A Japanese Fujifilm manager recently said that they are working on developing “WOW” products.
So I’d like to hear from you guys what would make you say “WOW”. I’ll start the list with three products that I have the feeling would make quite some of you happy.
Japanese Fujifilm manager Jun Watanabe gave an interview in Japanese to Map Camera.
The whole video is in Japanese, but luckily dclife shared a summary of the main points, which you can read in original Japanese here.
Here is the version in Google translated English, with a special note to the headline of the article that reads:
We are working on WOW product development
Does Fujifilm plan to release a Cinema Camera?
I don’t have any plans so far, but this time “X-H2S” has improved considerably including video performance and functions, so first of all, I would like to see the evaluation and reaction using “X-H2S”.
[…] I feel that videos and still images are fusion quite a bit, so this kind of “X-H2” I feel that hybrid cameras like “S” will be the future trend, and hybrid cameras, not cinema-only cameras, will also be mainstream.
Fujifilm is developing commercial lenses and cine lenses for PL mounts and E-mounts for the broadcasting and film industries. Are you thinking of developing lenses for other companies’ mounts?
At the moment, there are no plans to develop other companies’ mount lenses, and we will focus on our own mount lenses. […] there are still places where the lineup of lenses is not enough and there are still places where we have to improve the lens performance, so I would like to focus on our lineup first.
Message from Mr. Watanabe on the 10th anniversary of X-mount
Thank you very much for your continued patronage of our X series. I would like to continue to pay attention to everyone’s expectations and so that everyone, including me, would like to work on offering “WOW” products so that they can say, “I really want to buy this.” I would appreciate it if you could. I look forward to working with you again.
Well, that reference about the WOW products definitely sounds intriguing.
But it won’t be an X-H2 event only, nor an exclusive X series event.
Nope, also Fujifilm GFX shooters will have something to look forward to.
In fact, according to our trusted sources, Fujifilm will announce the Fujinon GF20-35mmF4 on September 8, too.
As an owner of the incredible Fujinon GF32-64mmF4 myself, having a zoom that starts more or less where my current lens ends and goes all the way down to 20mm (15.8mm FF equiv.) making it the widest GF lens available, is something that is really tempting to add to my G mount lens arsenal.
Because even if I currently can’t go beyond 64mm with my GF32-64, thanks to the 100 megapixel on my Fujifilm GFX100S I can crop the heck out of my files and get closer while retaining sharp and crisp images. But I can’t capture things that are outside what my lens can see, so a wider option could definitely come in handy for my landscape photography.
After Fujifilm disclosed the date of the next Fujifilm X summit and announced it September 8 at 2PM New York time, people started emailing me but also expressing their hopes on our social media channels, that we will get the Fujifilm X-T5 on September 8.
Sorry guys, but what we can tell you with 100% certainty that there won’t be any Fujifilm X-T5 announcement in September.
The main course of the meal on September 8th will be the Fujifilm X-H2. And of course there can be more, as Fujfiilm has already officially announced the following gear to come in 2022:
NOTE: THIS DOES NOT MEAN that it will all drop on September 8. It could well be that Fujifilm will make it an X series exclusive event. Or that they’ll only focus on the Fujifilm X-H2.
Whatever it is, FujiRumors will let you know soon enough.
Rumor Storm Incoming
And you know what?
A terrific rumor storm is about to unleash ahead of September 8, so don’t miss out to read FujiRumors in the next days and weeks ;).
Fujifilm shared its first quarter financial results for the fiscal year 2022 (results for April to June 2022).
Revenue and operating income increased by 13.6% and 31.8%, respectively, year-over-year. Although digital cameras were hit by the impact of the lockdown in China, sales of instant photo systems and color photographic paper remained firm.
Instax is king as usual. So let’s skip straight to the part that interests us most: professional imaging.
Revenue increased vear-over-vear as the sales recoverv of broadcast camera lenses from the COVID-19 impact offset the negative impact of the lockdown in China mainly on digital cameras.
In July 2022, we launched the FUJIFILM X-H2S mirrorless digital camera that boasts the fastest continuous-shooting, Auto Focus and video performance in the history of the X Series, which delivers premium image quality despite being compact and lightweight.
Pretty much they don’t say anything about the Fujifilm X and GFX series, except for saying they launched the X-H2S and a final note that says:
We will continue to offer attractive products by realizing the best balance between image quality and size through the X Series and the highest image quality through the GFX Series.
You can access all the documents at the Fujifilm Holiding page here.
Note: this guest post was submitted to me shortly before the Fujifilm X-H2S announcement. You can contact me at fujirumor@gmail.com if you want to share your own guest post on FujiRumors
Guest Post by Kevin
Hi Patrick,
You have always provided us with all the important news in the last weeks, and probably most Fujifilm users are looking forward to the new camera models. I’m looking forward to the Fujifilm X-H2s with great anticipation myself… At the same time, the current cameras also offer some possibilities that may not be known to everyone.
My name is Kevin Kurek, and I am a wedding photographer from Germany. Some time ago, I started looking for new ways to capture the emotions of a wedding day even better. When I started playing with GIFs, I quickly realized that this is an incredibly great opportunity. Today, I actually get booked for most weddings because of my GIF films.
Today, I would love to show Fujirumor readers the hidden possibilities their cameras can offer them with GIFs.
I was debating with myself if I should stop to report about patents at all.
Why?
Because in 10 years of blogging I have shared hundreds of patents on FR, and none has ever seen the light of the day. What I have seen once or twice, is a patent surface only after the real lens had been already announced (making the patent “leak” useless)
The problem?
I notice that when I report about patents, people think this means the patented item will surely come, it’s just a matter of time.
So I don’t want to create false hopes by sharing patents, as those are concepts written on paper, and they remain such in 99% of the cases.
On the other hand, this is a rumor site. Those patents exist, even if the products in those patents will never see the light of the day.
So I decided that I will report about patents, but I will put my disclaimers hoping people will read more than just the mere headline.
And today we talk about a couple of GF and probably Cine lens patents surfaced on the web and brought to us thanks to the Japanese website Asobinet here and here.
