Fujifilm X-Pro1 review
X-Trans CMOS: What Is It And How Does It Work?
A conventional camera sensor uses what's known as the Bayer filter array to decipher colour information. As light is made up of a spectrum of colours, each with different frequencies, it's possible to filter out the prime red, green and blue colours, then use an algorithm (known as ‘demosaicing') to calculate the colour at every site. However, the filter's pattern is based on red, green and blue filters arranged in a repetitive 2x2 grid across the sensor's surface which would cause issues with fine detail, colour artefacts and moiré patterning if it wasn't for the use of a low-pass or anti-aliasing filter to ‘soften' the light. However, such softening results in slightly softer images too.
This is where the X-Pro1's X-Trans CMOS sensor gets clever. Instead of
using the usual 2x2 (4-part) grid, it uses a 6x6 (36-part) pattern where
colours aren't ‘clumped' together, ensuring that at least one red,
green and blue pixel each fall within both vertical and horizontal
paths. As the pattern isn't repetitive - and Fujifilm claim's it's more
like traditional film - there's no need for an anti-aliasing filter and,
therefore, shots should be that much sharper compared to standard
sensors.
The only other sensor on the market to use a similar process
is the Sigma Foveon X3 sensor, which has three layers of red, green and
blue pixels mounted at different depths within a silicon sensor - this
provides full colour information to every site, and also doesn't require
anti-aliasing. Good though the technology is at low ISO settings, it
can't compare to the Fujifilm sensor at higher sensitivities.
Have your say!
Latest comments
March 19 13:05
Ian Jackson
It all sounds great. Really looking forward to trying one but delivery was supposed to be mid-march and still no-one seems to be able to say when it'll hit our shores. Anyone know different?
March 23 21:23
sgoldswo
Received mine yesterday. It's fantastic!
March 27 04:08
Hasan
2.5 inch LCD (Electronics) There is nothing wrong with my old Vivitar dtaiigl camera, but it only has about 3MP quality at it is pretty basic. When I saw this yesterday I instantly fell in love, it fitted nicely into my hand and just looked well designed. Knowing that my dad has a Fugifilm DSLR that he has always been very happy with, I treated myself to this. At the same time as I was going for this a woman in the shop was also going for , which is nice and colourful for the women.Advertised for the teen and twenty something market, I say forget that. I only really take pics on holiday and special occasions (parties, family get togethers, etc), I'm not someone who has photography as a hobby. This has a lot of functions, but to be honest most of the time my pics will be taken on auto mode, although since I charged the battery up yesterday I have been snapping everything in sight probably making a nuisance of myself. For the casual photographer, which lets face it most of us are, this is ideal, and I am more than pleased. It is a nice small size to fit in your pocket or bag, it is a doddle to use, once you get used to all the different functions, and is a nice size to hold.The accompanying software was easy to download, with absolutely no problems, and there is a manual on disc as well. This is going to be ideal when my sister visits me from Stateside, and my pictures will be even better from my holiday than last year. Of course you will need a memory card for this, although it does have something like 18MB internal memory. I got myself a 4GB SDHC card at the time as I only have much smaller cards for my old camera.For the price you can't really go wrong, and this should give you years of enjoyable use, also this camera did get 5 stars in one photography magazine. Obviously there are a lot better cameras on the market, but for someone like myself it has all that I need a camera to do, plus the price isn't exorbitant.
March 31 00:01
JBV^_^
Can't afford it at the moment, gonna start saving. Always loved rangefinder cameras, and while this isn't a true rangefinder, I still love the looks. Question: When dumb lens adapters come out, will the manual focus zoom still work? It doesn't on the NX series, which is a pity, cuz most of the lenses I use are from the '70s and '80s.