Earlier today Fujifilm has released a major firmware updates for Fujifilm GFX100 and X-S10, and also a new firmware also for Fujifilm GFX100S.
The changes are substantial and require Fujifilm to update the owners manual for these cameras.
Down below you can find the link to the “New Features Guides” published by Fujifilm.
Just 24 hours after the previous new firmware rollout for several cameras, Fujifilm has also released the long awaited and major firmware updates for the Fujifilm GFX100 and X-S10, as well as a new firmware for the Fujifilm GFX100S.
FujiRumors will provide all details and download links down below.
I once read a sentence of a buddhist monk, who said: “the too pure water does not contain any fish“.
Obviously the monk was referring to life, which can’t be lived fully if we pretend to live it in perfection and purity. If lived fully, then life is going to get “dirty” or “not perfect” sometimes.
So what has this to do with photography?
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Well, let’s apply this wisdom to a much more profane subject: camera gear. And let’s say “the too perfect system does not contain customers.” And “customers” are what keeps a system alive.
And now to the point of this article.
In the ZP productions video we recently shared, ZP says that when Fujifilm launched the GFX system a few years ago, it had sheer perfect lenses. But he noticed that with the latest lens releases (GF80mmF1.7), Fujifilm traded in a bit of that perfection to release less perfect, smaller and more affordable lens.
He compares the GF110mmF2 to the GF80mmF1.7, the first one being expressions of Fuji’s perfection, the second one, while still being excellent and he actually totally loves to shoot with it, just not being just as perfect as the GF110mmF2.
Now, I get the point that ZP makes, but I can’t share his worry that Fujifilm is giving up on perfection.
In fact, I believe that so far the real anomaly in the GF lens lineup was that Fujifilm focused solely on perfection!
But if the GFX systems wants to survive, then it needs to offer a bit of everything, the absolutely perfect lenses, but also smaller, lighter and more affordable lenses. It’s this balance that will guarantee the success to Fujifilm and what will bring more and more new customers to the GFX system.
I am totally convinced that the upcoming $500 GF zoom lens (kit price) is a brilliant move!
Small, light, slower, affordable, but perfect for casual shooting and travel photography, while probably retaining the 102+MP resolving power.
The $500 GF zoom coupled with new affordable GF bodies has the potential to bring so many new customers to the system, that the GFX system as a whole will immensely profit from it, and Fujifilm will have more resources to develop more of those “prefect” lenses and high end bodies.
This is why I totally support Fujifilm’s move, and quite frankly I am tempted to buy the new zoom too. If I can have a versatile and small lens for my hiking tours in the Dolomites or to bring with on my travels, then that’s perfect for my needs.
In good light, the new GF zoom will be an excellent performer. And if you are like me, meaning once the sun settles down you put your camera on a tripod anyway to take your landscape shots at base ISO, little it matters if it is a slow lens. I rarely take handheld landscape images in low light anyway.
If Fujifilm wants more fish to swim in the GFX waters, then they have to give up on the proud goal of building up an optically 100% perfect and pure system with astronomical specs, and give us less perfect lenses, too.
Less perfect means also affordable, portable and compact, and that’s what the GFX system needs.
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The Japanese website phileweb published an interview with Fujifilm managers.
They talk about the momentum the Fujifilm GFX series is experiencing, about the harsh COVID-19 situation, the introduction of the Fujifilm X-S10, the possibilities 5G might offer and more.
Overall, they seem very confident and positive about the future of their imaging division.
Worth to note is the part of the interview, where Fujifilm explains they find it a pity that people just store their images on their phones, and that they try to find ways to motivate people to print.
Once again, statements like these denote the huge photographic culture Fujifilm carries in their DNA, which among the others translates also into a wide variety of ergonomically different cameras that are crafted to be fun to use for different types of photographers.
I feel that for Fujifilm, photography is more than just getting hyperbolic specs on paper. It’s also, and mainly, about cultivating and incentivize our passion and fun for photography.
Down below you’ll find everything summed up, including some parts that I leave exactly like google translated it.
ZP productions tested the GFX100S and GF80mmF1.7. He loves both, and owns both.
But there is one note he makes.
He says that when Fujifilm launched the GFX system a few years ago, it had sheer perfect lenses. But he noticed that with the latest lens releases, Fujifilm traded in a bit of that perfection to release less perfect, smaller and more affordable lenses.
In this context, he compares the GF110mmF2 to the GF80mmF1.7, the first one being expressions of Fuji’s perfection, the second one, while still being excellent and he actually totally loves to shoot with it, just not being just as perfect as the GF110mmF2.
I’ll make a summary down below of his 17 minutes long video below and would love to hear what you guys think about it.
