This is one of the (many) Fujifilm patents you can check out at freepatentsonline here (PDF file here). It was published back in April (04/29/2014), Filing Date or the Patent: 01/02/2014

It seems to be an evolution of the “Real-image zoom viewfinder” already present in the X20 viewfinder. There is plenty of technical stuff to read at freepatentsonline, but petapixel sums it up saying that “the viewfinder would be able to optically zoom in synchronization with the varying focal length of a zoom lens.” And, at least looking at the image of the patent, this viewfinder should find its way into future compact Fuji Point&Shoot cameras.

But what’s the advantage of this specific “real-image viewfinder” compared to the one of the X20 (which delivers 85% coverage and a 20° horizontal apparent field of view)? Well, I do not know, and it must be hidden somewhere in the very complicated description of the patent.

So will maybe the X30 feature an upgraded “real-image zoom optical viewfinder”? That’s the question I’ll now send directly to our sources ;-)

But it’s good to see that Fuji continues to work on the OVF technology. It’s definitely a good news for OVF lovers. However, no OVF in the world will give you the possibility to see in real-time how your final shot will be (WYSIWYG), which is very useful, especially when you have to act fast and there is not the time to take a shot, check the result on the LCD, change the exposure, take another shot, check the image again, make adjustments and so on. With an EVF you look through the viewfinder, turn the dial, see immediately the result in the EVF… and “click“.

But what do you think? Do you prefer the EVF or the OVF? 2 alternatives, one answer. And feel free to list your PROS and CONS for a OVF or EVF in the comments.

Oh, and I know, a hybrid viewfinder would make us all happy. So, dear Fuji, don’t forget it in the X-PRO2 :-)

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And just for fun. Here is how Fuji explains the “real-image zoom viewfinder“. It’s all one sentence, so be concentrated:

“A real-image zoom viewfinder substantially consisting of, in order from an object side, a variable-magnification objective lens system having a positive refractive power, an erect optical system, and an eyepiece lens system having a positive refractive power, wherein the variable-magnification objective lens system substantially consisting of, in order from the object side, a first lens group that includes a first lens having a negative refractive power and a reflective member arranged in this order from the object side and is fixed during magnification change, a second lens group that has a positive refractive power and is moved during magnification change, and a third lens group that has a positive refractive power and is moved during magnification change, the erect optical system has at least one reflective surface for converting an inverted image formed by the variable-magnification objective lens system into an erect image and is fixed during magnification change, the eyepiece lens system has a positive refractive power and is fixed during magnification change, and conditional expressions (1), (2A) and (3) below are satisfied at the same time:
1.5<U2/U1<3.0 (1),
1.76≦|f2/f1|<2.0 (2A) and
1.0<f3/f2<5.0 (3), where U1 is a distance from an object-side lens surface of the first lens to a most object-side lens surface in the second lens group along an optical axis in a state where zoom setting is set at a telephoto end, U2 is a difference between the distance from the object-side lens surface of the first lens to the most object-side lens surface in the second lens group along the optical axis in a state where the zoom setting is set at the telephoto end and a distance from the object-side lens surface of the first lens to a most image-side lens surface in the third lens group along the optical axis in a state where the zoom setting is set at a wide-angle end, f1 is a focal length of the first lens group, f2 is a focal length of the second lens group, and f3 is a focal length of the third lens group.”

via freepatentsonline / photographybay / petapixel

Hi there,

2014 is almost 6 months old, and I thought it’s time to check back the rumors I’ve published in order to see what turned out to be correct, what was wrong, and especially to tell you how reliable the remaining rumors are.

For me, this is a good opportunity to make a rumor overview of the past half year and to answer to all those readers who dropped me an email asking me how reliable rumors published in the past months are.

Rumors NOT included: rumors from other sites and blogs, as I simply reported about them and never confirmed them with my sources (like digicame-info saying the X30 would come in February/March, the 18-135 price [it was published by a store], Fujifilm Bangladesh announcing a new X-mount camera, the freepatentsonline stuff, Dominik Fusina publishing his fake X-W1 and a few more).

And here they are. I added very low, low, medium or high rating to the rumors. I hope this helps you to get an orientation in the rumor jungle.

enjoy your day,
facebook, google+, RSS-feed and twitter

HIGH RATING

– X100T successor of X100S

– XF16mm 1.4

– XF120-400

– X-PRO2 with APS-C sensor

– No more X-PRO1S, all R&D placed into the X-PRO2

– X30 coming in summer (so there is time until September 20)

MEDIUM RATING

– XF 35mm MKII (As Fuji has first to complete its lens lineup, it could take a while before the 35 MKII hits the market… and Fuji can change plans in any moment regarding this lens.) PLEASE NOTE: This rumor was not reported accurately by other sites (as petapixel and mirrorlessrumors). They quote FR, but say that the lens is “coming soon”. Which I never said. None of my sources ever told me a release date. In fact I said on May 5th: “I do not know when it will be launched nor which improvements we can expect, but, as you may guess, I’m restlessly working on it.”

– Faster AF for the 35mm MKII (This rumor is separated from the first 35MKII rumor, as it comes from another source and was posted in another article)

– X200 with 24MP, tilt screen, improved AF and wider detection area (Medium rating as I think that some, but not all the specs will be correct. The name has changed almost for sure to X100T).

– Button Upgrade for the early produced X-T1’s with mushy buttons.

– X-PRO2 available in 2015

LOW RATING

– X-T1P release with 4K viewfinder in July [An upgrade (or special/limited edition) is possible, but not anytime soon. And, as soon as also drphotorumor says that this rumor is not correct, I’ll downgrade it to “very low rating”. As soon as/if the top trusted Japanese source and/or the good old source tells me that this is wrong, I’ll move it into the wrong rumors 2014 list]

– XF 90mm (same as the 35 MKII here, the release of this lens is everything else but imminent, so a lot can change. Plus: I do not have any confirmation until now about it from trusted sources or sources who were right in the past)

VERY LOW RATING

– Sigma X-mount coming at photokina

– Medium Format Fuji (there are several anonymous sources telling me that this rumor is wrong. But I will post an update only when a trusted source speaks. And if they say, as to expect, that it is not correct, I’ll move it into the “wrong rumors” list)

_ _ _

And now let’s check the 2014 rumors

NOTE: You will see for example some X-T1 rumors (and others) listed sepratately. This is due the fact that there was, for example, a source telling me of a tilt screen, while another told me at a different time about the price and so on.

It’s fair towards my sources not to put everything together in the same pot and simply say “X-T1”, as every rumor listed here comes from a different source and was posted in different articles and could have been right or wrong.

Obviously the same goes for the wrong rumors. I don’t simply say “18-135 announcement”, but shared all 3 wrong release dates separately, so that they result as 3 errors and not as one.

CORRECT RUMORS IN 2014

– XF 18-135 coming June 16^th

– X-E2 deal

– X-E2 firmware update with X-T1 EVF refresh rate coming soon (correct, it came a few days later)

– TCL-X100 will be out end of May (correct. It’s available since then in Japan, now also in Europe. Still out of stock in USA)

– TCL-X100 will cost €250 and be a bit cheaper than the WCL (correct. AmazonDE sells the silver version for €249, while the discounted WCL still costs €269)

– TCL-X100 will cost $350/400 (correct, it costs $350 at Bhphot & Co)

– TCL-X100 coming second half of April (correct, announced April 22)

– Lightroom 5.4 coming next week

– February/March lens deals with confidential Fuji document

– With the next update, Adobe will support X-Trans film simulation

– X30 won’t come in February/March as rumored by digicame-info

– Image and size comparison of the 10-24 with a protype 18-135 (real image)

– XF 16-55 and 50-140 will be weather sealed

– X-T1 announcement in January 28th at 4:30 AM London Time

– Improved WiFi for the X-T1

– UHS-II SD card slot, but no double SD-card slot + 8fps with AF tracking (Fuji originally planed a dual SD-card slot. When the first X-T1 image leaked here on FR, it even looked like a dual SD-card slot, but the Japanese source said it has just a single SD-card slot)

– X-T1 will cost $1300 / €1200

– First images of a prototype X-T1

– Firmware update for Zeiss will add PDAF support

– Tilt screen for the X-T1

– The name of the weather sealed X will be X-T1

– X-T1 will have the best EVF on the market

– black X100S will have a retail price of about £1000, about the same as silver version (the final retail price in UK is RRP £1099.99 for the black and £1049 for the silver version, according to wexUK. But now both are sold cheaper).

– XF56mm announcement at January 6th

– black X100S will be the only “new” X-camera presented at CES

WRONG RUMORS IN 2014

– XF 18-135 announcement on Memorial Day (wrong, but, as Rico said in his first look, the announcement has been postponed at least two times, so actually the date could have been origianlly correct, but the source did not know about the updated release date. NOTE: I excluded the rumor of an 18-135 f/3.5-4.8, as this was a typo by Fujifilm at the CP+ (see this image), and I just reported about it.

– XF 18-135 will come in May (I’ve shared this in Janaury. But what was right in Janaury, is wrong now. As we know from Rico, the release has been pushed back at least two times. Announcements are a very tricky part of rumors).

– XF 18-135 in stores in February

– X-PRO2 with FF sensor (wrong, and corrected a few weeks later by the top trusted Japanese source)

Hi all,

if you could take a glimpse behind the scenes of this rumor, you’d probably understand why the X-T1 upgrade (X-T1P) rumor is one of the trickiest I’ve ever worked on. I can not share the details, but here is what I can say for now.

I’ve received an update from the same trusted source who previously told me of the release of the X-T1P at the beginning / mid July. It basically says: bad news, no more X-T1 upgrade for now!

So why this change?

As I know the background of this specific source and therefore trust its information (it shared several rumors and was 100% correct until now), I believe that it was Fuji itself who spread rumors about an X-T1 upgrade. (Keep in mind that also drphotorumor told me about an X-T1 upgrade, yep, the same source who first leaked images of the X-E2 / XQ1, several specs and more).

But, if true, why should Fuji do it? Did they simply change plans or, as another anonymous source told me a few days ago, Fuji deliberately spreads misinformation meant to find a leak within Fuji? Or, as Felipe suggested in the comments, Fuji wanted to “gauge the public response to a supposed release without risking backlash.” So were we victims of a Trial Balloon (from wikipedia: A trial balloon is information sent out to the media in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It can be used by companies sending out press releases to judge reaction by customers)?

I still don’t know it. I asked my buddy Andrea of SAR if Sony ever deliberately spread wrong rumors, and his answer was affirmative. As he also said on his blog: “Sony is spreading conflicting information to hide the truth. That’s why I prefer to be careful and wait for final proves before to post.”

So what’s the truth? Is there anything real behind this rumor? While I tend to believe that a feature upgrade will come, but not that soon (and maybe in form of a limited or special edition), I now have to raise the security bar and triple check the X-T1 upgrade rumors in order to give you the most reliable information I can.

Therefore I’ll follow Andrea’s advice and the next time I’ll update this specific rumor, it will be previously checked also with my top trusted Japanese source and/or the top trusted “good old” source.

Till then, I have no reasons at the moment to think that an X-T1 upgrade is coming anytime soon.

But stay tuned. I will try to speak the final word in this rumor story as soon as possible. And of course, any help is appreciated. You can contact me completely anonymously using the rumor box (use a nick-name if you want, so that I can eventually recognize you in future), or also fujirumor [at] gmail.com.

have a great start in this new week,
facebook, google+, RSS-feed and twitter

I admit. When I first read the rumor about a feature upgrade of the [shoplink 21553]X-T1[/shoplink], I was pretty surprised. The first one came from an anonymous source, who asked me not to share anything and to check it with my sources first (thx a lot for the hint). And this is what I did. I didn’t share, because I’m 100% loyal to any of my source, and I started to investigate.

Then 2 sources, that I consider trusted, as every rumor they ever shared with me was correct, told me about the upgrade too.

So I decided that it is high time to share it.

And today I have a little update for you:

1. The Name: I got rumors about the X-T1b. A trusted sources told me that this would NOT be the name. But another anonymous source (with nick-name, thx) just told me that the name should be X-T1P! I don’t like both names, but these are the rumors.

2. The Features: So what will be new with this X-T1p (or whatever?)? The viewfinder! According to both, the anonymous source with nick-name and one trusted source, the viewfinder will get a 4.0k upgrade from the current 2.36k.

3. The Announcement: According to both, the anonymous source with nick-name (ASwN) and the trusted source (TS), the release should be in July (first week of July, according to the ASwN-source).

I do not have any reason to doubt my trusted sources, and therefore, despite the usual critics, I continue to believe that the X-T1 upgrade (a MINOR upgrade!!!) will come.

Of course I’ll try to organize a chat with the top trusted good old source and with the Japanese source to have the ultimate confirmation. So stay tuned for updates and follow FR also on Facebook, google+, RSS-feed and Twitter

hope you’ll have a good time today

Our collueges from Digicameinfo posted that image of the new final production version of the XF 18-135mm f/ 3.5-5.6 R LM OIS lens. The lens is also dust and water proof and has a 67mm filter diameter. The Price in Japan will be 108,000 yen (tax included).

Like I told you before the lens will be announced on Monday.

stay tuned on Facebook, google+, RSS-feed and Twitter