Ray Sachs
Legend
- Location
- Not too far from Philly
- Name
- you should be able to figure it out...
I just got off the phone with a guy from Fuji's repair center. I was calling to inquire about whether the X-10's in the shops have the new sensors, but the guy was very forthcoming and helpful, so here's what I have on the best authority I'd expect to get:
X-10 - he insists the new sensors are not in the stores yet, despite various rumors to the contrary. He said the first new units should be in the stores sometime in late August or early September. At which point I suggested I should probably just wait until Photokina and see what's coming. He said there would be nothing announced at Photokina related to the X10 - there may be an update next year, but that's probably late 2013, so if you want an X10, get one now and get it fixed, wait until September and get one that shouldn't need to get fixed, or hold on for another year and see if the new one has a bigger sensor? He indicated he had no idea if next year's model would have a larger sensor or what they'd do to it - "they don't tell us any of that until its pretty close"... But he seemed pretty confident that its about a year off...
X-100 - When he indicated there would be nothing at Photokina about the X-10 ("there won't be an X-20 or anything like that"), he said any announcement would relate to the X-100. I said, "you mean something like an X-200?" and he replied, "yeah, probably something along those lines". So it might be a good time to wait on buying an X-100. The new one, whatever it is, might be really enticing and, if not, the current model should come down even further in price.
X-Pro - He indicated the new lenses should be available in another month or so. He fully expects the 14mm will work with the OVF although the framelines will probably come very close to filling the available space. He also indicated that the zoom will only work with the EVF. As I'd suspected, there's just no mechanism in that OVF to be able to zoom and move the frame-lines and keep track of everything. That will also be true of the 10-24 UWA zoom scheduled for next year and I'm sure whatever other zoom lenses are on the roadmap down the line. None of this is a surprise to me, but is a useful level of confirmation of what I'd expected would be the case. Which may or may not change my plans about getting the UWA when it becomes available next year... I'll have to see - I'm not crazy about the EVF in the X-Pro. So maybe I'll double down on m43 as the "system", finally break down and get the 7-14, and just assume the X-Pro is gonna be my "other", "change of pace", "niche" camera.
Anyway, I'm sure none of this is guaranteed, but its the best information I've yet heard on the fates of these three cameras / systems...
-Ray
X-10 - he insists the new sensors are not in the stores yet, despite various rumors to the contrary. He said the first new units should be in the stores sometime in late August or early September. At which point I suggested I should probably just wait until Photokina and see what's coming. He said there would be nothing announced at Photokina related to the X10 - there may be an update next year, but that's probably late 2013, so if you want an X10, get one now and get it fixed, wait until September and get one that shouldn't need to get fixed, or hold on for another year and see if the new one has a bigger sensor? He indicated he had no idea if next year's model would have a larger sensor or what they'd do to it - "they don't tell us any of that until its pretty close"... But he seemed pretty confident that its about a year off...
X-100 - When he indicated there would be nothing at Photokina about the X-10 ("there won't be an X-20 or anything like that"), he said any announcement would relate to the X-100. I said, "you mean something like an X-200?" and he replied, "yeah, probably something along those lines". So it might be a good time to wait on buying an X-100. The new one, whatever it is, might be really enticing and, if not, the current model should come down even further in price.
X-Pro - He indicated the new lenses should be available in another month or so. He fully expects the 14mm will work with the OVF although the framelines will probably come very close to filling the available space. He also indicated that the zoom will only work with the EVF. As I'd suspected, there's just no mechanism in that OVF to be able to zoom and move the frame-lines and keep track of everything. That will also be true of the 10-24 UWA zoom scheduled for next year and I'm sure whatever other zoom lenses are on the roadmap down the line. None of this is a surprise to me, but is a useful level of confirmation of what I'd expected would be the case. Which may or may not change my plans about getting the UWA when it becomes available next year... I'll have to see - I'm not crazy about the EVF in the X-Pro. So maybe I'll double down on m43 as the "system", finally break down and get the 7-14, and just assume the X-Pro is gonna be my "other", "change of pace", "niche" camera.
Anyway, I'm sure none of this is guaranteed, but its the best information I've yet heard on the fates of these three cameras / systems...
-Ray