11 years ago I switched on the engine and started driving a road that I had no idea where it would bring me.
The fuel was my new found love for photography thanks to Fujifilm. The desire was to share this love with as many people as possible.
So I drove twisted and often tough roads to find fellow minded photographers. And luckily I found you on my journey, who made this travel more beautiful than I could have ever hoped for.
11 years are a long time, but quite frankly many things feel like exactly on day 1.
I still run this blog during breaks from my teacher day job (unless I am on paternity-leave)
I still live in the same little rented apartment in a 1,000 soul village in the Italian Alps
I am still as thrilled about the future of Fujifilm just as I was when I started this blog
I still feel I don’t have enough lenses ;)
Some things changed, though:
I married and became father
my old Mazda2 had to be replaced by an exciting Toyota Corolla Touring Sports
some typos you see are no longer caused by my bad English, but by my son randomly pressing the keyboard while I try to write articles ;)
And since I am just the engine running the blog, but you are the true soul giving it life, I want to say a few thanks to…
to Trusted, New and Anonymoussources who helped me to stir fire and excitement in the Fujifilm community by sharing accurate rumors. THANK YOU!!!
to supporters: may it be those of you, who use our affiliate links to buy your gear or those who share interesting Fujifilm tidbits with us
to readers for trusting FujiRumors and read us regularly to get your news and rumors
to those, who drop comments in our articles and keep this blog interesting with your opinions
to those who shared constructive critics, as they push me to improve and help me to see what I am doing wrong
The data is based on affiliate sales made via Amazon and BHphoto.
Sadly I don’t use the data of Adorama, as I have not found an easy way to display and rank the products. All I get is a list of numbers like “1236.5478.701164” and then I have to click on each number to see which product it is.
For the sake of my mental health, I can’t do that.
Finally the custom X hot shoe covers are widely available on Amazon, and it seems people love them (I own them too).
As for Nr.2 and Nr.5 on the list, these items definitely profited from the launch of the Fujifilm X-T5 and X-H2/s as for many of you, those cameras were also their first X series using the newer battery.
Interesting:
Most people went for the original battery as opposed to the third party options (just as I recommended in my article). I’ve even made the sum of the best selling third party NP-W235 battery options (Smallrig, Poweextra and Wasabi), but even in that case, the original battery has a distinct and safe advantage.
I make a prediction: the Fujifilm X-T5 will be matched in terms of sales only by the Fujifilm X-T6. The only camera that has a chance to even come close to it, would be an eventual Fujifilm X100V successor (the Fujifilm X200, or X100Vs, or X100VI or however they are going to call it).
In a normal year, the X-H2 and X-H2s would have been celebrated as top sellers with respectable sales number.
But 2022 was not a normal year: it was the year of the Fujifilm X-T5!
The X-T5 came here to do what it has to do: demolish the internal competiton and establish itself one more time as the top tier in the Fujifilm lineup. In fact, it was responsible for 65.5% of total camera sales via FujiRumors.
A pity for the Fujifilm X100V, which is basically out of the ranking just because it hasn’t been available most of the time. If supply would have been normal, I think it would have made it into the top 4 positions.
Well, it has been beaten by the Fujifilm GFX50SII, but only by 1 camera. So it’s basically a head-to-head. That’s astonishing, considering that the GFX50SII was in offer basically for the entire year with several more or less massive rebates, whereas the Fujifilm GFX100S saw it’s first time ever rebate only very recently.
So, despite Fujifilm being much more agressive with the GFX50SII, the GFX100S stands its ground and is actually about to pass the GFX50SII thanks to this sweet deal.
The explaination is simple: the XF16-80mmF4 (as well as the XF18-55mmF2.8-4) enjoyed a substantial sales push because it was offered in bundle with Fujifilm X-T5.
But this alone would not be enough.
Fujifilm also initally shipped out way more X-T5 kits than body only, so if we wanted to wait less for our new camera, we had to grab the X-T5 kit. And this makes Fujifilm more money.
Cynical?
Probably, but Fujifilm is just a business as many others, and other companies are no different. And yet, I wish Fujifilm would have done differently.
Anyway, the good thing is that if you bought it with a bundle, you got the lens for a discounted price. That’s already nice. And you always have the option to sell it “like new” so you should get back most if not all of the money you’ve invested in the lens. Or simply use it and enjoy the lens :).
We have a rocksolid performance for the XF56mm f/1.2 MKII. No need for deals or bundles to push that one.
Excellent sales (and very close to grab the second spot) is the Fujinon XF150-600mm f/5.6-8. Looks like a wise decision by Fujifilm to make it smaller, lighter and more affordable thanks to its f/8 on the long end.
Oh… and I made the mistake to enter a photography store with my wife… here is what happened.
So, the lovely new 30mm Macro enjoyed great sales, too. I handled one in store myself, and if my wasn’t for my wife being in the store with me, I probably would have left the shop with one for myself. But my wife just asked “don’t you already own a Macro lens“? And since I had no brilliant answer to give, I passed. Please guys, advice me on what to say next time ;).
On Nr.7, an all time favorite for many of us, the lovely Fujinon XF27mm f/2.8 R WR.
In the GF world, the new GF 20-35mmF4 is selling strong.
A crazy good deal is also pushing the GF35-70mm to great sales. For 500 bucks you get a compact allrounder zoom lens capable of resolving 100+ megapixel. It would be too good to pass also for me, if I’d not already own the GF32-64mmF4.
And yes, I know there is an unwritten rule that every list should end with the Nr.10, but the sales of the lenses on the 11th position were so close to the XF16-55mmF2.8, that I felt I need to include them.
For Fujifilm, I guess the biggest disappointment are the sales of the video-centric Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4 PZ. I guess it’s a niche lens within a niche brand, so one can not expect all too stellar sales.
There was a time, when the third party ranking was dominated by manual focus lenses. But those times are gone.
Since Fujifilm took the (long delayed) decision to open their mount, other companies like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Viltrox, TTArtisan and Samyang started to offer X mount AF lenses. A decision rewarded by Fujifilm X shooters, who now prefer to grab third party autofocus lenses over the manual versions.
For the first time ever, almost 2 years after its launch, there is a significant rebate the stellar Fujifilm GFX100S in USA, Canada and Europe (full list below). And knowing I am a GFX100S user myself, fellow FR-readers started to ask me if I can recommend the GFX100S.
I personally use the Fujifilm GFX100S a lot when I hike the mountains around my home (as you can see from the IG posts I will share below). And I also took the GFX100S with me on some multi-day mountain hikes, as I reported here:
Look guys, you know better than me that there are compromises to make no matter which camera you pick.
The GFX100S is small for what it is (even smaller than some FF mirrorless cameras)
… but you do get generally smaller cameras and lenses with smaller sensor cameras
The GFX100S is fast and feature rich for what it is,
… but you do get faster AF speed and more video features on smaller sensor cameras
But if the one compromise you don’t want to make is on image quality, then gor for the GFX system.
Because whatever system you currently use (M43, APS-C or FF), once you shoot with GFX, you’ll always come home with at least a hand-full of images that amaze you due to the sheer power the Fujifilm GFX100S demonstrates in those files.
I guess that’s also the reason why the SonyAlphaRumors guy himself owns the GFX100S as you can see here.
So, if you want to shoot fuller than full frame with a sensor about 70% larger than FF, if you want to know that in your hands you are holding the one camera, that will give you the best results and the biggest flexibility in the trickiest light conditions, the look no further: no camera will be able to handle it better than the Fujifilm GFX100S does.
It’s the last day for many of the deals listed below, including the software related deals. What is still running for a while, are the official Fujifilm X and GFX deals.
Save big on the Capture One learning material by Alexander Svet. Use code FUJIRUMORS to get an additional 10% discount on top of every Black Friday offer
In my “top 5 accessories I recommend for Fujifilm X-T5” article, I have explained why from now on I will stick with original batteries. But certainly there are also a lot of nice third party battery options.
Save big on the Capture One learning material by Alexander Svet. Use code FUJIRUMORS to get an additional 10% discount on top of every Black Friday offer
Storage deals (SD cards and hard disks):
Save big on Sandisk SD cards and WD storage at Amazon US.
Save big on the Capture One learning material by Alexander Svet. Use code FUJIRUMORS to get an additional 10% discount on top of every Black Friday offer
Storage deals (SD cards and hard disks):
Save big on Sandisk SD cards and WD storage at Amazon US.
Save big on the Capture One learning material by Alexander Svet. Moreover, use code FUJIRUMORS to get an additional 10% discount on top of every Black Friday offer. Check out all details here
Topaz has just launched a massive Black Friday sale, the biggest they ever offered. For example, you can get The Everything Bundle for just $279 (save $478. Retail value $757.97. Owners of existing products will be offered pro-rated bundles.).
Luminar Deal
Skylum has launched huge Black Friday rebates. Check out all the offers here.
So we are certainly not the top dog in the industry, but it is still better than the 0.1% we were back when I started this blog over 10 years ago.
Slowly, but steadily, Fujifilm was able to carve out its niche and some cameras even got some decent mainstream success, leading Fujifilm to be the third most popular mirrorless camera manufacturer ahead of Nikon.
And this number, 5.9%, made me think… how did it all start for you?
I mean, which one was your first Fujifilm camera that you bought intrigued by the X/GFX system and hence made you become part of those 5.9%?
If you want to satisfy my curiosity, then you can vote the survey down below.
Another deal is on the Tamron 150-500mmF5-6.7 at AmazonUS here, but that one is available only at Amazon for now and only via US retailer Beach Camera located in Edison New Jersey. They sell it for $1,199 here and the regular price at B&H and Adorama is of $1,499. But again, I don’t know that particular retailer. All I can say is that at the moment their rating is 95% positive on Amazon.