Fujifilm in a surprise move has released a stunningly beautiful camera in the classic sense. Only the flash betrays the fact this isn't a 30 year old film camera from the front. It reminds me of my Olympus 35 SP which I love to carry around just because it's such a work of art. This camera by Fujifilm is due to be released in early 2011. It features a 12.3 megapixel APS-C sensor with a 23mm fixed lens, or 35 equivalent on this camera. Unfortunately no swapping lenses. 9 blade aperture and built in 3 stop ND filter. ( Cool! ) ISO speeds up to 6400 and 1/4000 of a second max shutter speed. SDXC memory card and it supports 720p movie modes. Ok, that's probably enough about specs for now. (All photos from dpreview.com)

Now for a look at the top of this wonderful camera. It's just as beautiful as the front. This is a digital camera you can use just like your old film cameras. Focusing and aperture on the lens. A wheel just for shutter speed and exposure adjustment. It does support manual exposure, aperture and shutter priority. Even a old fashioned shutter button. I just love this thing. The back of this camera gives the illusion away and you see the things you'd expect of a modern camera except for view finder. That just isn't for show and Fujifilm has something special in store for us here. It's not just a basic optical viewfinder, but using the lever on the front of the camera you can swap between optical (with digital overlays) to a purely digital EVF.

You can see from the diagram you can use it as a optical view finder here with the LCD overlaying information. Just flip the level and the LCD takes completely over so you can see exactly what you'd get through the lens. DoF effects and exposure. Very cool. The LCD seems like it's fairly high resolution. I'm really surprised to see someone make this type of finder.

This is basically the Leica X1, but with the Optical viewfinder so many people wanted. It will probably be 1/3rd the price too, although that's still $600-800 US, so it won't be cheap. I can't help but think if they could of made this for m4/3s, even if the optical finder only worked for a standard zoom lens they'd be selling these like hotcakes. Hell, even if it was just the EVF. I've stayed away from the gear forums for many months, but I can't help but lust after this.