BHphoto Top 10 Mirrorless Cameras of 2021: the GFX Medium Format Consecration Continues

We are approaching the end of the year, hence we will be bombarded by 2021 top and flop gear posts and videos.

DPReview shared their top and flop gear already, and we reported about it here.

Now also BHphoto has put up their list for the top 10 mirrorless cameras of 2021.

Once again the latest GFX gear enters the ranking at the very high positions. But the GFX system gets its consecration not only in the year-end rankings, but also at the box office, where especially the Fujifilm GFX100S is causing headache to Fujifilm due to a high demand they simply can’t match.

And what about Fuji’s APS-C series? Well, things look good, very good for the X system in 2022.  Just keep an eye on the latest X-H2 rumors ;).

BHphoto Explora – Top 10 Mirrorless Cameras of 2021

  1. Nikon Z9
  2. Sony A1
  3. Fujifilm GFX100S
    Not too long ago, the thought of a 100MP camera sounded like very wishful thinking, considering 36MP was high-res and 24MP is still a go-to standard for many cameras today. FUJIFILM’s GFX 100S isn’t the first 100MP camera, it’s not even FUJIFILM’s first, but it represents the first time 100MP has been available sub $10K and in a camera body that’s portable and reasonable for walkaround shooting use. It redefines medium format and breaks down the barrier that’s made medium format, especially high-resolution medium format, so inaccessible for virtually everyone until now. What’s even more impressive about the GFX 100S is that it has also benefitted from full-frame and APS-C mirrorless development, too, and features many of the same imaging assets you’d expect from other current cameras, like IBIS, DCI 4K 30p video, and even phase-detection AF. Unlike medium format cameras of the past, which were notoriously slow and outdated in performance, but you’d suck it up for the amazing image quality, the GFX 100S doesn’t need these excuses anymore as it meshes high-resolution medium format quality with current mirrorless performance.
  4. Canon R3
  5. Sony A7IV
  6. Fujifilm GFX50SII
    Accessible and medium format are no longer mutually exclusive terms with the GFX 50S II; the second-gen compact medium format mirrorless with a new integrated design and the same 50MP sensor that put the GFX system on the map. Late summer saw FUJIFILM release the second generation of their first mirrorless medium format camera, the GFX 50S II. Compared to what a conventional second-gen camera is, though, this new GFX trended in a new way, with a focus on becoming even more accessible than the first generation of cameras, meaning medium format is now a realistic consideration for people shopping for full-frame systems. And with that in mind, the GFX 50S II presents a truly interesting choice for photographers who value image quality above all other camera specs. Beyond value alone, the GFX 50S II also saw some physical changes, bringing it in line with its 100MP sibling and featuring a fully integrated viewfinder and forgoing the more modular nature of the first GFX 50S.
  7. Nikon Zfc
  8. Sony ZV-E10
  9. Sigma fp L
  10. Panasonic Lumix GH6 (or GH5 II, for the time being)

You can read the full list here at B&H.

EXCLUSIVE: Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 vs Fujinon GF32-64mmF4 Size Comparison

 

One of the most intriguing lenses Fujifilm will launch in near future (within 2021), is definitely the Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6, a very affordable zoom for the Fujifilm GFX system.

To see which other lenses (and cameras) will be launched this year, but also in 2022, check out our rumored X/GFX 2021/2022 timeline.

But back to the GF35-70mm.

We already told you that the lens will have a collapsible design, similar to the one we find on the Fujinon XC15-45mm F3.5-5.6. This means that when you first turn the lens, you are not already zooming. You are just pushing out the lens. Only once pushed out, you can start zooming.

This sort of design helps to keep lens size smaller.

But how small will the Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 be?

Well, thanks to indication of our sources, we can now share an approximate size comparison between the upcoming Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 and the already existing and quite frankly stellar (and now hugely discounted) Fujinon GF32-64mmF4. You can see the comparison above.

Of course the rendering shows the lens in its smallest size possible.

This is approximate size comparison I made using an imaginary mock-up I made out of the rumors shared so far, so do not expect it to be a 100% super accurate size comparison. But it will help you to get an idea on what is about to come from Fujifilm.

Now, I own the Fujinon GF32-64mmF4 and love it. And I also love the fact that it has an aperture ring, which the Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 won’t have. So no regrets here and I will happily stick with my GF32-64mmF4.

But the Fujinon GF35-70mmF4.5-5.6 has also its strengths: a sensibly smaller size (as you can see above) and a much more affordable price tag.

I can see what Fujifilm is doing here, and as I said in this article, it makes a whole lot of sense, as it finally fixes the true anomaly in the G mount lens lineup.

So guys, that was it for today. But more juicy stuff will come ;).

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Savings

Fujinon XF200mmF2 Lens Removed from BHphoto but NOT Discontinued

Fujinon XF200mmF2 – Discounted but Not Discontinued

Ok, let me set something right.

BHphoto has completely removed the Fujinon XF200mmF2 R LM WR from their website. You’ll be redirected to a page that says: “The page your requested is no longer available. We have redirected you to a simlar page for your convenience.” I tried to check a google cached version of the page, and when I add the XF200mmF2 to the cart, it then tells me “some item(s) are no longer available at B&H“.

The situation is not much better at other stores. AmazonUS says here “Currently unavailable. We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock” and Adorama says here that it is “Temporarily On Backorder“.

According to a FR-reader, BHphoto is sending out emails telling customers that the XF200mmF2 is discontinued:

B & H has sent me an email saying that the fuji xf 200 mm f2 has been discontinued and they no longer carry it.

So what is happening? Is it really discontinued?

I did investigated this, and I can 100% safely say that the lens is not at all discontinued. So I do not know why BHphoto is not listing the lens anymore.

What I know is that given the worldwide $/€ 2K discount on the XF200mmF2, as to expect, the lens sold out almost everywhere. And I’ve warned you already back in May that such a discount is ridiculous for a lens that was already short on stock before this epic deal.

Now the inevitable happened: it’s out of stock basically everywhere and who knows when Fujifilm will be able to ship current orders.

So, if you are interested in this lens, place your order. You’ll get it at some point. Fujifilm is still manufacturing it and will for a long time. But you better arm yourself with patience.

The XF200mmF2 Problem

The Fujinon XF200mmF2 is arguably one of the very best lenses Fujifilm ever made.

As we reported here, when Fujifilm designed it, they didn’t care about size and price. All they wanted to achieve, was the best image quality and a fast autofocus.

But Fujifilm managers told us that it did not sell well. In fact, given the struggles the XF200mmF2 faced on the market, Fujifilm is wondering if it makes any sense at all to continue to develop and manufacture long prime lenses, that will just result in a loss of money for Fujifilm.

My guess is that people overall tend to prefer zoom lenses that cover that 200mm range, and there are quite some of them in the Fujifilm lineup (and more will come in future).

Sure, none of them is optically on par with the close to perfect Fujinon XF200mmF2, but they are all very decent lenses anyway and deliver an image quality that will be totally satisfactory for the vast majority of Fujifilm X shooters. And they all come for a significantly more affordable price tag.

What About the XF300mmF4 and XF500mmF5.6?

Speaking of long primes…

Back in March 2020, we reported about two Fujinon XF patents showing a Fujinon XF 300mmF4 and Fujinon XF500mmF5.6.

And although I am aware that some folks gave it as 110% certain that those lenses will come in 2021, we warned you in January 2021 that those lenses won’t come in 2021. And quite frankly I have no idea if they will ever come.

We invite you to check out or latest and most updated 2021/2022 rumored Fujifilm products timeline to see what is coming (and what not).

The Future Needs…

So what will the future bring?

Well, you might remember how back in 2019, Fujifilm launched a survey on which lenses we’d like to receive in future.

FujiRumors took 1:1 the lens suggestions Fujifilm made and made this poll out of it that saw 20,000+ people voting on it.

Guess what?

All the long telephoto prime lenses ended up at the very bottom of the ranking, showing that there is simply not enough interest for such lenses.

My take?

Well, I think the XF200mmF2 is maybe not long enough (although with the 1.4x TC it is basically an XF300mmF2.8 lens).

What  I believe could be worth Fuji’s R&D and become much more successful is a Fujinon XF400mmF4 lens. And with 1.4x TC you’d have a XF560mmF5.6 lens. That lens, I believe, could guarantee Fujifilm decent sales.

So, let’s hope Fujifilm won’t give up on telephoto prime lenses. They are needed. For a niche, sure, but definitely needed.

GFX Gear

X Gear

Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 R LM WR ePHOTOzine Review: “Outstanding Sharpness and Delightful Lens to Use”

The Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 keeps up its victory parade.

After getting the Gold Award by DPR, it is now also highly recommended by ePHOTOzine with a long list of virtues and just minor negatives (none of them has to do with image quality).

In fact, in their latest review they write:

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Sony to Release New 127 Megapixel Large Format Global Shutter CMOS sensor

This is not really fresh news, as we covered the sensor already here in August 2020.

In that article, we already made clear that this is a 3.6 type sensor, whereas the GFX uses a minimally smaller 3.4 type sensor.

What this means and how this translates into GFX, we explained it here.

What’s new today, is that we have an official press release by Sony that you can read below.

Press Release

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Top 5 Forgotten Fujinon X Mount Lenses

When I shared the rumor that Fujifilm will release another f/1.4 prime in 2021, the comment section exploded with 300 comments about dreams and wishes what it could or should be.

Today I was reading through your comments, and truly enjoyed the vivid discussion.

But when I arrived to the end of it, I realized that while it’s fun and nice to watch ahead and see what the future might bring us in terms of gear, sometimes it’s also worth to stop for a moment and look back at what we already have.

So, today, I’d like to bring back the attention to five Fujinon XF lenses that I call “forgotten“, but not because people don’t own and love them, but just because they have slipped under the radar overrun by the buzz about the latest and greatest and therefore don’t get the coverage they’d deserve anymore.

So FujiRumors would like to bring back balance in the Fuji Universe and gives to 5 lenses the revival they deserve.

The 5 “forgotten” lenses

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How My Baby made me Forget My Gear, Changes in My Job and Talking FujiRumors

 

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

 

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Fuji_Rumors (@fuji_rumors)

Fellow FR-readers,

at the risk of getting emotional, I owe you an update.

I told you a few days ago that I was about to become father. And I noticed that in the comments people rightfully asked if I am father now or not.

The answer is yes.

And faster than any Fujifilm camera can focus, my son became the biggest joy of my life.

It was like all those moments of happiness I missed in my life, that have been taken away from me or that I was not able to catch, all that happiness I’ve lost on my way until today, the universe did not throw that happiness away, but stored it somewhere in a secret place and decided to give it back to me all at once the moment my son was born.

Or to say it in an even more poetic way: it felt so good like Fujifilm would have released the X-H2 ;).

Sadly, though, during the birth and now also in his first days of life, my son has some struggles and he has to fight a little bit. But he is in excellent hands. They check him constantly, and always give him the treatments he needs. I am confident that in a few days, I will finally be able to bring them home.

Images of my baby?

Well, something strange happened.

We were at 4 hours after the birth, when my wife noticed I hadn’t taken a single image. She asked me if did not want to take pictures. That’s why I brought my gear with me, right? After she told me this, I took a few images, but then stopped immediately and told her “I just want to be in this moment now, I’ll take pictures tomorrow!”

This alone, shows the magnitude of the event… I forgot my gear! ;).

There is another big change: I don’t teach anymore!

No, I didn’t quit, but I took daddy-time off until the summer break (with part of my teacher salary still paid to me). My top priority now is my family. I keep my teaching job, still get some salary, but can be at home and take care of everybody.

And FujiRumors?

Well, I promise you that FR-readers will always be the first to know everything. Don’t worry about that. And you’ll still get your 1,000 free articles a year. What eventually will change, is that I won’t be able to reply to all 7,000 emails I get a year. I’ll try, but I can’t promise.

Certainly it helps that I have a few months off from teaching. This frees up much time, which will mostly be used for my family, but I will surely re-invest some of the added time also into FujiRumors.

So, that was it already.

I am totally happy.

I wish you all the best and see you soon again on FujiRumors :)

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FujiRumors 2020: Most Read Articles, Top/Flop Blogger Moments, Most Used Gear and a MASSIVE Thanks!

FujiRumors 2020

There are wines, that get better only with the years. And there are years, that get better only with wine. I guess 2020 was such a year and so I hope you have a glass of wine ready to celebrate the end of this unreal year ;).

But let’s quickly look at what happened it 2020 here on FujiRumors.

Now, I already thought you were amazing, but in 2020 you did even better than in 2019!

  • 63,000+ comments on FR-articles (average 172 a day – was 145 in 2019)
  • 156,370 votes in our polls

Your massive participation is the reason why Fujifilm reads us with greatest care, as proven multiple times such as here, here and here.

As you know, I run FujiRumors alone in my spare time from my teaching job.

So it was not always easy, especially this year with the extra workload I had to do to switch to online-teaching, but I have tried to honor your fantastic participation by delivering you in 2020:

  • 967 blog posts written in 2020 (average of 2.65 articles every single day of the year)
  • 90 rumors shared
  • 94% correct rumors (rumor check here)
  • at least 7,000+ personal messages written to you via fujirumor@gmail.com, Facebook and Twitter and Instagram Direct (about 20 messages a day every day, holidays and weekends included)
  • 750+ replied comments in the various FujiRumors articles
  • 100% Free ;)

Phew!! :)

Most Read Article

Most Read Non Rumor Article

Most Read Guest Post

Day with most Contacts

Top & Flop Blogger Moment

FLOP

Anyone out there knows what a burn-out is? I hope not, but I am afraid yes.

As if all the hours I spend every day on the computer to work on FujiRumors weren’t enough, in 2020 I also had to make my entire teaching work on the computer. Correcting homework on PDF files, prepare online-teaching friendly material, cutting video lessons on Final Cut, writing tons of emails to give constant feedback to students and parents. So much work, it just squeezed the last drop of energy out of me.

I ended up staring at the screen for so many hours a day, that as a consequence, my eyesight declined to a point that I had to buy new glasses. But no complaint here… we have seen much worse things happen to people this year… sadly. So I consider myself lucky.

Anyway, somehow I managed to handle all the work anyway and I’ve always tried to deliver creative and fun lessons to my little students. And given the enthusiastic feedback of students and parents (and also my school principal), I’d say I did a decent job with that.

And I hope I did a good work also on FujiRumors. In this case, you are my judge and you’ll give your vote to me :).

TOP

If anything was good at all in 2020, then the fact that it helped to realign my priorities.

And so, all the things that I took for granted, like getting a beer with a friend, a coffee with a colleague, a hug with my mom, all those “normal” things suddenly revealed themselves as the real important things in life.

And hence, just like this, when inevitably the usual haters insulted me, the biggest achievement for me was that I could lightheartedly say to myself “who cares!”. It just didn’t bother me at all. On the contrary. I really would like to wish also to FR haters all the best 2021. We are in this unreal situation all together, and hence, from human to human, I truely wish you to come out of this as soon and as good as possible so that you can get back to your normal life and fully enjoy it again. And if after that you still don’t like me, that’s ok. Important is, that you and your families are safe and happy.

Top Instagram Post

My Most Used Gear

I got the Fujifilm X-T4 this year for these 5 reasons, and it became my most used camera. Mainly because it’s brand new and hence I wanted to test it and shoot with it more, leaving my X-E3 more often at home. And I must I say it definitely balances better with my most used lens, the Fujinon XF18-135mm.

But overall, I passed 5+ months in lockdown anyway, I worked a lot and had little time to take pictures, sadly. I hope this changes in 2021.

And 2021…

I don’t know in terms of global pandemic…. but surely in terms of Fujifilm stuff, 2021 will be fantastic! :) Don’t worry, we are going to talk about it soon on FujiRumors.

Social Media Boom

Our social media and pages have reached new heights compared to 2019:

And our facebook groups grew massively compared to 2019:

These are the Top Sellers 2020 on FujiRumors

In 2019, smartphones killed the entry level market forcing Fujifilm to discontinue the X-T200 and also the Fujifilm X-A7 in a record-time of just a few months after release.

And in 2020, a worldwide pandemic and global recession had a terrible impact on sales of mid/high-end gear, which was the segment Fujifilm (and other brands) were focusing on to escape the stranglehold of smartphones.

And yet, it’s not all bad for Fujifilm.

In fact, statistics show that Fujifilm was the one brand, who could resist best to COVID-19, with just a slight decrease in sales compared to the previous year. Also Fujifilm managers confirmed that Fujifilm is holding on better than other brands in 2020, especially thanks to the Fujifilm X-T4 and X100V.

And in fact, the X-T4 and X100V where the best selling cameras also here on FujiRumors in 2020.

But let’s look at it closer and see which gear was the most successful among the FujiRumors community.

Top Sellers 2020

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Focus On Glass: Fujinon XF 50-140mmF2.8 Even Better with Future X Bodies and Why no OIS on XF 16-55mmF2.8

We already reported in this post, about the first episodes of the Fujifilm series “Focus on Glass“, which included the XF8-16mmF2.8 and the GF30mmF3.5.

Now new episodes have been uploaded at Fujifilm Spain, this time about two lenses, that we can define the “workhorses” in the X mount lens lineup, the Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8 and the Fujinon XF50-140mmF2.8.

It includes statements made by Fujifilm managers and engineers about those lenses, which I will report in written form here, to make you safe some time ;)

Fujinon XF50-140mmF2.8

  • no excuse is allowed for this lens:
    – autofocus has to be fast
    – image quality has to be impressive
    – weight has to be light
    – size has to be compact
    – it has to tick all boxes
  • it has outstanding resolution
  • a flawless lens
  • clear color reproduction
  • minimal chromatic aberration
  • Fujifilm is proud of the result
  • 23 glass elements inside with many ED lenses
  • the more the Fujifilm X bodies evolve, the more the potential of this lens is executed
  • an engineer says he can see its performance extended even further in future

Regarding the better performance in future, they probably refer to autofocus speed, but possibly also to sharpness. We know from this Fujifilm manager statement that Fujifilm X glass can resolve at least 32 megapixel, hence, Fujifilm might hint that the XF50-140mmF2.8 is one of those lenses that is currently underperforming on the 26 megapixel X-Trans sensor.

Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8

  • in order to maximize optical performance, Fujifilm decided to remove OIS, it was not an easy decision
  • it’s a must have lens
  • you can attempt any photo shoot with this lens
  • a reliable partner
  • no excuses are allowed, when making a red badged lens
  • Fujifilm would give it 5 stars

I have been told in the past by my sources, that the optical performance at the wide end did not satisfy Fujifilm completely, hence they decided to remove OIS. At that point in time a strongly debated discussion, but now that Fujifilm offers cameras with IBIS, we can say that in the long term this was the right decision.

You can see both videos down below.

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FOCUS ON GLASS – VIDEOS

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