Time for a Fuji Monochrome Camera? Too late?

[Heccie Thump]

I have seen discussions in the past about whether Fuji should bring out a Monochrome only camera to go toe-to-toe with Leica, and I am one of those who think they should.  I would love to have a mono specific body that will take my lenses.  I already shoot a lot of my pictures using the Acros simulation and love the results, but having a specific body designed from the bottom up to take mono would be a step up.

However, with the recent release of the Pentax K3 Monochrome camera I am starting to think that Fuji may have missed the boat.  Even if they decide to go down that line, by the time they produce the camera and ramp up production and marketing I suspect that a large portion of the market may be already invested in other models.

[BobJ]

It would be liable to be a very niche product. Probably not worth Fuji setting up the production line. I would like the Pentax camera to be a success but I don't think that they will sell many units. That is no problem for Leica, who have always specialised in low volume high price.

[Astigmatism]

I think it'd be very neat. High pixel count and no demosaicing. I'd want one!

 

But I agree it might be hard to make a go of it, a niche product. And of course I'd want it configured like the X-T cameras with traditional controls on top!

Wow, I shot a lot of Pan-X, Plus-X and Tri-X. So much I was winding my own cartridges, and developing them two at a time back-to-back on the wire spool, the way Minor White taught.

[Blue Zurich]

It's never too late

[dbell]

Never too late, but I'd expect it to be fairly expensive. I'd definitely buy one. 

[jlmphotos]

I would LOVE a Medium Format GFX Monochrome camera.  I'd be FIRST in line.  And, I'll add that if it has the body of the 50r so much the better!

Edited May 20 by jlmphotos

[BobJ]

In ye olde days of film I had to carry two bodies if I wanted to shoot in  colour and mono. A right pain in the back. Medium format was better as the camera had interchangeable film backs. But would I want to back to that? Not really. Only if the gains were more than the loss. I am not convinced that they are.

[man-overboard]

On 5/20/2023 at 4:23 AM, jlmphotos said:

I would LOVE a Medium Format GFX Monochrome camera.  I'd be FIRST in line.  And, I'll add that if it has the body of the 50r so much the better!

I am with you on that Medium Format GFX Monochrome camera, traditional dials, 50 or 100MP - oh my what a dream camera, slightly less boxy and smaller body than 50r - I would be VERY happy.

[ChrisWebb]

I wouldn't be surprised if they do. However, I can't imagine how they would go about choosing which camera to base it on. Whichever they went for they would upset many many people by choosing the "wrong" camera.

I would assume it's just a case of using an existing sensor without a filter, and developing firmware, but that's probably highly simplistic, but if Ricoh/Pentax can do it and think it's worthwhile then I'm sure Fujifilm can.