Let me first say that the very first digital camera I bought was a Fuji. One of those pocketable superCCD types. The one that brought so much controversy because of the 6Mpx designation, even though they only actually captured 3MPx. I liked the little critter, even though it was slow and cumbersome. But it had an excellent little lens for the package which combined well with the bracketing mode.
And yes, I also think that Fuji should be commended for its innovation attempts. And no doubt that the new X Pro1 will make a useful camera for a lot of people.
however…
(you could see that one coming from a mile away, no?)
however…
As I already mentioned in an earlier post
here (shameless selfpromotion), the new sensor layout is not going to provide the benefits that are currently touted. And the recent samples provided by DPreview immediately showed the problems I have predicted.
That is to say, it is not immediately visible, but that is because they try to mitigate the problem by excessive color-noise-reduction, and this is exactly why I am posting this:
Apparently the touted lack of color-aliasing is NOT a result of the sensor layout, but is a result of the excessive color-smearing. It is for example specifically visible in the tree images, which show the remains of the color-aliasing problems in the tree-branches (as vague yellow, green, and red blotches), but also show excessive smearing on the edge of the grassland and waterfront.
The amount of color-smearing is such that a normal bayer setup would easily produce an equal lack of color-aliasing.
I therefor would like to challenge(?) the reviewers and owners to look into this problem specifically. I might be totally wrong on this issue, but if it really is true then I feel this is important for at least these 2 reasons:
1) For landscape photography, if the problems mentioned really exist, they will appear in a significant number of images.
2) Obviously, if you tout a specific advantage due to sensor layout, it would be useful if a true comparison will actually reveal the advantage, and the advantage in one area should clearly not be detrimental in several other areas. (the color smearing).