Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Fuji's long awaited announcement...Updated

Not exactly a product recall... but ...well you be the judge.
Apparently May/June we should start seeing x10's & XS1's with the new sensor.
Here's a link to the full announcement at DPreview.com

Update... 24/3/12

After watching the reaction from X10 and XS users, its fair to say there are a lot of very unhappy X10 & XS1 owners out there. There are also a lot who are happy using these cameras, and it appears build quality between batches is highly variable, with some reporting no highlight issues or focus problems, or the lens droop in the XS1.


That said, both of these cameras should never have been released onto the market. The quality control and manufacture process has been disastrous. Offering a firmware fix to the XS1 owners for a clearly defective sensor is nothing short of stupidity on Fuji's part. Its the same sensor as seen in the X10, yet they try to fob the owners off with a very poor firmware update and suggestions that one shouldn't shoot the camera under 800 ISO.


I've seldom heard anything so bloody stupid. 


The saving grace in all of this may be the HS30 and the F750, which are both showing promise from initial reports from early adopters.
Here in New Zealand its price point is far too expensive as is the F750's.
With the x1-Pro coming in in excess of $3000.00 for the body & a couple of lenses there really isn't much on offer this year. Even when they do release the revised cameras (X10) with a changed sensor to the market they will be on the verge of announcing the next generation of the HS & X series cameras, so it makes little sense to buy what could still be a flawed camera when the newer ones wont be too long from coming to the market.
My advice for would be buyer of XS1's and X10's is wait until the new generation of the cameras come to market, Fuji will hopefully have redressed these design issues.


Have I lost faith in the Fuji brand. To a large degree Yes.
I was going to upgrade from the HS20 to the XS1 as a logical improvement path. Unfortunately that's not likely to happen in the near future. I have considered the HS30 as an alternative but am yet to be convinced that I will get a "Significant Gain" over the output of my HS20 to warrant changing. In essence Fuji have forced my hand in the purchase of a new camera firmly towards the DSLR market. I don't really want a DSLR camera, I want an all in one shooter, that has the versatility of the HS series with as close to DSLR image quality as I can get. That was supposed to be the XS1. Hopefully it will now be the XS2. In the meantime I will keep the HS20 and use it until something better comes along.
In the meantime Fuji would do well to revise their processes and consider the damage to their reputation. If they really want to be the third largest camera producer then they really need to step up to the plate. Near enough is no longer good enough, especially when going up against Nikon, Canon and Sony.



8 comments:

  1. Think you are right, but I still enjoy my HS20. The company photogapher came in today to work with our graphic artist and he brought with him his new rig. A Sony DSLR with a 400mm lens. What a boat anchor, nice setup, but the weight and cost, made me love my Fuji even more!!
    Richard Bliss
    USA

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  2. Hi Richard.
    Yep I will be using the HS20 for a while yet. I'm not prepared to get my feet wet again with another Fuji until we see how things pan out of the next few months.

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  3. Ralph, I am wondering (a question asked by many): I currently own an HS10. I am very happy with the images I can take with it but I find it awefully slow. Should I upgrade to an HS20, considering the huge pricedrop, and skip the xs-1/hs30 bandwagon alltogether?

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  4. Yes definetly.
    For a long time I had the nagging feeling selling the HS10 was a mistake.
    It took a good deal of time to work out what mode to use for a given situation. And that's the key here.
    You have a lot more flexibility with the HS20 which is something I always wanted with the HS10.
    Just make sure to get yourself a really good quality class 10 SD card, otherwise it wont seem as though there much difference in the write speed.
    Video is usable but was better in the HS10, other than that the HS20 is considerably better camera function wise than the HS10. Just be prepared for a fairly intense learning period if you haven't used an EXR camera before. Good Luck, keep us posted,
    Cheers
    Ralph

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  5. While checking out the many and varied prices of the HS30 I noticed that some sites have increased the price of their remaining stocks of 20's! It could be an error or have they picked up the vibes about the 30 and the fact it may not be a better performer?
    Remember when the HS20 came out it took a caning on some forums. Would I now be wrong in saying that it proved itself a pretty good camera for what it is?

    Finely, I've been sitting on the fence for so long just waiting for a suitable replacement for my S6500. I was really (like Ralph) looking at the X-S1 or even the HS30.
    Although the X-10 and the X-S1 share the same sensor IMO the picture quality of the X-10 never carried through to the S-1 and this along with other issues (and price) made it a no go. Second choice was the HS30 but this started souring very quickly once some of pics were put up. It was like there were two different make of camera, one that shot reasonable pictures and the other that shot water colors. I don't believe that this can entirely be put down the operators. As mentioned by Ralph Fuji has quality control issues and I get the feeling that the HS30 has also fallen fowl to them.
    In the meantime I'm back on the fence waiting (as long as the white ants don't eat it), bring on the HS40 and X-S2, it may be Fuji's last chance before I move to another brand.

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  6. Hi Sol,
    Yeah I'm thinking that sitting on the fence is a good option.
    I not surprised by the HS20 increased price either. As stock diminish and more people want one that will start to push the price up for a while. However its not likely to stay too high for long and demand will drop once people feel that its no longer a bargain.
    From various reports, it would seem that the HS30 is starting out the same way the HS20 did. There appears to be only a slow uptake of the HS30 at the moment, we should see more reports out of the US and the UK when their summer is in full swing and people want to get out and about.

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  7. Spoke with Steve at Fuji USA He mentioned that there is no promise from Fuji it they will even produce the X-s2. From the images on flicker. I has seen good results from the xs1...so we may have to settle for this one if we want to have the bigger Dale feel over thei he serious

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    1. Yes its hard to tell if the XS1 is a failure or an experiment to see what they could do. Sales have been sluggish at best for the XS1.
      I get the impression that its bigger than a lot of people want in a bridge camera and that's why the HS30 seems to be doing better.
      I for one certainly wouldn't pay for a flawed camera and it seems that the public feels the same, at least those with some camera knowledge.

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