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Fujifilm X-PRO2 rumors


Patrick FR

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I commented and told everyone so the first time Fujirumor reported on a "fall 2015" date for the X-Pro2. My seller has been telling me since March this year that the Fuji reps told him NOT to count on any christmas advertising with new Fuji cameras this year and that the new X-Pro 2 will arrive earliest January 2016. Which is why I bought a X-E2 to fill the gap ;-)

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I commented and told everyone so the first time Fujirumor reported on a "fall 2015" date for the X-Pro2. My seller has been telling me since March this year that the Fuji reps told him NOT to count on any christmas advertising with new Fuji cameras this year and that the new X-Pro 2 will arrive earliest January 2016. Which is why I bought a X-E2 to fill the gap ;-)

Damn, missed your comment.... Anyway, you're hired as a rumor-hunter now. What else does he know?

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" One source reports the Sony A6xxx launch got again(!) delayed til early 2016. The reason seems to be the unexpected huge amount of A7rII preorders that Sony has to fulfill. Capacity has to be used to produce more units. Also because Sony has a higher win margin on those kind of cameras. Plus sensor production is already at 100% so even there they have to limit the production of new camera sensors."

 

http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com

 

 

I think Fuji will be waiting a while for that new sensor...

 

Surely now they must be thinking about looking for a new source before Sony ff starts taking all their customers.

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" One source reports the Sony A6xxx launch got again(!) delayed til early 2016. The reason seems to be the unexpected huge amount of A7rII preorders that Sony has to fulfill. Capacity has to be used to produce more units. Also because Sony has a higher win margin on those kind of cameras. Plus sensor production is already at 100% so even there they have to limit the production of new camera sensors."

 

http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com

 

 

I think Fuji will be waiting a while for that new sensor...

 

Surely now they must be thinking about looking for a new source before Sony ff starts taking all their customers.

 

This is a valid concern.

 

At this point there are no "real" new entries on the mirrorless crop-sensor market. Panasonic presented the GX8 with a new sensor; I didn't have the chance to test this camera yet, but, from what I'm reading, it's not a breathtaking upgrade to the existing m43 offerings. Olympus new E-M10 ii is also an incremental upgrade. Samsung is nowhere to be seen; see also rumors circulating about them abandoning the camera market alltogether.

 

OTOH, mirrorless FF has become a trend. The A7Rii is quite expensive for many users, but it has driven prices for the older a7 cameras down. You can now find used but mint a7 and a7R for close or lower than 750 and 1000 euro/dollars respectively.

 

In this situation it's normal that Sony isn't in a hurry with their APS-C sensor cameras. Perhaps they feel the existing a6000 can fly the banner for a little longer.

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Saw your lastest update.

I agree Fuji can't be beholden to Sony to quite that level I agree ith your assessment. I think that Fuji have either called on a clause in the contract that limits how long a delay can be imposed. Or renegotiated. In light of SOny trying to position themselves so that they are Sensor market leaders providing sensors to other companies, its going to be hard to sign new deals with companies if there is this kind of commercial block in place. I imagine Fuji have pointed this out.

 

ANother possibility is that this has been going on so long that Fuji have managed to develop a new sensor with someone else or on there own and are going to go with that.

 

Or a combination of both. I wander if Fuji got close enough with a new sensor to say to sony hey look put up or in another year we won't need you.

 

Final option SOny are making Fuji's medium format sensor and as part of that deal Fuji renogotiated the whole thing to remove the Wait clause on the other sensors they get from sony.

 

G

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Based on the latest rumor, there doesn't seem to be anything indicating exactly what sensor will be used. Is Sony delaying their camera because their sensor isn't ready ? If so, the PRO 2 certainly can't be ready either till February - assuming the PRO 2 is using the same sensor.

 

Big mystery.

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How do our requests gel with those of working professionals actually using the X-Pro1 to pay their bills?

 

http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2015/09/24/what-10-fujifilm-x-pro1-users-would-like-to-see-on-the-fuji-xpro-2/

 

 

Several across the plane want dual card slots, tilting screen, Wifi, weather sealing, and higher raw ISO...

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Seems to me unlikely that a corporation(Fuji) would allow another corporation(Sony) to control their manufacturing and marketing calendar.They would have agreed on a delivery date. And Fuji needs lead time.  If the rumor of a planned January announcement was halfway accurate they have had the sensor for a while now, camera development is finished, it is being tested now before final firmware tuning and the fabrication/assembly line is being designed by the industrial engineers. All these companies build up an inventory a month or two before announcement and November/December manufacturing does not seem unreasonable. The so called 6 month rule may not apply if Fuji ordered the sensor already assembled with their own nonBayer filtration. That is not a sensor Sony would be interested to use in one of their cameras. So they may let it go.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The excellent Sony 24 mp sensor has been out for several years, and is in a number of non-Sony cameras from Nikon, Pentax and maybe others(?). Some of them seem to use a sensor a (relatively minor) generation newer than the one in the A6000. This sensor would be a significant step up from what Fuji is using now, but  I can think of a few things Fuji might be waiting for (remember that changing sensors is a bigger deal for Fuji, because they need new X-Trans filters, while everyone else just uses a Bayer filter that is probably introduced by Sony along with the sensor):

 

1.) There is a new generation of this sensor "almost there" (Fuji already has samples), maybe with even more pixels, maybe with improved DR, maybe with more on-chip PDAF points, and the dimensions or pixel count are not exactly the same (so the filter would be different). Fuji doesn't want to make up a bunch of X-Trans filters for the current sensor, release a model or two (which they could have done a year ago), and then get hit with a new sensor.

 

2.) They're waiting for a sensor that is not the Sony at all, and has some interesting new technology in it - Fuji has NEVER been content with conventional Bayer sensors, having used hexagonal pixels, multiple pixel sizes and now X-Trans. This might be a three-layer Foveon type sensor, an organic sensor, or whatever else. For all I know, they're about to use some version of the RED Dragon sensor (I'm assuming that what makes the RED cameras tremendously expensive is not the sensor itself, but the support hardware they need to read it off at incredible speeds and store the data), which is the only sensor presently on the market with dynamic range competitive with the Sonys - the pixel counts don't quite seem to fit, but Fuji always uses surprising sensors.

 

3.) They are playing with something else at the filter stage, probably an improved version of X-Trans, maybe coupled with a variable low-pass or variable ND, and it's taking a while.

 

4.) The X-Pro 2 isn't what we think it is at all - they are close on an X-T2, which is APS-C with a better sensor, while the X-Pro 2 is some version of medium format (anything between Leica S format a little beyond full frame and the "Double full frame" format of some of the highest resolution backs). The most likely option might be a new version of the Sony 50 MP CMOS sensor that Pentax was first to use. The new version may well be 72 MP (scale up the A7rII sensor to the 44x33 mm size of the existing MF sensor). An easy sensor for Sony to produce, and they'd be happy with Fuji as a launch partner, having shown no inclination to build medium format cameras themselves. I can't imagine Fuji jumping into the crowded full-frame market, especially if they really do have medium format ambitions - THREE ranges of lenses for a relatively low-volume camera line? I could see a FF X-Pro 2 (XTrans version of the A7rII sensor) IF they either weren't going to mess with medium format OR had decided it would be fixed-lens only.

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Hamburgcam mentioned that he's been invited to try a new camera next week.  When I mentioned my excitement that it could be the X-Pro2, he simply replied "I didn't say Fuji ;)", which makes me even more excited.

 

Of course it could all be for nought.  Might just be the Leica Q or the new SL or something we have no interest in at all...

 

One can dream though...

 

 

Edit: In continuing the conversation, I'm lead to believe it is the Q.  Darn....

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