What is it with Fuji?

nickthetasmaniac · #1 August 23rd, 2011, 05:49 AM

Why is everyone 'in love' with Fuji?

There appears to be some kind of strange aura surrounding the company amongst enthusiast photographers.

- Every time someone mentions Fuji sensors - people gush.
- Every time someone mentions Fujinon lenses - people gush.
- Every time someone mentions Fuji compacts - people gush.
- Every time someone mentions Fuji releasing a m43 body - well...

But whyyyy? What have they done? It can't just be the X100 - when that was released half the excitement was the fact that it was a 'Fuji'.

I don't get it!
- Their sensors are good - but no better than Sony's.
- Their jpegs are good, but no better than Olympus'.
- Their P&S's are good, but outstripped by Oly/Pana/Canon.
- They've only released a few dSLR's, which were great for wedding photographers, and average for everything else.
- The dSLR's they did release relied on Nikkor glass...

This may sound like a rant, but I am genuinely intrigued!

WT21 · #2 August 23rd, 2011, 06:01 AM

I don't see this phenomena. Not here. Yes on Serious Compacts, where there are a lot of X100 users, but I don't see it that much here.

nickthetasmaniac · #3 August 23rd, 2011, 06:09 AM

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply mu-43 specifically - I was referring to the internet in general.

Discussion on 43rumors over the last 12 months springs to mind

Iconindustries · #4 August 23rd, 2011, 06:10 AM

I have no idea. The G3 has way more appeal to me than the x100 ever did.

dabbler · #5 August 23rd, 2011, 06:20 AM

I think that lots of photographers who learnt with film have affectionate memories for various Fuji films; that the X100 was precisely targeted at street photographers, who surely make up much of the m43 demographic; and that the X100 satisfied lots of pent-up yearnings for a rangefinder-shaped camera with a viewfinder. I think the last two have made some photographers think 'Fuji is the company that understands my needs.' Just my surmising, of course.

More strategically, Fuji is the only remaining significant advanced camera maker that both doesn't have a significant DSLR business to protect and hasn't yet joined a mirrorless ILC format. As such, it's the biggest prize for any mirrorless format. Should Fuji join m43 then that could have all sorts of implications for economies of scale, resulting in cheaper prices and perhaps more R&D.

flash · #6 August 23rd, 2011, 06:22 AM

Xpan.

The point being that the x100 is not the first time Fuji have released something out of left field that had stunning looks, great performance and brilliant usability. They make niche products like the Xpan and X100 that make alll the other manufacturers go "why didn't we think of that."

It may have a copy of a Sony sensor and Olympus colour, but it also has soul. The others are lifeless hulks of plastic and metal selling an ever increasing blah of megapixels and 1500000000000 ISO. But the Fuji specialist cameras make you want to use them and then back that up with results that exceed expectations.

Before the X100 was released everyone expected it to look great but be disappointing. It isn't.

Gordon

Luckypenguin · #7 August 23rd, 2011, 06:36 AM

Dunno. For someone my age the name Fuji just means cheap compacts, superzooms and Nikon-based DSLRs. Whatever they did before then was, well, before my time.

Ray Sachs · #8 August 23rd, 2011, 06:56 AM

I don't know. I don't have any history with Fuji cameras, although I did shoot their film from time to time as a kid. My whole experience is the X100 and, based on that, Fuji will get a look from me with whatever they put out. Not to say I'll buy it, but I'm open to it. I'd say that Nickthetasmaniac's list is generally right, except I'd say the X100's jpegs are in a class by themselves - or at least a class I've never met any of the other members of. With every other camera I've used, even Olympus, I've gotten better results shooting raw than I ever could shooting jpeg. With the X100 I can't. I usually can't even come close. Even in really tough conditions where I shoot a raw and a jpeg, its VERY rare I can get anything better out of the raw than the jpeg.

But other than the jpegs, I think its just an overall system that works. We know that the sensor in the X100 is the same as in several cameras, and there are newer and better sensors out there. We know the lens is very good but not uniquely so. But the way they mesh everything and have it working together, at least with the X100, makes the whole overwhelmingly better than the sum of its parts. Ironically, I bought the X100 for street shooting, but it turns out that I really don't like holding a camera to my face for streetshooting except on a very rare occasion. And one of the very best things about the X100 is its amazing hybrid viewfinder, which I rarely want to use on the street. And IQ really isn't the most critical thing in street shooting, so the Fui's IQ is sort of overkill there. So I find myself using other cameras much more for street shooting and the Fuji for just about anything else. Its still about my favorite camera even though I don't do the thing I most love doing with it. Its an odd thing. But its THAT good, at least to me.

So, maybe some of their other cams elicit similar reactions from other shooters in other market segments, whether compact or DSLR? I don't know. But they've certainly won me over and made me more apt to sit up and look at their other offerings if one suits my needs. I don't think its as much about the list of particulars as much as the whole and they seem to have a pretty good feel for the photographic 'whole'.

-Ray

nickthetasmaniac · #9 August 23rd, 2011, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray S

But the way they mesh everything and have it working together, at least with the X100, makes the whole overwhelmingly better than the sum of its parts.

Oddly, I had the exact opposite response to the X100 - overwhelmingly less than the sum of its parts...

Markb · #10 August 23rd, 2011, 07:16 AM

The 6mp Fuji Super CCD had a great look to it. Then they went and broke it by upping the pixel count but seem to have got it under control now. Here's one from my old F11, a compact camera I was happy to use for anything.

Raumati Beach by Mark Bowerman, on Flickr

They make some very nice black and white emulsions too. Neopan SS is remarkable for a "student" film and Neopan 1600 is probably the best of the "push" films.

The X100 is an amazing camera (a digital Konica Hexar AF, really) and what kind of crazy company releases that 6x7 folder in the 21st century? Good luck to them for following their own path.

Personally I'd like to see a digital Klasse compact equivalent without all the stuff that makes the X100 so expensive. A good fast prime in front of a Fuji Super CCD with a ovf would be a serious compact and one I'd buy.