gdanmitchell
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Need2Learn wrote:
X-Pro and X100 line are flagship cameras for Fuji and have been out of stock for months awaiting news of upgraded/new models. I'm not very familiar with the X-E line but appears to be almost as popular. Unfortunate Fuji couldn't scale up production of these until new releases. If someone is going to fork out $1800 for a used camera they may wait awhile before jumping on the new ones. Dunno. Seems odd though
We might have a different idea about what a “flagship” product is. I’ve thought of it as the one, top, high-end product that the company typically makes its most expensive offering. For example, in Canon-world that was alsways a 1-series body. (OK, back in the day, there were two versions, not one: the 1D and the 1Ds. But still.)
That’s different that “popular” product or “best in its category.” If we go with that idea, then we could call some Instax camera a “flagship!” I don’t think we’re going to go there… ;-)
So, about Fujifilm flagship cameras. (I’m going into full pedantic mode below, so stop here if you don’t like that sort of thing. ;-) )
Quickie description of ””flagship from Wikipedia:
“A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known.”
“Over the years, the term "flagship" has become a metaphor used in industries such as broadcasting, automobiles, education, technology, airlines, and retail to refer to their highest profile or most expensiveproducts and locations.”
A decade ago Fujifilm did treat the XPro as the flagship. It was, at one time, the most expensive, most capable, most adaptable camera they made. Back then the alternatives were things like the X100v predecessors (fine, but not flagships) and the low-end (but still useful) XE1.
Then things changed. I haven’t researched the dates so I may be off regarding the exact time frame and specific models, but it wasn’t long before Fujifilm started treating the XT line as the flagship cameras. They started coming with things like the best AF, the best EVFs, etc. In my view, the XPro2 may have still fit the “flagship” mode at first (when I bought mine), but Fujifilm had other plans, and by the time we get to the XPro3 they were limiting its versatility and targeting it to a far more limited user base. Rather than touting its functional advances… they went with a sort of mystical “pure photography” marketing scheme.
At that point, the XPro line was no longer the flagship.
They tried to make the XH1 the actual flagship. It was intended to do everything the XT did but more, and it came at a higher price. That could have worked… but in an example of really poor planning they quickly came out with a more capable XT that used the next generation technology… and few were willing to pay the extra for the XH1. (They aren’t the only company to get caught this way. Canon’s 5D decimated sales of the 1Ds line in similar fashion.) The XH1, despite its flagship aspirations, basically got remaindered.
Today the “flagship” is the XH2/XH2s line. It is said to do some things tha the XT5 cannot do (greater speed, deeper buffers, better video, etc.), it has the ever-popular bigger body, and it comes at a higher price.
(Don’t mistake “flagship” for “best camera for my purposes.” I could have gotten a XH2, but I chose the XT5 because it is functionally better than the flagship for my purposes.)
The X100v is a great camera. I’ve had a couple of chances to use cameras in that lineage, and I liked them a lot. But they, perhaps more so than even the XPro, are special/limited purpose cameras, particularly due to having a fixed lens.
There, wasn’t that fun?
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