Hybrid viewfinder lovers will be happy to hear that Fuji is likely going to announce a new X-PRO2 and X200 camera at Photokina in September. Both will feature a new APS-C X-Trans sensor. No guys, these will not be organic sensors (they will come in two years from now).
The specs of the cameras are yet unkown. But before the two big guys Fuji will also announce the new X30 compact camera with 1 inch sensor.
Really a great time for Fuji fans!
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Willing to wait on the x-pro2. But hoping X30 will have a fast lens with the 1 inch sensor and most of all longer than what the Sony RX100m3 has As the 30 body is larger than the RX100 I’m hoping they can fit a f2.0 – 2.8. 24-100mm I have the Oly Stylus 1 with a similar size body as the RX100, yes taller due to larger viewfinder but it has a 28-300mm f2.8. But smaller sensor but 24-70 is just to short for this type of non interchangeable lens camera – People are making compromises for convenience. I would even be ok with a tad larger body but not even sure it is needed If styling will be the same and price less than the RX100m3 and a decent EVF and other improvements like tilt LCD and fast and longer lens then the Rx30 will do Ok otherwise it might be the end for that camera
I think most X10 and X20 owners would consider upgrade as most really like their X10 and X20 like me and I do own the Sony Rx100 as well So hope focal length and speed remain
I guess they’ll use the 24mp sensor from sony, with xtrans filter instead of bayer. Would be very good. But organic would be better…
Well, that would really not be very innovative …. let’s hope they will have a proper Fuji sensor.
Why do you want a “proper Fuji-sensor”? There are no Fuji-sensors in current Fuji-X-cameras, they have been using 16Mpix-Sony sensors quite a long time. Logical next step is to start using Sony’s 24Mpix sensors.
I thought that was actually just a rumour …. could you point me to some documentation which shows that?
Yes, organic might (wishful speculation) better, but it is a totally new technology, and Fuji better get it right at first try. I’d perfectly welcome the X-Pro 2 with 24MP and AF at Sony a6000 level. Hasn’t got to be a revolution all the time, a decent evolution may be very good. In fact, if camera development stopped today, I could live well with what I have (X-E1 twice) + EOS 5d (Mark 1).
Hmmmm…I thought Fuji said no XPro2 until they have a major image quality leap. Will this be that? But I’d be happy with a major focus speed leap, a bit more Rez, weather sealing and modest IQ gain — it already is pretty great. I just hope more Rez doesn’t hurt low light, high ISO. And the best news would be if they’d partner with Adobe to make ACR and Lightroom the best Raw converter for XTrans.
Where does this all leave the rumored MF? Seems like that would steal thunder from these and not come at Photokina.
That’s great š I’ve just bought a xPro 1 camera and I’m willing to pass it to my lovely wife if there’s a xPro 2 body. But like Douglas wrote, I thought there would be no xPro 2 because xT1 is selling well…
What about the rumours that x-pro 2 will contain a full-frame sensor? I guess there are few positions where the rumored x-pro2 could have advantages over x-t1 besides the sensor size, maybe maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 and native ISO 100 but it’s not enought for a new model. With an APS-C sensor it will be just a rangefinder version of x-t1.
If the sensor moves from 16 to 24mp, the resolution will be better with fuji quality lenses. Besides, with xtrans, a higher res sensor will really shine.
I think fuji is wise, and will give again a rangefinder form factor to its ‘top’ camera.
All of which would be great, but evolutionary not revolutionary, as we’ve all thought we’d heard. Sigh. But it will still be the top of the line and a big improvement: since they skipped a second generation XPro, this would be Fuji’s first third generation model (unless the X30 beats it to release, but not really comparable). I’m glad to see the “rangefiner form factor” continue. The XT-1 is the best looking DSLR style camera on the planet (Olympus, take note) but I much prefer a left side hybrid VF, which Olympus seems determined not to do.
Every single digital camera ever released have “native ISO 100”. It’s the base ISO of the camera. Some manufactures just call it ISO 200. Similarly “correct” ISO 200 is called ISO 400 and so on. Same goes for many Olympus cameras.
Why they do that you might wonder. Well in principle the base sensitivity of the sensor usually don’t match exactly the same exposure that you would get with the ISO 100 film. It could be ISO 137 for example. Then manufactures just round the numerical value to what ever they want. Most of manufactures call base sensitivity as ISO 100, some ISO 200, but in principle they could call it ISO 10000000, if they wanted. In my opinion the whole ISO nomenclature should be abandoned in this digital age.
ISO is quite well defined but only for film. Digital sensors are linear, film was not. So manufacturers have some (but only some) room for interpretation with their ISO settings.
I recently shot a roll of Fuji Slide Film in a manual camera and used my X-E1 to meter the exposures. Every single frame was perfectly exposed. So the deviation cannot be that big. Don’t forget Fuji is and was one of the top film manufacturers. So I’d rather believe their implementation of digital ISO than any other.
Why stop at 100 (although that would be a great step). I’d love to see high quality, native 64, or even 25 ISO with great DR! š Or built in ND in varying stops.
Agree! The ISO up to > 51200 and down to 25 native (=RAW) would be great …. at the moment, the only thing you can do is go manual and expose at 51200 (or 50) if you want to have raw. Also, thanks Wing Yip for the great summary! Agree on everything, I would include
1) increased battery life
2) cross point AF
3) IF in the lenses, particularly on portrait / macro lenses
This might seem like blasphemy but I’d love a tilting touch screen with an innovative UI. The Leica T interface has gotten raves and looks amazing. Personally, I’d still want actual buttons too, so I can adjust focus point and other parameters without leaving the VF, but for setting up the camera and tap focus/shutter in live view, it would be pretty sweet. And Fuji’s first touch screen is overdue. I’m glad it will be APS and hope Fuji skips full frame and goes straight to medium format and magical organic. :). Odd that Fujirumors.com has nothing on this yet…
No, not blasphemy. A tilting screen is definitely welcomed..if you dont like it and want a “purest” approach to a rangefinder-esque experience without the modern tilt screen feature, then don’t use it… but, I think it would be unwise to not include one this time… It would be a huge advantage to be able to take those hard high angle or very low angle shot without having to physically reposition yourself (if even possible) to get the better shot if those hard to reach angles are actually better. I don’t see why they couldn’t fit a tilting screen on the back of an X-Pro2… assuming the design is essentially going to be pretty much the exact same on the outside.. which I hope it is.
And yes, a touch screen would be useful as well.. something like the Leica T, as you mentioned, would be cool and smart. Potentially, you could navigate and control various aspects such a settings and image playback very quickly and intuitively.. and if you could turn off/on AF point select, touching an area to quickly set the AF point to the vicinity of the intended focus area would be even more fluid… and tap to focus and shoot would be great for those moments if you had to hand your camera over to somebody that doesn’t know how to focus or use a camera other than what’s on a smart phone, this would be super easy as it should operate just like most people who use smart phones to take photos by taping on screen to focus and shoot.
I think my main hopes for an X-Pro 2 are:
1) Get that hybrid OVF/EVF up to date. at least as good as what is in the X100S and squeeze in that magnificent magnifying glass from the X-T1 to get the image as large as possible.. due to the physical limited space in that upper left corner of a rangefinder style VF, it may not be as big, but whatever they can do to make it as nice and bright and big as possible to nearly match the OVF view can only be a good thing… and of course, while we’re talking about the EVF, get the refresh rate up to par with X-T1 & X-E2… if not even faster!
2) the image processor should also be improved, without saying, to be maybe even a version 3? faster and snappier performance is welcomed… I assume it will have better predictive AF as well as improved lens correction like in the most current and newest X cameras?
3) AF (& MF).. They did well with the X-T1’s AF, but it could still be better.. you can never do enough work here.. so, hopefully the X-Pro2 will have the fastest most reliable AF to date.. being the flagship camera that it should be.. and if MF is as smooth and responsive as possible, the better as well.
4) Does anybody care about in body image stabilization? I know some of the Fujinon glass has it (optical image stabilization, that is, not in body), namely the zooms, but it would be nice to get that IBIS so that all glass can be stabilized.. get that extra stop or so to further improve image capturing capability. I’ve been spoiled by Oly’s OM-D 5-axis, but it works wonders on all focal lengths.. adds a lot confidence and helps to focus on composition vs technical settings to get the shot you want.. people might disagree, but IS in any form whenever possible is great, imho.
5) With AF just mentioned, adding a better more advanced focus system with integrated phase detect should almost certainly be included in the new X-Pro2.
6) Why is Fuji’s flash system so antiquated? Even if we’re maxed out at 1/180 or even 1/250 max flash sync, they really need to get high speed sync capability in and a capable strobe to be able to pair it with. If you want outstanding pictures with maximum lighting control, you’re going to need a better flash capable camera.
7) Can we get max shutter speeds up to 1/8000 now?
8) How about extending the usable ISO range that will actually record in RAW also? I say allow it to go as low as 100 and beyond 6400 if possible.. so I am implying that the ISO range and capability should be improved as well.
9) Can we squeeze in dual SD card slots?.. if not, at least give us a new position to insert the SD cards on the side of the camera instead of sharing with battery compartment.
10) It’s almost certain to integrate wifi. Can’t say I use it that much with my current camera, but it’s still welcomed feature.. nice to have a remote control app as well as be able to share instantly images off camera.
I’m fine with APS-C sensor as is, it’s great, but I’ll happily accept whatever they can do to make it even better. Full Frame.. still sounds enticing, but not sure necessary at this time.. hate to have to restart the waiting process for a good variety native full frame x camera lenses, if that’s in the future down the road. Happy with lenses and APS-C X Trans technology as it is and has been headed so far.
Out of everything wished above, I am most excited IF they will at the very least improve flash capability, add tilt screen, and improve EVF resolution & refresh as well as making overall operation of camera faster and smoother than it was (or is even via latest firmware update for the X-Pro1).
Regarding the X200 and X30… well, I’m sure they’ll be very nice and cool new updates to the current related models.. but, I’ve had the X100 & X10 in the past, great cameras, loved them, but did find the fixed focal range limiting.. plus, they were first iterations and the newer versions have much nicer features.. but still… I think I would prefer to invest in an ILC system such as the new X-Pro2 to be announced and take advantage of all the great Fujinon glass available and upcoming.. however, if somehow the X-Pro2 seems lacking and not that much better, I may go less expensive and just get the X-Pro1… but, since the successor to the X-Pro1 has been so long awaited, I highly doubt Fuji will disappoint with a mediocre update to their flagship X-Pro model.
Oh! and looking forward to finding out more about a revised 35mm XF lens… it’s one of their best standard primes, but also one of the first ones made, so I’m sure it could use an update to get the performance up to par with the latest Fujinon primes such as the 23mm and 56mm… hope they can bump it up to a f/1.2.. I’ll still take the original f/1.4 max aperture, but it will be pretty cool if they could integrate the MF clutch ring like on the 23mm & 14mm lenses and show the scale also!
Can’t wait to get more info as we head toward September and hopefully all will be revealed by Photokina 2014 to help decide whether it was worth the long wait or not.
Great summary. I hope the Fuji guys are reading along! š
I’d love to see Fuji truly deliver the best auto focus performance of any camera, with any lens, in all situations (like sports), not just lab results with one lens. Everybody is laying claim to being the “fastest,” but I’d love to see a mirrorless camera indisputably surpass the very best DSLRs’ speed.
Yes, I hope Fuji Guys, or whoever can relay our wish lists for what we’d like to have in the next Fuji X camera(s) to Fuji engineers, will do so.
I would also like to see a mirrorless match, if not surpass, the very best DSLR AF speed and reliability. Mirrorless not quite there yet, but the gap is shortening and you know it will eventually get there with the way they are starting to perform these days.
The Camera Store recently did a video on youtube comparing X-T1, E-M1, A6000, GH4 & 1 DSLR D4S AF performance.. the $7000 or so DSLR option came out as clear winner, but the results of the mirrorless competitors were not bad at allfor what they were. I don’t hold their results to be the official benchmark for all those cameras, but it was still interesting to see the results in their particular example. And I think it stands to reason, if wildlife, sports and reliable fast action performance in AF isn’t truly much of what you do, you shouldn’t even worry about AF speed these days.. there’s always somebody a little faster, but I think they all are fast enough to not disappoint in the majority of photos I believe most people might take.. portraits, landscapes, architectural, even street.. if you know what you’re doing, adapt to the situation and setup what you need, you should be able to get the shot you want with the AF performance available in nearly all available modern digital cameras.
Anyways… until then, I suppose I’d be happy with as much as they can give us and it should be more than sufficient for 90% of the stuff I shoot.. not a lot of high action and sports, but it would be nice if I had the confidence with mirrorless to capture those faster than life moments as reliably as DSLR’s.. some day, but the road to that end should be interesting and fun as these mirrorless systems constantly improve.
Dear Fuji,
Concerning the coming X-Pro2, I would suggest to add the same controls of the X-T1. This external controls are excellent.
Could you also put phase detection all over the sensor like the sony a6000 and increase the AF speed.
Just leave out the optical viewfinder but please, put at least the same EVF as the X-T1.
Add also definitely a tilting touchscreen.
Concerning the face detection, you could improve this feature not only by being able to focus precisely on the eye, but also keep the track of the head even if the subject is turning its head. One it is lock, it should stay lock whatever position, in front, side or BACK.
Last but not least, could you also add an electronic shutter mode Ć la Panasonic GX7 to be able to have completely silent shutter if we want.
Thank you!!
We’ll see… I’ll be there at the Photokina in Cologne, Germany.
I would love a FULL FRAME xpro2 but then Fuji would have hard time selling a new series of lenses due to ppl getting many used film era lenses.
Pro-2: Weathersealed, hopefully with a 24 MP X-Trans II Sensor AND 4K Video features like the Panasonic GH4 = this would be the ultimate machine for the excessiv traveller! I’m looking forward! How ever i have the feeling I’ll need to go for 2 systems, the Pro2- for fotography and the GH4 for videos, what doubles the costs and the weight to carry :-(!
When Photokina arrives and they normally announce a camera, how long after do you think the x200 will arrive in uk?
When Photokina arrives and they normally announce a camera, how long after do you think the x200 will arrive in uk?
The one remaining thing that prevents me from switching entirely from an extensive Nikon system is the widely-disputed Fuji tendency to wash out skies (especially when exposure is biased towards the shadows): Nikon maintains a rich blue, even when (preferably) not set to “Vivid”, while Fuji’s skies tend for a great part towards a washy cyan. One is able to effect some remedy in Lightroom by shifting both Cyan and Blue towards the right (blue / magenta), and reducing exposure there by maybe -0.7 stops while increasing Saturation.
Please Fuji, make an urgent priority (!) of introducing a new “Landscape Mode” or “Rich Blue Sky” mode, beyond “Velvia” which some may feel over-emphasises the remaining spectrum. Skin tones are already wonderful: this remains a major limitation however for many whose work is mostly landscapes. Sometimes Intensity of Colour is what makes the picture.
(24 Mpx seems highly desirable, considering the wonderful resolution of recent lenses such as the 14 mm and 23 mm.)
it’s been raining a lot lately and its making me wish I didn’t sell my Olympus omd e-m5. so, hoping Fujifilm X-Pro2 will be weather sealed, and have phase and contrast autofocus system. Don’t really care if they don’t change the design, it already looks good to me