image courtesy: dpreview

From the conclusions: “Image quality is very impressive, with results that compare exceptionally well against a full frame sensor. You do pay a small price in terms of corner softness and CA. The biggest remaining challenge, however, with the Canon EF to Sony NEX mount is AF speed, a direct consequence of pairing a PDAF-optimized lens on a CDAF sensor.” Click here.

I’ve received also an email from Daniel, who linked me his article posted at Steve Huff’s website. “The Metabones Speed Booster adapter: A COLUMBUS EGG“. See his shot and read his impressions here.

1. F900EXR (specs & price)
2. F850EXR (specs & price)
3. S6800 (specs & price)
4. S4800 (specs & price)
5. JX680 (specs & price)

These are the 5 new compact cameras announced by Fujifilm. Here the specs:

FinePix F900EXR

Read the digitalcamerainfo preview

• 16MP ½-inch EXR-CMOS II sensor with Phase Detection and EXR Processor II
• 20x optical zoom (25-500mm*4) with CMOS-shift Image stabilization
• 3.0” LCD screen with wide viewing angle
• EXR-Auto (with auto optimization for 108 different scene permutations)
• Full manual controls
• Intelligent Hybrid AF (World’s Fastest AF of 0.05 seconds*1)
• Start-up time of 1.1 seconds*2
• Interval between shots of 0.5 seconds*2
• RAW shooting (RAW, JPEG, RAW+JPEG image capture modes)
• Wireless Image Transfer to PC, tablets and smartphones
• 11 frames/second*2 (max 5 frames) continuous shooting (at full resolution)
• Advanced Filters
• Motion Panorama 360
• Full HD 1080p Video (60fps)
• Available in black, and indigo blue
• 260 shots*4 per battery charge

FinePix F850EXR

• 16MP ½-inch EXR-CMOS sensor with EXR Processor II
• 20x optical zoom (25-500mm*4) with CMOS-shift Image stabilization
• 3” LCD screen
• EXR-Auto mode (with auto optimisation for 108 different scene permutations)
• Full manual controls
• Fast AF of up to 0.21 seconds*2
• Start-up time of 1.1 seconds*2
• Interval between shots of 0.5 seconds*2
• 9.0 frames/second*2 (max 5 frames) continuous shooting (at full resolution)
• Advanced Filters
• Motion Panorama 360
• Full HD 1080p Video (60fps)
• Eye-Fi Card Compatibility
• Available in black
• 250 shots*2 per battery charge

FinePix S6800

• FUJINON Super zoom Lens (24mm wide-angle to 720mm telephoto lens, f/3.1 to 5.9)

• 16MP 1/2.3” BSI-CMOS sensor
o Autofocus speed of up to 0.3 seconds
o Continuous shooting; 8fps (10frames, full resolution), 60fps  60 frames, image size 1280×960) ,120 fps  (60 frames, image size 640×480)
o Start-up time of 1.0 second
o Shooting interval time of 0.5 seconds
• Optical Image Stabilization (Sensor Shift)
• Full HD movie 1080i/60 fps with stereo sound and slow-motion capture at 480fps
• Bright 3.0-inch LCD screen ( 460K-dot)
• Manual exposure control(P/S/A/M modes)
• Super Macro to 0.78”
• Dual zoom control
• Instant zoom and Zoom Bracketing
• 4×AA alkaline batteries with an approximately 320 shot battery life
• Available in black, white, and red

FinePix S4800

• FUJINON Super zoom lens (24mm wide-angle to 720mm telephoto lens, f/3.1 to 5.9)
• 16MP 1/2.3” CCD sensor
• Optical Image Stabilization (Sensor Shift)
• Scene Recognition Auto with 6 pre-set scenes
• Autofocus in 0.3 seconds*1
• HD Movie 720P/30fps with Video Scene Recognition
• 3” LCD monitor (230k dots)
• Manual exposure control (P/S/A/M modes)
• Instant Zoom
• Mini HDMI output
• 4×AA alkaline batteries with an approx. 320 shot battery life
• Available in Black

FinePix JX680

• 5x FUJINON optical zoom (26-130mm*) with Digital Image Stabilization
• 16MP CCD sensor
• 26mm* wide-angle
• 3.0” LCD screen
• Creative Advanced Filters
• Individual shutter 3D
• Motion Panorama
• Easy to use GUI with large buttons
• 720p HD movie recording with dedicated “Movie Recording Button”
• Advanced video editing features
• Super slim and pocket-friendly (just 20mm*2)
• Battery charging via USB cable

Here’s what Kayce Baker, director of marketing for professional digital cameras at Fujifilm North America, says in his interesting interview with IR founder and editor-in-chief Dave Etchells.

You’ll find some surprising infos, like the fact that Fuji sells more X-E1 body only versions than the kit with zoom lens. And that they are selling more 35mm prime lenses than all of the X-PRO1 bodies in the market so far.

She also gives some news about Fuji’s roadmap where some lenses are slated for early 2013. “We’re looking at around April to May availability for the 55-200mm, as well as the 27mm pancake. For the 10-24mm and 23mm f/1.4, more towards the end of the year or the beginning of 2014.”

She explains how Fuji worked to improve lens flare on the X100s and also that”… together [X-Trans II and no low-pass filter], those allow a 30% improvement in signal to noise over the previous model, and a 25% increase in resolution.”

And what about Adobe and Apple? “As far as I understand it, we have given each company all the algorithmic information that they need, and which they have requested to be able to make a more powerful and accurate RAW converter process.”

Read the whole interview at imaging-resource here.

You may remember Richard’s X-E1 evolution (see the X-E9 here :-) ).

The latest developments are really interesting. He updated a Sniper X-E1 configuration with a real Leica red dot sight… Now, point and shoot! Guess what lens he is using!

In the meantime I’ve received some first impressions from Fujirumors Readers. They are reporting some problems with this new firmware.

“The lens firmware may update, but the version number remains 2.01.  An oversight on Fuji’s part, possibly. I see the issue, and so do others… the other thing is they may have improved accuracy of focussing with the 35mm lens… but it has slowed down and become MUCH noisier.”

“…focussing speed has definitely slowed down considerably compared to the last update, but may still be slightly faster than original. Noise is an issue.  When the XP1 first came out it was quiet, the only issue being aperture chatter.  Now the 35mm lens, in particular, is a VERY noisy lens, and it’s not a nice noise.”

So, just install the firmware update, as soon as Rico posts his article, and then share your findings in the comments.

Here are the details of this update:

The firmware update Ver.1.04 from Ver. 1.01 incorporates the following issue

1.    Adding the compatibility with “XF14mmF2.8R”.
You will get the full performance of “XF14mmF2.8R”, including Manual Focus function.

2.    Newly added function
Shutter release button can be active even if an external microphone or a remote release is connected to USB mini terminal or MIC/REMOTE terminal (Φ2.5mm) of the camera.

3.    Improvement in performance
(1)Accuracy of auto focus performance has been much improved under a various shooting condition.
Shooting with XF35mm lens, Shooting for the target with relatively high frequency, One-push AF by pressing AE-L/AF-L button,

<Notice>
To enable more accurate AF performance with XF35mm lens, please update the firmware of your Fujinon XF35mm lens at the same time. Firwware version must be Ver 2.02 or later.

(2)Audio performance has been optimized for Stereo Microphone MIC-ST1 (sold separately.)
(3)Improvement of unexpected pixels recorded in the top far-left taken with XF18-55mm Lens under the condition of middle range focal length.