The popularity of mirrorless cameras motivates manufacturers to keep making them. Capabilities of the cameras motivates people to keep buying. When these two components meet in just the right spot, everyone is happy.

This review comes after I played around with the ultra-minimalist controls on the Canon EOS M (buy the magazine for a change will ya). Which made the extra controls on the X20 a welcome sight; and a little intimidating. Unlike the competition, almost every control is somewhere on the body.

Unfortunately, this means that the design ends up losing some of its elegance. In fact, I will admit that this is nowhere near the nicest looking camera I’ve seen. But it does exude an aura of no-nonsense business. Losing the aesthetics, however, does mean that surrenders a great deal to functionality.

After getting over the look of the X20, I got down to fiddling with the controls to see how they would respond to a barbarian’s mashing. An endeavour on which I encountered just how much Fujifilm put into the camera. The dials had some initial resistance to being moved, but that cleared quickly.

The only worry was the power switch. In this case, the X20 chose retain a similar setup to the X1. It is always unsettling to turn the zoom ring until it clicks, particularly when parts of it feel loose. Although it may have been a figment of my imagination.

An old fashion manual viewfinder is installed on the camera, and while it probably won’t see as much use due to the LCD screen, it is a nice touch. The electronic viewfinder, on the other hand, is an interesting piece. Not in that it has any special features, rather that it is permanently attached without any hinges or rotating parts.

I find it a good thing, others will disagree. However, anything that reduces the capabilities of the younger generation of camwhores can only lead to positive things in the future.