In just 10 days—on March 20th—Fujifilm will announce a new product, purportedly a fixed-lens GFX camera, in Prague. This X Summit takes place at 11:00 AM local in the Czech Republic, which is 2:00 AM Pacific Time and 5:00 AM Eastern Time in the United States. I won’t be awake for that. By the time I brew my first cup of coffee, the camera will have been long announced, and preorders already open. If you want to get this camera right away, my recommendation is to set your alarm clock.
Since most Americans will be fast asleep when the announcement happens, Fujifilm North America is having their own party, which they’re calling an X Summit Experience, in Las Vegas at the WPPI Expo. This will be at 10:30 AM Pacific Time on the 20th. If you are in the Las Vegas area, I’m sure it will be worthwhile to stop by—just be sure to register.
Fujifilm did something similar to this with the launch of the X-T50 and GFX100S II. The X Summit for that was in Australia, which was the middle of the night for most of America. So they had an X Summit Experience on a Manhattan rooftop later in the day to celebrate the announcements. I was invited to be a part of that, and it was a ton of fun. So definitely, if you are in Vegas on the 20th, be sure to go. Unfortunately, I won’t be there for this one.
It’s possible that more than one thing will be announced at this X Summit. Four products—two cameras and two lenses—were unveiled at the Sydney X Summit in 2024; however, since nothing has leaked, I would be surprised if anything else was officially announced. But, I do suspect there could be some extras, such as a future product tease, and/or more info on the upcoming GFX Eterna cinema camera. I won’t catch it live, but will probably watch it on YouTube later in the day.
See also:
WCL-X100 & TCL-X100 for GFX??!!
Is $5,000 a Bargain or Bust?
Is IBIS Really Necessary? Is F/4 too Small?
10 Frames in New Mexico — Fujifilm GFX100S II XPan Photographs
Fujifilm Grain Comparison: GFX100S II vs. X-T5
Film Simulation Recipes for Fujifilm GFX Cameras
While I wouldn’t expect a release, I’d love to hear more about Fuji’s plans for the so-called “half frame” model.
Even before the Pentax 17 was released, there was a lot of discussion from Pentax about the scope of what they were intending, the kind of features, the style of lens.
Even a rough outline, a no-specifics discussion of their intent and the general direction, from Fuji on the “half frame” would be nice.
But that’s also rather un-Fuji-like. Seems as though they keep things pretty buttoned up, except for some info for rumors sites.
I’d be happy to hear a little more about it. Would be a bit bummed if it turns out to be an Instax model of some sort (although not completely bummed…).