Fuji hits a design home run with the X100…with one fatal flaw.

Fuji has announced the all new, retro-styled, X100 large sensor camera!  If you want the specs and some more information, please visit dpreview.com for details.  Here’s the bottom line for a photographer (not a specification junkie)…

• Beautifully designed retro-styling
• Manual aperture ring on the lens! Finally!
• Manual shutter speed dial on top – where it belongs!
• Manual exposure compensation dial
• Fast 35mm (field of view) f/2.0 lens with incredible specs published.
• A real optical viewfinder (not just an after thought) PLUS an EVF through the same viewpoint at over 1.4 million pixels!
• 12MP APS-C CMOS sensor (more than enough!)

The only question is….how much will it initially sell for and how much will it drop to a “normal” price?

What is the fatal flaw?  A fixed lens prime may not lend itself well to sales and it will still be a great lens in 2-3 years but still be fixed to a 2010/11 sensor.  I wonder what the limitation is that kept them from being able to have an actual lens mount that would enable a nice stable of other primes to be used.  Ex. FOV equivalent of 24mm, 50mm and 85mm….that would be ideal!!!  As it is, it’s visually a camera to drool over and it’s image quality will most likely match.  However, it’s inherent limitation of the fixed lens may very well limit its appeal among photo enthusiasts and professionals alike.

AN ALTERNATE VIEW:  My old Olympus E-1 DSLR, 2003 technology, is still capable of producing splendid images even if it is outdated.  Its 5MP Kodak sensor, the richness of color, the “Olympus blue” skies and the overall superb ergonomics of the body keep it in use with many die hard Olympus fans.  Could this camera do the same for Fuji?  If so, the issue of the lens may not be an issue after all.  Only time will tell!