Yeah, I'm impatient. Against my own judgement I bought an import... the XE1+35mm kit. Got it from a company with great reviews and what seemed like a good reputation. Paid just under $1400 and it arrived in about 4 days. The company is in the U.S. and named Negri Electronics if you're interested... and they also offer their own warranty.

I didn't get too much time with the camera since I had to work today, but I did get to go out for a short while and test her out.

In size, it's so close to the x100 the difference is only slight. The little grip and thumb grip make the camera feel great in the hand. On my x100 I have a thumbs-up, but I won't need that on the XE1... which is good because it would cover the magnify wheel anyway.

Photo of XE1 with Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Skopar:

Because I'm so familiar with the x100 now, setting up the camera and going through the menus felt very familiar. I can't compare it to the XPro1 since I never used one, but I'd assume it's similar.

The EVF is the best I've used (admittedly, I only tried an NEX-7 once). Color, contrast and clarity are all excellent. Once thing that bugs me a little is when the camera awakes from sleep it takes a second for the EVF to adjust to the ambient lighting (seemed more noticeable than with the x100).

I tested her out with three lenses today. Obviously, as I got the kit with the 35mm lens, I tried that out first. I had also bought the Fotodiox M-to-X adaptor, so I tried out the Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Skopar and the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Nokton. I own a few M lenses, so I'll be testing other outs over the next week.

The 35mm f/1.4 will likely get a LOT of use. Funny enough, it didn't have the latest firmware on it, so I updated that first thing.

Shots with the Fuji 35mm f/1.4:

I was anxious to try the CV 21mm Skopar, with it's 31.5mm effective focal length. I was going to buy the Fuji 18mm lens, but I have never been a fan of the 28mm full-frame equivalent, so I decided on the Skopar instead. So far, I'm glad I did.

The is some loss of clarity towards the edges of the frame, but it isn't enough to bother me.

Manual focusing is exceptionally easy. The 3x magnification makes it a breeze. This isn't a fast lens anyway, so even wide open it's going to be fairly easy to nail focus even without magnification.

And I really like the combination of M-lenses on the XE1 body.

Shots with the Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Skopar:

I also decided to give the 50mm f/1.5 Nokton a try. This is one I'll probably use a lot less since it's effective focal length is 75mm on the XE1... though I do enjoy using a slightly longer lens on my Pentax so who knows, it may end up getting more use than I think. This is one of my favorite lenses of all time.

Focusing the 50 was still fairly simply, but obviously more difficult than the 21mm... especially wide open; However, I didn't find myself struggling with it. Once I get used to the camera and lens combo, it will be fine. I will say though, focus peaking would be a nice feature if Fuji could add it.

Results were very good and worth the effort.

Photos with the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Nokton

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the XE1 on day one! I really wanted to buy the XPro1 when it came out, but couldn't afford it then and had to hold off... and I'm glad I did. This fit my budget nicely and it literally the perfect size camera for me... and considering I never use the OVF on the x100, I'm not going to miss it.

Feel free to ask any questions - though keep in mind it's only been one day! LOL