Whether you are trying to select the best digital camera for under £50 or the best digital camera of 2012, you need to know a few basics about digital camera specifications. Camera descriptions are usually filled with techno-babble that the casual shooter doesn’t really understand. Read on as we make sense of two important digital camera specifications in language anyone can follow.

Digital vs Optical Zoom

Most cameras give you the option to ‘zoom’ your lens, so that one second you are shooting a wide-angle picture and the next second you can zoom in to get a closer view of your subject – all without moving your feet. The main specification to insist on knowing is whether the zoom function is digital or optical. Optical zoom is accomplished by the elements of glass inside the lens moving to change the picture you will capture. This is the best method and produces telephoto (far away) pictures with just as much quality as the wide-angle or close-up shots. Digital zoom is really just electronic wizardry, showing you only part of the image that is being captured by the lens. Instead of seeing the entire image captured by your lens, the camera’s processor selects just a portion of the photo and blows-it up mathematically to produce a larger image of just the centre section. This will never be as sharp or as clear as an optical zoom photo, but it is much less expensive to manufacture.

Sensors and the Megapixel Myth

Just about every digital camera today is rated by the number of megapixels it captures. When you see the abbreviation ‘MP’, that stands for megapixels. When your camera lens opens to take a picture, the light that enters is captured by a sensor in the back of your camera. Within each sensor are millions of little receptors called pixels that record each specific part of the image. Those pixels each process one portion of the image and collectively they all write the information to one digital image file which creates your digital photo. The photos are then stored in a file format, usually known as JPEG or JPG (pronounced JAY-PEG).

You’ll need a minimum of 2 megapixels if you want prints 13x18cm, 5 megapixels for prints 20x25cm and 8 megapixels for prints up to 30x46cm. Most amateurs never order anything larger than that, so buying a 12 megapixel camera is probably overkill, unless you plan on doing a lot of cropping (printing only part of the image).

The common perception is that the more megapixels the camera has, the better and larger the photo will be. That’s the myth and it’s only true to a point. If you have a large sensor, each pixel can be larger as well and that’s what makes for a better photo. So, in addition to checking the number of megapixels, also determine the photo sensor size. In this case, a larger sensor  is better. I’d rather buy a 5 megapixel camera with a 20cm sensor than an 8 megapixel camera with a 10cm sensor. My photos should be sharper and have more accurate colour. However, if two cameras have the same sensor size and price, opt for more pixels.

The X-Pro 1 camera also has a good DNA coming from a line which gave you the X10 and the X100. The aperture might be mirrorless but this camera is packed with features and technology that wipes off any cynicism in you. The package gives you something special: Fuji X lens, APS-C sensor, and a hybrid viewfinder.

Hardware

When you unbox the X-Pro 1, you know you are unwrapping a new gadget but you might go W-O-W everything seems big on this camera. This product from Fujifilm is like the go-big-time fast food version of the other top of the line cameras today with oversized wheels among other big elements.

The build and feel of the camera is quite solid and if you have been taking pictures for quite some time, it will give you a feel of holding a camera from the old days. The X-Pro 1 despite its size is lightweight. One downside of this camera, which may turn off some consumers, is that it is not sealed from the elements. So those who go through all weather conditions for their shoots might look in other directions.

The hybrid viewfinder that has been inspired by the X100 is among the biggest factor for the architecture of the X-Pro 1. It allows the users to easy adapt to situations where you need optical modes and where you can use electric modes.  The optical mode will require you to look through the piece glass and have a direct view of the subject of your photo. The electronic mode of course gives you a good preview of how the picture will look like with a resolution of 800×600. The feel is not the same as your DSLR but the modes can be set up to have what you need like the spirit level, frame guides, and histogram among others.

The X-Pro 1 mirrorless  has a 3-inch LCD screen which has a resolution of 650×480. The panel promises to be clear even during shoots outdoors. The If you are thinking of lenses, you can get 60 f/2.4 if you love to zoom in things, 35mm f/1.4 for your usual clicks, and 18mm f/2.0 for the wide shots. It also comes with an adapter already if you have the pricey Lica lenses.

The buttons have a nice layout. On top you can find the controls for the shutter, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. The aperture ring gives you that retro feel of setting the aperture and shutter speed. There is also an Fn button to which you can assign a control that you want for easy access. There is no movie capture button though, but we guess this is just being true to the retro look of the X-Pro 1.

Performance and Image Quality

The X-Pro 1 is a bit slow compared to the rest of the brood in its segment. You have to wait a a few seconds to power it up then another second to try and shoot via the EVF. The process will be a bit faster when using the rear LCD or the OVF. There is also a bit of lag when shooting in bright surroundings (about 0.5 seconds) and dim environment (about 0.8 seconds. If you are the type who loves shooting continuously, the speed is quite satsifying at 5.2 fps. Make sure you put in a fast SD card if you shoot in bursts a lot.

The battery life is decent enough but there are reports that tell of the the camera crashing, so I think we can all expect a firmware update in the near future.

In terms of image quality, the X-Trans sensor in the mid ISO and low ISO sensitivities in combo with  the XF lenses can give you high quality images in terms of tone, details, resolution,and colour.

Conclusion

The X-Pro 1 seems to be an old case of Marmite - you will either love it or you will hate it. There are still a lot of people who will not put down their Nikon or Cannon for something like an old-looking X-Pro 1. If you buy this camera, likely you will buy it for the looks more than for what it can do.  But, with more affordable models on the market, it is hard to resist researching and comparing the X-Pro 1 to its contemporaries.