Advance Christmas Present Testing

As Trisharooni and Colin Parte have discovered, the range of Fujifilm retro-styled X100/X100s rangefinder (and Micro 4/3) cameras have a lot to offer in terms of portability and image quality.

I too loved the concept of a rangefinder optical viewfinder and the wonderful retro-styling and compactness - sometimes you don't want to lug around your digital SLR gear, but you don't want to sacrifice too much in image quality either. My only concern with the X100s was the restriction of the fixed equivalent focal length of 35mm (even though it's the purists classic 'street photo' focal length). I was keen to have the flexibility of a wide angle to portrait-length zoom available, but didn't want to invest in a whole new Micro 4/3 system. So I'd put in my order with Santa (....I've been a fairly good boy this year....) for a Fujifilm X20 with its rangefinder styling, optical viewfinder and 28-112mm equivalent f2.0-f2.8 zoom. The compromise is that it only has a 2/3" 12MP sensor, rather than the 16MP APSC sensor in the X100S, so the absolute definition & higher ISO performance aren't quite as good - but hey, life's full of compromises.

Anyway, it arrived yesterday, and Mrs Claus was kind enough to allow me a quick testing (only to make sure all was good of course) before it got whisked away, not to be seen again before Christmas Day! I think it will be great, and it will be my 'carry everywhere' camera - who knows, I might even become a 'proper Blipper' and post something every day! :)