Kodak Dethrones Canon as Best Selling Camera Brand in Japan thanks to This Trend

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There is this cheap and low quality camera that is taking the market by storm and has now pushed Kodak on the very top when it comes to best selling camera in Japan, according to data of BCN ranking

And apparently this is due to a trend social media: the younger generation is excited about inexpensive, compact digital cameras with low-quality images because their imperfections resemble the aesthetic of film photography, as explained by SAR on his IG here.

The camera is made by Kodak, which thanks to it has now become the Nr.1 best seller in Japan.

BCN reports:

  • In April 2024, KODAK captured a 22.5% sales share in the overall digital camera market, which combines compact digital cameras (compact digital cameras), mirrorless single-lens cameras, and single-lens reflex cameras. This was the first time that KODAK had ranked first in monthly market share by manufacturer since BCN began compiling digital camera data, according to the “BCN Ranking,” which compiles actual sales data from electronics retailers and online stores.
  • The three products that drove KODAK’s market share were the PIXPRO FZ55, PIXPRO FZ45, and PIXPRO WPZ2. All of them were ranked in the top 10 in sales by series for all digital cameras in April 2012. In particular, the PIXPRO FZ55 took the top spot, accounting for more than 10% of the market share. The average unit price is less than 20,000 yen, and its strength is that it is easy to purchase and use.
  • Major camera companies have shifted their focus to expensive mirror less single-lens cameras, and have reduced the handling of inexpensive compact digital cameras or withdrawn from the market. On the other hand, the demand for easy-to-use compact digital cameras remains. Furthermore, due to the influence of the retro boom in recent years, inexpensive compact digital cameras have become a hot topic on social media, and their popularity has increased, especially among young people. KODAK has made great strides by tapping into such niche needs. (BCN Research Institute, Kakei Saito)

Here are the the top 10 best selling cameras:

  1. Kodak PixPro FZ55 (11% share)
  2. Sony ZV-E10 (8.2% share)
  3. Kodak PixPro FZ45 (6% share)
  4. Instax MIni EVO (5.5% share)
  5. Kodak PixPro WPZ2 (5.1% share)
  6. Canon IXY 650 (4.9% share)
  7. Canon EOS R50 (4.0% share)
  8. Kenko KC-03TY (2.7% share)
  9. Canon EOS R10 (2.4% share)
  10. Nikon Z30 (2.3% share)

via BCN

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Fujifilm Film Simulations Beat All the Rumors about X-E5, XPan TX-3, X-T50, GFX100SII and Fixed Lens GFX – Top 10 Articles of May

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May was a month rich in interesting rumors. So it is definitely worth to check out our top 10 articles for May.

But interestingly, no matter how big the rumor was, the most clicked article was the one about the new film simulation website.

This shows how much interest there is for it and how well Fujifilm does to focus on them as far as marketing goes and also to try new ways to push them, such as the dedicated film simulation dial on the Fujifilm X-T50.

  1. Fujifilm Launches Dedicated Fujifilm Film Simulation Website
  2. Fujifilm X-T50 Price and Main Specs Leaked
  3. Fujifilm Could Release This Unique Digital Camera in 2028
  4. Fujifilm X-T50 Full Specs and Images Leaked
  5. Fujifilm to Release This All New Digital Camera in 2025
  6. SURPRISE: Fujifilm X-T50 Coming with an All New Dial
  7. Fujifilm X-E5: The Truth!
  8. This is the New Fujifilm X-T50 Film Simulation Dial – VOTE: Better Drive or Film Simulation Dial?
  9. Size Comparison: Fujifilm X-T50 vs X-T5, XF16-50 vs XF18-55, GFX100S vs GFX100SII
  10. EXCLUSIVE: This is Fujifilm’s New XF Telephoto Prime Lens Coming in 2024!

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Latest Firmware Introduces Autofocus Bug to Fujifilm X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2S – Annoying but Easily Fixable

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Autofocus Bug

In the past few weeks videos showing the bad tracking AF of Fujifilm cameras surfaced all over the web. And sometimes they come with catchy and clickbaity headlines that might grab attention, but in my opinion do not accurately represent what is going on.

So let’s talk about it in FujiRumors style: boring dry and sober ;).

The reported issues are:

  • when you are in continuous autofocus (not single autofocus) and you have set the camera to face/eye detection, the camera will track the closest thing it finds within the face detection frame and not the eye
  • when you do AF tracking, you get a low hit rate

The headlines that followed were like “Fujifilm AF is a joke” and “this suck” and what not.

But I believe that’s a way too general statement and does not represent the truth. Here is why.

The AF Truth

I have tested it on my X-T5. And yes. The issues are there.

But from here to say “Fuji AF sucks” is just maybe not the most accurate way to describe the issue.

Because the thing is: the issues appeared after the last firmware updates!

So a better headline would be “latest firmware introduces autofocus bugs“.

And also: the issue does not affect all cameras. Probably only X-H2, X-H2S and X-T5.

I have tried to duplicate the issues my X-T5 has with the latest firmware also on my X-E3 and GFX100S, but the X-E3/GFX100S have not the issue at all, and also the Fujifilm X-S20 has not this problem.

So the true realistic headline should be:

“latest firmware updates introduce autofocus bugs to a limited number of Fujifilm cameras“.

But who’d click something with a headline like that, right? ;)

Easy to Fix

All this means just one thing: if Fujifilm is aware of it (and they should be aware of it at least now that we talk about it on FujiRumors), then there should be an easy and quick firmware fix.

An emergency solution could be to offer the previous firmware for download, get the new one right, and once fixed, offer the new firmware for download again.

Thanks for Reporting, but

Don’t get me wrong: if there is an issue, it is great that people on YouTube report about it.

But maybe, in future, try to resist the temptation of clickbait and give a more sober and complete view on the issue.

Because these videos will stay online forever. And once Fujifilm addresses the issue, those older videos that don’t clarify the AF was working much better before and that the problem is limited to the latest firmware will remain online, misleading viewers into thinking that Fuji AF is always bad and there is nothing to do about it.

Also: please do not call out other guys and say they are paid shills if in their past reviews they said the tracking works just fine. They made those statements before the latest firmware update.

Final Word of Fujifilm AF Truth

Final word: besides the bug we have now I also want to say clearly that I believe that, when at its best (hence, not with broken firmware), the Fujifilm AF is not yet on par with the best in class (Sony and Canon).

So I am not saying all is perfect. Fujifilm has to keep working hard to go that little extra step and make its AF just as good if not better than what we get on Sony and Canon cameras.

But from here to say that Fujifilm lags behind 10+ year old cameras in terms of autofocus might be great for views, but it is not true. Bugs can happen, sadly. It happened this time apparently. And I hope Fujifilm is working on a fixing it as soon as possible.

But also in this case: every day the fix is not released, is a day too much. Hurry up Fujifilm!

FujiRumors Independence

And to the guys telling me I ignore such reports because I am paid by Fujifilm: well, here I am, reporting about it.

And not only I report about it, but also tested it on my own cameras and try to give you a more complete report about on which additional cameras might be affected and which ones not.

Look guys: in all these years of blogging about Fujifilm I have received zero money from Fujifilm, zero freebies, zero discounts, zero invitations to events, zero gear rented, zero nothing.

I am 100% free to say what I want and Fujifilm has no power over this blog.

And since I pay full price for my precious gear, I want it to work perfectly. And if there is a potential flaw, I have no problems to report about it, because I want Fujifilm to fix it and my expensive gear to work at its best possible performance.

I am not a Fujifilm employee. I am just like you, a guy shooting with Fujifilm cameras. And I want my X-T5 autofocus to work better than my GFX100S and X-E3, because that is what it is supposed to do.

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Building a DIY Spectroscope with Fujifilm X-Trans Cameras (and Why Not with Bayer Sensor)

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When we talk X-Trans virtues, we often talk about the more film like looking grain, the less color noise at high ISO, less moiré, sharpness boost etc.

But the X-Trans array might have some other advantages most of us would not think of. For example, in today’s case we see how ideal X-Trans is to create a DIY Spectorscope to measure the wavelengths of light.

In fact, when comparing the X-Trans vs Bayer sensor for this project, mpr decided to go for X-Trans, because each column of the X-Trans sensor contains all three colors (red, blue, green), whereas each column of the Bayer sensor only has 2 colors.

This makes it a lot easier to use the X-Trans data for the spectorscope.

From there, mpr will guide you through the process and if you are interested definitely watch his video.

Nice to see yet another creative and useful application of the X-Trans sensor.

Newest X-Trans Cameras

X-Trans Articles

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