[Tony Belding]

A few years back I had a Pentax MX-1. It's a camera that definitely has a following, and it's one that I wanted to like. I thought it might be a good companion for my Q7 system, even. And yet, it wasn't love at first sight. I never bonded with the MX-1. Pentax tried to advertise it as a premium compact, and they touted the brass top that will "patina" with time and wear. But that seemed like a pure gimmick to me, when the rest of the camera body and lens housing was kind of clunky and cheap. It was slow and unresponsive. It used a different battery from my Q7, so that was one more type of battery to keep track of and keep charged. Power zoom was awkward. The tilt screen was useful, but the lack of any viewfinder was a real problem outdoors on sunny days.

Yesterday I got my hands on a Fujifilm X20, which hit the market about the same time. It's shaping up to be everything that I had wished from the MX-1. The X20 has much nicer build quality or "fit-and-finish" with more classic rangefinder looks. It lacks tilt LCD, but has an optical viewfinder. It has manual, mechanical zoom. It has a slightly larger sensor than the MX-1 and is not molasses slow. It even uses a battery (Fuji FW-50) compatible with my Q7. I wish I had taken notice of this camera back when it was new, instead of ten years later!

[paulh]

I've never owned an MX1, but do have a Fuji X10 which I love. The x10 is the model previous to yours. I like the looks, solid build and of course the images. I also appreciate having a viewfinder! Having said that, I've also seen some great images with the MX1. Enjoy your Fuji!