“With a design that harkens back to the old Contax G2, it also has stunning retro-style good looks,” we said in our Fujifilm X Pro 1 review. But you don’t buy a camera like this just for the looks unless you’re Justin Bieber. Behind the very good glass currently available for it, it also can take some very wonderful images that are easily worked with in the post-production phase.” The Fujifilm X Pro series is more or less the best successor to the Contax G2 — even though they’re from much different companies. And considering how beloved the Contax G2 is, why isn’t the X Pro series anywhere as beloved?
That previous statement isn’t meant to annoy people who love the X Pro series. By far, the X Pro series is my favorite. At the same time though, I’ve already long lost faith in it. Fujifilm is treating their APS-C camera lineup like something meant for content creators. And if you just want really solid images, then you need to move up to GF series. That’s something I totally understand.
But let’s think about why the X Pro series is more or less the Contax G2’s successor:
- More or less the same focusing abilities: Fujifilm isn’t known for good autofocus at all
- Small primes: at least they used to be
- Lots of primes with lens character: at least they used to be.
- Keeping the optical viewfinder as well as adding in an electronic one
The more that I think about it, the more I think that it’s more like a Contax series if you’re using some of the more classic Fujifilm lenses. The Fujifilm 35mm f1.4, for example, is a lens with lots of character due to its Sonnar design. Before I gave it away to a friend, it was one of my favorite lenses. And more than anything, the X Pro 1 is the most Contax-like in that it’s the least complicated of the cameras.
I miss the days when cameras could be just cameras and brands weren’t trying to make cameras do everything.