For personal reasons I was not able to make videos this month, nor to really work full power on the rumors and the blog in general. Sometimes life has other plans and sets other priorities.
Good news: an important medical check just a few days ago went well, so now it’s time for me to crawl out of my hole and gain back the energy to give you guys what you deserve: rumors!
Viltrox is going to launch its own NP-W235 third party alternative battery for the Fujifilm X and GFX system, called TNP-W235, as reported at the Chinese Weibo account 独立摄影师联合会.
So far this year the best selling gear on FujiRumors was the new SmallRig NP-W235 (which I own too).
The Viltrox TNP-W235 seems to use the same interface with a built-in USB-C port for direct charging and also the same power (2400 mAh).
However (and that’s valid also for other companies as far as I know), if you use third party batteries in your Fujifilm cameras, and that third party battery is cause of a problem (for example it swells up and gets stuck in the camera), then, even if your camera is under warranty, you won’t get the problem fixed free of charge. On the other hand, if you use the original battery, for as long your battery is under warranty, every problem caused by the battery itself to the camera will give you access to free warranty repair.
That’s why, if you want to go the 100% safe route during the time you camera is under warranty, you might want to stick with original batteries, so if any problem happens caused by the battery, it will be fixed under warranty.
In all my years using third party batteries, I had my first third party battery fail last year, where my Patona swelled up in my X-E3 and I had to fiddle around to get it out,
Well, it look like the wait is almost over, as it will come soon according to reports at the Japanese website asobinet.
It seems to be a luxurious optical design using low dispersion lenses and aspheric lenses. It seems to be a full-fledged lens for YONGNUO’s APS-C mirrorless. From the lens name, the corresponding mount seems to be Sony. It is currently unknown whether Nikon Z-mount and Fujifilm X-mount will also appear. […] It is worth mentioning that the lens is equipped with a wireless module and supports remote control.
The MFT chart you see in this article is for the Sony E mount version. Previous rumros indicated that the lens will be available also for Fujifilm X mount, which makes a whole lot of sense considering that it is a lens designed for APS-C.
Well, it looks like the development is finally done and those 7Artisans AF lenses are already out for testing, according to reports shared at the Chinese social media account on Weibo 独立摄影师联合会 here.
Full List of Third Party AF X Mount Lenses
— Available, Coming Soon, Rumored —
The French website Phototrend had the opportunity to interview Franck Bernard, Director of the imaging division at Fujifilm France. You can read the full interview here and the summary below.
Fujifilm’s strategy is to grip full frame between their APS-C and Medium Format bodies
When asked if X-H2S is popular among sports photographers, the manager said that the road is long. It’s not only a question of having the best product, but also of having the entire ecosystem
Overall market share in France? As far as hybrid cameras goes (full frame excluded), Fujifilm is market leader with 26% over the last 12 months
X-T5 is the best seller followed by X-T30II and X-S20/X-S10
the photo market is sustainable and will always remain so
smartphones accelerate the demand for cameras because at some point people will want to use a real camera for better quality
it’s too early to talk about an X100V successor
It has now been 3 years since the X100V was released and Fujifilm does not have a fixed renewal cycle forcing them to change bodies every three years
the demand for X100V is still high
“If we have decided to stop entry-level products such as X-T200 or X-E4, it is because it is not promising as a market“
but Fujifilm wants to keep more affordable models in the lineup (see X-T30)
third party lenses can have negative effect on Fujinon lens sales, but Fujifilm thinks they have the quality to compete with Sigma, Tamron and Co
Fujifilm is neutral in regards to third party lenses. They don’t oppose nor push them and they respect them
I’d like to make some considerations.
Fujifilm X-E Line
The French manager hinted that they dropped the X-E line, but that pretty much does not fit with the hints recently a Japanese Fujifilm manager gave us here. And also Fuji Guy Billy mentioned here the X-E line as a line that would continue (unlike X-T***, X-A* lines, which btw were just Fujifilm branded Xacti cameras since a long time anyway, as we reported here).
The French Fujifilm manager said they are neutral towards third party lenses. Although I remember Fujifilm managers inviting Sigma managers and talking about Sigma lenses for example here. So this gives me the impression Fujifilm is quite positive overall towards third party lenses.
The French manager said they think they have the quality to compete with third party lenses. This depends. The newest third party lenses from Viltrox & Co are quite phenomenal for the price. Maybe here and there they might not match the quality of the top of the line most modern Fujinon XF lenses, but there are quality options also from third parties.
The real and most important factors, for me, to use as much as possible native Fujinon lenses are two:
lots of third party lenses do not have an aperture ring
color consistency among Fujinon glass. And since a Film Simulation are a big deal for me, I like Velvia & Co to look consistent across the various lenses I use. There are for example third party lenses, like my manual focus Samyang 12mmF2, that are very lovely, but the colors they give me are not the ones I consistently get with my Fujinon lenses.
These are for me the two main reasons why I mostly stick with Fujinon XF and GF glass, although I own third party lenses for both systems, too.
