Has there ever been talk of Fuji making a dedicated manual-focus camera?

[insf]

Hey all, I'm fairly certain that I know the answer to this, but I wanted to ask nonetheless as a hail-mary.

 

Quick context, I rented an X Pro 2 while my own camera was getting serviced. I came to realize a lot of the Fuji hype is real - specifically the color rendition. I was very impressed. I however was not a big fan of the plethora of buttons and endless settings. My wife owns an X100T and a lot of my criticism of the body's design extends to that camera as well.

 

This is no fault of Fuji's camera designers as many if not most of the buttons are necessary to support all of the cameras' features. Really, the best way to simplify is to subtract. Which got me thinking, given Fuji's ethos, I'm wondering if they've ever considered making a manual-focus-only camera which emphasizes simplicity and durability. 

 

I obviously haven't any research to understand the market viability, so that may be the gating factor. As someone who shoots exclusively in manual focus, it sure would be nice to see Fuji take a crack at this type of camera. Right now we basically only have Leica creating these types of cameras and they're, shall I say, a tad cost prohibitive. 

 

Anywho, just thought I'd ask. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

[johant]

I think there would be a very very small market for that.

[Tom H.]

If you like a no nonsense manual focus camera, they still exist. Just buy any old film camera that suits your fancy. I myself prefer my Xpan or Nikon FM2.

 

Seriously, the market for a hipster camera like this would be very, very small. Leica can do it because people pay absurd amounts of money for that little red dot. Fuji couldn't get away with that.

[insf]

Yeah, avoiding the debate on the efficacy of a manual focus camera, it's definitely not something the masses are screaming for. I was hoping maybe (just maybe) there would be a chance for something like this, but probably not. Unfortunately, Leica is the only game in town if you want a manual focus digital camera. 

[Larry Bolch]

Worth pointing out the obvious. Pretty much every manual focus lens made in the past half-century has an adapter for the X-mount. If you really want manual focus, you have the choice of dozens of lenses, mostly at very reasonable prices. Of course, auto-focus can be disabled at the flick of a switch with our Fujinon lenses. Personally, under the circumstances, I see no reason to disable auto-focus permanently.

That said, auto-focus issues have been the most common complaints in Fujifilm forums. Auto-focus is clearly a priority among the more vocal X camera users.

[Doug Pardee]

Canon did one, back in 1991 or so: the Canon EF-M film SLR. It apparently sold unlike hot-cakes, and Canon has never tried that again. (Canon now uses the EF-M moniker for its mirrorless lens mount, which is something totally different.)

 

Modern lenses are designed for auto-focus, and manual focus tends to be rather unsatisfying with them. To really be worthwhile, a manual-focus camera would need a line of manual-focus lenses, but that would definitely be unprofitable except maybe at Leica prices.

 

I can't really think of much that a manual-focus-only camera body would offer. You're already welcome to manual-focus your X-mount lenses: just switch to AF-M. As Larry said, you can also use classic manual-focus lenses with an adapter. And do feel free to reassign your camera's buttons so that they aren't tied up with autofocus features. In Fuji's menu system, the autofocus settings are all grouped under a single menu item, so not really a source of clutter.

[flysurfer]

Pretty much all X-series system cameras support manual focus lenses, there's even a dedicated Leica M adapter for those who like the Leica manual focus lens experience.

[Florian]

Got an x-pro1 for precisely that purpose. Once I had it set up to my liking I just ignore most buttons, only changing the film emulation once in a while.

 

At the moment, im-notso-ho this camera (or the pro2) with a voightlander 40mm is as close as possible to what you are asking for, they fit together very well.

Edited December 24, 2016 by Florian