Let’s Play Make Believe!
When I was still working for Nikon, standing at the counter of the Nikon booth at Photo Plus we were showing, for the very first time, the new Nikon D4! A customer walked up and actually asked me this, “What do you know about the D5?” You have to be kidding me! Hey I get it, we are enthusiasts, we love the gear and we can’t wait to see what the next model will be like, so in keeping with that spirit, and since we have just gotten news of the X-PRO 2, someone actually emailed me and asked, “what do you know about the X-T2?” Nothing I can share, but let’s play some make believe!
Let’s pretend that I got a call from one of the chief engineers in Japan with Fuji and they asked me, “Bill, the next camera is being developed now, what would you like to see in the replacement camera for the X-T1?” Now, first, I did not get that call! But I do have some deep desires about what I hope is coming, so let me list what I would say to them, if they asked. Keep in mind I absolutely do not know if any of this is coming, but if it was coming and they took my advice I want the camera above, if you look close it is the X-T2 BF Edition (stands for Bill Fortney Edition) hey I said let’s pretend!!!!! Pretending is free!
Here is what I want:
I want it available in Black and Graphite (I would love to see the Black be Nitron coated with a very fine crinkle finish, dull matt black! Hey, just saying, looks great on some 9mm combat pistols!
Leave the ISO dial exactly where it is now, just bump the capability as in the X-PRO 2
Keep the customizable Q menu but expand it to two pages!
I would love the same sensor and X Pro processor in the X-PRO 2
A high eye point EVF finder with more resolution and magnification and faster refresh rate.
Improved shutter of the X-PRO 2 with 1/8,000th second mechanical speed.
Bracketing by 1/3 stops all the way up to 2 full stops and at least 5 frames, 7 would be even better.
2 SD card slots as in the X-PRO 2, one for UHS-II High speed cards
Include the ACROS monochrome film simulation
Same auto focus system in the X-PRO 2 with more focus points and faster response.
Higher resolution LCD that tilts as it does now but both horizontally and vertically
Eyepiece correction for viewfinder that locks or is harder to turn.
Self Timer than can be set and remain on until the user turns it off. User selectable range from 1 to 14 seconds.
Panorama assist for making manual pan shots.
Artificial horizon viewable in the LCD designed like the one in Nikons
Improved battery condition meter as in the X-PRO 2
Keep the same battery, work on better power management, but leave it alone, everyone already has a tons of batteries!
4 way buttons on the back slightly larger with a defined click into operation, no need to gum up the camera with sugru!
….and hey, thanks so much for what you’ve already done for us, I for one truly, deeply appreciate it, you’ve changed my photographic life!
NEW LENSES DOWN THE ROAD:
A 16-120 f 2.8 Red Badge (Constant Aperture) that focus as close as the 18-135
A 10mm f 2.8 rectilinear corrected for night photography!
A 120mm f 2 with same basic formula as the 90mm f 2, tack sharp, of course it would be!
A 50-200 f 3.5 constant aperture Red Badge, tripod collar.
So if you guys are out there listening, hope some of this comes true, and hey I give you permission to make a BF Edition, just saying, you have my permission!!!! LOL
Blessings,
the pilgrim
Snow stuff from today, all hand held with the 100-400, love that lens!!!!
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2016 at 7:04 pm
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Aren’t you glad your name isn’t Bill Smith? 🙂
But seriously…I would want the X-T2 to have a smaller footprint. I never gave the X-T1 a serious thought because of its size.
And what you said. No BS.
I doubt it will get any smaller, if it gets the X-PRO 2 shutter in might grow ever so slightly, but maybe not! And yes I don’t want the BS Edition!
Hi Bill,
I’m pretty much on board with the BF edition, just a few minor tweaks. I actually would not mind if the foot print was slightly larger, but no larger than my first film SLR, a Minolta XE7. I don’t have large hands, about medium size, so I don’t want a smaller foot print. I do want larger buttons, i feel they are too small/ too recessed, and the “joy stick” controller for rapid autofocus point movement like the Pro2. I also find the q menu custom modes a bit quirky to,use and would like an improved user interface. Just my 2 cents, cant wait to get my hands on a XT2!
Yes, I want that joy stick, I consider it part of the new auto focus system, and I to can’t wait for the XT-2!!!!
Oh, and I forgot to say… How about a touch sensitive LCD screen?
Would be nice!
I would add an old standard screw in cable release. I know it’s not weather resistant, but when you remove the rubber cap to add the current release, it’s not weather resistant then anyway. Definitely needs the lock on the diopter adjustment. Otherwise the BF edition would be find with me.
I agree on the threaded shutter release, I noted the X-PRO 2 has one and it is said to be very well weather sealed, so maybe!!!!
Joystick – Please!
Yes, a valuable control for sure!
I for one would like better buttons on the X-T2. Being a user of the back focus button workflow, that button is not large enough or situated conveniently (over the bulge for better grip). The X-E2’s button is larger and better situated and it look’s like the X-Pro2 uses the same setup.
My ideal size would be the same as the old Nikon FM. Even though I had a Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL, Nikon FTn and F3, the FM was the best feeling camera of the bunch.
Since this is a Pro camera, I would like to see them strip out the Advanced Filter stuff. I agree with Leica’s philosophy that the camera should only contain what it needs to take photographs – no more and no less.
The BF edition features sound right to me. Now about those lenses. Don’t you have enough yet? 🙂
All good ideas, and yes I do have enough, but…………
This is a fun one, Bill! And I like your list. As a baseline, I would stipulate that I want every feature from the X-Pro2 except those related to the HVF. I’m really looking forward to having the pixel remapping setting, for example. I would add to it:
– Every setting should be Q-able, that is, able to be put on the Q Menu and My Menu.
– Custom settings presets/banks should be nameable.
– Really like the idea of increased resolution on both the EVF and the back LCD
– RGB histogram option live in EVF, during image review after a shot is taken, and during playback
– Bracketing: Your system is good. If limited to a three-frame bracket, I’d love to see +/-3 for the spread.
– PDAF points: I don’t know that I need *more* but I’d like to see them spread out closer to the left and right edges of the frame vs the X-Pro2. (I’m hoping that the capability is already built into the sensor—but the physical appearance of it suggests this is not the case.)
– Huge agreement on a more flexible LCD design. I love using it to shoot close to the ground but this only works in landscape orientation with the current design. If I could pick only one thing off my list it would be this.
– I want the option to hide the menu settings I will never use. I’d love to get rid of the clutter that is only relevant to JPG shooting. Others might like to eliminate any hint of video capabilities on their X-T2.
– Pano assist…nice idea!
– Electronic level should show side-to-side AND front-to-back orientation. (This may be what you meant when you referenced Nikon’s system. I came over from Canon.)
– Batteries: I’d like to see a higher capacity battery in the same form factor but, if that’s not possible, I’d like to see some effort made to improve the speed at which they charge. Why should a battery with half the capacity of my old Canon batteries take twice as long to charge?
– Competitive video IQ. Better than the X-Pro2 (based on initial reports).
– I’d like all future bodies and lenses to include a “levitate” function to make transporting them from place-to-place less of an issue. 🙂
As far as lenses go, I’d love to see Fuji take Canon’s approach to their two shortest red-badge zooms and introduce lighter F4 versions that trade off speed for weight savings but don’t compromise IQ. And to echo you, I would like them to have the short and constant minimum focus distance that we enjoy with the 18-135. That’s my favorite thing about that lens.
Cheers!
Love it, all killer ideas! Really love the levitation one!!!
I forgot a big one. I want to be able to use all the focus modes w back button focus–zone focus, for example.
Bil
I can’t second enough the joystick for selecting focus points. I played with a Panasonic GX8 at ImagingUSA and their screen implementation was awesome to get the focus point…but if my eye is up to the finder I think the joystick would be better…and if in menu mode the joystick would be a very fast selector.
I also think we need to add into the BF Edition a set of motivational prayers for your first shot of the day, noon refocusing, midday prayers while editing in harsh light and an evening prayer of thankfulness for getting to have such wonderful tool in our lives! We could even sync it to our phones where my alarms call me to prayer twice a day in case I get too busy to remember to check my watch! (morning and evening are easy)
As much as I enjoy my XT-1 I would love a simultaneous deployment of the same camera in the rangerfinder format. Something just gets me happy when I use my XE-1….until I wait for focus time on one of my five rapidly moving children… It was the camera you hooked me on with the system years ago…and it fits right into my belt bag better than an XT-1…just saying.
Until then…I’ll dream and shot nicely with the two cameras and outstanding optics on hand…thankfully I might add!
Pray well my friend!
EW
Love the prayer function!
I am curious about the 100 – 400 Zoom. How does it compare to the standard, Nikon 200 – 400 in sharpness? I am like you I ain’t getting any younger and my camera bag is getting mighty heavy, my bread and butter is that old 200 – 400 and I am at least interested in the smaller, lighter system but I also am a bit enticed by the new D500. I have 2 bodies a D300 and a D800. wildlife is my passion. As I have said before I love your blog.
Thanks Steve, I’m glad to have you along! Now I really hate to say this, but I’ve had to say it a lot!!!!
So here goes, the reason I shot Nikon for over 40 years wastage glass! Lens for lens I thought it was the best you could buy! Now we’re there exceptions? Of course sometimes in a particular focal length Canon or Leica, or Zeiss had a screamer that was clearly better, but as zi said across the board Nikkors kicked butt! Now when I started shooting Fuji, my first lens was a budget, “kit” lens, the 18-55 f 2.8-4. Much to my utter amazement it performed, ( ready for this?) my vaunted Nikon 24-70 f 2.8!!!! Can’t be, right? Sorry it was better, not faster, but better!!! I now own the 10-24, 14, 16, 23, 35 f 1.4 & the f2, 16-56, 56 f 1.2, 60 Macro, 90, 18-135, 50-140, 100-400. Wait for it, here it comes……. I truly believe each and every one of these lenses is better than any corresponding men’s I’ve ever shot from any other system! …..and yes I think the 100-200 is sharper than the 200-400! If you want to have me committed, go for it!
Was the glass. Dang auto spell
Lens, not men’s, get excited when I think about my Fujinon glass!!!
Bill,
another thought on the XT-2. Thinking about exposure modes in digital cameras… they really seem like a hold over from the film days. We all know that exposing film (soft clipping of the shoulder) is very different compared to digital (hard clipping and complete loss of detail) So we all know how important it is to NOT over expose and clip in camera, unless there are area of the photo (e.g. small specular reflections) where it is OK to loose detail.
So my proposal is an exposure mode that is set to a max percentage of pixels that are just clipped (say 2% for starters and this can be user programmed) Zebra’s or some other highlight clipping indication (like in Lighroom) is doable with mirrorless cameras and the EVF. This way the camera always maps the brightest areas in the largest pixel values, this will always maximize the signal to noise ratio especially in the shadows (assuming the scene dynamic ranges doesnt exceed the cameras, then go HDR). One can always turn down the exposure in post to get the look you want. Any thoughts Bill? can you pass on to Fuji?
Thanks again for your great website. I hope I can make it to one of your workshops after I retire this year!
Ron