The Fujifilm X30 was the last, nearly perfect compact point and shoot camera with a zoom lens.
I’m not sure how many of you remember the older Fujifilm X30 camera, but in my eyes, it was the last good compact camera with a zoom lens. Sony has the RX10 series of cameras which are great, but they’re pretty big. The Fujifilm X30 was, in my eyes, something very unique. Similar to the Panasonic LX100 series of cameras, the Fujifilm version was smaller and used a smaller sensor. But I think Fujifilm needs to bring this series of the camera back with some significant updates. Considering all they’ve done with the X100 series, I’m sure Fujifilm could create a new series of travel camera that passionate photographers will fall in love with all over again.
Weather Sealing
We are now in an age where weather sealing is pretty mandatory in a camera. Fujifilm has done it with most of their lineup, and it only makes sense for them to do it with a Fujifilm X30 successor. Weather sealing will ensure that their cameras continue to work in the travel environments that people usually buy them for. It will ensure durability when people go about their daily lives. And most of all, it will keep their customers happy. Why not buy a camera that just works reliably over and over again? If the Fujifilm X30 successor were to come back, then it would need weather sealing to stand out from the pack. It would be up against options from Canon, Sony, and Panasonic. And that’s a big part of how it would differentiate itself and win over customers.
An APS-C X Trans Sensor
The Fujifilm X30 had a tiny sensor. Like, it was smaller than a 1-inch sensor. It’s time for APS-C to come forward a bit more and for Fujifilm to create a camera with an X Trans sensor, a small zoom lens, and some serious image quality. Fujifilm has always been known for its prime lenses, but a little travel zoom with an EVF would be so incredible! Fujifilm shouldn’t do a 1-inch sensor as everyone else does that. A compact, APS-C sensor would so much better.
A Fast Zoom Lens
Let’s go into this a bit more. The Fujifilm X30 successor doesn’t need the furthest zoom range. A 24-70mm equivalent is fine as long as it has a fast aperture range throughout and is collapsible. Fujifilm doesn’t have much like this already, but I think that they can create it. I’m not asking for a fixed aperture, as I totally understand that it would need a variable aperture. But this, combined with some image stabilization would be something so many consumers would want. Keep the retro aesthetics too!
Maybe a Bit Larger
The Fujifilm X30 was pretty small, and that helped make it awesome. Making it a big larger could make it seem like a smaller version of the X100 series. And that’s fine. In fact, that would probably make people buy even more of them. Fujifilm doesn’t really have lots of options to compete in the point and shoot market. But as a working journalist, sometimes that’s all that you need. This could be an every day and an everything camera. Their image quality is undoubtedly up to snuff. Why not do it?
