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| Fujifilm’s Jun Watanabe and Yuji Igarashi, talking to us, following the X100 VI’s launch. Picture: Richard Butler |
“We wouldn’t be right here if we didn’t have the X100,” says Fujifilm’s Yuji Igarashi, “If that failed, we’d have been in a really tough place.”
Igarashi, Divisional Supervisor of Fujifilm’s Skilled Imaging Group was talking to us simply earlier than the launch of the X100VI. He and his colleague, Product Planning Supervisor Jun Watanabe mentioned the significance of the X100 sequence in establishing the Fujifilm model because it’s now acknowledged. In addition they spoke about the way forward for the trade, the position AI has to play and even perhaps hinted at the opportunity of a video-centered digital camera.
“That was the primary digital camera after we stepped up from promoting point-and-shoot, entry-level compact cameras,” Igarashi remembers: “Smartphones had been turning into standard and demand for point-and-shoot cameras was declining so quick.”
“However we had been decided to proceed and to develop on this trade, so we thought very laborious, how can we alter our enterprise mannequin. This was our first try to try this, utilizing the APS-C-sized sensor. X100 was an enormous success, which gave us confidence.”
What occurs subsequent?
Practically fifteen years later and it feels just like the trade is going through as much as one other existential risk, as the standard of computational images and the at all times with you, at all times related comfort of smartphones together with the arrival of AI picture technology threaten even high-end cameras. However Igarashi sees room for progress, nonetheless.
“It’s the youthful technology that can drive images,” he says: “People who find themselves photograph literate, who use their smartphones on a regular basis, these individuals have an enormous potential”
And he believes there’s nonetheless room for devoted cameras, alongside smartphones. “Taking pictures together with your smartphone is nice, it’s enjoyable, and you’ll share these pictures immediately, however many individuals don’t know there’s extra to it. So should you take time to take footage and even print your photographs you get to study extra about images after which images ardour will develop.”
However to do that, the digital camera has to supply one thing distinctive, he suggests. “We’ve got to consider the place the variations are between smartphones and cameras. What’s the distinction between these two, and what makes them [want to] use a digital camera.”
What can a devoted digital camera provide?
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| Yuji Igarashi – Divisional Supervisor of Fujifilm’s Skilled Imaging Division |
Watanabe places ahead some recommendations: “Smartphone connectivity is, after all, a very powerful factor. And the enjoyment of operability of the digital camera is a vital issue”
“The operability and picture high quality,” Igarashi agrees. “and the standard of the product,” says Watanabe.
That ease of sharing is enhancing, suggests Igarashi: “Most individuals really feel it’s important to switch the picture. Body.io, camera-to-cloud has been a game-changer in that sense, however I believe we will make it much more seamless in future.”
“When individuals suppose it’s one ecosystem, that’s after I suppose individuals who use smartphones will really feel {that a} digital camera is a part of their images life.”
The position of AI
Chatting about smartphones led, maybe inevitably, to discussions about computational images and the position AI will play within the coming years.
“I believe AI expertise has been the development, in each an excellent and unhealthy sense,” says Igarashi: “It’s helped us enhance our topic detection, and make big enhancements within the autofocus, so it may well assist us improve our gear so much. However there are additionally issues about what’s an actual photographic picture, about who created that picture, et cetera. So it’s good and unhealthy and I believe as an trade we’re nonetheless attempting to work that out.”
However he thinks the position AI will play in devoted cameras might be totally different from these in smartphones.
“For smartphones, usually, it will help you mechanically. It offers you most likely the best-looking image for lots of people, however much less character,” says Igarashi: “cameras like to help you to be extra artistic. How can the AI help you to be extra artistic, to do what you imagined? So it will not be like smartphone AI.”
However, he says, “I believe the largest affect of AI expertise most likely has but to return.”
Room for enchancment
One space AI may proceed to offer advantages is autofocus, says Watanabe: “We expect there’s some room for enchancment. For instance, in group sports activities resembling soccer or basketball it’s not potential for the digital camera to exactly observe the athlete that the photographer desires to observe.”
Additionally, regardless of the arrival of AF monitoring within the current GFX 100 II and X100 VI, he additionally highlights video AF as an space nonetheless growing: “The calls for of video autofocus are totally different than for stills photographers. For video the main target has to vary easily or to vary on the velocity the creator desires. So there’s a lot room for enchancment,” he says.
Balancing stills and video
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| Jun Watanabe – Product Growth supervisor for Fujifilm’s X Sequence |
The concept of latest video AF options making their X-series debut within the stills-focused X100 VI prompted us to ask in regards to the firm’s serious about stills and video, and the way they’re supplied in several merchandise.
“It is dependent upon our product lineup,” says Igarashi: “For instance, the X100 VI, we’d by no means have a flip-out display on this digital camera. We’re nonetheless enhancing the video capabilities however ensuring it’s nonetheless a photography-centric digital camera. Then, for instance, our hybrid vary is completely totally different: we attempt to accommodate each in addition to potential. After which we’d most likely have merchandise which might be extra video-centric. So we attempt to have a look at the shoppers on a case-by-case foundation: how and what they need to use it for. I believe it’s inconceivable to have every part [in one camera].”
For this, he says, they take heed to buyer suggestions. “We get suggestions on video functionality from the X-H aspect and extra requests on the stills aspect from X-T. So we’re studying so much and we’re pondering extra in regards to the cameras relying on the state of affairs, which digital camera must be used, how? So it’s been very useful for us, having totally different ranges, T and H. I don’t suppose they’re getting nearer however possibly not a lot additional aside. It’s about attempting to determine the best stability.”
In discussing the challenges of enhancing video, Watanabe made an identical level: “When it comes to design for a stills and video hybrid, we achieved a profitable degree. However for a extra video-orientated digital camera we will create one other type of form-factor for easy-to-use, easy-to-handle for video recording. I believe we will create one other sort of design.”
The way forward for X-Professional
For all these obvious hints at a extra video-centric mannequin, Igarashi ended the interview by elevating the topic of one of many firm’s most photo-focused fashions: the rangefinder type X-Professional sequence. “That is an necessary class for us. We began with the rangefinder-style X100, then we launched the rangefinder-style interchangeable [model], the X-Professional,” he reminds us. “That is a line we’re decided to proceed.”
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