Fujifilm has finally released the long promised autofocus update for the Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2S and GFX100II. Also new features have been added and bugs fixed.
No firmware update for X-T5 & Co yet, but Fujifilm has also promised that one to come within 2024. So do not panic. It’s coming, too according to official Fujifilm statements.
Feel free to let us know in the comments what your impressions are.
Now the first batch of firmware updates has been released for the first cameras, and it includes autofocus improvements, touch to track AF in video, red frame indicator in video and more. All details below.
To see what else will come for which cameras in the near future, check out the dedicated article here.
Fujifilm has released firmware updates for Fujifilm GFX100II, Fujifilm X-H2S and the Fujifilm FT-XH file transmitter grip.
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.
Fellow FR-reader Sven is specialized in IR and Astro conversions, and he recently did a fullspectrum conversion on his Fujifilm X-H2.
Here some excerpts regarding the teardown:
After a deep look under the hood, the design of this camera can be summarized as follows: Heat Management and Dissipation.
mainboard of the X-H2 reveals countless SMD components. With the amount of features packed into such a small camera, this is hardly surprising
the processor is covered with a heat conduction pad
The entire shutter mechanism is supported by small springs all around and has no direct contact with the body
this also explains why the camera’s shutter is relatively quiet and has this very special muted sound
The heat of the X-Trans V sensor is tapped directly on the back of the sensor via a delicate heat sink and conducted to a copper plate on the stainless steel chassis
As for the IR performance, they write:
Some modern sensors can show fine, mostly horizontal lines in the images. This is probably caused by PDAF pixels (“AF pixels”) on the sensor. These occur more often with strong IR filters and with very high-contrast processing. How does the X-H2 perform with an 830 nm infrared filter? With overly high-contrast processing, no lines or other artifacts are visible at 100% view (aside from noise, of course, induced by the high-contrast processing). The new sensor is a clear recommendation and can be used without restrictions.
As well as a firmware request:
Unfortunately, the X-H2 shares the same handicap as all X-Trans cameras. The manual white balance is always set without any problems, but the available range is not quite sufficient. […] Unfortunately, a warm magenta color cast remains in the camera and has to be corrected on the PC.
Fujifilm can actually do that, with their Bayer sensor cameras (X-A series and X-Txxx) it works without any problems
The X-H2 seems to work a bit better than the X-T3, but you can’t get rid of the color cast completely
In the unlikely event that a Fujifilm firmware designer reads this: Please expand the limits in both color axes in which manual white balance can be set. A little bit wider and the cameras internal white balance will work for infrared as well. Such a change can be distributed in a future firmware update in my eyes and should neither harm anyone nor cause too much work in programming.
Read the full article and see all the images at irrecams here.