Let me apologize right up front for the slowdown in articles lately. I’ve been really busy the last few weeks, and especially the last two weeks, and particularly the last handful of days. I’m hopeful that the chaos will calm down soon—perhaps in another week—and I can get back to publishing the amount and quality of content that you are used to seeing on Fuji X Weekly.
Anyway, Fujifilm just released a teaser video ahead of their May 15/16 X Summit in Sydney (10 PM Pacific, 1 AM Eastern). From the video, it appears like they’re going to announce a camera and lens. It definitely looks intriguing. I might have to catch the X Summit the morning after because it is so late here in America. It’s only seven days away, which means we’ll know all of the details by this time next week.
I browsed Fujirumors today, to catch up on the latest buzz. I found two articles that I want to briefly comment on. First, Fujifilm apparently is working on an X100-like GFX model (no PASM, please!), which might possibly be released sometime next year. Second, Fujifilm apparently has began the initial work on a potential digital X-Pan camera to be released in 2028. I don’t know if there’s any truth to either of those, and even if there is, there’s plenty of time for Fujifilm to switch directions. However, if there is any kernel of truth, my response is: heck, yeah! I’d buy both. Take my money, Fujifilm!
I think both of those potential future cameras qualify as “wow” products, which Fujifilm talked about a couple years ago. If they are indeed in the process of creating those two models, I would just offer my encouragement to keep at it, Fujifilm, and make it happen. It seems as though there are exciting times ahead for Fujifilm photographers!
See also: XPan III — The Digital Panoramic Camera That Should Exist
Well, I believe the teaser video shows the upcoming XT50 with film sim dial and the new kit lens (Fujirumors reported the upcoming products).
Not sure why you’d want a film sim dial, though. A film recipe dial would’ve made more sense in my book.
Fixed lens GFX camera? XPan? Interesting…
A C1-C7 dial would be cool, no doubt about it 😀
Indeed! That would make so much more sense.
But maybe there is a trick to the new dial we just don’t know about, yet.
Sorry, I couldn’t talk about it before. But…
https://fujixweekly.com/2024/05/16/fujifilm-x-t50-film-dial-settings-14-new-film-simulation-recipes-yes-14/
Implementation of the film sim dial will also be important. It could have two modes: one which leaves all the settings in place and only changes film sim (not as handy, but it could be nice for testing and designing simulations), or a second mode which allows you to have a default saved collection of settings for each film sim.
If the functionality included that second option, that’d be really sweet. If clicking from Velvia to Eterna changed your Color Chrome effect from your Velvia-default to your Eterna-default, that’d be fantastic.
This is how I made it work:
https://fujixweekly.com/2024/05/16/fujifilm-x-t50-film-dial-settings-14-new-film-simulation-recipes-yes-14/
I wish it had been implemented a little differently, but it is still useful.
A dream: Fuji xpan camera based on the housing of an xpro camera, only slightly wider and electronic with comparable gfx sensor … cool 😎
I think there would be a lot of interest in it, despite it being super niche.
40Mp X bodies, come on Fuji give us the 65/24 crop. As for myself I’m shooting X-T5 with 12 & 14mm lenses, at 16/9 and have a 65/24 template in Photoshop, not perfect but allows a little lee way for framing. The only negative I find this way is composing, you have to see the crop in your mind.
Exactly. In-camera crop support is basically all they need.
A wider viewfinder (black bars on the side for 3:2, rather than top and bottom for 65:24) and a physical aspect ratio switch would be nice perks, but if the crop is there, it’s sufficient.
I would also like the XPan aspect ratio included in the 40mp cameras. It would be simple for Fujifilm to do.
I know I’m a curmudgeon about it, but I don’t want an alternate sensor shape for 65:24. All the digital TX-1 needs is a bigger viewfinder optimized for in-camera crop on 40mp X-Trans 5 (or 6, if it’s out by then). Plus a physical aspect ratio switch, like the Panasonic LX100 line.
Any sort of alternate sensor is almost surely a bad idea. Either it’d require an entirely new lens mount (which is implausible), a fixed lens (which is suboptimal! A lot of folks will want to use a variety of lenses from ultrawide to telephoto), or it’s a very inefficient use of an existing lens’ image circle and the sensor should just be taller and cropped down in use. There’s no reason to use a half-sized GFX sensor if you still have a GFX image circle–just use the full size and crop.
To that end, maybe something like 26.5mm by 15.6mm sensor could be plausible. Only… it isn’t that much of a gain. 65:24 would go from 22mp up to 28mp, while allowing 3:2 to remain 40mp. The effort it would take Fuji to get an extra 3mm, source the custom sensors from Sony, only gains 6mp for TX-1 crops.
The big thing that a digital TX-1 needs is an extra-wide viewfinder, with black bars at the sides for 3:2 aspect ratio, and no black bars at all in XPan crop. I’d prefer a hybrid OVF, maybe even one capable of including the width of the 14mm even if the height only fits while cropping. The composition tools matter more than the sensor tools.
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As to a fixed-lens GFX… I dunno. What I really want is a FF 45mm or 50mm f/1.7. Something closer to old fixed lens rangefinders. Even though the Canonet was a 40mm, most weren’t that wide, and I think going for something a little tighter on a fast lens would be special–a portrait compact. There are great wide-angle compacts out there, and I would prefer an alternative that was a little tighter. So what it comes down to for me is a feeling that a GFX sensor “compact” would likely have a darker lens, maybe an f/2.8. And that’s just not as something I really crave. I know there would be fans, but a GFX100 with a 45/2.8 is just not something I’m super into. If they did a 60mm f/2, that’s closer to it. My feeling is that the GFX sensors are just overkill for this kind of camera.
If they went the other way, did a 30mm GFX100, designed to be cropped like mad, that starts to make sense again to me. But if it’s the same field of view and approximately the same equivalent aperture as the x100vi, it doesn’t click for me.
Hear, hear!
I think the XPan aspect ratio should be included in all Fujifilm models with 40mp or more. That should be easy for Fujifilm to do, and seems like a no-brainer.
With that said, I would love an XPan shaped sensor. The idea of the original XPan cameras is that, instead of losing half of the film to a crop for panoramic pictures, you’d actually have twice as much, allowing for large prints. And, if you didn’t want a pano, you could still get a full-size 35mm picture. I would love to see that carried over into digital. Instead of starting with 40mp and cropping to 20-ish, you could start with 80mp and crop to 40-ish if you didn’t want a pano. To me, that’s the appeal, and it requires an XPan-shaped sensor to make it happen. Most ideally, I’d like it to use the lens mount from the original TX-1/TX-2 cameras, although I’m not sure what they’ll do regarding that.
I guess my point is this: why not just make the sensor taller? If the XPan-shaped sensor was about 44mm by 16mm, the image circle already has to be about the same size as GFX, so why not just use a full GFX sensor? Small production runs probably increase costs as much as you’d save by having more sensors per wafer.
A manual-focus TX-1 mount digital camera… that’s actually kinda tempting. Or if not fully manual, one that has Pentax-style backwards compatibility, but adding contacts for electronic focus. But so long as there’s space, I still think it makes sense to have a taller sensor. The image circle of a 65:24 lens would cover 48 by 36mm easily.
Well, I’d just like to know if they have any plans to address the HUGE Elephant in the room. ie Where are the rest of the X100VI’s that a large number of us pre ordered on launch day and are still waiting for the back orders to be filled. Forget releasing new gear, start delivering more X100VI’s. I would like an X-Pro4 though.
I’m not sure what you mean about “huge elephant”….
The X100VI shattered all preorder records of any camera by any manufacturer ever. There’s never been anything like it in the camera industry. It’s unprecedented. I saw somewhere that there were more day-one preorders in China for the X100VI than there were X100V’s manufactured over its entire lifecycle (nearly four years). That’s insane! And it means that a lot of people are going to have to wait a long time for their camera. That’s just the reality: you are in a really long line with a lot of other people, and there’s not much that can be done about it other than wait for your turn (or get out of the line altogether or pay scalper prices).
It’s my understanding that Fujifilm is manufacturing the X100VI at twice the rate that they made the X100V, and (because of the demand) they will be doubling it again soon (so, once that’s online: 4x as many each month as the X100V). That’s nuts, but it needs to be 10x or more than that to meet the demand of the highest-demanded camera ever. I don’t think it would be wise for Fujifilm to drop literally everything else to make as many X100VI’s as humanly possible… it might be a short term win, but it would be a huge long term loss, for sure. 4x as many X100VI’s as X100V’s sounds like they’re doing quite a lot.
The XP4 (if it’s still coming at all) had better be cutting edge, otherwise there’s nothing left for me in Fujiland (am deep in the X system and never thought I’d say this). Glad I have my T5 and other older Fuji cameras. The new GFX 100S ii is looking more and more attractive.
I do think there will be am X-Pro4, but I don’t think it will be soon.
The selling point for me on the GFX100S II (and I’m not buying it, it’s not in my budget 🤣) are the incredible images that bewaremyfuji and Bryan Minear have created with it.