I find the App useful for very basic features like transfer images on my phone or updating my camera firmware, but it remains an overall rather disappointing experience. Please Fuji, copy Panasonic!
The Fujifilm House of Photography has been first launched in London here.
Apparently with big success, as Fujifilm Australia will now open its own Fujifilm House of Photography in Sydney at the 2 Park Street. The Grand Opening will be on 7th July, 2022. The dedicated website can be found here.
I hope more of these Fuji-only stores will open all over the world.
The latest Top Gun movie used a range of Fujinon cine lenses to capture acrobatic as well as low flying jets.
Claudio Miranda, ASC, the award-winning cinematographer behind “Top Gun: Maverick“, shares behind the scenes footage, stories from the set, and all the ins and outs of selecting and working with the gear used to create this history-making film.
This is not green screen nonsense. The whole point of the movie was “how much can we capture?” Top Gun is a movie about getting it in-camera. […] Some of the cameras were rigged in really impossible places. And all these things needed different kind of lens qualities.
I made a list of what can fit and have great range and still be IMAX-worthy.
Top Gun was more about long lenses, so we used the Premier 75-400mm T2.8-3.8 all over the place. […]
During the middle of the movie we actually had a chance to get a hold of the Premista 28-100mm T2.9. It was amazing. I wish we could have kept it but unfortunately it was only one in the world at the time. We loved the full frame aspect of it, it was sharp, it was straight, it was like you went to the wide end of the lens and there was no bowing, there was no barreling. One of the only full frame zooms I know that’s acutally decent enough to shoot with.
[…]
What I do love about the Fuji zooms, all of them, from the Premista to the Premiers, there is no oddball barrel distortion when you’re zooming, or there is no vignetting, there is no softening towards the edges, it’s all straight. .We just like how the Fujinon lens maintains its field of view througout the zoom range. If you get a flare in the zoom, it does not fog the lens. It’s a beautiful zoom, the coatings are great.
Fujifilm will use Blockchain to optimize supply network for digital camera parts. As reported by the Japanese site Newswitch here (google translated):
As risks such as natural disasters and international situations increase, we minimize procurement concerns and prevent situations such as tightening supply and demand (spurping) of parts just before delivery. Take advantage of the characteristics of the blockchain, which is difficult to illegally rewrite data, to ensure the reliability of transaction information. We will manage the plans and history related to production and distribution in real time to reduce the occurrence of inventory shortages and excess inventory due to delays in information sharing, which is an issue.
The ordering side will be informed of the arrangement schedule in advance, and the order side will be able to share the production situation, and even if unexpected situations occur, they can report it via chat immediately.
It also supports transaction automation. In the demonstration experiment, the period from ordering to the start of production was shortened. Because it is difficult to tamper with the data, there is no need to introduce dedicated software tailored to the ordering company or license it, which reduces the burden on business partners.
We developed a “digital trust platform” in-house by applying the research results of blockchain technology conducted at Fujifilm’s Informatics Research Institute (Kaisei Town, Kanagawa Prefecture). After full-scale operation, we will consider expanding the target product.
Every ever so creative idea to handle the supply issues better is very welcome. Let’s see how this one works out.
A patent has been registered by Fujifilm that shows a Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.5 Macro OIS. Digicame-info, who spotted the patent and reports here, writes:
There are several examples with different lens configurations, but all of them are macros of 60mm f/2.5 and include an anti-vibration lens group (OIS). The focusing lens (GF1, GF2) moves internally, so it’s inner focus. Will one of these examples be the successor to the current XF60mm f/2.4 R?
You know what I think about patents. In 10 years of blogging I have shared hundreds of those on FR, and maybe only one became real (and I think even that one, we rumored it before the patent even surfaced).
Applicant: Fujifilm Corporation Publication number: P2022083846 Application number: P 2020195417 Released:2022-06-06 Name of invention: Image sensor and imaging device
[Issue] We provide an imaging lens with good aberration correction even in proximity shooting conditions, and an imaging device with this imaging lens.
In recent years, with the high pixelization of the image sensor, it has been requested to have an image lens with a good aberration correction even in proximity shooting conditions.
This disclosure is based on the above circumstances, and the purpose is to provide an imaging lens with a good aberration correction even in proximity shooting conditions, and an imaging device with this imaging lens.
Example 1 (60mm f/2.5) Focal length 58.210 F number 2.5 Total angle of view 26.64 Maximum image height 14.2
So far we know (and it has been well documented) that the Fujifilm X-H2S has a vastly improved dynamic range performance in video over the the previous generation sensor, with 14+ stops compared to the previous 12 stops).
But so far we don’t have any word about the dynamic range or ISO performance for stills. And that makes sense, as it is pre-production and we better wait for the final thing before we make any judgments.
With this disclaimer printed clearly on top of the article, I’d like to share a video overview of the X-H2s plus new lenses shared by Ringfoto.
It’s in German, so let me translate the part I’d like you to hear.
Martin at Ringfoto shows samples he took with the Fujinon XF150-600mmF5.6-8 of his cute dogs running around. He talks very positively about the autofocus.
Then he addresses the concern that f/8 at 600mm (900 equiv.) might be perceived as too slow by some, as you will have to shoot at higher ISO. But here is what he says:
Opposite to other X-Trans cameras, the X-H2S has four analogue-to-digital converters [admin note: X-T4 & Co have two A-D-C]
Thanks to the new sensor and new technology inside the camera and the four analogue-to-digital converters, my feeling with this pre-production X-H2S at this point is that ISO performance on X-H2S is 1.5 stops better than on the X-T4, which would be sensational.
I want to be careful for now, but it looks very promising.
So what is Ringfoto talking about when they mention the analog-to-digital converter (ADC)?
We know the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T4 (and all other ISOless or ISO invariant Fuji cameras) have two analogue-to-digital converters. On the X-T3 it works like this: every image recorded under ISO 640 “travels” through one ADC, and every image above ISO 640 goes through another ADC. This helps to improve noise performance.
This can have the paradoxical effect that an image taken in camera at ISO500 can be more noisy than an image taken in camera at ISO800 or even ISO1200, because after ISO640 the other ADC kicks in to improve performance, as you can see at the photonstophotos technical chart here.
What’s important for us to know in this article, is that those analog-to-digital converters are a good thing when it comes to noise performance.
And now that we know thanks to Martin that the Fujifilm X-H2S has four AD-converters as opposed to two ADC in the previous X-Trans cameras, then this could indeed explain what Martin observed: a sensational improvement in ISO performance.
Now, to my knowledge Fujifilm has not made any public statement about the increased number of ADC or about the improved ISO performance in stills.
All we could observe until now is that in video the noise performance is shockingly good, as documented also by Gerald Undone and we reported here.
My final word?
Well, there is no final world.
I will wait for final production samples to be tested side by side with other Fujifilm cameras. And this is what also Martin at Ringfoto said, that he wants to validate (or not) his impression with a final production camera.
And once he did that, I will do my job, report and translate his findings for you.
