Tag: FujiLove

I am contemplating whether it’s time to upgrade to the X-T3

Fujifilm Releases Firmware Updates For X-T3 and X-T30 (FujiLove)

Fujifilm dropped the highly-anticipated firmware update ver. 3.00 for Fujifilm X-T3 and a small incremental firmware update ver. 1.01 for the Fujifilm X-T30 this week.

I typically update my electronic equipment when the vendor no longer provides firmware or OS software updates for a product. My experience is that for an iPhone or iPad, iOS updates can be expected for 3-4 years, for macOS, Apple will provide updates for Macs that are up to 7-8 years old. I bought my current iMac in 2013, but it runs macOS Mojave just fine. After a battery replacement, my iPhone 7 runs iOS 12.2 just fine. Apple released the 11” iPad Pro in 2015, so I think my current iPad Pro will be able to run iOS 13 just fine.

Fuji has been good about updates to the Fujifilm X-T2 even adding or improving features with each firmware release. Last summer, I bought a Fujifilm X-T2 used (pre-owned) on MPB. The camera does everything I expect of it. I have just one lens on my X-T2, but I have budgeted for a new lens at the end of this year. I bought some inexpensive Fotodiox adapters to use with some vintage Pentax lenses that I already own.

However, I am contemplating whether it’s time to move the X-T3. Is it too soon? What does the X-T3 do for me that my X-T2 cannot? Am I just suffering from GAS and FOMO?

Point-and-Shoot Cameras are Dead

Are Point-and-Shoot Cameras Dead? by Take Kayo (fujilove.com)

Don’t try selling to us camera nerds, as we’re buying less and less cameras. The sales numbers are reflecting this trend. To grow the market, manufactures must appeal to a larger consumer group that loves taking photographs. They need to appeal to the younger photographer, and to accomplish that the camera has to be a connected device, as well as offer features that smartphones don’t have or can’t do better.

The article started strong (the virtues of Point-and-Shoot cameras) but then went sideways with a feature list that seems silly when compared to a smartphone. With exception to sensor size, the smartphone checks ALL of the boxes in Take's feature list.

  • The smartphone is compact, light, stylish (hundreds of cases and other items to add bling), and FUN.
  • Current smartphone models have OIS/IBIS (but my Fuji X-T2 does not?).
  • A lens cap is not needed on a smartphone.
  • I read "large sensor (at least 1? but preferably APS-C) as "make the camera bulkier than a smartphone."
  • The selfie was invented on the smartphone.
  • The smartphone app market has no dearth of photography and mapping apps.
  • The photography workflow starts and ends on the device taking the photo -- the smartphone.

Imagine being able to take a photograph on your p&s camera, process it with built-in LR, and then post it directly to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter via your smartphone?

For the vast majority of people, the smartphone is a Point-and-Shoot camera.. They are doing these things already. But since we are "crazy" with requirements for this new type of Point-and-Shoot camera, I will add a requirement of my own.

  • The camera needs to be small enough to fit in the back pocket of my jeans.

... the XF10 is a great little p&s camera for an old school snap-shooter like myself,

The cheese has moved. It's no longer in the frame. I think the camera Take described above, and the traditional point-n-shoot camera has no chance of financial success.