However, I have excluded all the X-S20 rumors from the list, as at this point it’s not a problem if you missed them, since the real thing is now out and you can get all the details and specs at the dedicated pages.
Interestingly, despite all the rumors and new gear, the most read article was about the new firmware updates, which shows that sometimes we want to get improved what we already have rather than new gear.
May was also my most active month on YouTube so far.
In this case we will include also the rumor related videos, simply because many of them are filmed while I was out on several locations around my home and you might enjoy to watch a bit of the Dolomites, the Road of Wine and so forth.
One of them was the lack of a new X mount roadmap, considering that now with the XF8mmF2.8 R WR out, there is no more lens on the roadmap.
Now, at this point I want to make absolutely clear that this was just my very personal opinion. If you think differently, than that’s totally fine and your opinion has just the same reason to exist as mine.
But I also think what I said was a bit misunderstood, especially in regards the new roadmap, and here is why.
The main critique I got was that I should stop asking for new lenses, that what we have is enough and there is no need to rush out with more lenses.
But that was not the point of what I wanted to say.
What I wanted to say is that, despite everything we already have, there are still some lenses that people wish for and in some cases really need for their photography, as shown by our massive future X mount wishlist survey.
And Fujifilm can only win if they publish a new roadmap. Because:
people who are currently still missing certain lenses they need and see them on the roadmap, are more likely to stay with Fujifilm and just wait for the lens to come
photographers, who are interested in the Fujifilm system but are currently not yet using it because it does not offer a certain lens, they might actually start to switch to Fujifilm if they see that the lens they need is on the roadmap. They might to start to look out for good deals, buy into the system, and buy the lens they need later on.
Keeping people in the system and facilitate others to join by publishing roadmaps is a huge advantage that Fujifilm is currently missing out on.
There are only two potential downsides to publishing roadmaps:
if Fujifilm puts MKII lenses on the roadmap, people will stop buying the older version. But that’s a problem Fujifilm has solved by almost never putting MKII lenses on the roadmap
Roadmaps are a “promise” that Fujifilm makes to its customers. But it can happen that Fujifilm breaks the promise and makes changes to the roadmap (see XF80mm macro instead of XF120mm macro or XF50mmF1.0 instead of 33mmF1.0). And when changes are done, some customers might feel disappointed by those changes as Fujifilm “broke” the promise they made
But these two downsides are more than compensated by the advantages solid long term roadmaps bring.
And since I love Fujifilm and I want them to succeed, I want Fujifilm to take the best possible decisions for the system. And in this case, in my opinion, Fujifilm would only profit from giving us a new roadmap.
And if you look at the official press release of Fujifilm Global, the Fujifilm GFX100 is not supported for the new XApp.
However, if you look the the press release of Fujifilm USA here, well, they do list the Fujifilm GFX100 as compatible!
So what’s going on?
Well, right now, the Fujifilm GFX100 is not supported (so the US press release is NOT accurate).
But Fujifilm USA managers said in the Tech Talk last night (which I participated myself), that for sure there will be a firmware update coming for the GFX100 that will add XApp support also for that camera.
So, the GFX100 is not supported yet, but it will be in foreseeable future thanks to a firmware update.
That brings hope also for other models, as clearly Fujifilm is not yet done with adding XApp support for their cameras, so maybe, along with the GFX100, also other models will be made compatible down the road.
