X1 Production Model Reviews Coming

[nostatic]

Interesting.... electronic IS that is not on lens or sensor. Somehow the brochure doesn't even mention it!

iirc it looks at a couple of frames for "shake" and corrects on the fly. It is not a physical stabilization of either sensor or lens elements.

I think this feature and AF are big question marks. This still has a lot of my interest. Like a few other heretics, I've now had two u4/3 cams and let both of them go. I have big hopes for the Ricoh rumored cam. The other darkhorse is that the Pentax Kx is getting seriously good reviews wrt iq.

 

[Paratom]

I still wonder how the (speed of) user interface and the AF as well as the IQ will compare to the gf1.
The x1 is small but I found (the pre-production modell I saw some time ago) not to be that much smaller than a gf1.
I would prefer 35mm FOV vs the 40mm fov of the gf1 - but than I would like to have the video functiopn of the gf1 - also f1.7 wouldnt hurt.

Regarding user interface itself - the x1 looks stylish and I like the simple approach-but on the other side those wheels etc. are tiny and I wonder which concept (x1 vs gf1) will be easier and more practical to use.

I really like that there are more and more options of small cameras with large sensors.

 

[Christopher]

So how much will that thing cost in the end ? I mean the specs are on one side quite nice on the other kind not at all. The thing some pointed out remains, why only a 2.8 lens, which really isn't that fast.

 

[Peter Klein]

I handled an X1 at the Seattle LHSA meeting. Christian Erhardt's sample images (which he himself shot in Seattle the day before) were beautiful and very impressive. They included some night shots from the Space Needle which would have been noise city coming from most point-and-shoots, and they looked clean on the projector. (No, I don't know what ISO he used).

Anyone who has used Barnack (screw-mount) Leica will get a smile out of the X1. The body shape makes it feel like a much more convenient digital version of a IIIf or IIIg. It's a camera that's pocketable, appears to have the image quality of a DSLR, the automation of a point-and-shoot if you want it, and convenient all-manual controls if you'd rather have that.

Christian said that the lens speed and fixed focal length were chosen to keep the camera small.

The price and the f/2.8 lens are the only things I don't like. Let's see what Luminous Landscape, etc. have to say next week. I have a feeling that those who will pay the price will get a sweet carry-anywhere camera with IQ they don't need to apologize for. If you need f/1.4, look elsewhere.

 

[Mark Gowin]

So how much will that thing cost in the end ? I mean the specs are on one side quite nice on the other kind not at all. The thing some pointed out remains, why only a 2.8 lens, which really isn't that fast.

The US price is around $2,000. AFAIK the CMOS sensor in the X1 does have an AA filter. From what I understand, there aren't a lot of options out there for obtaining custom CMOS sensors. I could be wrong, but that is what I heard somewhere.