Scalpers on their Discord are quite pissed off now that their orders got canceled by Fujifilm USA.
And they are also not happy about the fact that the vigilant eyes of FujiRumors are watching what they write.
And we keep being vigilant, hence would like to highlight for Fujifilm one comment:
Fuji Raffle Module soon
Now, Fujifilm USA has not yet announced how the raffle will be organized (but they told us when, see below). But in any case I advise them to keep their attention high.
18K X100VI LE
And just for fun: we got information about a guy, who pictured himself with two limited edition Fujifilm X100VI cameras on Instagram and wrote:
What a beautiful piece. The limited edition Fujifilm x100vi. Going for $18k each!
You can check out his Instagram page here and make up your own mind. But my advice to the guy: rephrase your IG post to make sure no misunderstandings arise, because write this way it is not surprising if people thing that both of the cameras are sold for 18K (as we can notice from the comments, where people think he is selling them for 18K).
Fujifilm US Raffle
In the meantime Fujifilm USA has announced here the date for the Fujifilm X100VI LE raffle. It will take place on April 18 and further indications will follow next week.
And when somebody called them out and said that Fujifilm USA is looking manually into every order, they just gave a cheeky reply that Fujifilm is bluffing and they won’t care, as you can see from this screenshot.
And look, I get their mindset. I mean, Fujifilm couldn’t care less who bought the cameras. Bots or not, Fujifilm cashed in its money and could move on happily.
But sadly for scalpers, Fujifilm actually cares about its customers and on their social media they announced they have looked into every order, canceled a large number of them and will offer a raffle in future to give a fair chance to loyal fans.
Sorry guys, this is what happens when a company actually cares about its customers!
What’s Good Customer Service
It’s when things go wrong, that you really see how good a customer service is. And things definitely went wrong in many countries with the limited edition X100VI sale.
And I call it great customer service that Fujifilm USA admitted that things went wrong, then manually checked every single X100VI LE order, canceled all suspicious orders and found new ways to distribute the X100VI LE.
Here in Europe (except for UK) we might have had the same scalper issue judging by the sheer speed all the X100VI LE sold out all across Europe. And I can find lots of X100VI LE now sold in Europe at a higher price on eBay. But I have no information on which steps Fujifilm Europe took (if any) to minimise the scalpers issue.
Today the limited edition Fujifilm X100VI was available for sale in almost all European countries.
And guess what?
It sold out within a few minutes everywhere.
The system Europe has set up: who comes first, gets the camera!
Of course this system is dream come true for scalpers, and I’d not be surprised if in a few days we will find 90% of the purchased limited edition X100VI cameras highly overpriced on eBay. Let’s see if somebody will be able to top the 18,000 USD X100VI limited edition.
Fujifilm UK Goes a Different Path
Fujifilm UK instead has decided to take a different path. A path that will make life to scalpers a bit more difficult.
Here is how Fujifilm UK will distribute their 110 units of limited edition X100VI cameras:
At the last CP+, the French Website Phototrend had the opportunity to talk to Japanese Fujifilm manager Jun Watanabe about the X series and to Japanese Fujifilm manager Makoto Oishi about the GFX series.
Down below you can find a quick summary. For the full French version check out the articles at Phototrend here (X series) and here (GFX series). Plus a little rant at the end.
X series
Fujifilm can not confirm if X-Pro4 will arrive soon or not
X-Pro line is not stopped
X-T and X100 series do not satisfy all customers who want a “pure photography” experience
Fujifilm is studying different possibilities
feedback and expectations are high for the next X-Pro
X-E line is not stopped
sports photography is a difficult market
other brands are long established there and for Fujifilm it’s new terrain
Fujifilm can not confirm anything about eventual future lenses for sport photographers
Fujifilm has received great feedback about the latest autofocus system, but they will continue to improve
renewing older lenses is something that Fujifilm has in mind
XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8 [admin note: will replace the XF18-55mmF2.4.8]
Fujifilm is not considering any option other than X-Trans for their APS-C cameras
its unique matrix offers the advantage of combining high definition and suppression of moiré and chromatic aberrations
for X100VI, Fujifilm has developed the smallest and thinnest IBIS unit to date
the X100VI IBIS wiring has been moved to the side – see here
IBIS system uses data from the image in addition to the gyroscope (motion blur is analyzed from the live-view image)
the grip of the X100VI is a tenth of a millimeter deeper than X100V for a better grip
GFX series
GFX100II market return (sales) is very good, not only among professional photographers, but also filmmakers and directors
GFX100II sales exceed Fujifilm’s expectations
GFX100S is still very popular because Fujifilm has lowered its price
GFX100S still very popular in some markets like China
professionals go for GFX100II, enthusiasts for GFX100S
Fujifilm never looked at its market share in medium format segment
other manufacturers have no announced so many new products, so Fujifilm thinks they are Nr.1
some expect a faster 50MP GFX. But Fujifilm thinks high definition is more popular
there are lots of FF cameras offering 50/60 megapixel, so offering 50MP now has become almost banal
Fujifilm focuses on improving the 100MP sensor performance
for professionals ergonomics are very important
first GFX cameras had dedicated dials but now they switched to a easier to operate PSAM dial layout
normally APS-C lenses are compact than FF and MF (hence also smaller AF motors)
but regarding telephoto lenses, size primarily depends on diameter and aperture. Regardless of whether it’s for APS-C, FF or MF, the fundamental construction of telephoto lenses, particularly on the front lens side, is the same
Fujifilm tries to make the GF500mm as small and light as possible to obtain faster autofocus
tilt-shift lenses are the most difficult to design
why not retro? High end high speed cameras need to be operated quickly, hence PSAM. Also good for hybrid shooters for video
Let me just say that I strongly, vehemently, vigorously and fervidly disagree with Fujifilm in regards to what they said why they stick with PSAM on their GFX lineup.
First: the GFX system is not know to be blazing fast and immensely popular among high end sports photographers. I actually feel the GFX system would be the ideal system to use a retro layout.
They will find out that one can operate their retro styled cameras exactly as any PSAM camera out there. It’s a marvellous and ingenious design that gives us photographer the best of both words: retro if I want to have fun shooting or want to actually operate the camera already before turning it on, and PSAM if one needs to make lots of adjustment all the time on the fly.
Retro Fujifilm cameras offer both options. PSAM cameras force you into one way to operate the camera.
And in my opinion not offering retro styled GFX cameras anymore is one of the all time biggest mistakes Fujifilm is doing.
C’mon Fujifilm, look at what is selling best in your X system. You’ll see that retro X cameras outsell PSAM cameras by very far. And Nikon had a colossal success with the Nikon Zf lately. It’s clear that in times where every camera is just so good, what people really look for is to have a different photographic experience thanks to dedicated vintage dials.
The joy of shooting sells better than any specs boost you can show off on paper.
An example?
The X100VI sells like hot cakes. The revolutionary global shutter ultra modern high speed blazing fast Sony A9III is selling way below Sony’s expectations (you could always find it in stock everywhere all the time because demand is not high… ask your local retailer).
With all the talk about the Fujifilm X100VI in these days, we can now report also something interesting for those of you, who are not into the X100 line (thanks to Mistral!).
In a session with journalists, Fujifilm shared 10 lenses that were “under study” and also talked about future X/GFX cameras, as reported by the French website lesnumeriques here, who also is to credit for the images.
10 Lenses “Under Study”
(Images at the Top of the Article)
Fujifilm did display 10 lenses currently “under study” by Fujifilm. But please guys, don’t take this as any sort of “roadmap”, for the reasons I’ll explain below.
Super-Telephoto Prime lens XF 400mm or longer
– 100-110mm diameter
– 240-280 length
– weight 1,300-1,400g
XF120mmF2 (in between XF90mmF2 and XF200mmF2) – Size 140-160mm
– 90-110mm diameter
– 900-1,000g
Super Wide-angle Fast Lens for Astro Photography
– Size 80-100mm
– 70-80mm diameter
– weight 400-600g
It’s not the first time that Fujiflm gave us a list of “lenses under study“. It happened also back in 2019, when they even wanted us to vote on those lenses (as they wanted the journalists to vote on the lenses we display today). And if we look at the list, except for some MKII lenses, not much on that list ever materialized in a real product.
So don’t take it as a solid indication on anything.
As CP+ unfolded today, reports from the Japanese website dc.watch have unveiled an astonishing scene – a 30-minute queue forming just for enthusiasts to get their hands on the Fujifilm X100VI.
It’s downright unbelievable, especially considering this frenzy occurred on a regular workday (Thursday). One can only imagine the pandemonium expected over the weekend.
Having attended several photography fairs myself, including twice at the largest photography fair in the world, Photokina (2016 report here – 2018 report here), where manufacturers typically unveiled their top-tier offerings, I’ve toured booths from Canon, Nikon, Leica, Fujifilm, Sony, Hasselblad, and more. Never, in all my experiences, have I witnessed a 30-minute queue just to touch & try out a new camera.
The buzz surrounding the X100VI is nothing short of extraordinary. The anticipation and demand for this camera seem to have surpassed anything seen before.
