Jump to content

X100S FW updates.


Recommended Posts

Although I understand the basic sales strategy behind, I think it's a mistake. 

There are some functions that could be added without impacting the X100T sales, like the Q menu customization, the macro toggle, etc... Even only a few updates would be a good sign from Fuji. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree. There's no good reason for not updating the x100s with basic features like a customizable Q menu and classic chrome. It's the little things that keep us happy and brand loyal. I love Fuji, really I do but this is a major fail in my opinion.  And I don't buy into the whole "they want to sell more x100T" argument - because I'm not buying one. My x100s is still a great camera. If I really want wifi and the new viewfinder which cannot be added to the x100s - I will have to upgrade to the x100T at that point. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

It doesn't sound smart at all. I totally will not buy a "T" just for the convenience of wifi and the awesomeness of chrome.  If I did anything I would just go for the XT-1 and get both those things and much more.  I think it's the opposite of smart.  At the very least release a lightroom profile for chrome for the "S".  VSCO has some pretty cool emulations that come close or are just about as cool IMO.  I wish the XT-1 wasn't so finicky compared to a straight forward 5DMKII. I'd be shooting with that.

Link to post
Share on other sites

From a business perspective it makes sense.

 

If you use too much available resource updating FW for older equipment, you have less resource to develop FW for current / Future equipment. The more and more cameras that are released, the harder it becomes to balance available resource without impacting on future development and expansion of the company. Slow / No development = drop in profits = potential end of department as R&D capital is moved to better performing teams that return more money for their shareholders. We don't have to like it but, that tends to be the way of business. 

 

If we don't want to be looking at our X Cams in the future and thinking, "My, didn't they produce great cameras, shame they had to stop". Then we have to accept we can't have FW updates for models that have been superseded (other than bugs). If they do give us them, then we should be thankful rather than expect / demand them. 

 

I remember when I first started out. I used Canon's EOS XXD range before moving to their 5D range. There seemed to be a new camera each year with minor upgrades. Some better than others but a lot of the time just evolution. I just made a point of upgrading my camera every 2nd - 3rd year. I don't recall many FW upgrades at all, other than very minor things but mainly bugs.

 

In the end you accept that can't have everything that is on the new model and provided your camera does the job, great, keep it until it needs replacing. If something significant came out, then maybe trade in the old camera.

 

I have the X100T at the moment but when the replacement comes out, I don't expect they will update it. Thankfully, the camera will be just as good as it is today.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Fuji is geared to cater to themselves and not to the consumer. I'm not saying that other makers are any different, not at all. What I am saying is that if Fuji stands alone as being an inovator in camera design it seems fit that they would carry that innovation into catering to their consumers. 

 

They are just following trends that most manufacturers follow. "Planned Obsolescence" pity

Link to post
Share on other sites

Spare parts and support for X cameras should be available for at least 5 years (some models probably longer) after a model has been discontinued. Hence I don't understand the "Planned Obsolescence" argument. It's not like Leica, where back displays for the M8 stopped being available after only a few years, so folks were forced to upgrade to an M9 ($$$) or keep their broken M8. IIRC, the X100 is still supported and even SAB is still repaired free of charge. If you have a different experience, it would be interesting to know.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cameras are consumable products in today's world - even more so cameras that do not accept interchangeable lenses for future sales. It's all part of the upgrade cycle of the modern consumerist society. Will I complain next year when they release a new X100 with a higher res sensor? No - I made my decision to purchase based upon today, not possible future upgrades. If the improvements are worth it I will upgrade - eg. I just sold my X20 and upgraded to an X30 because I wanted wifi.

 

If you need the latest you pay for it - it doesn't come for free. Personally I support Fuji's approach - it means they are more likely to still be making cameras in10 years time, and not discontinuing or mothballing the line.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 Personally I support Fuji's approach - it means they are more likely to still be making cameras in10 years time, and not discontinuing or mothballing the line.

Most every camera company is losing money right now.   Glad to see there are people who recognizing this fact and understand why it is important for Fuji to be profitable. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think its fair. If there's some obvious hardware defects or optimizations that need attention, for sure update via FW. But until the X100T came out (and with it CC), everyone loved their X100S's, and even when the T was announced most people said "Meh, not worth upgrading from the S", but are now crying foul now that the S isn't going to receive the T upgrades via FW.

 

As for Classic Chrome. Meh, I don't see why everyone is frothing at the mouth over it, I don't use it in either my X100T or X-T1. But its clearly a premium feature for the current gen of products (X30, X-E2, X100T, X-T1 and probably X-Pro2/X-T10). Everyone's losing their minds over it because Zack Arias and David Hobby gushed over it and they know they had it hacked onto their X100S's by Fuji.

 

Fuji. Do. Not. Owe. You. Film. Simulations.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Obviously people think only about themselves and are unable to see that right now someone who doesn't own an x100 and wants to get one has quite a lot of reasons to grab a T over a S. It's smart from Fuji.

Would they put cc and all on the X100S much less people would buy the T.

I think they know very well that someone who already owns a S will not that likely upgrade, and probably wait for the next gen, the decision to not upgrade the S is not meant to push them towards the T, it's meant for the newcomers to grab the T IMO.

Now all this "if Fuji doesn't upgrade my camera that was so awesome 1 year ago, but now doesn't have the same feature as the newest one so it's suddenly a piece of junk, I QUIT U BE WARNED FUJI !!!!" is so pathetic... Better laugh about it I suppose.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It's a bad decision.

 

The x100s is my first Fuji camera and probably the last if Fuji refuses to provide firmware updates to "boost" sales of their newer camera.

 

I bought my x100s knowing that Fuji is the only company providing relevant updates to their camera lineup.

Oh, which other classicly styled single focal length body with a hybrid viewfinder was on your shopping list? And assuming there even was one, would that manufacturer provide free upgrades? Seriously, get out and take pictures and stop wingeing on forums, or if it's that important, sell your low mileage X100S and buy a T.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Please Fujifilm!!! One more grand update for the x100s owners! If I knew the x100t would be introduced so soon I would have waited. Although I'm absolutely satisfied with the camera just at least give us the x100t firmware for those who don't need the new hybrid viewfinder or Wifi.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If fuji releases an update for the x100s, it will be worth more used and I will sell mine and buy an x100t. The sudden switch in policy hurt the resale value, and the x100t upgrade isn't worth the current price difference to me.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cameras are consumable products in today's world - even more so cameras that do not accept interchangeable lenses for future sales.

 

 

Not a $1000+ camera (regardless if its got a fixed lense or not)!  All the $200-300 cameras out there, sure, those are consumable.  I understand what you mean though, but its sad if camera makers view what I would consider a pro-level camera consumable.  Not all of us are professionals and can afford to buy new cameras every couple years.  I own an X100T, and that cost me a significant amount of my income, so I intend to make it last as long as I possibly can!

 

If you use too much available resource updating FW for older equipment, you have less resource to develop FW for current / Future equipment.

 

Fair enough, and I understand the business decisions that might drive that, but I would hope Fuji would maintain their history of listening to the voice of the users and continually updating the functionality of their products based on that feedback.  

 

I look at it this way:  I bought a new car and paid for the GPS to be built it.  My mistake, should have gone with a 3rd party GPS, but I wanted the integration and convenience.  It sucked.  The manufacturer built the GPS and immediately stopped releasing firmware updates for it to focus on next year's model.  I feel like I have been abandoned with no hope for any improvement without shelling out more money (read: won't ever support the company again).  

 

Granted we're talking about a camera maker that makes already awesome products that need little improvement.  However, I would rather Fuji stop releasing new models (and I don't mean evolutions of existing models like X100 to S to T), and re-route those resources back into focusing on the already awesome family of cameras they make.  Things like releasing hardware evolutions of existing cameras (X100, S, T, etc), as well as releasing firmware evolutions for existing products.  I don't think they need to keep major firmware upgrades coming for many years to come, but I feel like we should be able to reasonably expect one major firmware upgrade in a camera's future before giving up on it.  I own an X100T, but the new autofocus stuff that the XT-1 is getting is really making me jealous.  I know that functionality could be ported over to other models, and I hope that it eventually does.  This is why I buy Fuji.  I won't buy other manufacturer's cameras, because the vast majority of them adopt the philosophy of releasing a camera, and that is all you get.  Want an upgrade or new features?  Pay us more $$$.  Fuji has, so far, allowed us to get more mileage from our cameras by releasing significant features via firmware.  This type of support creates serious customer loyalty, so it won't hurt their sales b/c I hold off on buying the newest model for a couple more years, and just ride out a new firmware upgrade till then.  Honestly, I'd be fine if they had to charge a reasonable amount for those major firmware upgrades.  I mean free is always best, but NO firmware upgrades at all is way worse.

 

Having said all this, I love Fuji, my next camera will be Fuji, my X100T is perfectly adequate to me as is.  I really do hope you X100S users get the major firmware upgrade you all deserve.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If fuji releases an update for the x100s, it will be worth more used and I will sell mine and buy an x100t. The sudden switch in policy hurt the resale value, and the x100t upgrade isn't worth the current price difference to me.

not sure it works that way.  I wish it did however.

  Thats like saying they can add more firmware features to the current x-t1 firmware, as they are doing with FW 4.0, and expect price of the x-t1 to go up. It won't.  What happens instead is the ones which don't get the firmware, the price goes down even further due to the expanded functional gap.   IF you release the firmware to X100S, then more likely the secondary market price of the x100t will go down because the x100s would have less separation from the x100t than it does now.  Causing people to not buy the x100t as much.  It does not benefit Fuji, either way from a new camera sales point of view or will releasing FW ever increase the resale value of your existing used camera. It only ever goes down, until it becomes so rare that it turns into a collectable.

 

When did your iPhone or Mac ever go up in value when Apple released a new major OS release? I wish it worked that way.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the whole story of Fuji's commitment to the user by improving existing cameras via firmware updates is oversold. Yes, they do offer good and useful firmware updates from time to time but these are driven entirely by commercial criteria. The reason the X-T1 gets multiple comprehensive upgrades is because it is the best selling and most profitable camera in the Fuji lineup. It makes business sense to focus resources on that camera. The reason for the most recent upgrade to the X-T1 is to ensure that the more profitable camera is not seen as inferior to the newly released X-T10. The FW update is about ensuring that people who are choosing between the X-T1 and X-T10 won't discount the X-T1 because of its  inferior AF system.

 

FW updates for the X-E2 presumably follow the same logic but it's hard at times to know what Fuji is thinking. The AF updates were most welcome, the CC update seems to be mostly about marketing since the CC profile seemed to be heavily marketed and pushed online as connecting with the company's history in film. On the other hand, from the time the X-E2 was released reviewers and users have complained about the inability to set EVF/LCD options independently for shooting and playback. You would think that this would be a relatively straightforward thing to correct yet it has never happened.

 

I'm happy that Fuji does from time to time upgrade things on my camera, but I don't believe for a minute that they are operating on anything other than a purely commercial and business calculation when they decide what to do.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

 

Fair enough, and I understand the business decisions that might drive that, but I would hope Fuji would maintain their history of listening to the voice of the users and continually updating the functionality of their products based on that feedback.  

 

That's exactly what they did. The X100T is the result of listening to feedback from X100 and X100S users.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, which other classicly styled single focal length body with a hybrid viewfinder was on your shopping list? And assuming there even was one, would that manufacturer provide free upgrades? Seriously, get out and take pictures and stop wingeing on forums, or if it's that important, sell your low mileage X100S and buy a T.

 

This has nothing to do with other possible choices I had when I decided to buy the X100s and I'm not using the forums to bitch about my dissatisfaction with Fuji's decision. However, one of the aspects that made me buy an X100s was the whole Kaizen philosophy and Fuji's reputation to listen to the feedback of its user and later provide meaningfull firmware upgrades. Think about how a firmware upgrade basically turned the X100 into a significantly better camera.

 

Rest assured, I enjoy using my X100s to take pictures now just as much I did the day I bought it.

 

The one thing Fuji should and could improve on the X100s is its autofocus performance. There are numerous instances when the autofocus is downright inconsistent or is strugling to achieve focus and this occurs under good ligting conditions.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It would be great if Fuji release another X100S FW update

 

I also bought mine with the expectation of the continued improvements (Kaizen) that the X100 receive - even after the X100s was out... I rly thought it would be the same for the "s".

If there where another update I would like:

  • Better autofocus
  • Spot metering coupled on the AF-area
  • Fast change of AF- area with the back buttons
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...