These will be great lenses for Fujifilm X-T3, Fujifilm X-T4, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-T6, Fujifilm X-H2, Fujifilm X-H2S, Fujifilm X-H3, Fujifilm X-H2r, Fujifilm X-Pro4 and all the other cameras that Fujifilm will launch in the decade to come, such as the Fujifilm X-T7, Fujifilm X-H4, Fujifilm X-H5, Fujifilm X-Pro5, Fujifilm X-E5, Fujifilm X-H20, Fujifilm X-S20, Fujifilm X-H2O (the underwater X-H2)… ;)
distracted a French presidential candidate during his interview (story here)
One of the most recent entires in the awards list is the one of Fujifilm X shooter Magdalena Wasiczek, who won the International Garden Photographer of the Year Award (IGPOTY).
Magdalena has created this stunning, shimmering play on light, as she elevates this humble butterfly to the heavens. The magic of this capture is literally in the very air, with raindrops and macro lens used to great effect.
With this calibre of capture, it is easy to see why this will be her third overall IGPOTY win, and I offer her my congratulations for achieving this most amazing distinction.”
Congratz to Magdalena! You can check out all the details and see the image in full size at igpoty here.
But wait, there is more!
Also John Pettigrew made it among the finalists in the wildlife in the garden category with an image taken with X-T30 and XF55-200 (image below).
And to be clear: this does not mean that Fujifilm is discontinuing the Fujifilm X-T4 and that a Fujifilm X-T5 is coming in May at the Fujifilm X Summit (I mean, I don’t know if it is coming in May. So far I only hear of the Fujifilm X-H2 coming in May).
So, don’t panic. The Fujifilm X-T4 is still being manufactured. But if you prefer the silver version, maybe it might be a good thing to buy it sooner rather than later. I expect the first silver kit versions to slowly run out of stock and being discontinued in the next few weeks over several stores.
A move that aligns Fujifilm with other brands, who in most cases don’t offer color variations in their mid and higher end camera range.
Personally I’ve switched to updating via camera remote App. The reason is simple: it’s much faster, easier and convenient than updating via SD-Card.
So I definitely recommend to give it a try.
But how does it work?
Well, Fujifilm has given precise instruction on how to do it, but there is one thing that should be mentioned in addition to Fuji’s instruction to avoid updating via App becomes a frustrating experience.
Don’t make the error to connect your phone to the camera the same way you do it when you want to transfer images from your camera to your phone (hence connect via Wifi and fiddle around with the App and Camera to establish a connection).
Nothing of all that is needed.
You can simply leave your camera in live view. Just make sure that it has Bluetooth enabled. Everything will happen automatically and needs just few clicks once you have downloaded the firmware file on your phone.
So the process looks like this:
make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your camera and on your smartphone
download the firmware for your camera on your smartphone
once downloaded, click “update” on your phone first and then “OK” on your camera
you camera will ask you to connect via WiFi to your phone. Click “Connect” on your phone [in my video below you read “verbinden”, which is the German word for “connect”]
once connected via Wifi, your phone will start to transfer the firmware file to your camera
as soon as your camera has received the full file, it will automatically start with the firmware update [you don’t need your phone anymore once the firmware upgrade started on your camera]
switch off the camera when the camera tells you to do so
It’s very easy, and for your convenience I have made a short video that shows the process down below.
Many are afraid that there could be issues due to network instability or what not. But don’t worry about that. You only need Wifi connection to quickly transfer the firmware file from your phone to the camera. The firmware update itself is performed by your camera independently only once it has received and saved the full firmware file from your smartphone to its own memory. So don’t be afraid of losing connection with the phone during the firmware update itself. Your camera is doing its stuff by its own at that point and the smartphone is not needed anymore.
Remember:
use a fully charged battery on your camera
updates are cumulative, so no matter what firmware update you currently have on your camera, you can right away update to the latest version (hence skip intermediate firmware updates)
Last year, Cosina launched the Voigtländer Nokton 35mmF1.2 X, with no autofocus, but with electronic contacts which allows for transfer of EXIF data and more (more details at the bottom of the article).
Now Cosina will also launch the Voigtländer Nokton 23mm f/1.2 APS-C lens for Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mount.
Also in this case, there will be electronic contacts but not autofocus.
It’s nice to see that Cosina understands us Fujifilm X shooters (or most of us) better than what Sigma does, and did put the effort to design the X mount version with an aperture ring. I wish the new Sigma X mount trinity would have an aperture ring too. But it’s no dealbreaker in my eyes. I shot my 27mmF2.8 without aperture ring for long and with great joy (but I replaced it now with the new XF27mmF2.8 with aperture ring).
For me, shooting Fujifilm is not only, but also about the experience. This is also the reason why I got the TTArtisan 23mm f/1.4. It’s the look and feel of it, attached to my X-E3 or X-T4, that simply makes me enjoy shooting with it every now and then.
And surely the new Voigtländer NOKTON lenses for Fujifilm X hit the same nerve, with a lovely vintage design and the bonus of electronic contacts that make it an appealing option for X shooters.
Personally, though, the Voigtländer options is not on my radar, because my Fujifilm X-E3 camera is not supported (yet). The full list of supported X series cameras can be found at the very bottom of this article.
You can read all the details and get the download links in this article.
And here comes my curiosity: I recently started using the Camera Remote App to update my cameras, and I find it so comfortable, that I was wondering if anyone else is using it. Hence, down below is a little survey where you can tell us if you use the App or go old-style via SD-card.