The shift to mirrorless cameras

January 2000 Fujifilm announces the world’s first consumer-level DSLR camera.

February 2014 Fujifilm confirms new photography revolution: the shift to mirrorless cameras.

The invention of DSLR cameras has been called “perhaps the most significant era in photography”.

When digital technology replaced old-fashioned film, it radically redefined the way we take photos.

Fujifilm were pioneers in digital photography, announcing the FinePix S1 Pro – the world’s first consumer-level DSLR – in January 2000.

Just fourteen years later, Fujifilm NZ confirm that camera technology is undergoing another seismic shift.

DSLR cameras have had their day, and we’re entering a new era: mirrorless cameras.

“Quite simply, mirrorless is the way forward,” says Peter Bonisch, Sales and Marketing Manager of Fujifilm NZ.

“It’s a giant leap in technology, and has rapidly matured to the point where image quality is on a par with top-of-the range DSLR cameras – yet the mirrorless cameras are far more compact and portable.

Increasingly, professional photographers are making the switch to mirrorless cameras.

And where they lead, everyone else will follow."

Bonisch explains that people now want high performance cameras that fit in with their mobile lives.

“The constant feedback we hear about DSLR cameras is that users are sick of hauling the weight around.

They want something they can travel with, especially as there are such weight constrictions with airlines.

You can carry many of our X-Series mirrorless cameras in your pocket and still enjoy exceptional performance."

Back in 2010, when compact cameras looked to be a dying category, Fujifilm launched the FinePix X100, the inaugural model in the mirrorless X-Series.

An instant classic, the retro styling was as fresh and innovative as the technology inside.

And it transformed the camera market.

Today, Fujifilm’s extensive range of mirrorless X-Series cameras is convincing professionals and photography enthusiasts to consign DSLRs to history.

Tony Bridge is one of New Zealand’s leading landscape photographers and digital artists, as well as a photo educator and reviewer.

“Fujifilm have always made stellar cameras,” he says.

“Their mirrorless cameras give away absolutely nothing to DSLRs in terms of quality, and you’re not lugging heavy equipment around all day.

It never ceases to amaze me that such a tiny little camera can produce work to rival the biggest of the big name DSLRs.

I have to pinch myself at the extraordinary results.

I know many photographers who are dumping the big rigs for a Fujifilm X-Series camera."

The X-Series’ standout features include the X-Trans CMOS sensor, that incorporates an original colour filter array with a highly random pattern, eliminating the need for an optical low-pass filter (OLPF).

These filters are used in conventional systems to inhibit moire at the expense of resolution.

The X- Trans CMOS sensor array lets the sensor capture unfiltered light from the lens, achieving an unprecedented level of resolution.

The Fujinon interchangeable XF lens and original X Mount promise excellent image quality, with enhanced resolution.

The XF lenses are made for X Trans Sensor operation, ensuring more accurate focus and a bigger “sweet spot”.

Compared with DSLR lenses, they deliver better Bokeh and low light performance, are smaller and lighter so much easier to carry around, and are also less expensive.

The X Mount’s clever design, with its short flange back distance and wide opening, achieves high resolution all the way to the edge of the image.

On the XPro1 and X100s, Fujifilm’s Hybrid Viewfinder enables photographers to choose between an optical finder (OVF) and a high-resolution electronic view (EVF).

WiFi allows instant, easy transferring of images to mobiles, computers and tablets.

Each camera’s intuitive functionality makes it effortless to operate.

Fujifilm regularly updates the software to keep each camera operating to its optimum capability.

The number of global plaudits reinforces the X-Series’ popularity.

Recently, the Fujifilm X100S, X20, XQ1 and X-M1 cameras each won a prestigious iF Product Design Award 2014.

And now there’s the latest X-Series model, the weather resistant X-T1, which is already the year’s most talked about new camera.

Featuring the world’s largest and fastest Multi Mode Viewfinder, with a magnification ratio of 0.77x and a lag- time of just 0.005 seconds, it also supports UHS-II SD-cards for superfast writing speed.

DSLRs just became even more outmoded.

The Fujifilm X-Series RRP from $799 to $2599 from leading photographic suppliers.

fujifilm.co.nz.

ENDS

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