With Fujifilm's announcement of the X-T1 today, I think I've found the perfect camera. It has the size and top plate of the X-T1, the functionality of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the sensor of the Sony A7R. Simple.

I'm only half joking, actually. I do love the design of the Fuji and hope that they got the actual feel and workings of the dials and buttons right. But I can't imagine giving up the speed and especially the excellent in-body stabilization of the Olympus for the more retro looks of the Fuji.

And that Sony does beat both the Fuji and the Olympus in terms of resolution. It would be even better if my imaginary camera had a setting that allowed it to shoot in full-frame 24 megapixel-resolution RAW format for when you don't need the 36mp.

I read a funny and spot-on comment on one of the forums last night. The person said how it's interesting that at first the mirrorless cameras moved away from the look of DSLRs and now they're all trying to make their mirrorless cameras look again like DSLRs. The hump is back.

Retro Right?

Yesterday, I wondered if Fuji would get retro right. It seems that they largely did, at least from the looks of the camera. Yet, DPReview* complains about some of the friction and locks of the dials and the placement of the buttons on the camera back. I won't draw any conclusions until I have handled the X-T1 myself, at some point in the future.

*See how I link to DPReview because it makes sense for you, the reader, but that DPReview would come after me if I linked to my own site when posting in their forums, because this is a commercial site and thus a competitor. Talk about paranoia.

Here's the commercial part. You can pre-order the Fuji X-T1 at B&H:

Fujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital CameraFujifilm X-T1 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens

Unfortunately, my perfect camera is not yet available for pre-orders. Maybe some day.

By John van Rosendaal