‘We need to defend this [share] vigorously,’ said Adrian Clarke, senior vice president for Fujifilm Europe, in an interview with AP ahead of CES.

‘We will base our bridge around lens development,’ he added.

Due out next month, replacing the HS30EXR, the HS50 sports a 24-1000mm (35mm viewing angle equivalent) lens and a 16-million-pixel EXR CMOS II imaging sensor with built-in phase detection AF, enabling a 0.03sec AF speed (compared to 0.16sec on the HS30 predecessor), according to Fuji.

The lens incorporates three aspherical and one ED lens.

Unveiled ahead of CES, which starts tomorrow, features include a 3in, 920,000-dot, vari-angle LCD screen and ‘four-stop’ lens-shift image stabilisation.

The EVF, which boasts 920,000-dot resolution, includes an eye sensor.

Firepower also includes a Focus Peak Highlight mode, to help manual focusing, plus a stereo microphone and a hotshoe.

Continuous shooting at full resolution is possible at up to 10 frames per second, compared to 8fps on the HS30.

Targeted at photo enthusiasts and DSLRs users who ‘want a smaller camera with versatility’, the HS50 is due on sale in February at a price yet to be announced.