Fujifilm 12 Megapixels X20 Premium Compact Camera First Look Review by DCI

On January 7 2013, Fujifilm announced the new X20 digital camera improving on the existing X10 that was announced back in September 2011. The X20 comes with an advanced 12 Megapixels 2/3 inch X-Trans CMOS II Sensor, EXR Processor II, an optical viewfinder with a horizontal apparent field of view of 20 degrees and coverage of 85%, a FUJINON F2.0-2.8 4x manual zoom lens made up of 11 glass elements in 9 groups including 3 aspherical lens elements and 2 extra-low dispersion lens elements, Super Macro mode for close 0.39 inches focusing, a 2.8 inch LCD screen with 460k dots, and Full HD Video (1920 x 1080) at 60fps. The newly-developed X-Trans CMOS II sensor has built-in Phase Detection pixels which enable high-speed Auto Focus (AF) in as little as 0.06 seconds. It has a start-up time of approx. 0.5 seconds, a shutter time lag of approx. 0.01 seconds and a shooting interval of 0.5 seconds. 

The X20 also features Fujifilm's Film Simulation Mode which includes 10 film options. The camera also has Advanced Filter functions for additional artistic functionality, including Pop Color, Toy Camera, Miniature, Dynamic Tone, Partial Color, Soft Focus, High Key and Low Key. It comes with an Intelligent Hybrid Autofocus system that allows the camera to switch between phase and contrast detection to achieve the best image. It also has the Focus Peaking function that highlights high contrast areas of subjects for precise focusing while using manual focus mode. The X20 is available for about $600 in black and two-tone black & silver. Here's the summary of first look preview by DigitalCameraInfo:

"There's just something unbeatable about a good optical viewfinder, even when it doesn't have a true through-the-lens perspective. It's just cooler than an electronic screen, especially on a small, fixed-lens camera, and the feel can't be matched. The handling isn't comfortable, exactly--more like satisfying. The buttons and control rings provide delightfully tactile response, and the ability to directly adjust vital shooting settings using those physical controls means the X20 trumps many other compact cameras even before it begins shooting. The power switch is even part of the lens ring, which is a bit odd at first but grows on you with time. Autofocus is apparently the fastest in the high-end compact class, though they're all so quick now that the distinctions barely matter. It definitely seemed fast and accurate on the showroom floor. Manual focus is much easier to use, too, thanks to the focus-peak highlighting feature, which has also been added to the X100S.

If the image quality proves to be as great as we think it'll be, this camera will be a bona-fide hit. The X10 came close, but the white-orb fiasco slowed its momentum considerably. Here's the big question: How will its image quality compare to the Sony RX100? It's unlikely that the X20 can match it, simply because the RX100 has a bigger sensor. But consider the fact that high-ISO photos from the Fuji X-Pro1 are almost clean enough to look like they were taken by a full-frame sensor (even though it's an APS-C camera). That, from a sensor that's only two-thirds as large. But here's where our logic gets a little crazy: The 2/3-inch sensor in the X20 is--hey now!--two-thirds the size of the RX100's 1-inch chip. Could the X-Trans design compensate for its size deficit, at least in low-light shooting? We'll just have to see when we get it into our labs."