There have been two interviews with Fujifilm managers, one in French (the more comprehensive one) and one in Japanese (short).
I will sum up both of them, but the Japanese one only because it involves Koji Matsumoto, the president of Fujifilm Imaging. It does not say much at all, but if we hear from his mouth that X-H2 and X-H2S are selling better than Fujifilm thought, than it has its value.
The French manager was definitely much more talkative and if you don’t speak French, our summary below will cover it all.
Medium format lens: 40mm F5.6 Medium format lens for Fuji GFX-mount Cameras, perfect for portrait, architecture, night view and Landscape photography.
Charming and unique pentagonal starburst: the AstrHori 40mm F5.6 will present a pentagonal starburst effect at the aperture of F8, especially when shooting night scenes or portraits at night, it can create an amazing ambience.
Compact and lightweight: Weight only 333g, a good-looking compact size mounted on the camera, does not increase the burden on your journey.
Precise focus ring operation: the focus ring is evenly damaged for more precise and smooth operation, and there there is a special stepped design between the focus ring and the aperture ring to avoid accidentally touching other parts during operation.
Compatibility: Medium format 40mm F5.6 for Fuji GFX, GFX 50S, GFX 50SII, GFX 50R, GFX 100, GFX 100S, GFX 100 IR Ver.
Interesting to note that despite being an f/4 lens, the unmarked point on the aperture actually indicates an f/2.8 maximum aperture. I don’t know the reason why it’s not marked f/2.8.
Excellent Optical Structure: The lens structure is 11 elements in 8 groups, which can satisfy the 100 million pixel body, and can cover 33*44 sensors, with excellent center image quality.
Unique Aperture Design: The aperture range is F4-16, and there is an unmarked reserved yellow point F2.8 large aperture,which can be adjusted by yourself to create more shooting possibilities. It not only has high optical quality and good depth of field control, but also has a certain blurring ability, which can better highlight the subject.
Excellent in-focus High Resolution Performance: This lens with 9 aperture blades and good build quality,and its minimum focusing distance is 0.82m,which provides sharp images at 0.82m and infinity with a natural center-to-edge transition.And this lens has an optical and two high-refractive glass quality,and ED lenses suppress chromatic dispersion for a high level of image clarity across the entire frame.
Exquisite Workmanship and Compact: It has a special appearance design,the details such as paint filling process, yellow paint characters, focus ring hob pattern, etc. make the lens look exquisite, the overall coordination with the Fuji GFX body and the focusing process also more comfortable.
High Quality Manual Lens: Its size is about Φ75mm*L76mm, the filter size is 67mm, and the weight is about 634.5g. It is very suitable for portrait street shooting, and compatible with FUJIFILM GFX50SII, GFX100, GFX100 IR ver,GFX50S, GFX50R, GFX100S,etc. Note:Due to the special design, the lens hood must be installed before the filter is installed, and an additional lens hood is shipped with each lens (Not in the same package as the lens & No additional order is required).
2022 has been an X series year so far, and therefore we haven’t covered the GFX system as much as for example last year, when the stellar Fujifilm GFX100S and the affordable Fujifilm GFX50SII hit the market.
And let me say this: Fujifilm has no hurry at all to release new GFX cameras, as the Fujifilm GFX100S is a crazy seller, which is still more often out of stock rather than in stock.
So time for FujiRumors to remind us all that there is also the GFX system out there thanks to a dedicated roundup.
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
When we told you about the Fujifilm X-H2 coming with a 26 megapixel sensor, most of us speculated that it would be the current 26 MP X-Trans IV sensor, but used in combination with a new processor it would perform better.
And I get it, I also thought this could be an option, especially considering that Fujifilm did the exact same thing with the Fujifilm GFX50SII: use the old sensor but a new processor to improve performance.
But if you read again the article I wrote last year in regards to this rumor, I literally also wrote:
It would be very atypical for Fujifilm to launch in one year (2022) two completely new higher-end APS-C sensors. But just because Fujifilm never did it before, it does not mean it can’t happen with the Fujifilm X-H2.
And according to our sources this is exactly what is going to happen.
In fact, I have been told the the 26MP sensor on the Fujifilm X-H2 will be a “new sensor”.
And remember, there will be also a 40MP Fujifilm X-H2, and that one is (obviously) new, too.
I have no doubts my sources are 100% accurate, and you should not doubt them either ;).
Just stay tuned on FujiRumors to know more details soon.
Personally I’ve switched to updating via camera remote App. The reason is simple: it’s much faster, easier and convenient than updating via SD-Card.
So I definitely recommend to give it a try.
But how does it work?
Well, Fujifilm has given precise instruction on how to do it, but there is one thing that should be mentioned in addition to Fuji’s instruction to avoid updating via App becomes a frustrating experience.
Don’t make the error to connect your phone to the camera the same way you do it when you want to transfer images from your camera to your phone (hence connect via Wifi and fiddle around with the App and Camera to establish a connection).
Nothing of all that is needed.
You can simply leave your camera in live view. Just make sure that it has Bluetooth enabled. Everything will happen automatically and needs just few clicks once you have downloaded the firmware file on your phone.
So the process looks like this:
make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your camera and on your smartphone
download the firmware for your camera on your smartphone
once downloaded, click “update” on your phone first and then “OK” on your camera
you camera will ask you to connect via WiFi to your phone. Click “Connect” on your phone [in my video below you read “verbinden”, which is the German word for “connect”]
once connected via Wifi, your phone will start to transfer the firmware file to your camera
as soon as your camera has received the full file, it will automatically start with the firmware update [you don’t need your phone anymore once the firmware upgrade started on your camera]
switch off the camera when the camera tells you to do so
It’s very easy, and for your convenience I have made a short video that shows the process down below.
Many are afraid that there could be issues due to network instability or what not. But don’t worry about that. You only need Wifi connection to quickly transfer the firmware file from your phone to the camera. The firmware update itself is performed by your camera independently only once it has received and saved the full firmware file from your smartphone to its own memory. So don’t be afraid of losing connection with the phone during the firmware update itself. Your camera is doing its stuff by its own at that point and the smartphone is not needed anymore.
Remember:
use a fully charged battery on your camera
updates are cumulative, so no matter what firmware update you currently have on your camera, you can right away update to the latest version (hence skip intermediate firmware updates)
