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Leaked photos suggest Fuji’s new Instax SQ10 Square camera might be an analogue digital hybrid

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Fuji’s Instax square format camera was first mentioned at Photokina back in September last year. At the time it was “in development”. Shortly after they released a somewhat cryptic short movie to advertise the camera. Now, it seems the development may be completed. Fuji Rumors are reporting what appear to possibly be the first photos of the new Fuji Instax SQ10 square format camera.

Surprisingly one photo shows a large LCD on the back. This LCD has led to some to suggest that this might be some kind of analogue digital hybrid camera. A digital camera with a sort of LightJet style printing technique. This might also explain why there doesn’t appear to be a viewfinder. Others have gone even further, suggesting that it might be possible to use it to print images from smartphones.

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Retouching interiors in Lightroom & Photoshop

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Here’s a typical quick interior shoot for a Swiss brand called VIU Eyewear. They contacted me to create three images for their website/social networks. The only rule was to stay in the same style than their other images on their “Stores” page (something very simple, white and luminous with an emphasis on the store interior design). Here’s how I shot it and edited it.

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Fujifilm UK brings out topless model at GFX 50S event sparking tirade of Twitter outrage

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Having models at camera demo events isn’t all that strange. It doesn’t happen at most of them, but it’s not unusual. Especially with cameras marketed towards fashion and portraits. Somebody at Fujifilm UK, however, decided that just bringing out a model wasn’t good enough for the Fujifilm GFX 50S, though. Oh no, she had to be topless, too.

Fujifilm UK held a paid event that would let photographers try out the new medium format GFX 50s. It started as many do, with a technical talk. Then they were to bring out a model. That way photographers to try out the new camera for themselves. It caused at least one photographer, Danny North, to leave immediately. He then went on a Twitter tirade to voice his displeasure.

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Save $5,000 by getting a monochrome Fuji X-Pro1 or X100S instead of a Leica

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When Fuji released the X-Pro1 and X100S, they became instant hits. Relatively small cameras with amazing image quality. Many photographers added one to their kit as a lightweight alternative to a DSLR for personal use. Others completely replaced their DSLRs with the new Fuji offerings as their new main bodies. People loved them.

A couple of months after the X-Pro1 launch, Leica announced their new M Monochrome black & white only digital rangefinder. This was the first commercially available black & white digital camera. 2012 was turning out to be an interesting year. But the price tag of almost $8,000 put it out of reach to most photographers. Since then, a lot have asked Fuji to produce a less expensive alternative. Now, black & white versions of the X-Pro1 and X100S are available, although not from Fuji.

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Fuji define target market for the GFX and aims to gets serious about video

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With the recent official launch of the Fujigilm GFX 50S some photographers have been left wondering exactly what market it’s aimed at. The array of videos they’ve released along with it cover a wide range of topics. But now Fuji have spoken. Makoto Oishi is manager of Fujifilm’s Sales and Marketing Group. He told DPReview in an interview that “Fashion, commercial and landscape photographers are the main targets”.

Manager for Technical Marketing, Billy Luong, also expects the camera will appeal highly to wedding photographers. Architects are also mentioned. So, it seems they’re actually throwing out a pretty wide net. But they’re not just aiming at professionals, at least when it comes to landscapes. They’re also hoping to capture the high end amateur market, too.

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The comprehensive Fuji EF-X500 speedlight flash review

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In 2016, I joined team Fuji after being extremely impressed with the X-T2 body. I had been watching mirrorless technology for a while, but this was the first time a system had everything I wanted in a camera body. While I finally had a satisfying mirrorless experience, with great autofocus, low-light capabilities, and image quality, I quickly realized the system was lacking in the flash department. Not only did Fuji lack a dedicated speedlight, but the low market share has also kept 3rd party companies from building dedicated lighting products for Fuji systems.

After plenty of delays, the flagship Fuji EF-X500 speedlight has finally hit shelves globally. While it fills a monstrous gap in the system, it comes with a steep price of $449.99, which may be a tough pill to swallow for photographers who have become accustomed to affordable feature-rich solutions such as the Godox X series lighting. I have been holding out myself, but thankfully Fuji friend Jeffrey Lewis Bennett let me borrow his 3 EF-X500s to see if they were right for me. Here’s what I found in my testing.

*Note, my accompanying video is quite long and goes over the flash in-depth, so if you are interested in a specific portion you will find links in the video description, as well as the category headers.

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Fujifilm announce new X-T20 and X100F bodies and a $6,499 price tag on the medium format GFX

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Fujifilm have today announced two new X-Series cameras, the X100F and X-T20, along with a new XF 50mm f/2 R WR lens. The X100F represents the fourth generation in the X100 series and comes with the 24.3MP sensor found in the higher end X-Pro2 and X-T2 cameras. The X-T20 also comes with the 24.3MP sensor and shoots 4K video. The X100, however, is limited to only 1080p.

Fuji have also given up the price for their new medium format GFX camera. At $6,499 for the body alone, it’s certainly not a cheap camera. Compared to its nearest neighbour, though, the Hasselblad X1D, there’s a rather substantial difference. On paper, there’s very little difference between the two, although there are a couple of big ones for some potential buyers.

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Fuji teases 7 more GFX challenge videos to show off what it can do

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Fujifilm seem to be going all out on the GFX hype, presenting us with a slew of videos. The first started in September with the initial announcement. We saw a few more new ones last week showing off its capabilities, and now they’ve released seven more. This time around, there seems to be a bit more of a focus on landscapes and commercial work.

So, in no particular order of preference we meet, Victor Liu, Minoru Kobayashi, Luciano Romano, Romeo Balancourt, Per-Anders Jörgensen, Ivan Joshua and Gary Heery. Each of them takes us through a typical shoot using the GFX. It seems that the mirrorless medium format camera could potentially offer some very stiff competition to higher end DSLRs as a daily workhorse.

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Fujifilm GFX videos offer insight into what we can expect from their medium format mirrorless camera

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Fuji’s GFX 50S medium format camera got a lot of attention when it was announced at Photokina in September. But, it was also still shrouded in quite a lot of mystery. They wouldn’t let us have a look at it outside of its glass cabinet, and certainly not test it out. Even the official GFX page on the FUji website doesn’t really have a whole lot of information now.

We know it’s medium format, mirrorless, has a 43.8 x 32.9mm 51.4MP sensor and will have an array of impressive looking lenses available. We also know that there’s a vertical grip available for it, for those that shoot portrait orientation often. Fuji have been teasing us with some videos, though. The first two appeared in September during the GFX announcement, but several more we released just a few days ago.

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My journey from DSLR to mirrorless cameras as a photojournalist

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It started with a phone call from the picture editor of one of country’s best selling newspapers asking me to catch a flight that evening to Amsterdam to accompany a journalist for a story first thing the next morning.

I was warned to be very discrete as the story could be very sensitive to some people. It involved a Dutch trawler that was registered in the UK under a flag of convenience that enabled it to use up 25% of the UK fishing quota by just one “industrialized” super trawler. The owners may not have liked the presence of English journalists hence the need for discretion.

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