A little over two years ago Fujifilm stated that they’re working on “wow” products, so I gave my Top 10 suggestions for that in an article entitled 10 “WOW” Products Fujifilm Should Be Making Right Now. I thought it would be fun to revisit the article. Did Fujifilm make any of those suggestions? What “wow” products have they released that didn’t make my list? Which ones should they still pursue?
To recap, my 10 ideas were:
10. Minimalist Model — no rear LCD or video mode
9. 135mm lens — really, any focal length prime in-between 90mm and 200mm
8. A new pancake lens — I suggested 15mm, 23mm, and 40mm as potential options
7. GFX 100R — 100mp successor to the GFX 50R
6. ISOCELL — bring the Fujifilm/Samsung joint technology to the X-series
5. Infrared — I suggested the X-T30 II as the model of choice
4. Digital XPan — a dedicated 65:24 aspect ratio camera
3. X200 — full-frame X100-like camera
2. X80 — successor to the X70
1. Acros-Edition — monochrome-only X100 or X-Pro camera
How does it look 27 months later? With nearly zero promotion, Fujifilm released the X-T4 ES (“Extended Spectrum”) infrared camera over the summer. It flew completely under the radar! While few own it, whenever I show my X-T4 ES to people, it always gets a strong “wow” reaction. As far as I’m aware, B&H is the only camera store currently selling it, and you have to order either in-person or over the phone—it’s not available online right now. So far, I’ve published two Recipes for the Fujifilm X-T4 ES: Aerochrome v1 and Aerochrome v2. If Fujifilm were to do even a little promotion for this camera and made it easier to buy, it would sell decently well, I’m certain of it. Of my 10 ideas, this is the only one so far that has come to pass.
There are “rumors” circling about potential upcoming gear. I’m not sure what may or may not come, but a few of the items (or similar) in my list have been floated on websites like Fujirumors. Even though only one has become reality, it’s possible that in a year or two more can be checked off (I’m sure that some probably won’t ever happen). My top choices would be a new pancake lens, digital XPan, X200 (perhaps GFX instead of full-frame), X80, and a monochrome-only X100 or X-Pro. It’s hard to know what the future holds, but I do believe several “wow” products are in the works right now (including the GFX Eterna cinema camera that Fujifilm recently teased).
Of course, the most obvious “wow” product released by Fujifilm is the X100VI, the most in-demand camera by any brand ever. Fujifilm is getting closer to fulfilling all of the preorders and backorders… word on the street is that if you don’t mind the black version, you might be able to get it real soon without much of a wait. Since demand is higher for the silver model, that one will likely require more patience. This camera has the potential to become the most-sold model ever. It will be interesting to see if demand remains high over the next few years—I think it certainly could.
Now it’s your turn. Let me know in the comments which wow product you’d like to see Fujifilm make next! I’m pretty excited for what’s coming down the pike, whatever it might be. I think there will be plenty of upcoming announcements over the next couple of years to get especially excited for.
See also: Evergreen + Fuji X Weekly Protective Case for Fujifilm X100VI / X100V / X100F
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Fujifilm X100VI in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X100VI in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
A small point and shoot with a viewfinder under $800. No video would be okay with me.
Nice suggestion 👍 😀
Is there any hope at all for a GFX 100R? Or an Xpro-4/5?
I would say not a whole lot of hope for GFX 100R, but a lot of hope for an X-Pro4.
As a “lucky” owner of x100vi I’m pretty satisfied and the only things I’d like are some x mount Parfocal zoom lens for video use with a constant aperture.
Not new products but firmware updates for cameras equiped with 5th generation processors, bringing the 9:16 options for video, as when shooting from a tripod or gimbal it would be good to be able to record shorts/tiktok videos.
I think 9:16 for video could be implemented fairly easily with a firmware update. I hope they do. Appreciate the input!
One suggestion from the old thread has buzzed in my head: a prime that would be the equivalent of the old famous Nikon 105/2.5, so a 70mm f/1.7 or such (which is sorta-kinda the Pentax DA70mm APS-C pancake portrait telephoto).
The awkward thing is that it’s right between the two macro options at 60mm and 80mm, but the 80mm is a beast, and the 60mm while charming is a very old lens that focuses slowly, and neither is particularly bright (macro has a cost in aperture). Getting a modest 70mm in between, about a stop faster, would be pretty nice. Even if it was an f/2 WR option, it’d be tempting. The 50/2 doesn’t seem quite dramatic enough as a portrait lens, not that wide aperture and not that long. But a 70/2 designed with a reasonable eye towards smooth rendering and modern handling would be a sweet lens.
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I just got a 135/2.8 for my Pentax K-1, and it’s a treat of a lens. Reasonably small, but the effect it has can be quite dramatic. While I’m sure that the modern 135mm f/1.8 lenses are impressive, they’re also honking chonkers, and reasonably small telephoto lenses used to exist. I’ve also got an old manual focus 200mm f/4, and it’s solid. So if Fuji were to make something like a 135/2.8 that was approximately the size of an SLR 135mm lens, that’d be really sweet. So many telephoto lenses are huge, and making some which are decently compact would be nice. Aperture can be a tradeoff here for size. Heck, probably even a 135/3.5 would be a sweet lens if the size and price were right.
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Not for Fujifilm, but I’d love for the Sigma 90mm DGDN f/2.8 to make the leap from FE/L into X mount. Ridiculously small, focuses quite close (50cm!), bitingly sharp, aperture ring. One of a handful of FF lenses that I’d love to have on X-Mount.
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I’m excited to see what the 1″ sensor camera turns out to be. If it’s got good handling, akin to what you’d get from a physical-dials Fuji camera, that’d be pretty exciting. If it’s a stripped-down, few controls PASM, that’s not so interesting. I’m fine with stuff like the M5 being PASM, they’re making a particular kind of camera for a particular user. But small cameras built for folks who love photography are few and far between. That doesn’t mean some nonsense like “take out the video” but just putting the shooting experience first.
I love the Fujinon 90mm f/2 and the 56mm f/1.2. A couple of my favorite lenses (the 56mm is actually my wife’s…). Something in-between would be good, too. The 60mm macro is one of the weakest prime lenses in the Fujinon lineup… either they need to make a v2, or discontinue it altogether, in my opinion. The 80mm macro is amazing, but 1) expensive), 2) not an especially impressive maximum aperture, 3) it’s a macro, which has a lot of focus range to cycle through. So something roughly around $700 that is 70mm-ish (65-75mm range) and with an f/2 maximum aperture (or larger) would be great. I think it would sell well enough, especially if they could squeeze an f/1.7 aperture into it.
I would cream my spinach for an updated version of, or even just a re-release of the EF-X20.
A v2 would be really cool. Great suggestion 😀