Fuji to join micro four thirds bandwagon?

[Raist3d]

It's a rumor so treat it as such.

(FT4) Fuji joins MicroFourThirds

I would say it makes sense except a straight forward EXR sensor. It has to be a bit more special than that.

Would be neat.

- Raist

[badpickev]

hmmm, lets see, Fuji was a founding member. this rumor pops up every year.

[Raist3d]

Fuji wasn't a founding member. The Founding members were Kodak and Olympus. Fuji signed up as a consortium member. And that's of four thirds.

But this is micro four thirds, which has its own organization. The founding members were Panasonic and Olympus - and still the only ones in micro four thirds.

The reason why I put some interesting relevance to this rumor instead of the usual "will Fuji ever do a four thirds body" which they clearly haven't and I lost hope they will ever will is because:

- micro four thirds cameras are selling right now very, very well
- fuji has technology that may be a good match for the 4/3rds sensor size (micro four thirds uses a 4/3rds sensor)
- seems to me Fuji's best chance to get back in the game. No DSLR's for so long = they are out. At this point the catch up they have to do is significant, and still depending on Nikon for bodies I still think is a losing strategy. Micro four thirds with the idea of specifications and possibility for someone else to join presents an opportunity for Fuji here.
- The website reporting these 43rumors has been crazy accurate about more than half its rumors that are ranked as very likely (FT4 or FT5).

Certainly this is still a rumor and should be treated as such, but there is a context and new information that make it interesting vs the yearly "will Fuji ever do a 4/3rds/is doing/will do" camera rumor.

- Raist

[badpickev]

if fuji is making the body.

fuji's bridge camera bodies suffer from:

a lack of state of the art af system
only has ttl flash
the bodies are not close to heavy duty use or pro level
are slow
file size is large.

if fuji is going to make a good/decent m4/3 camera, they will either need to do a ton of r&d or buy someone elses body.

so i am guessing that fuji is eigher buying a body or camera system components to catch up.

but yes it is real

[Raist3d]

But I don't think they have to release a pro body to enter the micro four thirds market. That's yet one more incentive for them.

I could be wrong but the current bridge bodies they have would be enough as far as speed and AF to make it to micro four thirds in a reasonable way.


Remember part of the big size of their bridge camera is because the one-size-fits-all lens, that changes with micro four thirds as the lenses are intercheangable, and they may just let Panasonic, Olympus be the ones they use (yet another incentive: they could bring their fujinon lenses brand in - the micro four thirds lens market is still very young).

As for the processor and file sizes- they can bring their DSLR processor class technology for it. Nikon doesn't give them anything AFAIk that deals with filesize or memory card storage at the DSLR level- that's all Fuji anyway, so I see no difference there.

So when you say "yes it is real" you mean the micro four thirds model? Heard something new that corroborates it?

- Raist

[Raist3d]

Oh wow, seems like it's true....

Re: Middle age 4/3: Fujifilm SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

- Raist

[badpickev]

to be announed at pma

[badpickev]

one thing to remember is this is still a 6mp picture. while its a 12mp sensor, the pixel binning reduces the res to to 6mp.

[Raist3d]

Yup and I honestly wonder if they are doing exactly that (I guess it's still up in the air), if 6MP will be enough to be perceived as a reasonable competitor.

- Raist

[badpickev]

no it wont.

[Raist3d]

Confused... no it won't be 6 MP effective or no it won't compete?

[badpickev]

it wont compete.

panasoninc or samsung is doing a 14.3mp m4/3 camera

[Raist3d]

If Fuji can keep an "HR mode" at 12, then I think they could compete.. but that would mean an EXR sensor... which they said wouldn't benefit much a bigger sensor...

I love the SR more in what it can do but then resolution is lost. If they can make the SR work as an HR in a way under high light that could work out I think...

BTW, Samsung isn't doing a micro four thirds camera. And if what they showed is the EVF camera they are thinking- with the lenses I saw, I see Panasonic and Olympus with nothing to worry about. The whole point of micro four thirds is small and unless they are bluffing, if those are the lenses, that big, I don't see the point. It's not like Samsung has a reputation making lenses either.

I really think Fuji gave up on the DSLR market. Micro four thirds is their last hope. Unless they could start making their own DSLR bodies, their DSLR's ended with the S5 pro.

[Ernie]

Sorry this one was a mistake and could not find a way to remove it.

[Ernie]

This coild be good for the 4/3 system, because in my book Fuji have had the edge on noise for a long while. 6 mpx is not that bad, some of the best images I took were with 5 mpx, the more px they cram into these small sensors the more noise, hence more noise reduction , and less detail. really and truely this mps saga is a marketing ploy. Ernie