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A new source shares with us the following information: the long rumored new Fuji flash will be released only in the first half of 2016.
I remind you how very early rumors said, that the new Fuji flash was planed to be made by Metz and come in spring 2015. However, the Metz insolvency changed Fuji’s plans and they had to delay its release.
Fuji started looking for another partner (like Sunpak).
FYI, it’s recent news, that the new owner of the Metz flash branch (the Daum Group), relaunched the flashes and is opening again factories in Germany.
82 Responses
Oh come on, Fuji… :/
Fuji should work with Nissin. They make great flashes at a great price
I am genuinely curious exactly what it is that people are looking for in a proprietary Fuji flash system?
There are the excellent flashes and radio control systems from Yongnuo, Cactus and Godox, there are even dedicated small and portable flashes that work in auto mode from Nissin and Meike, the latter even has an LED modeling light, which I wish all flashes did. And studio flashes obviously work flawlessly as well, at least I never had a problem. And I’d assume most Fuji users would primarily want to shoot manually anyway.
I’ve been very happy with the Yongnuo system so far. I’m curious what people are missing in terms of the flashes themselves? Is it just HSS? Or larger TTL flashes? Personally, I’m really not too keen on yet another flash system that is camera system specific.
But I’m kind of annoyed by firmware-related oversights like lack of rear curtain sync, weird coupling of silent mode and flash, certain features only working on certain camera models when shooting Raw + JPEG, the existence of that extremely annoying “external Flash” setting, and so on. Also the rather slow sync speeds on everything but the X100 series.
I also find that some devices (like my YN 560 TX) won’t fit on the hotshoe of my X100 (fits fine on all of my Nikon bodies). Has anybody else experienced that? Theoretically, the hotshoe is an ISO standard and everything should just work. To me the X100 one seems exceptionally tight.
“I am genuinely curious exactly what it is that people are looking for in a proprietary Fuji flash system?”
Most of us just want a more serious dedicated TTL flash than Fuji already offers. Their EF42 is an embarrassment. It feels like it’s worth £50 (I have two of them because it was all that was available at the time).
I have since bought Nissin i40s which, at more or less the same price, are on a different level altogether in just about every way and put the Fuji unit to shame.
But whichever way you look at it, the Nissins are only small and are no match for bigger more powerful models.
Thanks, that makes sense. The Nissin, Fuji and Meike flashes also seem to lack an external power input.
I personally don’t see much advantage in having TTL with a bunch of big flashes off camera. As far as I’m concerned, I might as well adjust a setting named “power” instead of “flash compensation”. And the X series cameras don’t have flash compensation dials/buttons on the bodies like Nikon does, which means the adjustments would all have to be done by going into a menu.
I can see why people are asking for something like that, but to me it would never be worth the extra cost, not to mention the constant fear of my light changing based on what the camera meter sees, and me not being able to fully use my lighting kit when a job requires me to rent a different camera system.
When all’s said and done these are just tools for different purposes. For me TTL is very useful for subtle fill flash when having to work quickly, less so if the job is more measured. For occasional off camera flash TTL is not really a deal breaker.
Rear. Curtain. Sync. For some weird reason Fuji decided that this feature should be available only to shoe mounted, system compatible TTL flashes.
Really? That’s actually a positive development already. On the X100 there is no rear curtain sync whatsoever, not even with the built-in flash.
Should be easy to remedy with a simple firmware update, though. Must be one of their most requested features, probably alongside that much-debated option for DSLR-style image review and raw support for the top ISO settings. I don’t even dare ask for things like native DNG support.
But isn’t the lack of rear curtain sync a deficiency of the camera?
Yes, it’s a camera bug, and I believe that it can be very easily remedied by a FW update.
However, this is a very important part of what’s called “flash system”.
Question. Can’t this be done on the flash itself? I mean, flashes these days are not the electro-mechanical’ish types I remember from the 1970’s, but actually fully electronic chip-brained computers. So if one sets the shutter to, say, 1/250th of second, then the flash calculates when it should flash for rear curtain synchronization, instead of flashing when the hotshoe or X-port gives the command.
Not 100% sure, but I think the Cactus system has a delay setting. Since the flash has no way of knowing the shutter speed being used on the camera side, you’d have to set the delay manually though. But anything like that is just a clumsy workaround for an essential firmware feature missing on all x series cameras.
It does, yes you have to, and absolutely (in that order 🙂 )
Ah, so the real problem is the lack of an open communication protocol between cameras and flashes.
It has been done on a flash itself, as a matter of fact – on all modern Fujifilm branded flashes. They just read a shutter speed (and the need for rear sync) from the camera and set an appropriate delay automatically. I don’t know why, but it seems that Fuji decided to do it the hard way.
High speed sync and remote control of groups would be really nice. I didn’t get the 56 mm 1.2 to shoot it at f/16. And yes, you can use ND filters but it’s an extra step in your workflow.
I see what you mean. Personally, I’d rather see that solved via two or three stops better sync speed on the camera bodies directly. It would save power on the flash and would work with any halfway decent existing light, including studio strobes. That’s one of the reasons why I love the shutter on the X100 series.
Remote control of groups is already possible with the manual third party systems. You get up to six groups with the Yongnuo system on the YN-560 TX, even including settings for zoom and stroboscopic mode. I think the Cactus system is similar.
But isn’t the lack of high speed sync a deficiency of the camera?
Actually the little Nissin does have high speed sync. It only works in manual and because it’s only a small flash there isn’t much power.
I haven’t tried it yet in the field but I imagine you could use it for a tiny bit of fill. Better than nothing anyway.
Correct. And it’s part of what makes Nikon’s iTTL system so versatile and effective. Then again, they pioneered the origins of this technology more than 20 years ago.
I also cannot see the point of a proprietary FUJIFILM flash system. For me it will be more important if FUJIFILM makes it possible to use any (most) third-party flashes with their cameras.
“I am genuinely curious exactly what it is that people are looking for in a proprietary Fuji flash system?”
A decent TTL flash that can make it though an event, a battery pack for faster recycle, a flash WB setting, HSS, AF assist light that isn’t for decoration, not disabling the flash in different shooting modes, a macro flash, not using 2 different measurements for flash power with the EF-42 (decimal), make the EF-X20 flash turn back on with the camera after auto power off, being able to select the highest sync speed on the X-Pro, a TTL cord and the camera being able to set a reasonable exposure when using Auto ISO flash.
What about the Fujifilm EF-42 Flash? Other than somewhat range, any downside to using the EF-42?
The EF42 is flimsy, breaks easily, will not work remotely, takes ages to charge (the Fuji cameras will not even focus until the flash is charged, so this is a real issue), it’s overpriced, has dreadful clumsy menus all of which reset as soon as the flash goes to sleep…..
It really is a very poor effort. The Nissin i40 is in a different league. (I have both).
Oh, I forgot. It falls off the camera unless you keep tightening it up with that very cheap nasty screw fitting.
The little Nissin has a proper fitting to hold it in place.
I wish Fuji would just work with Yongnuo, Nissin or Godox. They have great flashes and great radios. I could care less for ETTL, but it’s nice to have, but would love HSS. I currently use two Godex V850 and they are awesome and work great with my Fuji system.
I have 2 of the EF-X20 units and find them a wonderful addition to my “go anywhere” travel kit. Having said that, I really fail to understand why a company like Fujifilm, that states it’s ambitions to be a true “professionals” alternative to the typical DSLR offerings, still has not offered anything viable to the working crowd of photags. I know the argument will be that there are so many 3rd party solutions to a “real” flash system, but my point is that it’s low hanging fruit that Fujifilm should be harvesting.
Rather bizarre – it’s not like a flash system is cutting edge tech. Or a differentiator.
well, by _lack_ of a flash system, it may become a differentiator for some.
Luckily I saved my Canon-based triggers and flashes, otherwise it would be awkward.
Looks like 2016 will be a big year for Fuji!
that’s what they said about 2015
X-Pro 2 is going to be so-so. The new sensor will be great for APSC, but nothing Sony doesn’t have in their cameras 6 months prior. Hopefully it has IBIS and steadyshot.
It all takes to long. wAITING, wAITING, wAITING.
I almost forgot X-PRO2 will be coming soon ……, really ?
Yeah, I would be very happy if they teamed up with Yongnuo and Godox, using 560iii and Godox gemini gt400’s. Work really well with fuji gear. Good quality as well!
It’s news like this that I really don’t get Fuji. They state they want to target the high end camera segment, well these users want a camera system and that involves a flash system as well. At this point in technology I think most of us want a reliable wireless (not IF based) flash system that has a built in commander mode or small external controller (if it’s going to drain too much battery) along with at least 1/250 sec. and rear curtain sync.
I’m getting closer to pulling the trigger on the Cactus RF60 & V6 combo for more portability when my Elinchrom Quadra is overkill.
I agree, and I took the Cactus RF60/V6 step recently. I don’t regret it at all. It’s clear that there is potentially a good flash system hidden in the Fuji line up – the performance of the Nissin i40 shows what can be done, but a more robust flash unit with some sort of wireless TTL would seriously top the system off.
They don’t want to get into high end cameras though. They want to SAY they are, and pay a high profile commercial photographer to SAY everything they make is on the same level as your average professional camera. All the while though merely producing a (very fine as they are) line up of advanced amateur/enthusiast cameras. They have not really surpassed anything that Canon and Nikon haven’t done with the D7100/70D (aside from size). They’re targeting the same market that Pentax targeted for the past few years. If they actually wanted to go after the people who NEED a 5D/D800/750 for jobs, they’ll have to make a high performance full frame camera, with strobes to boot. I gave Fuji a good try at my weddings but they are not there yet. Great travel cameras, but not ready for paid work IMO. I want a FF X100. Super bummed they’re ignoring the high end.
“Great travel cameras, but not ready for paid work IMO”
Of course they’re ready for paid work. I know many photographers using the Fujfilm cameras professionally (including myself). The X-T1 is a far more sophisticated camera internally than the Nikon D2X from nine years ago, and pros were managing just fine with that camera back in the day.
Are there situations where you have to reach for your DSLR; where it does certain things much better? Sure. But as these mirrorless cameras continue to evolve, those scenarios will get fewer and farther between.
The DSLR is yesterday’s technology and if you read the writing on the wall, IMO it’s slowly on its way out.
Well first let me say that I don’t think anyone would argue about DSLRs being on the way out. But the timeline for that happening is what matters.
As for the D2x, well that was when Nikon experienced a mass exodus of users to Canon. They got them back by introducing a FF, and they keep them by using Sony sensor tech. Those users that DID stick with the D2x had no other choices. That’s very different from Fuji users, who could easily build a FF kit for the same money as a Fuji. Those users would also see a better performing camera, though bigger. Even the D610 outputs much better files in every way.
I have clients in the here and now. Sure mirrorless tech will get better, great! It should! But Fuji isn’t even producing a pro camera. Pro lenses maybe, but the cameras haven’t caught up. All they have had to release this summer is a firmware update! And Leica finally beat the X100 with the Q, and what do we hear from Fuji??? XPro2…sometime….maybe…24mp! Big deal. The D7200 or Pentax K3 do that right now, and without Xtrans problems. Fuji should wake up! They should have started working on a FF the moment the XPro1 came out.
Couldn’t agree more. I waited FOREVER for that X-Pro 2. I need a smaller camera/kit these days and finally pulled the trigger on the A7RII the other day. I hate the sony look and feel but I have to say it’s a huge improvement over the X-T1. Now I’m just missing the smaller lenses.
Yeah, I am afraid the X-Pro 2 is going to be to little to late. I have been waiting far too long for it. I think they should just switch plans and use the sensor from the Sony A7Rii 5 months from now with a set of three fast primes at release (21mm, 50mm, and 85mm).
A full frame X-Series camera would be far more appealing than a Sony, but sadly they are failing to see the benefit of having both APS-C and FF options.
Exactly. Or at least do like Sony and put out a couple sensor options (I personally am happy with 16-25mp since weddings have me shooting so many frames). People often think I’m trolling when I beat the FF horse but there IS a difference and I see it every day with my images, especially at a wedding. APSC looks soooo flat to me. 35mm is a freaking compromise if you ask someone like me who also shoots 6×6 and up. I love Fuji’s camera design but this choice to stick to mini sensors is a deal breaker.
Secondarily they could easily, IMO, be like Contax was with the G and put the PRO in an XPro camera with a FF sensor and a handful of fast primes, and one zoom. They don’t need to build out this extensive ‘system’ because Canon and Nikon already exist, they CAN be different IMO. They do that, and A LOT of my film shooting wedding peers will get a Fuji for low light and personal work. Like you said, 21-28-35-50-90-135 and maybe a small 28-70 for the zoom must-haves. Also, a FF X100 FOR SURE which is all I personally would need.
A full frame X100 with a fast prime 50mm and conversion lenses for 35mm, 85mm, and 24mm perspectives could be fantastic. If not, I think they should go full frame with the X-Pro 2 to set it apart from the X-T1 and satisfy those that would prefer a full frame option ~ put the sensor from the A7r ii in it and support it with some fast primes, as I mentioned above. For sure, medium format would be even better, but it would undoubtedly be too costly for most.
I think both! I think of my Rollei, for example, as a for life camera. I love it, I take great images with it, I’m never going to sell it. A FF X100 w/ a 35/2 could easily be a digital version of that, especially since they’ve mostly figured out AF and MF speed. (though they should copy the Q for MF). A FF XPro might make me give up my D750s but I’d have to see it. Then Zeiss would probably come back to the table too, so more great lenses.
Yes, you are beating a dead horse, as there is no advantage for FUJIFILM to ever do “full frame”. However, what they most probably will be doing is “medium format”.
Even pentax can’t bring medium format under about 8 grand and I don’t see people here spending that on a Fuji or any specific camera. Fuji has exhibited cost cutting all the way by not developing flashes, and staying APSC. That rumor about medium format is RIDICULOUS. Keep dreaming.
The only cost to FUJIFILM in developing a medium format system will be (a) the lenses and (b) buying the sensor. Everything else has already been developed, which is the beauty of fully electronic cameras, i.e. mirrorless.
The question is not whether APS-C images look flat to you. It is whether they look ‘wrong’ to the client. If clients in a given field are typically satisfied with images from APS-C, using FF fulfils the desires of the photographer, rather than the needs of the client.
I’m not entirely convinced any arguments about oversized sensor resolution and sharpness hold any water in wedding photography today. Few people go for the 20″x24″ picture hanging over the fireplace mantle now and instead opt for an album. And the majority of images in that album are artfully arranged shots that could be cropped from an 8MP image.
If you are using the narrow depth of field of 6×6 as an effect, bear in mind such effects tend to be short-lived. Many who built a “I’ve got a Lensbaby!” wedding photography career a few years ago are not taking pictures commercially anymore, because when the fashion for selective focus died, their careers died with it.
These trends tend to exhaust themselves in the client-base long before photographers get wind of the change. “Shouldn’t it be in focus?” killed off the Lensbaby wedding shooters. “Why isn’t all in focus?” will strike down the narrow DoF cult. It’s just a question of ‘when’.
Back when medium format film was the preserve of wedding pros, it wasn’t chosen for DoF properties; it was used primarily because Portra 400 has good skin tones and bad grain for use with a 35mm camera. Back then, DoF wasn’t a consideration – “f/8 and be there” was!
My clients don’t hire me because I’m able to bring acceptable sharpness out of a given sensor. If that were the minimum requirement for making a living in photography we’d all be rich. They high me because of personal vision and style. More than ever that’s true now because of weekend wedding warriors. The most sought after wedding shooters in the world, and for the past decade, have been largely shooting film, using cameras like the Contax 645 with it’s 80/2. It looks jaw dropping wide open. It’s not a special effect, it’s photography. Not all wedding shots have stunning backdrops, they often need to be blurred for subject isolation. Also, sharpness does no favors for most clients. People say that my fav Nikon lens, the 58/1.4G is soft wide open, I say yeah, it makes my clients look fantastic!
Full frame and larger sensors in the context of weddings and portraits are not about resolution, although they do beat smaller sensors in that area too. They are about the ‘look’ you can generate with them. A client may not be able to express what he or she likes out of a specific image, but they can see the difference, especially with medium format film. And anyway, I don’t shoot for the lowest standards. I want to be happy with my work too!
I have seen a bunch of my peers go all in on Fuji, as I did a while back, only to realize that there was something big missing in the files and the look they could generate, and pick up a DSLR again. Fuji isn’t even competing in this area anymore. I am hopeful that they took 2015 off to make a FF camera though, since the A7’s success should have been a huge wake up call.
A good photographer is hired for his or her talent, rather than their tools. And yes, I know there are a lot of people who use film either as a part or exclusively in their photography. A lot of them are making extremely good images, too.
However, I’ve also noticed a trend for narrow DoF seemingly for its own sake, which may be trending, but strikes me as yet another one of the short-lived fads in wedding photography. IMO, overuse of narrow DoF seems to be one of the things that singles out the weekend warrior.
Yeah, Jose Villa shoots everything at F11 with a m4/3rds camera. Same with Elizabeth Messina. What I’m getting from you is that you don’t know what you’re talking about… Look at the Jose Villa blog. You can’t do that with a Fuji X. You can come close with a FF frame, but only come close. That’s the gap I’m talking about. Not the ability to use minimum focus at all times. The compression that comes from longer lenses, the way they draw, the way they can, or not, control DoF. Fuji images are flat for more reasons than DoF.
The difference is I’m not Jose Villa. I’m not Elizabeth Messina. They do extremely good work. I could never do that, in part because I can’t work to a film turnaround time. Sometimes turnaround for me is measured in minutes.
What I can do is get reasonably good ‘pop’ from the JPEGs I get from my X-T1, wifi them to my iPhone and then FTP them up to whoever needs them as fast as possible. I’m also pretty good with OCF, so if someone wants a picture of the company boss looking moody, I can knock up an image in a few minutes.
I could probably do the same with a Nikon D4S or Nikon 1DX, but it would sometimes have to stay landside due to weight restrictions (which kind of defeats the object).
That’s how my photography pays out. Can you do that?
Yes, my D750 has wifi. I can xfer images to my phone, even process them in vscocam, and send them off to anywhere I’d like. But obviously we have different needs in terms of expediency. I never said the Fuji’s weren’t great for travel work, they are.
What I’m hearing from you though is that the XT1 is ‘good enough’ when you can’t use a better camera because of weight or speed concerns. So while it’s great that Fuji can check the box marked, ‘fast and convenient’, I’d like them to also check another box marked, ‘top quality sensor and lenses.’ That was their stated aim when they made the X system. I’m saying they can do both. The XT1 doesn’t have to disappear just because a FF X100/XPro appears.
The thing is I like what Fuji is doing in its camera system and could afford a Fuji full-frame X system, but if I were to buy a FF system, it wouldn’t be a Fuji. And I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in this.
I’d buy a Nikon. Or a Canon. And if Fuji didn’t get a FF camera out soon, I’d probably buy a Sony before I’d buy a Fuji. Hell, I’d even buy a Leica again before I bought a Fuji FF camera, and I haven’t used a Leica this century.
Why would I put Fuji so far down the list? Because Fuji would likely launch a system with three lenses (good economic sense), and I’d be using it in competition against systems with dozens of lenses. The options would be severely limited and with little or no way for Fuji to catch up.
My hope is that Fuji doesn’t suddenly decide to blow its photographic finances in order to be fifth in a two-horse race, and instead concentrate on making its existing system a little more complete first. Like, making a functional flash system (which, after all, was the point of this whole discussion before you hijacked it and turned it into yet another FF rant). Like delivering a battery system that is both intelligent enough to tell you battery power, and has more than a few hundred shots to its name. Basically, like making the Fuji system fill the void left by systems like the Nikon D300.
Meanwhile, I’ll probably keep putting the money I won’t be spending on a D810 or a A7 into buying some second hand Phase One/Mamiya equipment.
Nikon lost its way with the pro market with the D2x and D2h, but most of that market went to the EOS 1D II and EOS 1D IIN, rather than the 1DS and 5D models.
The reason was simple; although the D2x was (and, in fact, still is) excellent at base ISO, anything beyond ISO640 was noisy, and anything above ISO1600 was virtually unworkable. And until the D2hs arrived (and arrived too late for most people), even the so-called high-ISO Nikon camera was not much better.
At the time, the ROI on using a FF camera was hard to justify unless you were in the studio. That changed with the 5D II. Meanwhile, Nikon won news and sport pros back to the D3 as much down to Canon dropping the ball on the 1D III’s AF system as for its FF sensor.
When I started commercial assisting in Minneapolis in 2007 every photo studio save one had at least 1 1DSII, and most of my assistant peers had a 5DC. They all said that full frame was why they switched. The ROI on a 1dsII at that time was easy to justify because it wasn’t a P45 back. But you’re right, I can’t imagine why a press person would pick a D2x or a 1DII (for work). Just like today I can’t imagine why anyone would pick a XT1 over a A7x or D750.
Commercial work in a studio… yes, a 1DS or a 5D was the right path to take at the time. When I was doing event work and general press content in 2005, it was either a 1DII or D2x – I chose a D2x because the flash system was still better, and I used a lot of flash at the time.
Why would anyone pick an XT1 over a D750? Try working internationally across Europe. Try working with a strict one bag hand luggage only restriction of 17.64lb (including equipment AND clothes) between London and Geneva a few times, especially when you have to be suited and booted. Pack a D750, spare batts, charger, a fast zoom and a couple of fast primes, a flash and a laptop, and you are wearing your only change of clothes. Do the same with a Fuji system and you get to change your shirt.
Obviously this isn’t high on their priorities which is… odd. All I want is TTL on 3rd party systems.
No longer interested in Fuji flash,more than happy using my Olympus FL50s with a Yongnuo trigger.
Still waiting on fuji to enable HSS support in their firmware for Nissin i40 flash.
Just use Cactus like every other sensible person and then you don’t need to give a second thought to whether or not a Fuji flash system is coming out or when. They’re not going to beat built-in wireless control of power in 1/10th steps, remote zoom control and equalising and profiling of other flash brands at a price anywhere near Cactus does it. Canon, Nikon, Fuji; first-party flash systems are worthless these days. Third-parties are doing it better and cheaper than first-party can ever hope to.
Can you use rear curtain sync?
Of course not, just like with any other “central contact only” flash.
Although you can set a trigger->fire delay on the Cactus transmitter to achieve the same effect as rear curtain sync. Inconvenient of course, but it can be made to work in the absence of a proper way of doing it and you have time to set up the shot.
Do you have to do this for each shot? Or can you set it and fire away for a night?
You have to set the delay to match the shutter speed on the camera (minus a bit that needs to be determined experimentally). Keep the same shutter speed and you can shoot away, change it and you have to change the delay.
So, inconvenient, possibly impractical depending on the shoot, but better than nothing.
Oh, there’s a whole lot of workaround options out there (for example, I happened to have a lightning trigger in my arsenal, so I use its “in” port and delay feature as a workaround with studio strobes). But why the hell do we have to search for workarounds in the first place?! Rear sync is a pretty essential feature that’s been around long before any TTL metering…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b43e86cc535a372ec8ae99fd29cf7db8e103c4242dde424e78353692222077cd.jpg
So, after reading this, I’ve gone and tested it. I have found that you are right in terms of mounting the flash directly on the Fuji hotshoe. For remote triggering, though, rear curtain works. I never have any need to use the flash directly on top of the camera, so I’ve never spotted this before. But yeah, hey, if you’re using it off-camera then rear curtain does work just fine, the Cactus radio triggers have that sorted.
Awesome. Do you mind me asking what cactus gear you use?
I’ve got two triggers and two flashes; the second trigger is for an older Canon flash which I’m too cheap to replace! I have never used TTL flash, ever, and for any really big jobs I just rent studio flashes, so these three do me fine.
I believe you can, just set the camera to it and the flash will be triggered at the right time. It definitely works with my Canons, I’ve not had a reason to use it with my Fujis but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work with them too; even my old Canon flashes work with Fuji’s second curtain flash mode.
“Just use Cactus like every other sensible person”
Don’t you just love it when people think that their way is the only “sensible” way?!!!
Yes, yes I do. It helps people learn.
Name another flash system which gives you the ability to mix any brands and models of flash together at equalised or linear power, remote power control in 1/10th stop increments to 1/128th regardless of whether or not the flash unit supports control in that increment and to that level, remote control of zoom, remote group control and at a price lower than any other system bar YongNuo. (Which is the same in price.)
We are honoured!
Yes that’s fine if that’s what you need, but not everyone needs to do all that. Different people have different needs but many of them can still be classed as sensible.
I’m a full time photographer, but thanks anyway.
Okay, let me posit this: even if you don’t need all of those features, you still can’t get a longer-range, more powerful, longer-lasting or faster-recycling flash unit than the ones Cactus make, at any price point. Meaning that even if you only use flash in its most basic form—sticking it right in the hotshoe on top of the camera and you’re just blasting it at 100% power directly forwards—there is no other unit which gives you more power, no other unit which fires as quickly, no other unit which can fire as many times on a fresh set of batteries and no other unit which costs less.
There literally is no downside whatsoever and every upside possible. The only situation where you may want something different is if you’re concerned for size and want a small pop-up flash, in which case no Fuji system will do what you want; either your camera has that built-in or not, and anything you stick on top is adding size and weight. Pop-up flash is also such a completely incomparable feature to a flashgun system that it is not relevant to this subject, that being the existence and release date of a fully-featured Fuji flash system.
The more subtle side of this is how few people are willing to admit the choices they make are in anyway idiosyncratic or biased. We’re all convinced we make logical, rational decisions. We don’t. 🙂
i agree with AceFlibble. Cactus flash and trigger must be the most easy system to use ever. And still it has all complex functions. I use it all the time with my x-t1 it works perfect.
I have both the EF-42 (two of them) and the Nissin i40. The i40 is the perfect solution, while the EF-42 is ready to be sold. Hate this flash…
I see a package deal coming… X-Pro2 with New flash
And X-Pro2 up to 2018. And FF…well, maybe in 2050.
I have just ordered yesterday a
– Neewer (=Meike) Flash Speedlite MK320 for Fujifilm, and a
– Neewer ETTL/off-sabot cable (for Canon).
Off camera TTL should work with this configuration.
“Fuji started looking for another partner (like Sunpak).”
Sunpak is allredy a partner, as they are the ones that made the EF-42.
http://www.sunpak.jp/english/products/pz42x/index.html