Fuji X10 Looks Great!

Dials! Glorious dials!

I have oft-repeated that I find the 4/3 format to be the best compromise between sensor size and focal-length. I don't really count lens size as a full benefit since very small lenses can be made for 4/3 or APS-C, as Pentax has shown very well with its series of pancake lenses. Perhaps small telephoto lenses is a better true benefit. Regardless...

Even though I find 4/3 a good trade-off, sometimes the image quality difference is noticeable enough to make me yearn for APS-C. In fact, I find myself dropping my GF1 in favor of my Canon increasingly often. It was this reality that made me all the more surprised about the choice of Nikon to make the 1-Series cameras with a small, 1" sensor. This was obviously done to protect their DSLR business, which is stupid. If you don't compete with yourself, someone else will, and you will then go out of business.

Leaving Nikon alone, the nature of sensor design was what always kept me from point-&-shoot cameras. Why spend $400 on a camera when I could buy another lens that will hold its value longer? Aside from the startling amount of detail available from the Olympus XZ-1, P&S is an enthusiast's no-man's-land.

The new Fuji X10 is making me rethink that position. Holy crap does it look good. It will have the largest compact sensor by far, and the sample images that I have seen, comparing JPEG to JPEG, appear nearly as good as the Nikon V1 and J1. That is very impressive. Obviously, it doesn't fully transcend the limitations of its small sensor, but it does well. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the camera is, at least to me, even sexier than the X100. I just wanna' touch it. Like, in a bad way.

I look forward to Fuji's promised new system of large-sensored cameras. More so than other companies, Fuji seems to get it.