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After two years, Fuji has introduced the replacement to its popular FinePix X100 compact camera, and it has trawled through users’ feedback to make 70 improvements to the new Fuji X100S.
Like the Fuji FinePix X100, the Fuji FinePix X100S has an APS-C format sensor, but its resolution has been boosted from 12.3MP to 16.3 million pixels – the same as the Fuji X-Pro1.
The really big news, however, is that the APS-C format X-Trans CMOS II sensor has the same colour filter arrangement as the Fuji X-Pro1.
Unlike most cameras that use a Bayer pattern of red, green, green and blue receptors (usually referred to as RGGB) arranged in a 2 x 2 grid, the X-Trans CMOS II device uses a 6 x 6 RGGB filter array pattern, with a random arrangement of colour filters within each block of 36 photo receptors.
This means that the sensor is less prone to suffer from moir patterning, and as a result Fuji is able to omit the anti-aliasing filter that overlays most digital camera sensors. The benefit of this is that the camera is able to produce sharper, more detailed images.
Fuji has coupled this sensor with a new EXR Processor II, which the company claims helps the Fuji X100S produce images with around 30% higher signal to noise ratio than those from the Fuji X100.
This processing engine has also enabled the Fuji X100S to have a maximum continuous shooting rate of 6fps for up to 29 images at full resolution, and a shutter lag of just 0.01sec.
In addition, raw files are recorded as 14-bit instead of 12-bit, Full HD video (1920 x 1080) footage can be recorded at up to 60fps rather than 720p footage at 24fps, and the maximum sensitivity setting has been pushed up 1EV to ISO 6400.
There’s also a Lens Modulation Optimiser that Fuji claims reduces the impact of diffraction and corner softness to produce sharper images, even at smaller apertures such as f/16.
We weren’t able to take any images with the pre-production sample Fuji X100S camera that we saw a few weeks before its global announcement, but the specification bodes very well for image quality.
Like the Fuji X100, the Fuji X100S has a fixed 23mm f/2 lens consisting of eight elements in six groups and including a double-sided aspherical element and highly refractive converging glass elements, which increase detail resolution and reduce aberration.
Fujinon’s HT-EBC coating has also been applied, to reduce flare and ghosting.
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One of the biggest criticisms of the Fuji X100 was its autofocus (AF) speed, which was improved by a firmware update, but still failed to set the world alight.
Naturally, then, this has been a key improvement area for Fuji’s engineers. The Fuji X100S has a hybrid AF system that uses either contrast or phase detection depending on the situation (the camera makes the selection automatically). And Fuji claims that it has the fastest AF speed of any APS-C format fixed lens compact camera (not a huge pool), taking just 0.08 sec to get the subject sharp.
Unfortunately, the AF system wasn’t operational in the model we handled, but the claims indicate a significant improvement on the Fuji X100. We’re looking forward to getting an operational sample in for our full Fuji X100S review soon.
Fuji has also changed the manual focus system, and the Fuji X100S, along with the Fuji X20 announced at the same time, debuts the world’s first Digital Split Image display.
This makes use of the cameras’ phase detection pixels (which double as green pixels) to create a double image that is than merged into the image from the other pixels. It’s essentially a form of digital rangefinder focusing.
Keen videographers will also appreciate the addition of Focus Peaking Highlight, which highlights the areas of highest contrast (and therefore best focus).
The Fuji X100 debuted a hybrid viewfinder, and this continues in a modified form in the Fuji X100S. Helpfully, the optical finder now has an overlay that enables you to see the exposure settings and focus point. It also now functions with subjects as close as 50cm away, rather than 80cm away.
The resolution of the electronic viewfinder (EVF) has also been boosted, and it’s a 2,360,000-dot device.
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A new coating on the viewfinder glass has been added to resist fingerprints.
Like the Fuji X-Pro 1, the Fuji X100S has Fuji’s Film Simulation Modes. This has now been pushed to include 10 modes (Velvia, Provia, Astia, Pro Neg Std, Pro Neg Hi, Sepia, Monochrome and Monochrome with a yellow, red or green filter effect).
We were unable to verify it, but our understanding is that these, like the new Advanced Filter modes, are a JPEG-only option. We would like to be able to use them to shoot raw and JPEG files, so that there is the option to have a ‘clean’ and a processed image.
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