Photography Culture

Dear Fujifilm: We’re Due for a Fujifilm X30 Successor

Chris Gampat
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01/12/2021
3 Mins read
The Phoblographer Fujifilm X30 review images product shots (1 of 10)ISO 4001-200 sec at f - 3.5

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?

camera Fujifilm X30 lens sensor series weather sealing x-trans x100 zoom
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.