The Chinese company Viltrox, maker of the much loved Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 autofocus lens for Fujifilm X mount, is telling customers that they can’t give any information on when the next Viltrox lenses will be released, due to the Coronovirus outbreak.
Viltrox writes:
The release date for the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 is still not yet confirmed, as we are not able to get back to office due to the coronavirus outbreak
Ein Beitrag geteilt von Fuji_Rumors (@fuji_rumors) am
Back in mid January, I wrote this article, where I told you that my best friend asked me to photograph his wedding.
Well, actually not his entire wedding.
There is an official photographer, but he will stay only until dinner. He will then leave, and my friend asked me if I can cover it from dinner onwards.
So I asked you…
… in order to be ready for the shoot, any tips and tricks, also from a gear point of view?
The article received a massive response with over 230 comments.
I did read them all, but was not able to reply to all of them, as then all the mega buzz started for the X100V announcement and the Fujifilm X-T4 rumors. Not to talk that January is always extremely busy also at school, and now in February I started a video project, which takes lots of time, too.
So I thought I post one big response article now, that touches three main points: the gear, how I should relate with the official photographer and something that came unexpected for me: the risk to destroy my friendship.
You can download the update file and release notes of EF-FX (Pro) II here. Follow the instructions in the release notes or the user’s manual to upgrade the adapter.
The CP+ in Japan has just been canceled due to the coronavirus. You can read more here.
Also, a FR-reader informed me (thanks), that after many years, Fujifilm will not be at the WPPI wedding & portrait show in Las Vegas. I checked, and indeed they do not show up in the exhibitors list. There will, though, a Fujifilm rep at the B&C Camera booth.
I still remember, when back in August 2017, I shared a rumor, that many of you thought is wrong, but it turned out correct: Fujifilm will remove the D-Pad from the Fujifilm X-E3.
Since then, many Fujifilm cameras saw the loss of the D-Pad:
The podcast is one hour long and you can listen to it here. In this article, we will focus on the Q&A with the Fujifilm manager.
And guess what?
Of course it starts with the Fujifilm full frame evergreen ;).
So the first question is, what is this obsession with APS-C? Full frame would be Fuji’s opportunity to capture the market.
There is not really an obsession
When Fujifilm first looked at mirrorless, APS-C was the best balanced system in terms of size, weight and image quality
Obviously there are advantages to bigger sensors, which is why Fujifilm developed the GFX system
bigger sensors also have disadvantages in terms of speed and performance and other things [FujiRumors listed them in this article]
that’s why Fujifilm decided to fight on two fronts
there is a lot of noise around 35mm. The manager does not call it full frame, as in photography history what was considered full frame always changed. Today it’s just a great marketing terminology
if you want high resolution, you can get GFX
if you want something smaller and lighter than DSLR, there is the APS-C X series
if you go bigger sensor, you also go bigger and more expensive lenses, and you end up with bigger kits
Canon, Nikon and Panasonic full frame offering does not give you any benefit in terms of size and weight over DSLR
you have to ask yourself the question, why do you go mirrorless. If you want to save size and weight, APS-C is better
One of the burning questions in the Fujifilm community, is if Sigma (and other third party lens manufacturers), will at some point in time offer Fujifilm X mount lenses.
Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki touched this topic a couple of times, and here is what he said among the others:
read here – Fujifilm Customers Would be Our Ideal Customer, but Fujifilm Does Not Disclose Their Protocols
So it seems Sigma passed the ball to Fujifilm. It’s up to Fujifilm to offer cooperation. But Fuji’s official response is:
read here – Fujifilm does not need to share X mount protocols with third-parties, since we offer already lots of glass
So, Fujifilm isn’t making things easier for Sigma, to offer X mount glass.
Now, in an interview published a couple of days ago, the Sigma CEO was asked the Fujifilm X mount lens question again. And his answer is as follows:
I am aware of this kind of demand from customers. One of our missions is to support as many systems as possible, so I’d like to support also Fujifilm X mount, but our engineering resources are limited, so we need to prioritize projects, depending on the demand from the customers. I’d like to make Fujifilm X mount lenses, but right now I have many other projects I need to prioritize.
It would be nice if Fujifilm would make life to Sigma easier, by sharing their protocols. But as the situation is now, I think we can put any dreams for Sigma X mount glass aside.
