What is wrong with Fujifilm and how to fix it
Fujifilm is bringing something uniquely valuable to the camera market. But it should also provide what normal users expect.
I was a Canon AE1 shooter 30 years ago, had a long break, then returned to proper cameras two years ago with Fujifilm X-S10. Later I also bough used X-A5 and X-H1. I am not a professional but like proper cameras.
I am not sure if I will stay with Fujifilm but I would hate to leave.
Reasons to like Fujifilm
Classic/retro design of some cameras. Even though X-S10 should be technically superior I hardly use it any more. X-H1 feels and works so much better. And if I want to travel light X-A5 is good enough.
Film simulations. Out of camera jpegs from Fuji are superior to anything else out there. Yes, you can do anything in post, you can buy hundreds LUT libraries. But why? Straight out of camera, with crop plus some mild adjustments should be good enough.
Brand history, film legacy and respect of how the company survived the end of film, as described in the book “Innovating out of crisis”.
Community of enthusiasts. People who love photographing more than photographs.
What is not to like
Weak auto modes. Not everyone is a pro that shoots manual all the time. At some point people want the camera to help them make a decent photo of that moment that would not happen again. Advanced Fujifilm cameras do not have them.
Custom modes have a bad and changing logic and are largely crippled on most cameras.
Dated in-camera software and user interface.
And yes, autofocus, particularly on 40 mpix models.
My ideal Fujifilm camera would fix this in the ways addressed below.
Hardware
Take X-H1 body to begin with. It is on the heavy side, but has a solid grip, all the right buttons and dials and feels premium. Put in the new battery. Perhaps make the LCD tilt and swing, as with the latest Sony. Though I think tilting should be a priority.
As there is no dedicated EV dial, assign it to the back dial as default. Values will be displayed on the little top display.
Of course put in the latest processor, sensor, IBIS. There should be plenty of room to do so.
Important: hard and soft mode
The key problem Fujifilm struggles with forever is how to accommodate both its traditional/retro hardware design with the modern ways people also use cameras. Here’s how to take the best from both worlds.
Camera should have two modes, lets call them soft and hard. In hard mode dials take priority from values set with software, in soft mode settings set with software take priority. I would implement this at the on-off switch so that there are two “on” modes, hard and soft.
In hard mode camera works like X-H1 or X-T series. Values on dials are used. Pros are happy, “real” photographers are happy, “would-be real photographers” are happy.
In soft mode camera works as set in the software. There are two kinds of soft modes.
AUTO/SCENE modes (like on X-S20, X-T50). Amateurs and house wives are happy.
Custom modes C1-C4/C7 like on X-S20 and X-H2. Everyone is happy.
Full AUTO/SCENE modes should be included in all cameras. Costs nothing, its just software. I still do not understand why the X-100vi or X-T5 have the “advanced filters” like Toy Camera or Soft Focus but not a point and shoot AUTO mode that would figure out that a landscape is being shot and adjust everything accordingly. Not just ISO, shutter and aperture. Particularly for X-100 series this would make it appeal to a much broader base.
Custom modes
Custom modes can do much more than just store custom film recipes.
General philosophy: selecting a custom mode recalls a list of settings and overwrites current settings with those stored in, say, C5. The camera would not be in C5 mode. C5 would just be the latest set of settings applied.
The list of settings could include ISO, shutter, aperture, focusing method and any setting from any menu except for the “wrench” menu. “Could” implies that a setting could be included in the custom mode or not. If it is not included it does not overwrite current value. Old value is preserved.
So one could have a custom setting that would only include jpeg parameters of a custom film recipe and apply it over a custom setting that would set focusing method, photometry and shutter for that special sports mode.
When editing the custom settings, with each setting there would be an option like “not included in C5”.
When shooting in soft mode - if a dial or any physical component of the camera changes value that takes precedent over software set value. Remember there is a little screen on top of the body that displays what is set, not to mention EVF and the viewfinder.
Turning camera off preserves its current settings.
Selecting C5 when camera is in hard mode applies all C5 settings but those set by dials.
Switching a camera from soft to hard mode sets all parameters that have dials to values on a dial.
At the customs settings editing menu there is an option that says “replace old settings with new ones”. Instead of the current “AUTO SAVE” option which is useless.
There is no reason to have only 7 banks of custom settings because there is no dial related to it.
It should be possible to save/load each setting separately to/from the SD card.
An intriguing option would be to automatically load settings from the SD card to the camera when a new SD card is detected, perhaps confirmed with a prompt. You put a new SD card into the camera and you have a camera custom set for that particular kind of shooting.
An intriguing option would also be to be able to set, say ISO, to “at most 3200” or shutter to “at least 1/60” or “aperture to 1/2 stop over lens’s maximum”.
Note that this approach would work for a wide variety of hardware dials on very different cameras.
Other issues
Yes, autofocus should be fixed. It is not rocket science.
Automatic tracking and framing (see Sony) could be added in video at least.
Automatic fixing of small perspective distortions (see Leica) could be added.
Software bokeh (see Sony) should not be added under any circumstances <disgust emoji>.
In conclusions
Fujifilm is bringing something unique to the camera market. It keeps reminding us that cameras are not computers. It keeps the tradition of photography alive. This is so valuable!
However, unless it also provided some functionality expected in 2024 (that the only a computer inside a camera can provide) they are in danger of becoming a niche manufacturer for the die-hard community of enthusiasts. This will not create volume and profits needed to sustain that division within Fujifilm.