Fuji brand awareness - fw updates part of it?

GaryLH

GaryLH

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I was just thinking... And maybe I am just full of it..

Right now, I am not sure there is a camera maker that releases fw updates as often as Fuji does. There are other threads started here about this and merits or not of all this or that Fuji should have done it better to start with.

I don't want to rehash this... What I was thinking was was this an accidental stumbling into or deliberate on Fuji.

I find that Fuji has been keeping brand awareness up from my perspective better than any other camera maker.. On top of the normal so called leaks, lens and camera roadmaps that every other camera maker has... There fw updates have kept me aware of their presence and showed me even the old x100 has a second life.

Gary
 
Of course, frequent firmware updates could be a sign that 1) the products are rushed to market with adequate QA testing; or 2) the company takes the software approach, which is get it up for sale and fix it if anyone complains.

I only say this because often it seems that some of these firmware fixes are for obvious things. And this isn't aimed at Fuji but all camera makers.
 
Yes maybe. It's nice to know they are dedicated to continued support…. BUT!
The issue I have at this particular moment is that they are not addressing all known issues and potent improvements at one time with these FW updates.
It's not like they don't have to eventually do that. Why dribble the improvements out?
Dedicate the financial and intellectual resources and provide a complete update.
FW updates should be for tweaks and adjusting system products to newly introduced system products (a new lens for example which admittedly is part of the usual update).
Not this constant every 4-6 month bump up of system features to integrate into ones workflow.
It's become ridicules in a way.

If you have to spend $100 to fix something… why have the repair man come back for $10 worth of repair 10 times if you're holding all the cash you need to get it done?
Spend the dough and commit the manpower and get it done!


Rant over! 😀
 
Rico Pfirstiger claims that Fuji makes their updates based on user feedback.

I think the truth is somewhere in between that and the "crowd sourcing beta-syndrome" that manufacturers in many domains rely upon today.

I will say that Fuji's approach does show the kind of commitment that we just don't see from Leica with regard to FW updates. Everybody knows both the M8 and the M9 still need them.
 
Yep quite true.. Product line managers and sw managers prioritize what needs to go in based on bug issue vs feature enhancement vs number or resources for fw update vs new release.

In the enterprise sw world, major release 2.x (2.0 for example) are controlled by the main sw team.. The 2.x.x release (like 2.0.1) is usually handle as a pure bug fix by the sustaining sw team. A dot release like 2.1 can be a combined effect from both the normal team and the sustaining.

Normally, in the realm of camera fw, this has been in the past bug fixes. Outside of Sony or Fuji, I cannot remember if others lately have been adding sw features to the updates. The one for sony that comes to mind is the peaking one they released as part of the camera body then added it back as a fw update to some of the older bodies. But Fuji is doing much more then anyone else that I am aware of.

My point is the frequency is part of keeping mind share. Witness the anticipation and how bad the download times were for the last update. Guys in Australia were reporting some pretty bad download times for a file that is only 35mb or so.

Gary
 
GaryLH said:
........ I find that Fuji has been keeping brand awareness up from my perspective better than any other camera maker.. On top of the normal so called leaks, lens and camera roadmaps that every other camera maker has... There fw updates have kept me aware of their presence and showed me even the old x100 has a second life.
Click to expand...

Gary: I am in agreement with you that Fuji has done a very good job of keeping their brand in the forefront of photo enthusiast minds. I was one who questioned if they were going to release a SW update for the X100 after it went out of production as such would extend an obsolete model's life and eat into sales of currently produced models. But I was wrong and they did. It was a good move, as least in my case, as I recently bought an X Pro 1 as I am happy with the Fuji brand. Now everything I buy is used, never new, but I am helping to hold the residual value of their cameras which reduces the cost of ownership for those who buy a new camera every year.
 
noimmunity said:
Gary's contributions around here are well known, and he communicates a lot of generosity without being pretentious, a lot more than you can say about a lot of members posting here. Kudos to Gary! I really appreciate his posts!
Click to expand...

Well said. Thanks!

...and thanks to Gary! He always keeps me on time with all the updates and product info. We share a lot of the same gear!
 
cug said:
...
What Fuji does here can be explained in only one way in my personal opinion: they aren't making a lot of money with cameras and need a longer development cycle as a shorter one with more manpower might be too expensive for that business unit. Hardware development is complex, expensive, and takes time. ... /quote]

Agreed, mainly. As willie_901 said quite a while ago, in a similar thread: "It's all about the lenses."
Click to expand...
 
Personally I think that their marketing scheme must include some brainwashing firmware. I've never seen so many people thankful for trickling out "fixes" that should have been implemented right from the get-go.

Why didn't Fuji include color focus peaking that people have been asking for in this update? Very simple, but they didn't do it. But they will in 3 months. And people will be excited.

If Canikon put out a camera that needed multiple firmware fixes in such a short time people would be up in arms.
 
rivercityrocker said:
Personally I think that their marketing scheme must include some brainwashing firmware. I've never seen so many people thankful for trickling out "fixes" that should have been implemented right from the get-go.

Why didn't Fuji include color focus peaking that people have been asking for in this update? Very simple, but they didn't do it. But they will in 3 months. And people will be excited.

If Canikon put out a camera that needed multiple firmware fixes in such a short time people would be up in arms.
Click to expand...

I do not consider these fixes. They are updates. I jumped at the chance to dump my orphaned digital Leica gear way before these update cycles were the buzz. I could not be happier. This is just icing on the cake and will keep me as a loyal customer. Job done.
 
Cug..

Not disagreeing w/ u.. I used enterprise as more of example of how much thought process and effort there is to put out these updates because this is the world I come from. I just find that Fuji is doing it much more then other brands. And if u look at it from a process I am familiar w/, it it is similar, then this is not as easy as some think it is.

Gary
 
I for one think my X-Pro1 was a truly great camera when it came out and the firmware updates just keep making it better. Thank you, Fuji; I've not minded one bit being a beta tester of an outstanding camera and lenses.
 
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