The Fujifilm X-Pro1 ($1,199.95 body only) was the camera that launched the company's X series of interchangeable lens bodies. That makes it about two years old, which can be an eternity in the technology world. But Fujifilm has continued to enhance its functionality and performance via firmware updates, and it remains the sole entry in the lineup with an optical viewfinder. Its 16-megapixel APS-C X-Trans image sensor produces great images, even in low light, and it delivers a shooting experience that is as close to a rangefinder like the Leica M as you'll get without spending an arm and a leg. It's not quite as versatile as our Editors' Choice for high-end mirrorless, the Olympus OM-D E-M1, but prime-lens shooters who love the idea of an optical finder shouldn't disregard it because of its age.

Design and Features
At 15.9 ounces without a lens, the X-Pro1 feels heavy for its 3.2-by-5.5-by-1.7-inch (HWD) size. Its top and bottom plates are fabricated from aluminum, and the rest of the body is wrapped in a black leatherette. The viewfinder is housed in the corner of the body, just as it would be in a true rangefinder like the Leica M Monochrom, and the model badge, Fujinon logo, and the Theta that indicates the location of the image sensor are engraved and painted in white against the black paint that covers the top plate. As the paint wears over time the aluminum underneath will show, but the effect isn't as striking as you would get with a brass construction you'll find in black paint Leicas and other vintage 35mm cameras. There's no built-in flash, but there is a hot shoe on the top plate that can accommodate an external strobe, and a PC sync socket on the side to connect to off-camera lighting.

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Top controls include a shutter speed dial with full-stop settings from 1 second down to 1/4,000-second, as well as a T setting for long exposures (2 seconds through 30 seconds), and an A setting for automatic control. You'll also find the power switch (which surrounds the shutter release), an EV compensation dial (with third-stop settings from -2 to +2 EV), and the programmable Fn button up top. Front controls include a switch that toggles the hybrid finder between optical and electronic operation, and a switch that changes between manual focus, continuous tracking focus, and single-shot focus. Select lenses, including the Fujinon XF 23mm F1.4 R that Fujifilm provided for review with the X-Pro1, feature a focus clutch mechanism that should be used to switch between automatic and manual focus instead of this switch.

The rear includes the View Mode button, which switches between the finder, rear display, or an eye sensor that automatically switches the view when you bring the X-Pro1 to your eye. To the left of the LCD you'll find Drive, AE, and AF buttons; Drive allows you to select the drive mode via an overlay menu, AE controls the metering pattern, and AF lets you select the active focus point via the four-way control pad that sits to the right of the LCD. Its top direction doubles as a Macro button (for lenses that support it), and at its center is the Menu/OK button. Other rear controls include Disp Back, which changes between a Live View feed and rear information display, an AE-L/AF-L control for focus and exposure lock, image playback and delete controls, and the Q button.

Tapping Q brings up a rear information panel that provides quick access to almost every setting you'll want to change while shooting. These include color output, ISO, dynamic range control, white balance, noise reduction, image size, image format, film emulation, self-timer, focus area, flash output control, LCD brightness adjustment, and controls to adjust image highlights, shadows, color saturation, and sharpening. The four-way control pad is used to navigate through these settings, and the rear control dial is used to adjust them; that dial doubles as an aperture control if you are using the a lens that doesn't feature a physical aperture ring.

The hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder is a feature unique to Fujifilm cameras. When set to optical mode you see a clear view of the world through the glass that's a bit larger than what the attached lens captures. Electronic frame lines are projected that show what the lens will capture, with a smaller box inside to show the active focus point. A half-press of the shutter locks focus, and if necessary adjusts the frame lines to compensate for parallax. That's caused by the difference in position between the optical finder and the lens, and is more of an issue if you're working close to your subject—if you are, it's not a bad idea to switch to the EVF in order to see exactly what the lens is seeing. The magnification of the optical finder changes based on the attached lens, but you can enable or disable that magnification at will by extending the viewfinder toggle switch for about two seconds.

I really enjoyed using the optical finder with the 23mm lens, and found it a pleasant experience for shooting by streetlamp, as the EVF gets a bit choppy in low light. But if I was using a wide-angle lens like the Fujinon XF 14mm F2.8 R the EVF would likely be my preference as the lens itself would block a portion of the optical view of the wider frame it captures. The EVF is also necessary if you want to focus a native lens manually, or use an adapted lens with the X-Pro1. One of the features that Fujifilm has added via firmware updates is focus peaking, which highlights in-focus portions of the frame when using the EVF or rear LCD for quick, precise manual focusing. Focus peaking is not new to mirrorless cameras—Sony uses it in the Alpha NEX-7, and it works well there thanks to the NEX-7's ultra-sharp 2,359k-dot OLED finder. The X-Pro1's viewfinder isn't quite as sharp—it's a 1,440k-dot LCD—but with peaking it's very useable for manual focus.

The rear LCD is 3-inches in size and packs a 1,230k-dot resolution. That's a lot of pixels; the figure includes a layer of white pixels that enhance visibility on bright days. It's sharper than the 614k-dot OLED display found on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3. The X-Pro1's display is fixed, and it doesn't support touch input like the GH3's vari-angle display. If you're a fan of the Fujinon X lens system and want a body with an articulating display, consider the new X-T1 ($1,699.95), a top-end model that's styled more like an SLR.