CineD sat down with product planning manager Makoto Oishi-san and product planner Taiji Yoneda-san to talk about the GFX line and what makes the Fujifilm GFX100 II special.
You can and should watch the 24 minutes video above. But if you are in a hurry, I will provide also a quick summary below.
There is also a little section about firmware udpates, where Johnnie from CineD asks for one feature available on X-S20 to come via firmware update to GFX100II, and one available on GFX100II to come to X-H2, X-H2S, X-T5 and X-S20.
In short: if the request from users is strong, Fujifilm might make it happen. So guys, you know what you have to do in the comments now ;).
So yes, it was high time for a GFX party and looking back X shooter should just accept this happily.
However, there is one thing that Fujifilm could do, rather easily, to turn the next GFX-centric X summit into an epic day also for Fujifilm X shooters.
What is it?
Well, we know that the Fujifilm GFX100 II will come with new features not even available on flagship X series model until now.
In 2023 we have so far spotted three Fujifilm registrations, with 2 items still to come
FF220002 = Fujifilm X-S20
FF230001 = very likely Fujifilm GFX100II
FF230002 = yet unknown
We know for sure that one of the yet to be released items will be the Fujifilm GFX100II.
So what could be the second one?
I’ve read all sorts of speculations, from the Fujifilm GFX50R successor, the Fujifilm X-Pro4, Fujifilm X-E5, Fujifilm X-T6, Fujifilm X-T40, Fujifilm X80, Fujifilm X-H3, Fujifilm X-H3S, Fujifilm X100VI or X200 and more.
But those “rumors” appeared also ahead of the X Summit on May 24, and of course none of it materialized.
Here on FujiRumors we avoid to share fakes for traffic and SEO. That’s why all we rumored so far for 2023 were the X-S20 (code name FF220002) and the Fujifilm GFX100II (probably the FF230001).
So yes, there is still one piece of gear, the FF230002, that should come this year. But which camera will it be?
Again, I have absolutely no rumors about other cameras coming in 2023, so an idea came to me:
What if it’s not a camera?
What if it’s something else?
Because keep in mind that these registrations don’t say anything about “cameras”, but about gear that uses some sort of WiFi/Bluetooth frequencies.
So, with that in mind, and given the lack of rumors for another camera coming in 2023, I see three options:
Fujifilm will launch a new camera with the code name FF230002 in 2023, but FujiRumors simply does not know about it yet
Fujifilm will launch a new camera with the code name FF230002 in 2024
Fujifilm will launch an X-H alike file transmitter grip along with the GFX100II on September 12, and the grip has the code FF230002
Now, I don’t have rumors about any GFX100II file transmitter grip, but I have rumors about the GFX100II having an optional (and not integrated) battery grip, which could make option 3 likely.
Sure, also option 1 and 2 are still open. Especially if on September 12 the GFX100 II will come without any file transmitter grip.
But as we documented here it usually takes Fujifilm not more than 4 months (in two cases only it took them 6 months) to launch a camera after the registration has been spotted. And since the FF230002 registration appeared back in June here, the likelihood of a 2023 launch is very high.
And sure, there can always be a surprise camera. Maybe scheduled for launch later this year, maybe in November (X-T5 was launched in November too). I am just a rumor site and don’t claim to always know everything that will happen in the Fujifilm world. But maybe you remember the famous Fujifilm camera roadmap shared by Fuji Spain, in which they displayed two “disruptive” cameras coming for 2023. Well, if that roadmap was accurate, then the X-S20 and GFX100II would be those cameras and we can’t expect anything else coming this year.
But if that was the case, if nothing else would not come in 2023, then don’t worry, because as we already told you, the start into 2024 will be bombastic ;).
For the first time ever (and to big joy of Jordan Drake I guess), Fujifilm will offer
waveforms monitor
anamorphic mode
This much loved videographer features will come to the Fujifilm GFX100 II.
And of course we hope that Fujifilm will also treat current 5th generation gear shooters (X-T5, X-H2, X-H2S, X-S20) with firmware updates that will bring those features also to those cameras.
Fujifilm launches a new sensor/processor platform and gives us a new film simulation along with it.
But that did not happen with the launch of the Fujifilm X-H2S back in May 2022, and also not with all the other 5th generation gear that followed (X-H2, X-T5, X-S20).
Mirrorless digital camera “FUJIFILM X-H2S / FUJIFILM X-H2” wins Bronze Award in the internationally-prestigious design award, IDEA
– Eight other products were selected as finalists, including digital radiography and smartphone printer
The FUJIFILM X-H2S and FUJIFILM X-H2 are the double flagship models in the “X series” that offer outstanding image quality based on unique color reproduction technology and are compact and lightweight. The FUJIFILM X-H2S meets the needs of professional photographers with the series’ best high-speed continuous shooting, autofocus, and movie performance. The FUJIFILM X-H2 can shoot photos and high-resolution 8K/30P video with the highest image quality in the series, meeting a wide range of needs.
Design awards received
Good Design Award 2022, iF Design Award 2023, Red Dot Design Award 2023
Only the best paying brands can let their products go through the brutally tough testing of the EISA team and cream off an award.
Luckily Fujifilm survived the brutal selection and got an award for the Fujifilm X-H2 as best APS-C camera.
Despite never touching the camera, the illuminated EISA team declared this:
The Fujifilm X-H2 is a true hybrid camera with extensive video capabilities that offers the highest resolution available in the APS-C sensor format. Its 40-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor produces still images full of detail, and it can create 160MP files using its Pixel Shift Multi Shot Mode. It can also record 8K/30p video in 4:2:2 10-bit colour and supports both Apple ProRes and BlackMagic Raw output over HDMI. The X-Processor 5 enables subject-detection autofocus which recognises and tracks a broad range of subjects, while the 5-axis in-body image-stabilisation system offers up to 7 stops of compensation.
This excellent summary proves that the EISA team can read the specs sheets. A specs sheet so beautiful, that EISA decided to create a category to award this camera.
Fujifilm will now pay lots of money for the right of using the EISA-bragging logo on their various photography fairs, which shows how healthy of a company Fujifilm is since they can waste money on such things.
Sadly no award for Pentax. They are either too broke to pay for it, or they are just smarter than any other company. And given that they’ve launched this very successful camera, I’d lean towards the second option (that’s the only non sarcastic sentence in this article btw).
You can check out the full list of winners at EISA here.
On a recent visit to Japan, Johnnie had the chance to visit FUJIFILM’s new design center and talk to Aida-san, who designed the Fujifilm X-S20, other cameras as well as the legendary cooling fan, and Nagai-san, who was in charge of designing the camera User Interface.
Above the video (and below some excerpts from it). Check out also the article on CineD here.
When the planning for a new product starts, we list all the new features and requirements for improvements on existing features are advised
User interface (UI) designers design the UI to make the UI it easy to use
the challenge was to keep size small despite using a much larger battery
the cooling fan solution was appreciated by the users
designing the grip is always difficult. In prototype stage they let several people with different sized hands hold the camera to get to the best shape possible
Aida-san is proud of having designed a small camera that achieves a comfortable balance between size and comfort
her dream camera to design would be a film camera
when asked if it would be possible, thanks to AI, to talk to the camera and dictate the settings to it, Nagai-san said it would be possible. The X series supports 35 languages, so it might be hard to support them all
subject detection incorporates the learning effects of AI
more AI features will be added in future
it’s important to continue to explore the possibilities of AI for photography
Nagai-san is particularly proud of designing the menu for the new Vlog mode
Fujifilm wants to design a UI that satisfies everyone from first-time camera users to professional photographers
