Fujifilm was the most busy camera brand of all in 2022.
They have released three higher end cameras, four XF lenses and one GF lens. Plus some accessories, such as the legendary cooling fan and the TG-BT1 Tripod Grip.
Now the question is: can the Fujifilm year 2023 match the year 2022 in terms of product launches?
Well, let’s look at it.
Pre-orders for the Fujifilm X-T5 were stellar. So much so that the most wanted option, the body only, is very hard to find in stock and Fujifilm is busy trying to ship all pre-orders as quickly as possible.
At the time of this post, the silver and black Fujifilm X-T5 are ranked in the top 3 of the new releases at Amazon, beaten only by this camera. But it’s easy to imagine that both, the silver and black body together will beat the current Nr.1 (which comes only in 1 color).
Also in Japan things are going very well. The Japanese site digicame-info collected the various rankings here.
Map camera
Fujiya Camera
Kitamura of the camera
Yodobashi Camera
Bic Camera
Fujifilm X-T5
Fujifilm has published a series of video tutorials about the Fujifilm File Transmitter Grip FT-XH. You can see the four videos below.
DPRTV teamed up with Ted Forbes to predict the future of the Fujifilm system for 2023.
They predict two cameras:
I won’t make any comment on anything at the moment, because as you can imagine, I am looking deep into 2023 already, and when the time has come and all the checks are done, I will drop 100% accurate rumors for you.
So for now take their predictions as what they are: fun speculations and wishes.
The FujiRumors community has a clear idea on what they want for 2023.
For the X series the most wished camera is indeed the Fujifilm X-Pro4 followed by the Fujifilm X100VI (or X100Vs or X200 or however Fujifilm is going to call the Fujifilm X100V successor).
For the GFX series, the top wish could be summed up with one word: speed!
Xing Liu is one of the guys testing the upcoming Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 on the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 and he is now teasing us by sharing sample images.
He says “sharpness is crazy. It might be even sharper than Fujifilm lenses” and that announcement will be around Christmas.
You can see the samples down below and check out his youtube channel here.
We have already told you the price of this lens as well as shared product and sample images in this article.
I never used Anglebird cards, but I know they have a very loyal and happy fellowship also among Fujfilm shooters.
Fujifilm even officially recommends some of their memory cards for their cameras.
CFexpress Type B – from the official list of recommended CFexpress cards
These Anglebird cards also have no compromise in performance, so they will give you the highest bursts and access to the full video capabilities of the X-H2 and X-H2s.
So what’s the story today?
Well, the first story is about a factory tour CineD did at the Anglebird headquarter in Austria. I guess some will be surprised to see how much goes into developing something that looks so obvious and simple to us. Especially when quality controls and standards are very high, as it seems to be in the case of Angelbird.
So, if you want to know how they compete against Asian giants, if you want to see the heavy stress tests they put their cards into, the huge works that goes into checking the compatibility with so many cameras on the market (and so many firmware for each camera to create their own compatibility list), then check out the CineD video.
The second story is a bit a wider one.
When CineD asked what is around the corner for Anglebird, they said they are always in development and there is a lot around the corner. They don’t want to say what right now and release only when they are fully satisfied with the product.
And at this point Anglebird says:
We are happy that the trade shows are not driving the market anymore, where there was “this trade show” and then “that trade show” and you have to release. We release the product once it’s ready. You can be sure a lot is coming and our development plan is for 3 and for 5 years.
I guess that’s valid also for Fujifilm and other camera brands. There is not Photokina anymore, where you had to release your stuff in order to grab the biggest headline. And other trade shows are becoming smaller, less influential and are tailored more to showcase products to the regional market.
The real trade show is on the internet itself. And that one is available non-stop 365 days a year, giving companies more freedom on when to launch new stuff.
Make sure to check out the whole story at CineD here
I’ve looked at the results of your future X camera wish and future GFX camera wish.
Here they are… and what they tell us.
X series
GFX gear
Conclusion for X series
There is a tendency to prefer more megapixel over more speed. And as a Fujifilm X-T5 owner myself, I can understand why: the X-T5 is plenty of fast enough for most of us thanks to the brand new processor. Plus, the 40MP sensor gives us the best dynamic range on any X series camera.
But most importantly, the list is dominated by rangefinder cameras.
So, after a year full of DSLR styled cameras (X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2s), people are hungry to see something happening on the rangefinder front… and I am totally with you guys!
Conclusion for GFX series
Stacked sensor makes the top of the list. Which means that contrary to the X series, for the GFX series people desire more speed rather than more resolution.
It’s pure sadness.
I mean, if you look at the current X mount lens roadmap, it is just sadness, with only one X mount lens stoically standing all alone trying to keep up excited about the future.
So we decided to help Fujifilm in gathering some ideas, and you guys dropped hundreds of lens suggestions for the future here, which I then summed up in 40 options to vote on here.
Well, here are the results:
TOP 6 LENSES OVERALL:
There were really a lot of suggestions in the wide angle zoom range. So many, that I decided to give 2 options to vote on, the XF16-35mm f/2 and the XF 11-30mm f/2.8.
But if we were to merger even those two lenses into one single lens, we could get something like the XF 14-30mm f/2.0. In that case, we would have the following result.
TOP 6 PRIMES:
TOP 6 ZOOMS:
And if we were to merge the two lenses as we did above, we would get:
CONCLUSIONS
Wide Angle Reality vs Telephoto Dreams
When you go around in forums, you’ll often see people complaining about Fujifilm not offering enough long lenses.
And to a certain degree I agree with you: long primes especially are needed!
But then there is the reality.
And the reality is that the vast majority of Fujifilm shooters simply do not see long lenses as a priority. What they really want is the total opposite: more wide angle zooms and primes.
We have to be clear about this: any of the lenses that made it to the top of the list in our survey would outsell by a large margin any long prime or zoom lens Fuji would launch.
That’s something Fujifilm knows (and has openly declared here).
And yet, there is at least one lens I feel Fujifilm must give us: the (already patented) Fujinon XF 400mm f/4, which made it in the top 15 of our list and fellow FR-readers already made mock-ups of and it is consistently your top wished telephoto lens.
So, even though it did not make the list, I strongly advice Fujifilm to give us a long prime lens.
Fujifilm X-T5
I know when one only writes good things about something, people get suspicious.
So feel free to mistrust me guys, but so far I really have only great things to say about the Fujifilm X-T5.
But give me time, I will find something to moan about. I just need to actually have time to shoot with it.
Because even if I have the Fujifilm X-T5 since a few days already, in these weeks I was so overloaded with work, that I had zero time to go out and take picture.
And yet, holidays are coming and soon my X-T5 will be extensively tested. I might let you know in the next few days. Can’t wait for it.
So what are my impressions so far?
Well, I wanted to make a youtube video about it, but some readers told me they prefer written stuff. So I went hybrid this time, with text to read and just short video clips of 10 seconds in those cases I feel they are useful.
Here are the top 10 articles for November.
You Voted:
Must Know
For Fun
The Latest Gear
Fujifilm X-T5 Stock Check
Fujinon XF30mmF2.8 Macro Stock Check
→ USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama
→ Worldwide: AmazonCA / Amazon of Your Country
→ UK: AmazonUK / WexUK / ParkCameraUK
→ EU: AmazonDE / AmazonIT / AmazonFR / AmazonES / CalumetDE / FotoErhardt / Fotokoch / PCHstore
X-T5 Other Countries
