Fujifilm was my favorite booth of the day, and not just because of the cameras and lenses, which were quite impressive. There were also props and motorcycles and models available to shoot, and the two reps who helped me knew their equipment inside and out and were very patient throughout our two-broken-language chat. The XQ2 Digital Camera is an ultra-tiny and very light “Bond-like” camera with touch of sophistication. It has a 2/3" sensor and a 25-100mm equivalent lens, which reaches an f/1.8 aperture at the wide end. A settings adjustment ring around the lens is convenient to use, and its images were sharp, although lighting was great at the booth.
The Fujifilm X-A2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Lens is the newest, smallest, lightest mirrorless X-mount camera. It offers an APS-C size sensor and, like the other X series cameras, sharp imaging, improved AF, Wi-Fi, and film-simulation mode. It, too, is a handsome camera, especially the Brown version, but it was too small for me to hold comfortably with anything larger than the 16-50mm lens with which it is bundled. In fact, when I held it along with the X-T1, it didn’t feel much lighter, which is a great tribute to the X-T1.
The reason I picked up the X-T1 was to try the XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Lens, which was fantastic. Its 35mm equivalence is 75-210mm, so it is similar in size and weight to the typical 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses from other manufacturers. With its Triple Linear Motor autofocus system, this lens was very fast, smooth, quiet to focus, and quite sharp, but what impressed me the most was its optical stabilization system, which provides a five-shutter-speed stop compensation. It worked well as I tried to shake and jerk the camera into creating a blur, and was quite effective at suppressing it.
I spoke with the rep about the newly released X-mount lens road map and was able to see (behind glass) the working models of the lenses to come in the next two years. In 2015, we can expect a 16mm f/1.4R lens, a 90mm f/2R lens, a 35mm f/2R lens, and a new 1.4x converter. In 2016, the plan is for a 100-400mm lens and a 120mm f/2.8 macro lens.
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