Fujifilm X-E – The Cursed Line

There was a time, when Fujifilm was only offering rangefinder X series cameras.

Well, that’s if you don’t consider this camera here, which I guess we’ll never know why Fujifilm called it an X series camera.

But anyway, rangefinder was Fujifilm’s quiet re-entry in the mid-higher end digital camera market (their previous attempt was this one).

And silently, on tiptoes, Fujifilm carved out its very small niche of truly passionate photographers.

The X-E1 is Born

The Fujifilm X-E1 was definitely one of the best expressions of this understated approach into the mirrorless camera market: no thunders, no specs brags, just beauty and joy encapsulated in a wonderful camera body.

But the Fujifilm X-E1 would become the last X-E camera with a relatively quiet and tranquil life.

Because Fujifilm’s priorities started to shift, their ambitions to grow, and the X-E line started to be on the edge of survival.

X-E2 – The Struggles Begin

Let’s begin our tale of struggles with the Fujifilm X-E2, which btw I owned and destroyed when I had to jump into the Mekong river to avoid getting smashed by the Li Phi waterfalls.

Fujifilm had the brilliant idea to launch the Fujifilm X-E2 just 3 months before they announced the Fujifilm X-T1, which came in the more popular SLR styled package and offered superior specs like weather sealing, UHS-II card slot and the largest EVF on any mirrorless camera.

The X-T1 was Fujifilm’s statement to the photography world: we want to go more mainstream now! And as a consequence it stole the show (and sales) to the X-E2.

The Fujifilm X-E2 was followed by the Fujifilm X-E2S, which is basically an X-E2 with an auto button. So we can ignore that one.

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The X-E3 Problem