Fujifilm once struggled to sell cameras. Now, it can't keep up with demand

Good for Fuji Film. Hopefully digital cameras make a massive comeback. Real cameras are infinitely better quality than cellphone ones.

Excellent news..

I prefer Sony.

Forgot about stocking cameras, how about Fujifilm ramps up production of cheki film for their cheki cameras? You can't buy them anywhere in stores in Japan. The only place you can find cheki film these days is Amazon and there, a bunch of people gobble up the rare cheki film sold at stores as soon as the cheki film are put out on the shelves and then resell at a much higher price. I think Fujifilm needs to step their game up and actually put out the film before worrying about cameras....

X100VI is my go to camera, fit into my bag, and is straightforward to operate with great results.

https://fujifilm-x.com/ja-jp/products/cameras/x100vi/

After my mirrorless camera broke several years ago my go-to camera is my smartphone, even used for my business.

I got a used X100 about a year after it came out. It got rave reviews on a camera forum called DP Review. It was the first digital camera to be retro styled with lots of physical dials for setting exposure, and had an at-the-time big sensor with a unique colour detecting tech (Fuji call it "X Trans") that produced really good image quality without Photoshop. Another old-school semi-innovation was it having a fixed lens, so kind of pure and no messing about with lenses. At the time, the jpegs it produced , esp the black and white ones, were stunning. Note that the photo above is of a cabinet of what look like old film-era Fuji cameras and none of Fuji's X series cameras can be seen.

I now seem to work all the time, but back when I didn't, I had a lot of fun with X100. I'll have to get a wireless card and start using it again.

Fuji's X series were a big hit before Tiktok, so that's why I wrote the above. I don't have one, but I suspect the greatest digital camera of all time is actually a Sony one called the RX100. It produces v high quality photos but (crucially) fits in your pocket. Even very old ones hold their value second hand.

Nikon produced their own retro model with 'friction', the Nikon Df back in 2013. It looked like an old-fashioned SLR camera with metal dials and buttons, but had digital features and performance. Too bad it got lost in all of the other models being produced at the time.

If I want a picture of an outdoors sales show, the crowd at the show the display, etc... my smartphone will do, if I am taking a picture of a large item, be it a large painting or a Tansu (cabinet) again a smartphone is adequate!

But forget it if I am trying to take a photo of smaller objects, a smartphone can never show the details that a SLR or good DSLR can.

Yes I still use my 50 year old Flim camera on certain occasions and my DSLR is the same brand and I have a large collection of high quality lenses that fit both my SLR film camera and my DSLR and there is no way a smartphone or a single lens digital camera can even come close to the quality or details that the proper lens use on an SLR or DSLR can achieve!

As much as I do like the Fuji, I long ago committed to a different brand and to change now would require buying all new lenses from macro, wide-angle, to 1000mm telephoto and that would be cost prohibitive!

But nice to see the younger generation embracing something more than just letting the machine do all the work for them.

kohakuebisu

Today 08:57 am JST

Note that the photo above is of a cabinet of what look like old film-era Fuji cameras and none of Fuji's X series cameras can be seen.

Yes I noticed that!

It seems a regular thing, articles about something but never actually showing a photo that is of the person or object that is the subject of the article!

How difficult would it have been to get a photo of the product to use in the article.

All they had to do is ask Fuji their publishing department would have gladly sent of a few!

After several Olympus film and digital models I decided that switching multiple lenses had become a burden, weight-wise and went with the lightweight Canon G-series, which as the article notes competes with the Fujifilm X100 series. Since 2022 I've been enjoying a Fujifilm model with four lenses, including two zoom lenses, plus a 16mm wide angle and tiny 27mm pancake model, and am again reminded how much fun digital photography can be. The color renditions are gorgeous: blue skies, natural reds and bright yellows. Since digital technology is constantly improving, six or seven years is about the longest you can expect to use any model, but fortunately the lenses are upward compatible. I'm very impressed with smartphone cameras too, but walking around Tokyo with a Japanese camera around my neck I sense I'm being accorded preferential treatment as a tourist. (It's almost like wearing a disguise.)

Antiquesaving, I agree, I can whip out my smartphone and in seconds take that "spur-of-the-moment".

My X100VI can achieve and capture a whole lot more, once one has mastered it capabilities.

Its expensive, I choked out close to 400.000 yen.

However I have been able to capture astonishing family and holiday moments.

With adobe premier pro, create exceptional clips and photo montages.

I have used a Nikon 'Film' camera for many years, but I also have a small Pentax digital one to. The film camera is by far the best. I do not have a smart phone or any other phone that takes films, but having compared so many pictures on all types, the film is still the best.

@djv124

Try Don Quixote.

Was lucky enough to get a few genba kontaku (site supervisor) tough 35mm cameras back in the day.

Fujifilm K-28 and K-35 were pretty good.

Still keeping a couple of Instax cameras going for the kids.

China production,though?

Seriously?

I was big into photography and developing up to the time I came to Japan. Once I did, I could not find a dark room that was useable anywhere. Was told there were some you could rent in big cities like Osaka, but the cost was phenomenal, and then you couldn't get the raw film or the equipment to process it if the darkroom didn't have it all on hand.