Fujifilm’s Improved Autofocus Tested: “I Fell in Love with the X-H2S again and Will Not Sell it Anymore”

Fujifilm’s Autofocus Firmware

Fujifilm just released the new firmware for the Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2S and GFX100II. You can read all details here (it did bring also completely new features).

So how does it work?

I will share a few videos on FujiRumors.

First impressions: definitely improved. I’d say enough to end months of sh*tstorm, although we know Fujifilm is the most hated brand, so there will always be those, who’ll attack it no matter what.

Also, people who cirtizied Fujifilm (and whose critics I shared on FR), now say it’s way better and one guy even had the X-H2S listed for sale to buy Sony, but now removed his sale offer and will keep the X-H2S as he says he fell in love with the X-H2S again.

Video 1

The video below shot on GFX100II with latest firmware in low light video AF tracking.

The guy walks around in a huge room, turns around, moves freely and the film guy follows him handhelding the GFX100II. Very low light often.

  • the guy filming says: “It’s not missing. It’s literally on you the whole time. It’s dark and it has not missed“

Video 2

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My Biggest Worry after the Fujifilm GFX Eterna Announcement

Fujifilm recently announced the development of the Fujifilm GFX Eterna.

And look, I have nothing against it.

On the contrary: I know many filmmakers love the GFX 100 megapixel and I am aware that many others asked for a Fujifilm Cinema camera since a long time. So it’s great that Fujifilm now delivers one.

But…

… at the same time I am also a little bit worried.

You see, Fujifilm does not have the largest R&D in the camera industry.

And as we calculated recently, Fujifilm does release about 4 lenses each year (combining X and GF lenses).

Now, it’s nice to hear Fujifilm saying that they are committed to their new cinema camera line and that they will release more lenses besides the Fujinon GF32-90mmT3.5 for it That’s important to know for people, who will invest in this system.

But this is also where my concern arises: with the current pace constrained by R&D limitations, Fujifilm is producing a maximum of four lenses annually. Now, with the launch of a new cinema camera system that requires a dedicated range of lenses as quickly as possible, the situation becomes even more challenging.

Unless Fujifilm expands its R&D efforts for the digital camera segment, we might see fewer than four lenses per year for the photo-focused X and GFX systems.

And quite honestly, with 4 still lenses a year we are already at a minimum. Getting even less than that would be a bummer for me.

I hope Fujifilm has considered this and won’t simply divert resources from their photo-centric systems to the cinema camera lineup. Instead, they should expand their overall R&D efforts to maintain at least the current pace of producing four photo-centric lenses per year.

I will try to investigate this with my sources and if I have any updates I will let you know here on FujiRumors.

Fujifilm Manager Talks Fujifilm GFX Eterna Cinema Camera and Additional Images

The upcoming Fujifilm GFX ETERNA cinema camera is now at display at the InterBEE 2024.

CineD is on location and had a talk with Fujifilm manager Makoto-san. You can see the video below as well as read the summary:

  • Fujifilm is working since over 2 years on this camera
  • development is not yet finished
  • the target is not only cinema, but in general film (documentaries, etc)
  • sensor and processor are the same of the GFX100 II
  • image quality will be basically the same of GFX100 II, but Fujifilm is making optimizations for filmmaking
  • Fujifilm will add some more features on Fujifilm GFX Eterna over GFX100 II
  • rolling shutter will be basically the same of GFX100 II
  • Fujifilm can’t yet disclose details about internal recording codecs and resolutions
  • internal ND and control dial
  • 12 bit
  • video performance will be basically the same of GFX100 II
  • release in 2025
  • no pricing info yet
  • “if we would develop an X mount version, it would be totally different because the mount is totally different”
  • based in feedback from the market Fujifilm could develop other specific film lenses (also manual focus lenses)

I will also share a few additional images I have received via rumor box (thanks!).

Also TheNewsShooter is on location and he shared his images on X here.

Fujifilm Q2 FY2024 Financial Results: Revenue and Profits Soar also Thanks to Strong Digital Camera Sales

The Fujifilm Q2 Financial Results (July-September 2024) have just been shared.

It’s yet another great report for Fujifilm’s imaging division.

Imaging:

  • Strong sales of instant photo systems and digital cameras boosted revenue by 11.0% year-over-year to JPY126.5 billion and operating income by 29.2% year-over-year to JPY33.7 billion.
  • In the Consumer Imaging business, steady sales of the “instax™” instant photo systems drove revenue higher.
  • In the Professional Imaging business, revenue rose due to the strong sales of the latest models in the GFX and X series of digital cameras, which were released in June 2024, as well as the models released in the previous year.

In the Imaging segment, consolidated revenue amounted to ¥257.2 billion (up 17.4% year-over-year). Consolidated operating income amounted to ¥66.2 billion (up 33.8% year-over-year).

In the consumer imaging business, steady sales of the instax instant photo systems drove revenue higher. In September 2024, we launched the smartphone printer instax mini Link 3, which can print smartphone images on card-sized instax film. We will continue to expand the world of the instax instant photo system that allows people to enjoy on-the-spot photo printing.

In the professional imaging business, strong sales of digital cameras contributed to higher revenue. In June 2024, we launched the latest mirrorless digital camera models, FUJIFILM GFX100S II of the GFX series and FUJIFILM X-T50 of the X series, and two new lenses. We will continue to deliver products that appeal to digital camera users and the film industry with the GFX series, which offers overwhelmingly high image quality in a large format, and the X series, which offers the best balance between image quality and size. In addition, in September 2024 we launched the FUJINON HZK14-100mm, the third lineup in the Duvo lens series and the first wide-zoom lens in the series, which produces cinematic looks with beautiful bokeh and offers broadcast lens operation.

via Fujifilm

Fujifilm Imaging President Discusses Recovery from Supply-Demand Imbalance in 2024

image courtesy: phileweb
image courtesy: phileweb

Koji Matsumoto, the president of Fujifilm Imaging, age an interview in Japanese to phileweb here.

In summary:

  • X100VI, X-T50 and GFX100S II sales are strong
  • The balance between supply and demand has collapsed, but it has recovered this year
  • X100VI and others are still in a difficult situation “but we are gradually loosening back orders”
  • Fujifilm’s CEO notes that smartphone ease-of-use has increased global demand for instant and mirrorless cameras [admin note: I guess he means that more people take pictures now than ever and now many smartphone users aspire to take even better pictures using a proper camera]
  • the fact that demand has increased dramatically globally is the root of the problem of product supply. The supply is not keeping up. Fujifilm apologizes for the inconvenience

How Many Cameras and Lenses Does Fujifilm Release Every Year? And What it Could Mean for 2025

Some asked us how much gear Fujifilm releases every year.

So we decided to check back the last 3 years (2024 included, since there won’t be any more announcements) to see what the current pace at Fujifilm is. Below are the results.

Gear released in 2024 – 4 cameras and 4 lenses

Gear released in 2023 – 2 cameras and 4 lenses

Gear released in 2022 – 3 cameras and 4 lenses

So, overall we see: we get 4 lenses a year for X/GFX system combined.

2024 was more focused on the X series with 3 lenses for the X system and only one lens for the GFX system.

As far as cameras goes, we can get 2 to 4 cameras a year.

What does it mean for 2025?

CAMERAS in 2025:

As of today, the state of the rumors as far as cameras coming in 2025 goes is the following:

If Fujifilm maintains the pace it set in 2024, there could be room for one or maybe even two more camera releases in 2025, considering that the 1″ sensor camera might not be counted in the lineup we discussed earlier, which focused solely on APS-C and medium format models.

LENSES in 2025:

Fujifilm has quite consistently released around four lenses each year, combining both X and GFX series models.

So far I have no rumors about future lenses, which means you have four slots you can fill in with your wishes. :)

If anyone out there can maybe give us a hint on future X and GF lenses, feel free to reach out to FujiRumors. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Overall, 2025 remains a significant mystery, but I’m hopeful that our trusted sources (and maybe some new ones) will be able to shed light on some of the unknowns and provide insights that will make us even more excited for what’s to come.

Until then, keep shooting, keep enjoying life… and every now and then, keep checking in on FujiRumors ;).

Fujifilm Confident in New Autofocus – Says It’s “Nailed” Ahead of Early November Firmware Release – REPORT

Fellow Fujifilm shooter photorabz was at the Salon de la Photo photography fair in Paris.

There he had the chance to talk to Fujifilm reps about the upcoming firmware updates and this is what he was told (video below):

  • Fujifilm is working on the firmware since May
  • the firmware is for X-H2S, X-H2, GFX100 II, X-S20, X100Vi, X-T5 and maybe also the X-T4
  • Fujifilm told him that this time they nailed it very well
  • Fujifilm is very happy with this new firmware and they are very optimistic
  • the firmware will be announced on October 14, but it will be released, he thinks, in early November

As usual, I believe it only when I see it.

And actually, we might already see the newest AF algorithm in action with the X-M5 on October 14.

The Future of Fujifilm’s Autofocus Could Be Revealed with the X-M5 on October 14

Fujifilm said they are aware of the “comments” of the Fujifilm community regarding the latest autofocus issues and they promised firmware updates to fix that.

The fix will come in November for their flagship Fujifilm X-H2s, X-H2 and GFX100 II cameras, but also other fifth generation cameras such as the X-T5, X-S20 and “more”  will get firmware updates this year, as Fujifilm officially said here.

Sure, it takes time. But to a certain degree I can understand that.

Fujifilm knows they have to get it right this time, so they’re likely testing the firmware more rigorously than ever, which is surely costing a lot of time and money.

But the big question is: how well will the autofocus firmware really work?

Well, maybe we might not have to wait until November to see these autofocus improvements in action.

In fact, we could get our answers as early as October 14 with the launch of the Fujifilm X-M5.

Why?

Well, Fujifilm has been aware of the autofocus issues for months now. They already began addressing them with a firmware update back in June. Since then, they’ve continued working on the improvements, so the firmware must have evolved significantly from the June version.

And I’d not be surprised if the first camera to actually incorporate the enhanced autofocus capabilities won’t be the X-H2s, X-H2 and GFX100II in November, but the Fujifilm X-M5 coming on October 14.

After all, why not equip the brand-new Fujifilm X-M5 with the most up-to-date firmware available, especially since it’s a fresh release that requires a new firmware anyway? And maybe that’s also  why Fujifilm has published a X-M5 teaser poster where they write big “fast autofocus“.

If that turns out to be the case, if the X-M5 is indeed the first camera to feature the new AF algorithm, then by October 14, we’ll already have a glimpse of how well the latest autofocus firmware performs.

I guess that’s one more excellent reason to follow the X Summit on October 14 at 9AM New York time.

RUMOR: Fixed Lens Fujifilm GFX Coming First Half of 2025

We already told you that Fujifilm will launch a fixed lens GFX in 2025.

Well, thanks to our trusted sources today we can be a bit more precise: the fixed lens Fujifilm GFX will come in the first half of 2025.

That’s as far as the announcement goes. But looking at Fujifilm’s track record in terms of shipping, I’d say (sarcastically) that it will ship in 2028 shortly before the Fujifilm TX-3 announcement.

The fixed lens GFX will come with a 28mm equivalent lens.

And no, the image above does not show the fixed lens GFX, but the Fujifilm GF670W.