Hireacamera interviewed Fujifilm Manager Theo Georghiades (who is also one of our friends at the GFX facebook group)… go to minute 27:17.

Theo gives us an inside view about the history of Fujifilm and talks, for example, about why Fujifilm at a certain point felt like, with their compact digital offering, they were disconnecting from PRO photographers (whom they were always strongly connected to with their film cameras).

So they tried some paths (also partnering with Nikon), and at the end they decided to go all alone with mirrorless (the X-series).

• Fujifilm was the frist to come out with a high end compact camera, the [shoplink 59478 ebay]Finepix 4700[/shoplink], the first super CCD camera.
• They also had the first camera with removable memory
• Fujifilm focussed on digital compact cameras initially, but they felt they were losing the connection to professional photographers. Theo says: “we were always in touch with the professionals” (Fujifilm always had high end film products)
• They started focussing on high end digital cameras with interchangeable lenses
• When they moved into the DSLR market, they partnered with Nikon
• At some point the question arose: “do we start a system completely on our own“
• they looked at mirrorless cameras
• They worked on the Fujifilm X100, a high end compact camera
• The X100 was needed to test the water
• Given the big interested, they continued, offering an interchageable camera, the X-Pro1 (discussion for X-Pro1 started a few months after X100 launch)

The interview starts at minute 27:17 and you can check it out at Hireacamera youtube here.

On July 22, Fujifilm will celebrate the 1 year anniversary of their Wonder Photo Shop in New York city. More about it in the press release below

In case any FR-reader will be there, say hello to the Fuji folks, and feel free to share the impressions (and rumors ;) ???) of the day via email at fujirumor@gmail.com.

Side note:

Maybe Fujifilm should do it a bit like Apple, not only when it comes to designing and crafting beautiful and solid gear, but also when it comes to offering to their customers a world wide network of dedicated Apple Fujifilm stores (and service providers). In fact, there are currently only 8 Wonder Fujifilm Wonder Photo Shops worldwide:

• New York
• Tokyo
• Barcelona
• Bogota
• Istanbul
• Auckland
• Kuala Lumpur
• Shanghai

But what do you think… would you like a wide spread network of dedicated Fujiflm Stores? Or is it something Fujifilm should not put too much time and money into it?

FUJIFILM CELEBRATES ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE WONDER PHOTO SHOP IN NEW YORK CITY

The latest version of Adobe Camera RAW (9.12) and Lightroom CC 2015.12 (6.11 for the standalone version) is out.

Fujifilm related bug fix:

• Fixed an issue where images taken with extended ISO on the Fujifilm GFX-50S were too bright.

Fujifilm related lens support:

• Fujifilm X Fujifilm WCL-X100 Wide-Angle Conversion Lens
• Fujifilm X Fujifilm WCL-X100II Wide-Angle Conversion Lens
• Fujifilm X Fujifilm TCL-X100II Tele Conversion Lens

Fujifilm just released the new edition (21) of their interactive Fujifilm X Magazine.

This edition includes an interview with wedding photographer José Luis Guardia, who uses X-gear to “shoot moments that last forever“.

They also talk about the 4 X-mount portrait lenses (50/2, 56/1.2, 56/1.2 APD and 90/2), give tips for manual focussing and more.

This time you can win £1250 to spend on Fujifilm gear.

You can check it out online here or download the Free iPhone App here / Free Andoid App.

I know, we got the first hint already back in September 2016 here, when Fujifilm wrote on the official X-T1 page “production ended“. However, after the FujiRumors post, Fujifilm quickly removed the “production ended” note (as they also did with the X-T10 here). But now it’s 100% official, as the X-T1 (and also the X-T10) is listed at Fujifilm’s Japanese discontinued model page here.

So we have to say goodbye, to one of Fujifilm’s most legendary and important digital cameras, the Fujifilm X-T1…. and I warn you, I tend to get rather emotional in these things, so prepare the tissues :)

In the first two years of blogging here on FujiRumors, I had to report many times how bad X-series camera sales were (only 700,000 cameras sold in the first 2 years, as The New York Times reported here), and how much money Fuji’s imaging solution was losing.

I admit: I was afraid Fujifilm could step out of the high end digital camera market anytime (just as it happened to Samsung a few years later).

But I wanted so badly Fujifilm to be successful, because from the very first moment I saw and used an X-series camera, I felt like they had something special and unique over all other digital cameras I’ve ever used…. and judging from the emails I was receiving at that time from fellow Fuji shooters out there (and I still receive today), I was not alone.

For many of us Fujifilm X-gear was not only a tool that gets the job done. Nope, it was also passion, freedom, fun, inspiration, lightness. It was technology designed around our passion. Many of us re-discovered the fun in photography thanks to the X-series.

But despite Fujifilm was doing so much to revive our passion for photography, the risk that Fujifilm would shut down their X-series camera business was realistic…

… until …

… the Fujifilm X-T1 came along in January 2014, which was the first big success for Fujifilm.

The X-T1 success was so big, that Top Fujifilm Manager Toshihisa Iida (who is also a Fujirumors reader and “lover”) said in September 2014 about the future of the X-series: “Over the past few months I’ve been getting more confident“

It was the Fujifilm X-T1, that finally changed the fate of the X-series for the better and kept Fujifilm hoping that they can go mainstream with their cameras.

And now that the Fujifilm X-T1 is officially discontinued, I just wanted to give it a worthy farewell by dedicating this post to the “legendary” Fujifilm X-T1.

• Fujifilm X-T1 black body for $649 – save $650 – at BHphoto here
• Fujifilm X-T1 black body + Free Accessories for $649 – save $650 + free accessories – at BHphoto here
• Fujifilm X-T1 graphite body for $749 – save $750 – at BHphoto here
• Fujifilm X-T1 graphite body for $749 – save $750 – at AmazonUS here
• Fujifilm X-T1 + 18-55 + Battery Grip for $1,099 – save $800 – at BHphoto here
• Fujifilm X-T1 Graphite + 35mmF2 for $1,148 – save $750 – at BHphoto here
• Fujifilm X-T1 Graphite + 35mmF2 for $1,148 – save $750 – at AmazonUS here

Full list of discontinued Fujifilm cameras and lenses

• Fujifilm X-Pro 1
• Fujifilm X-T1
• Fujifilm X-T10
• Fujifilm X-E1
• Fujifilm X-M1
• Fujifilm X-A2
• Fujifilm X-A1
• Fujifilm X100T
• Fujifilm X100S
• Fujifilm X100
• Fujifilm X70
• Fujifilm X30
• Fujifilm X20
• Fujifilm X10
• Fujifilm XQ2
• Fujifilm XQ1
• Fujifilm XF1
• Fujifilm X-S1
• Fujinon lens XC 16 – 50 mm F 3.5 – 6 OIS
• Fujinon lens XC 50-230 mm F 4.5 – 6.7 OIS