Fujifilm will launch a new X Series camera on May 22 – but the brand’s latest teaser on the upcoming camera seems to only add more mystery to the upcoming launch.
On Monday, May 19, Fujifilm shared a brief interview with Hayato Ueno, the designer behind the upcoming camera. The video is shot with the upcoming camera, making the footage and stills the first samples shared from the mysterious camera.
“I am excited to say that I am the designer behind this new X Series camera,” Ueno says, according to the captions translated from Japanese. “I personally use both digital and film cameras of various formats, ranging from point and shoot to medium format. But spec and tech aren’t always everything. I designed this camera so that you can express yourself in a different way. I hope you will enjoy telling your story with this camera.”
Above: the latest teaser video for Fujifilm's soon-to-announced camera
Fujifilm has so far only confirmed a short list of facts about the new camera: a launch date of May 22 and that the upcoming camera will be part of the X Series. A poorly lit shot of the back of the camera offers few clues.
The brief interview doesn’t add to that list of known features for the unnamed camera. But the brief glimpses and words will undoubtedly spark more speculation over what, exactly, Fujifilm is planning next.
Ueno talks about using film cameras, and the footage shows shots of film strips. But the Fujifilm X Series already has a reputation for its film-inspired color profiles. A new X Series camera with inspiration from film is more expected than surprising. The sample images interspersed throughout the video feel true to Fujifilm’s color profiles, with much of the video shot with a high contrast black-and-white.
But what strikes me most about the teaser is Ueno’s comment about specs not being everything. To me, that suggests that the upcoming, unnamed camera isn’t going to have flagship-level specifications.
But the video, which was reportedly shot with the unnamed camera, has something in common with early teasers: diptychs. While some of the teaser video shows a standard view, other shots split the frame in half, showing two separate videos or, at times, one photo and one video all at once.
This is a format commonly referred to as a diptych, or two pieces of artwork side-by-side. In film photography, diptychs can be made in-camera with a half-frame camera, or a film camera that splits each of the frames in half to get twice as many photos from a roll of film. While half-frames have been around for a while, I’m not aware of a camera that embraces a digital version of the concept. Perhaps that is what Ueno meant by “ express yourself in a different way.”
The video also shares the same view of the back of the camera that Fujifilm has been sharing from the start. This glimpse doesn’t give many details, but a bright film simulation Provia is displayed on one side, under what looks like a viewfinder in the upper left corner.
Fujifilm’s latest teaser seems to pose more questions than answers. But fans won’t have to wait long – the same May 22 announcement date as an earlier teaser is tacked onto the interview video. Fujifilm typically announces an X Summit for big camera announcements, but curiously, Fujifilm hasn’t announced a large-scale event for May 22. Of course, we'll bring you the full details of the new camera as soon as they are announced
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