Fuji announced new film camera "KLASSE W"

[kunihiko]

Fuji just announced new high-end compact film camera "KLASSE W".
This is a new version of "KLASSE" with 28mm lens and NP mode! Great !!

http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/corporate/news/article/ffnr0052.html
Sorry, this page is in Japanese only.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Interesting in that it appears to have a very large and very hard to miss +- exposure switch.

Is the front RH threaded hole, a flash or cable release for the shutter?

I wouldn't be surprised if the front facia surrounding the lens, has a lens protector which slots in the two funny shaped holes.

Could you tell us what NP mode is, I cannot think of what it could be mean.

Mick.

 

[Bromo33333]

Fuji just announced new high-end compact film camera "KLASSE W".
This is a new version of "KLASSE" with 28mm lens and NP mode! Great !!

http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/corporate/news/article/ffnr0052.html
Sorry, this page is in Japanese only.

Excellent news, actually! Though "NP" mode is quite a mystery to me as to what it might be ... :confused:

 

[Bromo33333]

Excellent news, actually! Though "NP" mode is quite a mystery to me as to what it might be ... :confused:

Okay - went to babelfish and found out NP stands for "Natural Photo" system. Apparently they are particularly fond of the lens which is coated using electron beam deposition and claims great results in difficult lighting situations - high contrast, yadda yadda yadda.

This is the KLASSE W which is is a 28mm lens, the original (c.2001) KLASSE has a 35mm lens and they will release a KLASSE S at some point (my guess it is 50mm). Looks like a fixed lens camera.

Price is about 95,000 Yen (Appx US$750-800 IIRC the exchange rates.)

No idea if it is going to be released int he US. Prolly not unless grey market.

Looks like this is a specialty limited edition camera - still pretty nice.

 

[Petzi]

There are way too many items that Fuji do not offer outside of Japan.

 

[celerystalksme]

Okay - went to babelfish and found out NP stands for "Natural Photo" system. Apparently they are particularly fond of the lens which is coated using electron beam deposition and claims great results in difficult lighting situations - high contrast, yadda yadda yadda.

This is the KLASSE W which is is a 28mm lens, the original (c.2001) KLASSE has a 35mm lens and they will release a KLASSE S at some point (my guess it is 50mm). Looks like a fixed lens camera.

Price is about 95,000 Yen (Appx US$750-800 IIRC the exchange rates.)

No idea if it is going to be released int he US. Prolly not unless grey market.

Looks like this is a specialty limited edition camera - still pretty nice.

the original fuji klasse (also rebadged and sold as the rollei afm35) actually has a 38mm lens. the original klasse's lens was also a teeny bit brighter at f2.6. there was one difference between the rollei afm35 and the fuji klasse: allegedly, the rollie had a different lens coating and the rollei lens was "better" than the fuji lens as a result of this different coating.

the NP mode is the same NP mode that is used in the fuji natura. when you load the camera with 1600 or faster film, the camera will automatically go into NP mode...this forces the camera to dial in +2 exposure compensation and the camera will not allow the shutter speed to fall below 1/60 (or something like that).

also, the knob on the front of the Klasse W is different than the original Klasse. the original used that knob for manual focusing, which reviewers and users thought was brilliant...easily the most usable manual focus function of modern point and shoots. so the Klasse W's exposure compensation being there i think is a step backwards. that's just my opinion.

edit: i just found some additional photos of the klasse w (klasse II). the klasse w has one extra knob on top of the camera which looks like it is the manual focus setting. so that might work just fine.

 

[firecracker]

The picture of the new camera looks neat. But the price is pretty high, around 800 USD suggested by the manufacturer. So, it's gotta be a serious P&S camera.

 

[Bromo33333]

The picture of the new camera looks neat. But the price is pretty high, around 800 USD suggested by the manufacturer. So, it's gotta be a serious P&S camera.

If it is well built - $800 isn't a bad price - but you would want to weigh it against Voigtlander (R2/3/4A + lens for <$1k), the Consina built Rollei + 40mm lens (<$1k), and the Leica CM (~$800-1200) for new cameras.

 

[butterflydream]

It says the camera will be sold from 1. December, in 'limited quantity' (8,000).
Chances are this could be only for Japanese domestic market.

 

[kunihiko]

The page linked avobe says that New "KLASSE S" with 38mm lens is also being prepared to be released next spring.

 

[25asa]

OOOhhh! That's nice!
Will there be one for 6x7?

 

[Ryuji]

Before getting too excited, there are few things I would have to check. The previous Klasse had a few problems. The main reason I wouldn't buy the previous Klasse is because it has two aperture diaphragms, like cheap compact cameras. Original Klasse's lens was of Tessar type. There's nothing wrong with modern Tessar, but I don't think the price was right. So the actual retail price dropped significantly several months after the release of the camera.

I haven't had a chance to play with Klasse, but comments I see on Japanese magazines as well as weblogs are that the body is rather cheaply made, and the sound is rather loud.

What I would really like Fujifilm to make is a nice manual-capable camera using their 24mm f/1.9 lens, currently used in their Natura S model. A compact camera with such a lens is a truely singular point of their engineering. If they sell 24mm and 38mm compacts of high quality, I don't mind buying and carrying both of them.