Fujifilm has axed production of its FinePix S3 Pro digital SLR but insists that it is not pulling out of the digital SLR market.

?We will follow it up. We are absolutely not out of the digital SLR arena,? a Fujifilm UK spokesperson told us this morning.

Launched amid a blaze of publicity in 2004 the S3 Pro (pictured) features a Nikon F-mount and was the first digital SLR to feature Fuji?s Super CCD SR technology. It uses 6.17m pairs of photodiodes ? called S and R pixels.

Fujifilm UK has confirmed to AP that it is planning to launch a replacement camera, having ceased production of the S3 earlier this year. ?There are not many around now,? the spokesperson added.

However, at the time of writing, Fujifilm UK was staying tight-lipped over details of its replacement model.

The company was not even able to confirm whether it will be unveiled at the upcoming Photokina trade show which takes place in Cologne, Germany from the end of next month.

?Watch this space,? said the spokesperson.