Fujifilm Speaks on 'X-Pro1' Mirrorless Camera

Jan 27, 2012 16:43 Hideyoshi Kume, Nikkei Electronics

Fujifilm Corp announced Jan 26, 2012, that it will release the "Fujifilm X-Pro1" mirrorless camera and three interchangeable lenses for the camera Feb 18, 2012.

Fujifilm unveiled the X-Pro1 at the 2012 International CES, which took place in January 2012 in Las Vegas, the US. The company entered the mirrorless camera market with this product (See related article). It aims to sell 150,000 to 200,000 units of the camera annually in the global market.

There are no manufacture's suggested retail prices. But the retail price of the mirrorless camera is expected to be about ¥150,000 (approx US$1,944). As the first products of the "Fujinon XF Lens" series of interchangeable lenses, Fujifilm will release the "Fujinon Lens XF 18mm F2 R," "Fujinon Lens XF 35mm F1.4 R" and "Fujinon Lens XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro." Their expected retail prices are ¥55,000, 55,000 and 60,000, respectively.

X-Pro1 offers better image quality than SLR cameras

"The size of the X-Pro1's image sensor is APS-C, but we realized a performance equivalent to or better than those of SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras equipped with a 35mm full-size image sensor," said Takeshi Higuchi, head of the Fujifilm's digital camera division and the company's director.

"It took us two years to develop the camera by making full-scale efforts after the development of its elemental technologies," he continued. "It has the highest and ultimate image quality. And we solved the problems of size and weight of full-size SLR cameras."

Higuchi considers the X-Pro1 as the flagship product of Fujifilm's digital camera business.

"Other companies develop mirrorless cameras for their small sizes," he said. "But we employed a mirrorless structure to realize the high performance."

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