The star of the Fujifilm X Summit in Tokyo was obviously the X100VI, which we have already told you about and which we have started to get started with. On the sidelines, the Japanese manufacturer has made announcements that are certainly less impactful, but just as important, particularly for owners of the brand’s interchangeable optical housings.
The second major announcement concerned the upcoming arrival of a new “kit” zoom lens for X-mount hybrids (APS-C). Called XF16-50mm f/2.8-4.8, it promises to be compact and offer sufficient resolving power for the 40 Mpx sensors of Fujifilm’s 5th generation of hybrids. Although we have no official date or price, the lens should arrive later this year.
Expected soon, but again without a specific date, Fujifilm’s smartphone application soberly called Xapp 2.0 should land in application stores later this year.
In addition to pages containing statistics on the use of the boxes or even an equipment tab – with, miraculously, a count of triggerings! – the application should offer a background download of the firmware for your boxes, which it will push automatically. All devices equipped with the X Processor 5 will be supported, whether it is the GFX100 II, the various hybrids (X-T5, etc.) or the new X100VI.
Fujifilm is also announcing a firmware update for spring 2024. Targeting the various 5th generation X bodies, it will bring a red recording marker frame for the X-H2 and H2s, tactile subject tracking (X-H2, X-H2s, X-T5, X-S20), electronic shutter subject detection (X-H2, -S20), the integration of new AF tracking algorithms (X-H2s, X-T5, XH (X-H2, X-H2s).
Among the new features, we noted the arrival of the Reala Ace film simulation, already present in the GFX100II. This brings the number of film simulations for each of these boxes to 20.
Optics in gestation… and in evaluation
Cutaway view of the XF200mm f/2.0 R LM OIS WR.
Fujifilm has also agreed to announce a telephoto lens in development for the GFX range: a 500 mm, giving a 400 mm equivalent to 24×36 mm, a rare focal length in the world of large sensors. ants. The Japanese manufacturer has only officially announced the XF16-50 mm f/2.8-4.8.
During the X Summit in Tokyo, which brought together more than two hundred journalists and partner resellers, Fujifilm engaged in a funny reverse question/answer game. Through an interactive questionnaire, the Fujifilm teams carried out a survey aimed at determining the interest of the audience concerning not just one, but no less than ten models, with the possibility of choosing up to three references. It was following a similar survey about the GFX that Fujifilm detected the need for tilt and shift lenses. They were announced last year at the same time as the GFX100II.
Fujifilm presented ten lenses which are currently under study.
Among the four winners of the survey – in which the editorial staff of Les Numériques obviously participated – the most promising, by far, is a potential XF23 mm in extra-flat format (pancake ). A potential optic that engineers imagine weighing less than 100 grams and measuring between 2 and 4 cm.
The three other lenses favored by the international audience are a fixed focal length telephoto lens of over 400 mm, an f/2.8 ultra wide angle zoom and an XF16-200 mm super zoom. It’s a safe bet that the references at the top of the ranking are already on track.
A horde of boxes in development
After the GFX100II at the end of last year and the X100VI at the start of 2024, Fujifilm has many potential bodies in the pipeline. © Adrian BRANCO for Les Numériques
If no manufacturer reveals its roadmap in terms of camera development, Fujifilm has nevertheless expressed its state of mind through the mouths of several people to whom we were able to speak or who spoke on stage. The message is clear: no product line has been abandoned. It must be understood here that despite a slower renewal cycle, neither the XE nor the X-Pro have been put aside.
And Fujifilm’s dynamism is not limited to Fujifilm’s APS-C system. Asked by us about the possible arrival of a type of X100 with a medium format sensor or a successor to the GFX50R, Fujifilm assured us that the first model was actually under study and that the successor to the GFX R series was indeed in development. A Fujifilm executive even added that the future of the GFX format was bright, the company being determined to press the accelerator to prove that its system offers good more than the 24×36 mm. To be continued!