Fujifilm has announced price increases for lots of Fujifilm X and GFX gear starting November 10 in Japan.
The increases for X and GFX lenses vary between 8% to 30%, whereas there is still no clear indication on how much the price increase for X-T5, X-S20, X-H2 and X-H2S will be (currently marked as “open”).
I have not yet heard of any price increase coming outside of Japan, and I hope there won’t be any.
Down below you can find the press release as well as the full list of gear affected by the price increase.
Fujifilm has announced the financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023 (July to September).
Needless to say that Instax is the goldmine. But there was also a “significantly increased revenue from digital cameras“.
Revenue from digital cameras increased significantly, mainly due to solid sales of X-H2, X-H2S and X-T5 released in the previous fiscal year. Sales of X-S20, which was released in June 2023, also fared well. […] We will continue to offer attractive products by achieving overwhelmingly high image quality with the large format in the GFX Series and the best balance between image quality and size in the X Series.
Instax and Digital Cameras together did give the imaging business a significant boost.
Revenue and operating income increased by 19.5% and 85.5% year-over-year, respectively, due to brisk sales of instant photo systems and digital cameras.
And all this has been achieved despite Fujifilm being incapable of delivering all the cameras mentioned in the report for many months in certain countries (mainly Asia), and some experienced worldwide delivery problems (X100V).
Fujifilm cameras mentioned in the Financial Report:
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!
So it happens that for all those, who wanted the X-E4, the only option now is to look around at the second hand market, where, as reported by asobinet, the price in some countries can be higher than what the X-E4 did cost brand new. And digitalcameraworld has an article up here, where they explain how they sold their X-E4 for more than what they originally paid for it new.
Now, recently Fujifilm France hinted that there is no market for the X-E line. But if that was the case, I wonder why people are buying it second hand and overpriced, similar to what is happening to the Fujifilm X100V.
Anyway, I strongly hope the X-E line will continue. It’s a great alternative to those who want an X100-alike experience (minus OVF) but with the possibility to change lenses. Although I don’t really change lenses much on my X-E3, where this lens lives glued on it.
I still love using my X-E3, as you can see in my video here, but it starts to show its age, especially now that I also own the X-T5 with a terrific boost in terms of autofocus and features.
I would probably jump on an X-E5 on day one if Fujifilm would ever make one, just to get access to the new autofocus power and more film simulations (Reala included). Better if with 40MP, but I could also live with the Fujifilm X-S20 solution, so the 26MP combined with the new X Processor 5.
So please, dear Fujifilm, don’t axe the X-E line. Give us an X-E5, produce it in decent numbers, and you’ll see you’ll be rewarded for that.
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.
The Fujifilm cameras that support the electronic contacts with this lens are:
X-H2S
X-H2
X-Pro3
X-T5
X-S20
X-S10
X-H1
X-T4
X-T3
X-T2* *When using the X-T2, the aperture value can be displayed in Fno by changing the aperture value display setting from TNo to FNo in the body settings.
But as you know, on FujiRumors we will not make up a single rumor just to make traffic, nor share anonymous rumors we receive in which I don’t trust.
We prefer to share less rumors, generate less traffic, make less money, and value your time with less, but accurate rumors.
But until more rumors drop, I thought we could also make one single article where we talk about the current state of the rumors and also make speculation on what could or we would like to come in 2024.
And I am aware that never before Fujifilm needed more than 4/6 months to release a camera after its registration has been spotted.
This is why 99,9% of people out there are so sure there will be another Fujifilm announcement this year.
Maybe in November, as that’s a great month to launch new gear (Fuji’s most important camera has been launched November last year for example).
But this ain’t gonna happen, according to our sources.
In fact, we have been told (thanks!!!), that as far as 2023 goes, this was it. There is no new gear coming in 2023.
I mean, yes, the two GF tilt shift lenses still have to hit the market. But of course our sources mean that there won’t be any further announcements this year.
This means that we will also NOT get the next Fujinon XF lens that we already rumored a couple of weeks ago, in 2023.
