Fujifilm Q1 FY2024 Financial Results: Strong Professional Digital Camera Sales Boost Revenue (+33,8%)

The Rise of Fujifilm…

Fujifilm has announced the financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024 (April 1st, 2024 to June 30, 2024).

In short we can say the professional imaging division is growing strong with revenue up +33.8% compared to last year.

Always in terms of revenue, the professional imaging division (+33,8%) grew even stronger than the Instax division (+17.8%). Now the revenue difference between Instax and professional photography gear is of 18.5 billions of Yen (74.6 for Instax and 56.1 for X, GFX and Fujinon lenses) compared to the gap of 21.2 in 2023.

No wonder that the Fujifilm CEO called their photography business their new goldmine.

With all these great numbers, Fujifilm increased their imaging division financial forecast for 2024:

  • + 6.3% revenue (from 480 to 510 billions of Yen).
  • +12% operating income (from 100 to 112 billions of Yen).

Despite…

So all good and keep going like this, Fujifilm?

Well, not really. We will always find something to moan about. ;)

And particularly, it’s a pity to see that these wonderful data coming in despite Fujifilm having had much more trouble to ship their gear than any other brand.

I can only imagine how the numbers would have skyrocketed, if only Fujifilm would have been capable of matching the terrific demand there is for their cameras and lenses.

Dear Fujifilm:

you have to understand that meeting your sales targets is not enough. What you have to meet is the true demand for Fujifilm gear.

That’s why I can’t find huge joy in the numbers you’ve shared today: I keep thinking at the figures you could have achieved, if only you’d have been able to produce more gear with proper hard work and solid investments instead of trying out some creative solutions that brought no results.

The Report

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

Latest and Greatest vs. Oldie but Goldie: this Fujifilm Roundup Has it All

Mixed Zone

I guess it is a bit normal that we are drawn to the latest and greatest, the newest and most shiny stuff.

But truth is: there is PLENTY of wonderful gear out there that has its age, but still delivers wonderfully.

And look guys, I know what I talk about, because I did just photograph a family day trip on the mountains with my X-E3 today ;).

So I thought about making a roundup of a different kind: include all the latest and greatest stuff (the 5th generation cameras and the newest lenses), but also the older gear we hardly ever talk about now (4th gen. cameras or older and older lenses).

I hope there will be something among it that you’ll appreciate as much as I did.

Latest & Greatest

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

Capture One Adds Reala Ace Support

Capture One has announced that REALA ACE support has been added in Capture One 16.4.4 for the following Fujifilm cameras: GFX100II, GFX100SII, X100VI, X-H2, X-H2s, X-S20, X-T5, X-T50.

You can download the latest Capture One 16.4.4 here and view the release notes here.

Of course I have the perpetual license, so no Reala Ace for me.

At the end I’ll have to give up on the idea to stick with perpetual licenses. I will start to rent my editing software. But I am not sure it will still be Capture One.

New Fujifilm Tether App Launched and X RAW Studio Updated

It’s Update Day

Fujifilm just released major firmware updates for several cameras and also for a lens.

But that’s not all.

There are updates also for Fujifilm X RAW Studio and also a brand new software has been launched, the Fujifilm Tether App.

So let’s look at what happened.

Fujifilm X RAW Studio

Fujifilm has released an update for the Fujifilm X RAW Studio software.

Fujifilm X RAW Studio Ver.1.24.0 – download here
The software update Ver.1.24.0 incorporates the following issues:

  1. “REALA ACE” RAW development is now supported.
  2. A software bug is fixed that the “COLOR TEMPERATURE” of “WHITE BALANCE” set in “Profile” is not reflected to the preview and recorded image correctly with macOS 14.

Fujifilm Tether App

We told you something new would happen also on the software front, and here it is: the brand new “Fujifilm Tether App”.

”FUJIFILM TETHER APP” provides functions to utilize digital cameras (GFX/X series) by connecting them to a computer. Even if your camera does not support the tethered shooting function, you can use the function to save/load camera settings.

You can read all the details below and download it here.

Compatibility Chart

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

The New “Kit” Lens is Now in Stock: Fujinon XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8

The Fujinon XF 16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 is so far in stock almost everywhere such as BHphoto here, Amazon here, Adorama here and Nuzira here.

Fujifilm’s new “kit” lens comes with higher end features like weather sealing and internal zoom. And it’s definitely sharp enough to resolve all 40MP.

So it Begins: Fujifilm’s Latest Gear Starts Shipping (Hopefully Smoothly)

I have received notification (thanks) that the latest and greatest Fujifilm gear started shipping.

In the screenshot above you can see the shipping notification for the Fujinon XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8.

All the gear listed below will be available in store starting tomorrow, June 17.

Latest Firmware Introduces Autofocus Bug to Fujifilm X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2S – Annoying but Easily Fixable

Autofocus Bug

In the past few weeks videos showing the bad tracking AF of Fujifilm cameras surfaced all over the web. And sometimes they come with catchy and clickbaity headlines that might grab attention, but in my opinion do not accurately represent what is going on.

So let’s talk about it in FujiRumors style: boring dry and sober ;).

The reported issues are:

  • when you are in continuous autofocus (not single autofocus) and you have set the camera to face/eye detection, the camera will track the closest thing it finds within the face detection frame and not the eye
  • when you do AF tracking, you get a low hit rate

The headlines that followed were like “Fujifilm AF is a joke” and “this suck” and what not.

But I believe that’s a way too general statement and does not represent the truth. Here is why.

The AF Truth

I have tested it on my X-T5. And yes. The issues are there.

But from here to say “Fuji AF sucks” is just maybe not the most accurate way to describe the issue.

Because the thing is: the issues appeared after the last firmware updates!

So a better headline would be “latest firmware introduces autofocus bugs“.

And also: the issue does not affect all cameras. Probably only X-H2, X-H2S and X-T5.

I have tried to duplicate the issues my X-T5 has with the latest firmware also on my X-E3 and GFX100S, but the X-E3/GFX100S have not the issue at all, and also the Fujifilm X-S20 has not this problem.

So the true realistic headline should be:

“latest firmware updates introduce autofocus bugs to a limited number of Fujifilm cameras“.

But who’d click something with a headline like that, right? ;)

Easy to Fix

All this means just one thing: if Fujifilm is aware of it (and they should be aware of it at least now that we talk about it on FujiRumors), then there should be an easy and quick firmware fix.

An emergency solution could be to offer the previous firmware for download, get the new one right, and once fixed, offer the new firmware for download again.

Thanks for Reporting, but

Don’t get me wrong: if there is an issue, it is great that people on YouTube report about it.

But maybe, in future, try to resist the temptation of clickbait and give a more sober and complete view on the issue.

Because these videos will stay online forever. And once Fujifilm addresses the issue, those older videos that don’t clarify the AF was working much better before and that the problem is limited to the latest firmware will remain online, misleading viewers into thinking that Fuji AF is always bad and there is nothing to do about it.

Also: please do not call out other guys and say they are paid shills if in their past reviews they said the tracking works just fine. They made those statements before the latest firmware update.

Final Word of Fujifilm AF Truth

Final word: besides the bug we have now I also want to say clearly that I believe that, when at its best (hence, not with broken firmware), the Fujifilm AF is not yet on par with the best in class (Sony and Canon).

So I am not saying all is perfect. Fujifilm has to keep working hard to go that little extra step and make its AF just as good if not better than what we get on Sony and Canon cameras.

But from here to say that Fujifilm lags behind 10+ year old cameras in terms of autofocus might be great for views, but it is not true. Bugs can happen, sadly. It happened this time apparently. And I hope Fujifilm is working on a fixing it as soon as possible.

But also in this case: every day the fix is not released, is a day too much. Hurry up Fujifilm!

FujiRumors Independence

And to the guys telling me I ignore such reports because I am paid by Fujifilm: well, here I am, reporting about it.

And not only I report about it, but also tested it on my own cameras and try to give you a more complete report about on which additional cameras might be affected and which ones not.

Look guys: in all these years of blogging about Fujifilm I have received zero money from Fujifilm, zero freebies, zero discounts, zero invitations to events, zero gear rented, zero nothing.

I am 100% free to say what I want and Fujifilm has no power over this blog.

And since I pay full price for my precious gear, I want it to work perfectly. And if there is a potential flaw, I have no problems to report about it, because I want Fujifilm to fix it and my expensive gear to work at its best possible performance.

I am not a Fujifilm employee. I am just like you, a guy shooting with Fujifilm cameras. And I want my X-T5 autofocus to work better than my GFX100S and X-E3, because that is what it is supposed to do.

Videos

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

Adobe Can’t Wait and Adds Reala Ace Support for X-T5 & Co Already!

Now, I can’t verify it myself, because I switched 100% to Capture One a long time ago because I did not like the way Adobe was taking (just as I don’t like what’s going with Capture One lately and I am not sure I will stick with Capture One much longer… but that’s off topic).

Anyway, since I don’t own Adobe products, I rely on reports I am getting via email from fellow FR-readers. And those reports say this:

Reala Ace now available in Adobe Camera Raw – I just upgraded to the newest version of Adobe Camera Raw, and I noticed that Reala Ace is now available for the RAW files from my X-T5 when processing them in Adobe Camera Raw.

Fujifilm itself will give us 5th generation X shooters Reala Ace via firmware update this summer. But it’s great to know that, if you are editing your RAW files, you can enjoy that film simulation already on Fujifilm X-T5 and I hear also other 5th generation cameras such as the Fujifilm X-H2.

A Glimpse Into the Fujifilm Future: X-Pro4, X-E5, Digital XPan, Future XF Lenses (and More) plus 2024 Rumor Check so Far

After the Rumor Storm (and Before the Next One)

So we had 2 X summits so far in 2024 and lots of gear has been announced.

This means we also had lots of rumors about every single one of these items.

But…

A lot more rumors dropped also about gear coming well beyond that.

So, time for the great mid-2024 rumor recap and to rank for you all rumors according to their reliability.

1 millimetre and 3 hours to perfection ;)

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

Fujifilm Aims to Become Nr.2 in Terms of Worldwide Camera Sales (Currently 3rd) – REPORT

Andrea Cimini (yes, the guy who explained the advantage of APS-C over FF for low light event photography) was at the Italian launch event for the Fujifilm X-T50, XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8, GFX100SII and GF500mmF5.6 (video below).

The video is Italian and he runs over the latest gear with his usual captivating way.

But there is one sentence said by Andrea that I’d like to highlight today.

During the presentation Fujifilm said that right now they are the 3rd brand in terms of worldwide sales but they want to dethrone the current second best selling brand.

I am not sure how Fujifilm is currently the 3rd best selling brand.

I mean, they might still be the 3rd best selling brand in terms of mirrorless camera sales (but we got no update on this since 2020), but if we include DSLR the last data we have says Fujifilm is 4th.

So as Andrea in the video also suggest, Fujifilm might include their Instax division in this ranking, which I guess technically is still Fujifilm imaging division, but it would be like BMW saying they want to overtake VW car sales, but include their motorbike sales in the equation: you can do it, they are all motorised vehicles, but it’s not really fair.

Anyway, dear Fujifilm, I’d have an idea on how you would become Nr.1 overnight with only your mirrorless gear: how about you ship all gear people can’t currently find in stock?

And I speak not only about the Fujifilm X100VI, but at your own online store in Japan you have marked all your X/GFX cameras as out of stock. The shortages are chronic. There are periodical and prolonged order stops in certain parts of the world. Some of the shortages we had in Asia are now spreading also to the West (see X-T5 bodies at BHphoto).

Anyway, of course the above was a meeting with the Italian press and the marketing tends to fly high during these events. And I am certainly happy to see Fujifilm aiming to grow and take over market positions. But I wonder how this can happen if even gear launched 2+ years ago is mostly out of stock for years.

Oh well, I certainly wish Fujifilm all the best. But I’d be happy also with the 4th spot as long as we get our gear in a reasonable time.