The corners of the internet devoted to anything new coming from the digital camera makers has been heating up to a fever pitch over the imminent release of Fujifilm’s latest, the X-T1. It’s Fujifilm’s newest entry using their 16MP X-Trans II APS-C sized sensor. This time a Fujifilm X camera is cast as a faux SLR. Except there is no reflex mirror to reflect light from the lens into a pentaprism and out the back eyepiece. It’s all electronic, including the EVF you squint through. The size and shape of the hump is a sop to the corner of the enthusiast market who have become enamored of the retro look in modern digital cameras, in the hope they’ll be more willing to pony up the $1,300 to $1,800 Fujifilm is rumored it wants to ask just for the body. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of takers, especially in the fan-boy quarters of Fujifilm land.
I’ve grown increasingly desensitized to these continual rapid fire releases of new camera gear from all the makers, including my own brand of preference, Olympus. I got what I wanted and needed well over a year ago with the Olympus E-M5. No need for me to go get an E-P5 or the very latest, the E-M1.

I will say that Fujifilm got their dials pretty much right. Maybe Nikon can look over the X-T1 for clues on how to make the Df Mk II. And if the rumors are true and the X-T1 is going to cost around $1,500, it’ll be about half the cost of the current Nikon Df. I just find spending well north of a grand for a camera body more than I can stomach.

The industry has lost all sense of practicality, and so have the gear sites. When camera gear sites can write that a $2,000 D610 or $2,800 Df or $1,300 E-M1 are affordable, I just want to groan. Maybe it’s affordable in the gentrified areas of San Francisco and other such places, but for a good majority of the world (present company included) there are far more important ways for spending that much money, if you’ve got it to spend in the first place.