring with one hand while the other captures your shot.
Inside you’ll find a large 2/3-inch EXR CMOS sensor (not that you’d want to go looking for it!), which will combine with Fujifilm’s well-known EXR mode for a range of different shooting modes. It’s a 12 million pixel sensor which should find autofocus in 0.16 seconds and can take snaps once every 0.8 seconds.
On the back is a 3-inch 460k LCD display for viewing your pictures and videos, with a tempered glass covering to protect it from dings and scratches.
Finally, the mode dial gives you several interesting features which will no doubt appeal to those familiar with Instagram, including; pop colour, toy camera and the “bokeh” effect.
The Fujifilm XF1 will be available in red, tan and black and will cost around $500 in the US. UK pricing hasn’t been revealed yet.
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