Pixel Village, who recently gave us some insights from the Fujifilm factory in Japan, now published their interview with Fujifilm manager Toshihisa Iida, Jun Watanabe and Keitaro So.
It’s a 33 minutes long video that I have summed up below for those of you, who are in a hurry right now.
Now the Thai youtube channel กล้องกล้วยกล้วย interviewed Fujifilm manager Mr. Makoto Oishi.
It’s a 49 minutes interview in Thai and constantly translated into English. Too cumbersome and no time? Don’t worry, it’s all summed up down below for you :)
DPReview interviewed Toshi Iida, Makoto Oishi and Shin Udono. Here are the main points (full interview at dpreview here):
Medium Format
Full Frame and Medium Format will coexist
GFX 50R sales look very promising
FF is 1/3 of market in terms of value, slightly growing
MF was 1%, but doubled after GFX introduction
70% of MF buyers were coming from other brands, mainly DSLR, and the GFX is their additional system
20% of GFX users are professionals, 80% non-professionals (especially GFX 50R users)
Fujifilm wants to increase professional base, also thanks to Capture One support and with future GFX 100
Fujifilm GFX 100 should show the potential of medium format
FF can reach 70-80 Megapixel
GFX lenses designed for 100MP resolution
Fujifilm GFX100 will be available before the end of June
Fujifilm GFX100 target is commercial photographers, fashion, landscapes, but also more general purpos
GFX 100 will shoot at 16bit RAW. Benefit noticeable mostly at low ISO and deep shadow detail. 4 times the amount of data, 14 bit lets you shoot faster, which is appropriate for APS-C
It’s again an interesting one, that also becomes very technical when it comes to analyzing the autofocus system and lets imaging-resource conclude that Fujifilm’s PDAF technology is arguably the most advanced on the market.
Down below you can find the key points and some images of the interview. The complete one can be checked out at imaging-resource here.
Market Future & Canon Predictions
Fujifilm totally disagrees with Canon’s prediction, that ILC business is going to contract by half over the next two years
Market will depend on innovation that will come
Fujifilm believes there is room for further grow
Some markets will decline, but other markets have still potential to grow (Asian market)
Full Frame
Customers should have different options
Currently full frame has 1/3 of the market by value
2/3 of market is predominantly APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, and some medium-format
other manufacturers focus on full frame, this might open opportunities for Fujifilm as long as they keep up innovating APS-C and MF
mainly X-T3 and GFX 50R helped Fujifilm to grow by 10% total volume growth
APS-C vs FF is not just about sensor size, but also the lens size, lens weight, overall cost, or the speed, the 4K movies
people judge the system more on the overall package
Fujifilm X-T3 vs X-H line
sold better than expected
Fujifilm X-T3 sold 40% better than X-T2 if you compare to same period since launch
X-T3 and X-H1 have cannibalized each other
with the new lower X-H1 price tag, X-T3 and X-H1 sit nicely next to each other
H-series and T-series will coexist for the future, but we need to clearly differentiate the lineup without confusing customers
Lenses
XF200mmF2 is not only for sports, but also for portraits for very creamy bokeh and concerts for example
GFX System
Fujifilm GFX 50R sales are above expectation and factory is very busy
Fujifilm GFX 100 design is almost final, very early firmware, and IBIS still does not work
GFX 100 megapixel autofocus: same sensor structure as the X-T3
GFX 100 has almost zero competition, because FF is only at 50MP and other medium format cameras are very expensive
Fujifilm thinks at multi-shot high-res shooting mode for GFX100, but has not decided yet
designing IBIS is a real challenge for big MF sensor
Fujifilm is still improving image quality via firmware
GFX100 launch in first half 2019 for around $10,000
Fujifilm GFX 50S most popular lens is the GF 32-64mmF4
Fujifilm GFX 50R most popular lens is the GF 45mmF2.8
GFX 50S owners have more lenses than GFX 50R owners
GFX owners complaint about the lack of more fast lenses for the system and Fujifilm is taking into consideration their feedback
Fujifilm listens to customers and tries to make their wishes happen, but sometimes their wishes become reality is very difficult and challenging
As bright as possible, as small as possible, as affordable as possible…
same team works on GFX and X. One R&D budget and depending on needs they are flexible to shift their focus
Autofocus
X-T30 has improved algorithm which will come to X-T3
CMOS sensor is always reading by lines. So it isn’t very suitable for horizontal phase-difference […] technically we can make a cross-type system but normally, subjects are more… and horizontally-arranged PDAF pixels support them better
Fujifilm could do vertical AF correlation, but hasn’t felt the need to do it
8% of pixels are phase detection pixels (high density), good for low-light and high-frequency subjects
signal and phase pixel are read separately
we used to have like 60 regions within each AF point, but now 240
depending on the light level, the X-T3 can “bin” PDAF pixels together (basically just adding their contents) to get a better signal/noise ratio, and so be able to determine focus even in very dim lighting. Depending on how you do this, you’ll trade-off some ability to see the finest details, but it can really help in very low-light conditions
The French site Phototrend interviewed Fujifilm Managers Shinichiro Udono, Jun Watanabe and Takuya Noguchi at CP+ in Japan. Here are the key points of the interview. For the full interview check out phototrend (google translated).
Hybrid Market
hybrid market had already reached 48% of annual sales (in value)
in the second half of 2019, the hybrid market has already exceeded the 50% mark
the managers think in 2020 year it we will be around 55 or 60%
Fujifilm launched first hybrid in 2012
now Fuji has already has 31 XF lenses + 10 GF lenses (roadmap lenses included), so the Fuji system is well established in relation to new entrants, both in terms of lenses and a very wide range of products
Why many lenses close or same in focal length (for example XF35mmF1.4, XF35mmF2 and XF33mmF1.0)
we want to offer different options to photographers, not only in terms of focal length, but also according to the shooting style. That’s why we have many fixed focal lengths with different focal lengths and apertures. It’s our concept
XF Cine Lenses
when Fuji launched X-Pro1 seven years ago, focus was on still images, hence lenses for stills
Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR and Fujinon XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR zoom lenses are very good lenses for video
maybe in the future Fujifilm will offer XF zoom and prime lenses with a mechanism optimized for video shooting
The current Fujinon MKX lenses cover alreary most of the needs of professional videographers
Fujifilm thinks of making XF lenses with better video performance, and not more MK lenses
Fujifilm X-H2, IBIS in Fujifilm X-T3
with the XH series, Fujifilm targets professional users, while with the XT series they focus on enthusiasts
IBIS: Fuji does not want to compromise on image quality so they need a bigger package for now to get excellent image quality and image stabilization
IBIS is currently not possible in cameras of size of Fujifilm X-T3
But in the future, Fujifilm believes that it is necessary to offer IBIS technology on more compact cameras (X-T line).
Fuji X-H1 size is not only due to IBIS, but because Fujifilm wanted to create larger body with better grip and ergonomics for Pros. Even without IBIS, the X-H1 would have the same size/style
Full Frame Fujifilm?
we do not really know what’s in our customers’ heads (laughs). But in our case, we also have the GFX medium format camera system
we believe that the combination of medium format and APS-C is the best option
Canon, Nikon or Sony offer great full format products
Fujifilm had an internal discussion on the sensor format they had to use
they did a lot of simulations with engineers. They decided not to go FF, because APS-C allows for a smaller system, also lenses are smaller and lighter
Fujifilm is a photography company and they really want customers to take more photos. If the camera is bigger and heavier, they will not necessarily want to take it all the time with them and we do not want that
we want our customers to take their camera everyday and enjoy photography. This is the concept of our APS-C system
but Fujifilm knows that some customers want a system with a higher resolution and a larger sensor. For them, we have a system with a larger sensor than the full format and it’s the GFX
Fujifilm X-T30
Fuji does not intend to stop X-T20 production. The X-T20 will be sold cheaper than the X-T30
Fujinon XF33mm f/1.0
the goal is to deliver a lens with the most beautiful bokeh effect
at f/1.0, the manual focus is very difficult and that’s why we made this lens with autofocus
we already had this idea in mind, but we needed the technology to integrate an autofocus system on such a bright lens
Fujifilm GFX 100 Megapixel and GFX50R
the GFX100 will have much faster autofocus than current GFX50S and GFX50R
it will have IBIS
Our development team is working very hard on IBIS, because the sensor is much larger and it is very difficult to control the movements of the sensor
4K 30p without cropping
GFX100 target are professional photographers, especially in the world of fashion, advertising and portraiture. But since this camera is faster, we may be able to extend the audience
Fujifilm GFX 50R sales are bigger than expected. Many advanced amateur photographers are buying the GFX 50r, especially for landscape or street photography
The modular GFX body was of course only an idea, there was no technical research on how we could achieve this result
For the moment, we have no plan to develop a modular GFX. But once we have the right technology to produce this type of device, maybe we will consider that option
Fujifilm was surprised by the huge reaction there was about the modular GFX. Some customer misunderstood, and thought it’s an actual prototype and future product
Kaizen Firmware
software technologies evolve on a daily basis, and new features are developed
we are always looking for the benefit for the consumer, it’s our way of thinking
when a new feature is developed for latest sensor/processor, it is very hard to bring it to cameras with older sensor/processor. It requires much more complex work. It’s not impossible, but it depends on situatuin and development resources
Market Trend
SLR market, each year this market will shrink, by 10 to 20%
Fujifilm is in the hybrid market for 6 to 7 years, it’s a good thing more manufacturers are coming up with more products because it creates a strong message for the hybrid with customers
A few product images from the interview below.
XF16-80mm f/4XF33mm f/1.0XF33mm f/1.0 vs XF 35mm f/1.4Fujinon GF45-100GF50mm f/3.5GFX50R with GF50mm f/3.5GFX 100 MegapixelGFX 100 Megapixel
