Jason at TCSTV: “The IQ Difference between Fujifilm GFX and Sony A1/Canon R5 Tortured me, I couldn’t Unsee it, so I bought into GFX”

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I don’t buy into the narrative that wants you to believe you can make professional work only with full frame gear.

And it’s not just a “feeling” of mine. It’s a hard core fact proven by the irrefutable reality that you can win the Pulitzer prize or the World Press Photo Award with images taken by Fujifilm APS-C cameras.

And I also don’t buy that “sensor size is everything” narrative.

Look, I’ve shot it all: from my loved Micro Four Thirds to APS-C and Medium Format, and yes, even quite some Sony Full Frame as I have easy access to that system thanks to the SonyAlphaRumors guy living not far away from my home.

So I can confidently say: every system has its Pros and Cons and every system, from M43 to MF, can be used for professional use, of course with some cameras being better suited for certain uses than others.

So if somebody tells you that you absolutely need a system with a 70% larger sensor than full frame (the GFX system) to really stand out with the quality of your images, then you better don’t trust that person.

And yet, as we said, every system has its Pros and Cons, and the advantage of the GFX system is undeniably that it offers the best image quality you can get for a more than reasonable price.

Then add to this that the Fujifilm GFX100S and GFX50SII have the size of the Canon R5, are even smaller than the Panasonic S1 cameras and cheaper than full frame cameras like the Sony A1, and you start to get a combination of advantages that might make the Fujifilm GFX perfect for your needs.

And it sounds like the combination of advantages the GFX system offers was perfect for Jason Eng, who, in a talk with Evelyn from TCSTV explains his move to the GFX system.

Here is a quick summary:

  • Jason’s assistant Aiden was looking to buy into a new system. He looked at Sony, Nikon and Canon and almost pulled the trigger on the Canon
  • Jason suggested him to try the GFX50SII which costs about the same what Aiden was about to spend for the Canon
  • Aiden put his hands on the GFX50S and it had “these magical files“
  • then they also shot the GFX100 side by side with Sony A1 and Canon R5
  • even by just comparing the images on the laptop sized screen, they noticed the detail in shadows and the way that the camera handled gradation from highlight to shadow was just… “I could not unsee it, it tortured me until I inevitably bought the system“
  • he bought the GFX100 with a classic pro body with integrated grip and fully usable autofocus
  • he often shoots vertical, so having the integrated grip is important
  • he was and still is a Sony shooter, enjoying a smaller and lighter body
  • then Fujifilm offered the GFX100S with its smaller and lighter body and it reached a larger target audience than what the GFX100 could do
  • both options, GFX100 and GFX100S, are great
  • he often shoots tethered and loves that the film simulation he uses goes right into Capture One
  • as a long time Sony user for 10 years, color was always hard. The standard was Canon
  • when Fuji released their APS-C mirrorless cameras he loved the colors, but he could not commit to a smaller sensor than FF
  • but now they have exceeded his expectations and gone larger than full frame
  • skin tones are great, reds are beautiful, rich and deep
  • he uses also legacy glass adapted to the GFX system
  • Fujifilm offering GFX cameras from $4,000 to $6,000 is a game changer for medium format
  • color and shadow tonality range, you can’t unsee it once you see it side by side

Get Yours (now that it’s finally in stock ;)):

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Fujifilm X-H2S with CFexpress Type B and SD-Card Slot

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Here is a little, and yet quite relevant rumor update.

We did tell you already that the Fujifilm X-H2S will be compatible with CFexpress Cards and SD-Cards.

But people asked me if it would be CFexpress Type A or CFexpress Type B.

Well, just as most of modern mirrorless cameras, also Fujifilm opted for CFexpress Type B cards.

Here are the current CFexpress Type B Card offerings:

And here the mirrorless cameras that use CFexpress Type B or Type A.

So what are the Pros and Cons of each Type?

CFexpress Type A

Pro: smaller (20mm x 28mm x 2.8mm) and the same slot can be used for both, CFexpress Type A and SD-Cards
Con: slower readout speed than CFexpress Type B (theoretical max 1,000MB/s)

CFexpress Type B

Pro: twice as fast max. readout speed compared to CFexpress Type A (theoretical max 2,000MB/s)
Con: bigger than CFexpress Type A (38.5mm x 29.6mm x 3.8mm) and not compatible with SD Cards

The Fuji Solution

So, as most manufacturers, Fujifilm opted for the maximum speed. And in times of 4K/120p and 6K or 8K I think it’s good this way.

And for those, who do not need super fast CFexpress Type B cards, the Fujifilm X-H2S will offer also an SD-Card slot.

If I was to get an X-H2S, then I probably would buy a CFexpress card type B to store my RAW files there and use the UHS-II SD-Card to store the JPEG files as backup. Sounds like the best solution to me.

Fujifilm X-H2 and X-H2S rumored specs list:

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Fujifilm X Talk with Sigma: X Mount Sigma Lenses Demand Surprisingly High

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In the latest Fujifilm X Talk episode, Fujifilm manager Ueno talks to Mr. Ozone, general manager of Sigma product planning department.

The automatic YouTube translation is very bad, but luckily the Japanese guys at dclife made a summary, which Google Translate makes a good job to translate.

  • Fujifilm first contacted Sigma 9 years ago
  • Sigma wants to increase mount supports and is grateful Fujifilm opened the X mount protocols
  • Fuji users are used to aperture rings. But changing the current design to implement an aperture ring would have raised the costs of the lenses
  • Sigma released lenses that are already covered by Fujinon XF lenses, so they thought demand would be low. But turns out the demand was surprisingly higher than expected
  • “In addition, the lens configuration of “XF35mmF1.4 R” and MTF curve lens design discussions are exciting, and it is the first part that makes you two really like lenses or have passion.”

Many were skeptical, when Sigma released lenses that are similar to existing Fujinon lenses, and predicted the same debacle of the Zeiss Touit lenses. However, here on FujiRumors we always told you that that won’t be the case for the reasons we explained here.

Next up, the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8, which will come in December and I expect to become Sigma’s best selling X mount lens by a large margin.

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Fujifilm Financial Results FY2021: Up 16.9% thanks to Instax and High End Gear

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Fujifilm shared its financial results for the fiscal year 2021 (April 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022).

As to expect Instax is King with great sales for the Instax Mini EVO and the Instax Link Wide smartphone printer.

When it comes to their X and GFX series, a special mention goes to the good sales for the Fujifilm GFX100S.

In addition to a steady sales recovery of color photographic paper and broadcast and cinema lenses from the impact of COVID-19, strong sales of newly launched instant photo systems and digital cameras led revenue to increase by 16.9% year-over-year to ¥333.4 billion, and operating income to increase 2.4 times year-over-year to ¥37.0 billion.

In the consumer imaging field, steady sales of instant photo systems, color photographic paper and dry minilabs and materials drove revenue higher. New products launched in 2021 include the instax mini 40, a new entry-model compatible with mini-format film, in April, the instax Link WIDE, a smartphone printer for wide-format, in October and a flagship model instax mini Evo in December. All new products were well received in the market and boosted sales.

In the professional imaging field, we launched the large-format mirrorless digital camera FUJIFILM GFX100S, which realized a high resolution of 102 million pixels, the FUJIFILM GFX50S II equipped with 50 million-pixel image sensor, released in September 2021 as a brother model, and the FUJIFILM X-T30 II mirrorless camera, which is the latest model from the X Series released in November 2021. All products gained high reputations and sales remained strong. Revenue was significantly higher year- over-year as sales of broadcast and cinema lenses, which had been hit by a decline in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, turned upward, and sales of lenses in the monitoring /measurement field, including long-range surveillance cameras and machine vision lenses, fared fell.

via Fujifilm

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BREAKING: Fujifilm X-H2S to Offer Animal/Object Autofocus Tracking

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Do you remember the legendary Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR?

No?

Well, the Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR is legendary because it actually was the first digital camera to offer some sort of animal autofocus (limited to cats and dogs and called “pet detection”).

As you can read in the product description here:

For those who enjoy the company of four-legged friends, the F80EXR has Pet Detection, allowing users the ability to detect up to 10 faces of dogs or cats and automatically optimize the focus. The F80EXR is programmed to recognize 57% of the Fédération Cyno Logique Internationale (FCI) Registered Dogs, 80% of the Top 20 Dogs in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Ranking and 60% of The Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA) breeds. Pet Detection works by matching various dog or cat data of facial parts with patterns to detect the dog or cat being photographed.

Yep, Fujifilm was once leading the computational photography innovation with animal autofocus.

However, things have drastically changed.

Not only has a feature, that Fujifilm already developed, completely disappeared from their newest digital cameras, but many other brands are offering animal and object autofocus tracking, with Fujifilm definitely lagging behind in this area.

But that’s going to change.

According to trusted information we have received, the Fujifilm X-H2S will offer animal and object autofocus tracking.

Well, that’s nice, but…

but I would not be overly enthusiastic for now. Sure, the Fujifilm X-H2S with its stacked sensor can truly unlock some computational photography magic, but before rejoicing too much I want to see how these features actually work.

I mean, Fujifilm also offers “real time tracking” a la Sony, but in my experience, especially during the wedding I shot last year, it does not work nearly as good as the Sony version (so far that I rather quickly switched back to zone focus tracking for better results). I guess that’s probably also why Fujifilm does not advertise this feature on their cameras (even though it’s there).

And yet, it’s coming, and I am looking forward to see it at work on May 31.

Remember:

Fujifilm set itself a 3 year plan for huge implementation of computational photography on their cameras. And the release of the Fujifilm X-H2S marks exactly that 3-year deadline that Fujifilm has given itself.

Fujifilm X-H2 rumored specs list:

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