Fujifilm drops hints about a new rangefinder-style camera
Fujifilm has released a short teaser video ahead of a June 12th announcement, hinting at a new rangefinder-style camera in its lineup. The announcement will come at the company's X Summit in Shanghai. The video starts with an X100 and X-Pro placed on a black background, followed by a camera that is significantly obscured in darkness. The text mentions a rangefinder-style series that is "essential when telling the story of our X Series history." It potentially suggests that the X-Pro series is still part of the lineup, even though the last X-Pro – the X-Pro3 – was released in 2019. The DPReview team had a chance to interview Yuji Igarashi, Divisional Manager of Fujifilm's Professional Imaging Group at CP+ earlier this year, asking him specifically about the X-E and X-Pro series. His comments at the time confirm that the X-Pro series isn't gone: "Our plan hasn't changed, we still plan to launch a successor to X-Pro3, but we don’t have a date, yet. And X-E of course, too. We haven’t abandoned the line either." When asked if the X-E series would return to its enthusiast-focused roots, Igarashi explained, "There’s nothing that’s perfect, which is totally unchangeable: it’s something we consider every time we come up with the next version." Jun Watanabe, Fujifilm's Product Planning Manager, commented on the types of users they are building the next X-E for, explaining that "They love the rangefinder style." He also said, "They love daily life photography [and using X-E] as a snap camera. They love the style and the design." Based on the comments at CP+ and the limited amount of detail contained in the teaser video, it seems feasible that we could be seeing the next X-E or X-Pro. However, we'll have to wait until June 12th for the reveal.
Fujifilm has released a short teaser video ahead of a June 12th announcement, hinting at a new rangefinder-style camera in its lineup. The announcement will come at the company's X Summit in Shanghai.
The video starts with an X100 and X-Pro placed on a black background, followed by a camera that is significantly obscured in darkness. The text mentions a rangefinder-style series that is "essential when telling the story of our X Series history." It potentially suggests that the X-Pro series is still part of the lineup, even though the last X-Pro – the X-Pro3 – was released in 2019.
The DPReview team had a chance to interview Yuji Igarashi, Divisional Manager of Fujifilm's Professional Imaging Group at CP+ earlier this year, asking him specifically about the X-E and X-Pro series. His comments at the time confirm that the X-Pro series isn't gone: "Our plan hasn't changed, we still plan to launch a successor to X-Pro3, but we don’t have a date, yet. And X-E of course, too. We haven’t abandoned the line either."
When asked if the X-E series would return to its enthusiast-focused roots, Igarashi explained, "There’s nothing that’s perfect, which is totally unchangeable: it’s something we consider every time we come up with the next version." Jun Watanabe, Fujifilm's Product Planning Manager, commented on the types of users they are building the next X-E for, explaining that "They love the rangefinder style." He also said, "They love daily life photography [and using X-E] as a snap camera. They love the style and the design."
Based on the comments at CP+ and the limited amount of detail contained in the teaser video, it seems feasible that we could be seeing the next X-E or X-Pro. However, we'll have to wait until June 12th for the reveal.
