Fujifilm Photography News and Rumors

Phototrend interviewed Shinichiro Udono, Jun Watanabe, and Takuya Noguchi from Fujifilm at CP+ 2019. Below are some excerpts  and pictures from the interview or you can read the full interview here:

• Mirrorless camera sales already make up 48% of annual sales in value
• Fujifilm thinks that in the second half of 2019 hybrid cameras already exceeded the 50% mark.
• Fujifilm isn’t the only reason for mirrorless hybrid cameras taking off there is Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, etc…
• This year mirrorless sales should be around 55% to 60% of the camera market
• Fujifilm launched its first hybrid camera 7 years ago in 2012
• Fujifilm has a well-established system with 31 XF lenses including those on the roadmap and they plan to add 10 GF lenses.
• Fujifilm f/1.4 lenses are designed for professionals f/2 or f/2.8 lenses are for photographers that want to remain compact
• Fujifilm is making lenses for everyone
• When Fujifilm launched the X-Pro1 in 2012 their priority was photography and not video
• Newer lenses have features that are more compatible with video
• Lenses with a lot of moving glass are not ideal for video.
• The Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR and Fujinon XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR are good for video
• Fujifilm recommends their zoom lenses for video work but might make better-fixed lenses for video in the future
• Fujifilm X-H is still for professionals and X-T is for enthusiasts but professionals can use it too
• Fujifilm’s IBIS system is still too larger for X-T cameras
• Not sure why people won’t drop dreams of a Fujifilm Full Frame cameras since they have GFX medium format.
• The combination of APS-C and Medium Format is the best option
• Full Frame is too big and the lenses are too heavy with almost no advantage over APS-C
• Keeping the system small encourages owners to take the camera with them more and to take more photos
• For customers that want a larger system with higher resolution, GFX is their solution
• The Fujifilm X-T20 will not be discontinued and it will cost less than the X-T30
• Fujifilm X-T3 is the best option for customers that want the latest technology
• Fujifilm will add IBIS to the X-T line when they can do it without compromise
• Fujinon GF50mmF3.5 R LM WR will be launched in 2019 and Fujinon GF45-100mm F4 R LM OIS WR will launch in 2020.
• The Fujinon XF 33mm f/1 R WR is the brightest AF lens and it is designed to have beautiful bokeh and great wide open performance.
• Fujifilm was waiting for the technology to create an f/1 AF lens.
• The Fujifilm GFX100Mpx isn’t finalized yet, but the overall size and user interface is almost final.
• The Fujifilm GFX100Mpx will have very fast AF thanks to the phase detect pixels
• The Fujifilm GFX100Mpx IBIS system was a challenge because it is hard to stabilize such a large sensor
• The Fujifilm GFX100Mpx will record 4k 30p without cropping, which should please professional videographers
• The Fujifilm GFX100Mpx is ideal for professional photographers working in fashion, advertising, portraiture, landscape, and more
•  Fujifilm GFX 50R sales are more than anticipated and many advanced amateur photographers are buying it for landscape and street photography.
• Fujifilm didn’t put any technical research into how they could make a modular GFX
• There are currently no plans to make the modular GFX, but maybe they will in the future when they have the technology to make one.
• It probably got a lot of attention because it was unique and compact.
• Fujifilm was surprised by the excitement from their customer and photographers about a modular GFX system.
• Fujifilm got the idea to update their cameras significantly and frequently from the smartphone industry.
• Fujifilm X-T20 might still get updates, but they can’t copy stuff from the new X-Trans sensors 4 to the X-Trans 3 all of the time.
• Right now their priority is X-Trans 4
• The photography market is starting to copy their strategy of releasing big updates
• Just about every company is making a hybrid camera today
• The SLR market is shrinking by 10-20% a year
• The Fujinon MK18-55 T2.9 and Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 are selling at expected levels for X-Mount
• Video professionals are very interested in Fujinon MK lenses for X and E-mount
• The two MK lenses cover most of the needs of professional videographers from 18-135mm so they are going to focus on X and GFX lenses being better for video.