Which direction do u think Fuji will go w/ xp series?

If Fuji would throw FF X-compact at masses internet forums suddenly would agonize on a question "should I stay or should I go?!?" no matter what they declared just a week before :)
 
Fuji WILL NOT get rid of dials!

Fuji WILL NOT get rid of dials!

Fuji likes to be seen as NOT a ME TOO company. That is why there is an X-Trans and dials on the higher end cameras. They have a market targeted to a certain group like me that hates the iphone like interface and wants to concentrate on only the essentials of photography without blowing $7K on an new Leica M. Why Nikon does not make a digital version of an F3 is way beyond me, but I guess they just do not care! Leica and Fuji are the ONLY camera companies that still make camera bodies that we can pick up right out of the box and use without reading a book sized instruction book to navigate those horrible menus! It would be nice to have full frame but from what I can se from my X-Pro, the APS-C is fine and will only get better. Better lenses with more selection will be the ticket. I would guess a new kind of 34-40mm lens with an insane aperture (f.95 and faster) would satisfy any Noctilust disease we may have at a cheaper price than Leica. APS-C would make such a lens much more affordable than an $11,000 Noctilux. IF I were Fuji I would at least offer one body that has a real mechanical rangefinder with some lenses. That is dreaming. I would also concentrate on eliminating ANY shutter lag when using EVF mode.
 
Frank Petronio said:
Hopefully they'll take note of the higher build quality Olympus and Panasonic models and do a more robust, slightly larger body with sealing and a really great EVF.
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.... Nahhhh. After owning several generations of olympus m4/3 gear, my fujis (x100/xpro1) are better built and are proving far more durable. Lenses included.

fwiw I use my xpro1 in the rain regularly too.
 
eleskin said:
Fuji likes to be seen as NOT a ME TOO company. That is why there is an X-Trans and dials on the higher end cameras. They have a market targeted to a certain group like me that hates the iphone like interface and wants to concentrate on only the essentials of photography without blowing $7K on an new Leica M. Why Nikon does not make a digital version of an F3 is way beyond me, but I guess they just do not care! Leica and Fuji are the ONLY camera companies that still make camera bodies that we can pick up right out of the box and use without reading a book sized instruction book to navigate those horrible menus!
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Exactly my thoughts. The manual/external control dials are one of the main reasons the x series has been a runaway success. When I pick up a nikon DSLR it feels like trying to use a scientific calculator - **** that.
 
Can't see Fujifilm not doing an XPro-2 (or 1s) with features akin to the X100s.

But I can imagine Fuji needing the Xpro-2 to wait till factories build up inventory of the cheaper, volume-selling models. With some luck, that would mean the XPro-2 would benefit from things learned from the other models.
 
I think, for the foreseeable future, Fuji will:
  • Keep adding lenses, with an eye to creating a 'modern' (autofocus, designed to correct distortion in post) line of premium lenses. They don't have much competition for the premium category.
  • Keep working on the X-Trans layout and algorithms. It seems like they've done well so far, but the technology definitely needs to mature a bit before it's ready for 'prime time.'
  • Keep adding body features. They've done great things with physical controls, but they've had some problems too (early X series manual focus was truly awful, current situation is still poor). They are working really hard to create manual-digital solutions (optical viewfinder with dynamic frame, etc). I think they've done really well there and have a following.

They've said that the X-Mount doesn't cover a full frame sensor, which means the X-series will certainly stay as a 'crop' sensor. However, I also think the people predicting the death of 'full frame' sensors are being pretty silly. We can get great image quality out of small sensors, but you also see increases in image quality from larger sensors. If the D600 can be profitable at $2k, then I'm sure Fuji will go after that money sometime.

Fuji will probably introduce a second line of mirrorless cameras in the future with a full frame sensor. They'll probably go the 'Nikon way' of supporting a crop mode for the camera and a mount that's compatible with the X-Mount. Full frame is good because it supports so much 'legacy' glass and because it's larger than aps-c. It's not magic. I would expect the full frame camera to use X-Trans, but who knows.
 
A few years back I thought full frame would be a thing of the past as well. Boy was I wrong. I have three full frame cameras and in my opinion it's the best option if you can afford it. As small sensors improve so will the larger ones.
 
YYV_146 said:
4. dedicated ISO dial
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Sensors are getting such low-noise on the readout that we will soon have a flatline on the first 5-8 stops, negating the need of ISO adjustments (and it's not really ISO anymore) until in extremis conditions.

This is why we're starting to see a more prominent EV control, because that is closer to the true behaviour of the sensor.

I say this because the future of the x-trans sensors appears to be going in this direction.
 
Aristophanes said:
Sensors are getting such low-noise on the readout that we will soon have a flatline on the first 5-8 stops, negating the need of ISO adjustments (and it's not really ISO anymore) until in extremis conditions.

This is why we're starting to see a more prominent EV control, because that is closer to the true behaviour of the sensor.

I say this because the future of the x-trans sensors appears to be going in this direction.
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This is an excellent point. There never was ISO in the sense we think about film ISO. I never use ISO above 1600. I just push the raw in post once it's impractical to use longer shutter times or wider aperture.

I did a twilight residential photo gig recently where I exposed to barely retain aesthetically important highlights at base ISO (200) and pushed the raw in post. Even with the ancient D700 sensor, this delivered excellent results that made my client (and me) very happy.

Initially I used a wide aperture (which blew the highlights away) to double check focus. Then I set the aperture to f 8 and bracketed shutter times to maximize exposure for the important highlights to within a third stop of being blown. As the sky light began to match the light inside and around the home exterior, I just kept making bracketed exposures. The histograms had huge gaps between the highlights and the shadows.

Maximizing exposure at base ISO delivered the sensor's full analog dynamic range and produced the best possible signal to noise ratio for the shadow regions.

It did seem wrong taking photos in near darkness (using a tripod of course) at ISO 200. But a few hours later it didn't seem wrong at all when I use LR 5 to pull shadow luminance in the histogram to the right while leaving the highlights as is.
 
eleskin said:
Fuji likes to be seen as NOT a ME TOO company. That is why there is an X-Trans and dials on the higher end cameras. They have a market targeted to a certain group like me that hates the iphone like interface and wants to concentrate on only the essentials of photography without blowing $7K on an new Leica M. Why Nikon does not make a digital version of an F3 is way beyond me, but I guess they just do not care! Leica and Fuji are the ONLY camera companies that still make camera bodies that we can pick up right out of the box and use without reading a book sized instruction book to navigate those horrible menus......
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Thank you!
Critics of the X Series just don't seem to get this. If you want a slick, feature-heavy compact, go with olympus/sony/nikon ect...

The design of the X series is meant to be slow, intentional and simple. I would have been happy if they didn't design AF into my X Pro 1. But I digress...

Future of the X series...I think that they will continue with these cheap compacts for a while (X-A1, M1, X70) to make some money, while keeping a watchful eye on the pro market and user feedback of the XE1, X100, and XP1. Sensor development seems to be a back ground priority, they seem to be attempting to get closer to the aesthetic quality of film, which I support. I give not one **** about maximizing resolution, if I could have a digital and get film like results I would be one happy camper no matter the size of the pen1s, ahem...sensor.

I think their lens offerings will expand, APS-C is just fine, I'd rather they continue development there than jump ship for FF. If they would just release an x100 sized 23mm 1.4/2.0ish lens I'm sure it would be their best selling.

If they really wanted to (unlikely) I think they could do really well with a manual focus, digital M mount rangefinder body with a lower price point than Leica.
 
weather said:
The design of the X series is meant to be slow, intentional and simple.
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I don't think it's designed to work any more slowly than anything else. This seems like projection of a Leica M on something totally different.

As to direction, I'll predict that the OVF will soon be history (a bunch of lenses in the roadmap - 10-20, 55-200, and 56, for starters, are highly dependent on EVF operation). Users will find, if they haven't already, that it's difficult to mentally separate the EVF focus box from the OVF one in terms of parallax, they'll use the EVF more and more, and the expensive optical finder will die a quiet death.

In general direction, Fuji will move away from Leica.

Dante
 
weather said:
If they really wanted to (unlikely) I think they could do really well with a manual focus, digital M mount rangefinder body with a lower price point than Leica.
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What an interesting idea. I wonder if it's such a niche market-ie low volume, that the only way to make money is to charge Leica prices. Perhaps this is why Epson and Bessa have backed away from it.
 
Dante_Stella said:
I don't think it's designed to work any more slowly than anything else. This seems like projection of a Leica M on something totally different.

As to direction, I'll predict that the OVF will soon be history (a bunch of lenses in the roadmap - 10-20, 55-200, and 56, for starters, are highly dependent on EVF operation). Users will find, if they haven't already, that it's difficult to mentally separate the EVF focus box from the OVF one in terms of parallax, they'll use the EVF more and more, and the expensive optical finder will die a quiet death.

In general direction, Fuji will move away from Leica.

Dante
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I agree.. After a year of using an xpro 1 I still find the OVF implementation to be clumsy and somewhat confusing. Case in point - not sure why we need to see 2 OVF frames at the same time. one corrected for parallax the other not. Can't the digital frame just move withe the fuji lens? Imagine if Leica and others did this. Rangefinders would have been DOA.
PS if there is a better way to use the OVF I would be grateful to know.
 
It is pointing to where the af sensor should be pointed. It is thus giving u am indicator of what u may need to do to account for the parallax effect to the predicted af spot u need to use.

But for myself, anything starting from about arms length I switch to evf.

Gary
 
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