Production Samples of Fuji... X1000?

OMGOMGOMGZ!

Someone at Fuji, possibly Fuji itself, has leaked images of a pre-production X1000/X1, I'm not sure what to call it. Whatever the name, it is Fuji's ILC and it looks super-impressive. The images first popped up on that wonderfully leaky Chinese message board, Xitek. They appear to have been taken down since then, but they are now being hosted at Photobucket by 43Rumors.com.

My first thoughts are of concern. That camera looks very large. Fuji had already said that they wanted to leave APS-C for the X100 and move into something with greater image quality. Most people took this to mean full-frame, but then, Fuji said that they wanted even larger than that. This camera doesn't give us much insight into what may be inside, but I'm almost positive that it's bigger than APS-C. Comparing that image to one of the X100, it is quite a bit larger.

My second reason for concern is that Fuji was previously hanging out in the non-insane enthusiast market. The X100 cost $1,200. That is quite affordable for any camera lover. If they are going up to, or even past, full-frame for this new camera, how much will it cost? $1,500? $2,000? $3,000? That is a strange place, and somewhere Fuji does not want to be. With prices that high, the enthusiasts can't afford it, and the pros who could do not care about retro styling or the tactile feel of the camera. They care about efficiency, speed, and workflow.

I can scarcely wait to see what this camera is. The X100 was very impressive, and I hope that many of the mistakes that they made with that camera will act as a lesson for this new camera. I remain reticent, though. The price for this camera is going to be very high. Like, very high. Up in that territory, the competition vis-a-vis quality is much stiffer than in the lower-end. The Nikon D700, the Canon EOS 5D, and the incoming Sony FF cameras are all under $3,000. If Fuji can put out an even larger sensor for a similar price, they'll have something to sell, but if it is simply a retro-styled FF camera, they might have a hard time.

I guess that we will just have to wait. Oooooooh. I hate waiting.