So, which Fujifilm X or G series camera should you buy?
Fujifilm Australia wants to help us to make this decision, and has just update its comprehensive Fujifilm Buying Guide, which is now in it’s 3rd edition and 140 pages strong.
If you are interested in the FUJIFILM range but don’t know where to start due to the overwhelming amount of equipment, then this ebook is for you.
Sadly the chapter “Fujifilm X-E3” is still missing ;)
I first heard about the GFX on 8th January, 2014, when I met these two gentlemen at CES in Las Vegas [see image on top].
Zack is an editorial music photographer based in Atlanta, GA, and a Fuji X System Photographer, and Billy is a Manager for the Product and Marketing Specialist Group – FUJIFILM CANADA INC., and one of the ‘Fuji Guys’ on YouTube.
We met at the Fujifilm stand at the Consumer Electronics Show, with Zack and I both pestering Billy to get a sneak peak of the new, unannounced, Fuji X-T1 camera.
With our sneak-peeks arranged, the conversation turned to ‘what’s next’, and Zack expressed a strong desire for Fuji to look at jumping the legacy 35mm format completely, and for them to take a look at producing a Medium Format mirrorless camera.
Billy was excited by the idea, and we began to discuss the features that the new camera should have.
Zack was all about a MF sensor as the starting point, and Billy suggested that this could then be used to shoot multiple aspect ratios, native in camera.
The camera needed to be mirrorless, to keep size, weight, and cost down, and should undercut the established MF market leaders by a significant margin.
We discussed super-sizing the successful Fuji X-Pro1, to make a digital version of the Fuji 6×9 120 ‘Texas Leica’ Film cameras, and building a more conventionally styled model, with the same accessible controls and styling, to make the camera easy and fun to use.
The Fuji engineers on the stand were excited. I left the show with a strong impression that this was something they wanted to make happen.
I posted about Fuji’s logic of jumping to MF a few times on DPR, with mixed reactions. Most people didn’t believe it would ever happen. Many 35mm format users did’t get it, and still don’t. Fuji see it makes the best economic sense, and takes them past the limitations of the 35mm format market place.
A kind FR-reader (thanks) dropped me the link to a nice read for the weekend.
But before I share it, just allow me say a quick (but big) “thank you” to all FR-readers, who share with FR the interesting Fuji-stuff they find on the web.
You make it possible that FujiRumors is always the first to break the news and rumor, and also the first to share links in live bloggings and much more. I don’t know any other way to return you guys the favor you do to me, other than keep this blog running with enthusiasm, joy and dedication.
I’m so positive, motivated and full of energy like never before. So thanks so much to everybody for your help and support :)
At the end they visit the very best place of all the tour… but read further below, to discover what it is :)
The tour starts at the Fujifilm Omiya Headquarters, where Jon talks with a Fujifilm manger about the Fujifilm GFX 50s. and especially about the new Cinema MK lenses, the MK18-55mm F2.9 and MK50-130mm T2.9. As we already reported here, X-mount version of the lenses will come by the end of the year 2017.
A curiosity, why Fujifilm called their new cinema lenses “MK” lenses:
“M for Movie, Manual, Mobility, Marvelous, Multiple-use! Also, perhaps it can be said that in Video you “take the shot.” In stills, you “take” a photograph. But in movies, you “make” a film. You are a film maker. So MK.”
Then they continue to the Fujifilm Taiwa Factory:
“More than 1,000 people work in the vast Fujifilm Taiwa Factory, assembling X-series and GFX cameras, components and other products. A new, dedicated area has been set up for a highly skilled team to build Fujinon MK lenses.”
Regarding the MK lenses, they say:
“The philosophy of the MK lenses is affordablity for independent productions. To keep the cost down and the manufacturing yield high, Fujinon has combined techniques from their experience in high-yield manufacturing (still cameras and lenses) and high-precision, high-end lens crafting. The trick seems to the their use of molded, composite lens barrels and mechanical sub-assemblies. Traditionally, these components have been milled on CNC machines from metal. Advantages of composites include speed of manufacturing, resistance to temperature variations in the field, and advanced structural possibilities.”
And what’s the best way to end a hard day visiting factories and interviewing Fujifilm managers? Right, get a good Whisky :). So the tour ends at the Nikka Whisky Miyagikyo Sendai Distillery.
Fujifilm just released the first firmware update for Fujifilm GFX 50s. This is not the major firmware update we are waiting for and is rumored to be released in May.
The firmware update Ver.1.01 from Ver.1.00 incorporates the following issues:
1. The phenomenon is fixed that in some cases the actual saturation of the EVF display is not changed even if the setting of the EVF COLOR in SCREEN SET-UP is changed. It occurs especially after EVF display is changed to LCD and then back to EVF.
