Cinema5D interviewed Fujifilm General Manager Toshi Iida - here is the recap from FujiAddict:
Coronavirus COVID-19
- Toshi Iida is really sorry for the loss of people from COVID-19 and how it is affecting events like the Olympics that photographers work during and he hopes there is a swift recovery
- Toshi Iida thinks we will return to some normalcy, but can’t be sure how long it will take
- Fujifilm was first impacted at their China manufacturing site in early February, which was followed by an impact on demand
- At the moment they are focusing on keeping their product development going
- Fujifilm is working hard to overcome the situation with their own effort
- At first, Fujifilm had to extend the Chinese new year by command of the gov
- Then Fujifilm’s factory went back to normal by gov order
X-T4
- Fujifilm originally intended to produce all X-T4 in China starting February due to the extreme demand
- If you’re making something for the mass market China is the best place to produce a product
- Fujifilm is worried about actual demand being affected by this situation
- The preorders are still strong though so there are customers waiting for the X-T4
- There are some warehouse issues they are working around, but most people can buy online still
- With the X-T4 they have not seen preorders canceled yet
- Fujifilm employees haven’t been asked to stay home in general because Toshi Iida thinks as a manufacture Fujifilm needs to continue to innovate rapidly
- XT-3 was on the market for 1.5 years and X-T4 was developed rapidly to add IBIS and a bigger battery because those were the only complaints about the otherwise well-received X-T3
- The rapid turn around was based on R&D time
- X-H1 IBIS was too big and the IBIS in the X-T4 is 20%-30% smaller and lighter
- X-T4 IBIS also required a new shutter be developed too
- X-T4 also had a new longer life battery developed for it
- So IBIS, the new shutter, and longer battery life should all be enough to make photographers happy
- The Fujifilm X-T3 will still be produced and sold
- Some customers would prefer the X-T3 at a lower price point than X-T4
- The 6.5 stop IBIS unit was the most difficult thing to develop for X-T4
- The X-T3 IBIS is better than the X-H1 IBIS in every day even though it is smaller and lighter
GFX
- Medium format is the full-frame format for Fujifilm
- Fujifilm is well aware of the dropping price point of full-frame, but that is why they have the GFX50R
- Fujifilm is trying to make medium format GFX cameras that are small, lighter, and more affordable to become a mainstream product
Video
- Fujifilm is a later comer to video with the X-T3 and the X-T4 is an attempt to further catch up
- Fujifilm’s journey will never end and they are listening and adding more for filmmakers and videographers
- Fujifilm has a lot of very high-quality broadcast lenses that they use the technology from in their MK and GF/XF lenses
- They get a lot of requests for an anamorphic lens, but they just introduced the cine zoom Premista lenses and they are selling well so maybe in the future
Via Cinema5D
