Where is the Real Fujifilm Sports Camera? And Lenses Too?
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Fujifilm has done a fantastic job with photojournalism, street photography, landscapes, documentary, and portraiture. But where is the real Fujifilm sports camera? The Fujifilm XT4 is a fantastic camera for sure. Fujifilm can’t even keep it in stock at all. But we need something even higher grade for sports. I don’t think that that will come from the GFX lineup of cameras. But a Fujifilm sports camera will probably need to come from the X series. And to really stand out, it will need to do something better than what a full-frame camera can do.
Before we go on, know that I’m not talking about the XT4. Here’s what we said about the autofocus on the XT4 in our review:
Throughout our time with the XT4, the autofocus system was quick and mostly consistent, even in low light scenarios. You can shoot up to 15fps when using the mechanical shutter, or up to 20 fps by switching to the electronic one. Sony’s still the king of the hill when it comes to AF, though. Next to the Sony A6600 (the X-T4’s most direct competitor), the X-T4 lags just a touch behind. Sports and wildlife shooters will surely want to familiarize themselves with the AF tracking and zone switching sensitivity, and dial them in accordingly.
Yes, I’m partially talking about the Fujifilm XH2. If it’s really coming this year, then we’ll probably have something exceptional. But it’s going to need to do a lot of things better than full-frame cameras. What am I talking about?
- Fujifilm really needs to improve their autofocus tracking. It needs to be faster and more accurate.
- Bird and animal detection needs to come to the camera.
- A faster frame rate, faster than the 30 fps that full frame cameras deliver. Why not go to 60fps with autofocus tracking?
- A true Superia simulation, because Superia 800 was great for sports photography back in the day.
- The XT4’s battery and a boost mode with the vertical grip that will make it even faster
- Even cleaner high ISO image quality
- No blackout EVF
Realistically speaking, Fujifilm needs to find ways to outdo full-frame cameras because people just scoff at APS-C sensors. So for every piece of technology that Canon and Sony put in to make their products better, Fuji needs to outdo them.
But this isn’t all that Fujifilm needs. Of course, the company needs lenses that support all this. They could really do with adding a 300mm and even a 400mm lens to their lineup with teleconverters. Fujifilm has created several zoom lenses to appeal to professional photographers. But there’s still not a lot overall. Hopefully, the new Fuji and Tamron partnership can fill in those gaps.
Could it be that Fujifilm still thinks that the X series shouldn’t try to do everything? APS-C sensors are good, don’t get me wrong. But they will eventually really hit their limits. And even so, the X Trans sensor becomes more and more useless as a design once the megapixels increase. Maybe Fujifilm is just trying to stick to street, documentary, portraiture, landscapes, travel, and standard photojournalism.
Still, I think they’re missing a critical market. The GF series doesn’t tackle the sports audience at all. Nor does it really go after the wildlife photography market.
When you think about this, it makes me wonder if Fujifilm will actually create something like this. For sure, you buy a Fujifilm camera because of what it is. They’ve got arguably superior ergonomics to everyone else. Plus, there’s the X trans sensor and Fujifilm film simulations. Still, though, what if you could apply all of that to a sports and wildlife camera?