Fujifilm X100t premium compact revealed with world’s first electronic rangefinder
Fuji's latest premium compact gains the first electronic rangefinder for sharper manual focus
Fujifilm has upgraded its X100 premium compact camera to the third generation, officially announcing the X100T ahead of next week’s Photokina camera show in Cologne. The classic styling, hybrid viewfinder and fixed 23mm f/2.0 prime lens all return, but Fuji has also added a world’s first electronic rangefinder into the mix.
With the existing X100 and X100S, it can sometimes be tricky to know if you’re exactly in focus when shooting manually using the hybrid viewfinder. That’s not an issue with the electronic rangefinder on the X100T, which overlays an electronic image on top of the optical view showing a zoomed-in image of the focus point. The X100T also makes real-time parallax adjustments, so out-of-focus images should be a thing of the past.
Inside, the X100T has the same 16-megapixel, APS-C X-Trans II sensor without an optical low pass filter, paired with Fuji’s EXR Processor II image processing engine, but underneath Fuji has made a range of tweaks, improvements and minor changes over the outgoing models.
The 3in LCD display on the back of the camera has been upgraded from 460 thousand dot on the X100S to 1.04million dot on the X100T, live view has been improved and display time lag has been reduced.
Fuji has also tweaked the control dials for easier composition. The aperture ring now covers 1/3 stops, while the exposure compensation dial now covers a -3 to +3 range.
Finally, Fuji has added the Classic Chrome film simulation mode, which first appeared in the X30 earlier this year. It is designed to deliver muted tones and deeper color reproduction, to better mimic the appearance of a classic film print.
The Fujifilm X100t is set to go on sale in the UK from November this year in the UK, in a choice of black or silver finishes for £1000. We’re expecting to get our first look at Fuji’s most desirable compact camera next week in Cologne, when the Photokina trade show kicks off – so stay tuned for some hands-on first impressions.
