Fujifilm unveils FinePix X100 large-sensor compact

This is from a pre-Photokina Press Release by Fujifilm.  But the point is, at least for me, is that the last film camera I gave up (sold) was the Hexar Autofocus with silent mode.  It was one of my favorite film cameras, and was by far the quietest - though later they took off the quiet mode - and then someone figured out how to hack it to put it back on.

I had a very early number - something like 110, having seen it at Photokina and immediately was in love with it.

A great 3-element lens that was just so damned sharp.  I've found as a general rule, that cameras with fixed lenses tend to have excellent lenses (think Rollei TLR for example); and of course the Hexar.

It was part of a very narrow channel of cameras made by Konica (do they exist anymore?) that were carefully thought out.  I still have the little blue card that came with it (that was it's only downside, you needed the card to get to the esoteric functions).  And now I read (thanks to Barrett who notified me of it) that Fujifilm is going to produce a digital camera with a large sensor along the same lines.

If you compare the Hexar with the Fujifilm x100, they stacked up to be just about the same, feature by feature - except that one was film and this is of course digital.

Here's their opening blurb... from there on you can just pick up the rest from dpreview.  I've never seen the point of repeating all the text descriptions from one site to another:

Pre-Photokina 2010: Fujifilm has announced the X100, a large-sensor compact camera aimed at professional and enthusiast photographers. Based around a 12Mp APS-C CMOS sensor, Fuji EXR processor and 23mm F2 Fujinon lens (equivalent to a 35mm semi-wideangle), the classically-styled camera features traditional analogue controls for shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation. Of particular note is the new 'hybrid' viewfinder system which allows the user to switch between optical and electronic viewfinders and project detailed shooting information into the OVF. The spec is rounded off by 720p HD movie recording, a 460k dot 2.8" LCD, flash hot shoe, and magnesium alloy top and base-plate castings. The camera will be available from early 2011.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091910fujifilmx100.asp