Fujifilm X-Summit May 2022: as it happened

Apart from a new X-H2 (or maybe two!) we might see some new lenses too. And it would be great to see Fujifilm returning to the lower-end mirrorless market, but we don't hold out too much hope since there seems to be a mass exodus from the beginner market amongst camera makers.

The X Summit is due to start in little more than an hour's time, and the official press launch is one hour later, so don't go away! We will have full news stories with all the details for you as soon as the embargo lifts.

Just 20 minutes to go before the start of the X Summit 2022 live stream. If we DO get a new Fujifilm X-H2S, it will be hot on the heels of the new Canon EOS R7, and it looks like these could be very close rivals. There's also the ageing Sony A6600 too, but it's hard to see this as a serious rival if it's up against two far newer and far more powerful cameras.

Fujifilm's chat window is already buzzing. Woz Alexander "would love the controls of the new X-H to be exactly the same as the X-H1 – why improve perfection?" Hear hear!

Don't forget, our live reports are updated live too. You can just leave this page open and updates will appear automatically.

OK, and we're off... kind of... with a 120sec countdown...

OK, we're live! It's the X-mount 10th anniversary, with a lot of exciting news today...

Fujifilm has been in the photography industry for 90 years – wow!

Amazing to think the X-Pro1 was launched 10 years ago.

"Speed and power". It's a new 5th generation stacked sensor with 4x the read speed.

This means a higher EVF rate, high-speed burst shooting, fast and reliable AF, high-speed movies...

"Speed for mobility" This is what Fujifilm thinks the APS-C format needs.

5th generation X-Processor 5 30 times faster than original X-processor. ProRes 422HQ support, HEIF format, 10-bit color... ideal for new film simulations.

We want to know what the camera is!

And it is... the X-H2S! We're hearing how the camera went through extensive field testing amongst professionals. So now we're getting into the details. 40fps burst shooting with AF/AE, 15fps with mechanical shutter! Achieved with high-speed readout, high-speed processing and new algorithm. 

We're hearing about the deep learning AI powered AF – humans, animals, birds, cars, motorcycles and airplanes, and with improved tracking performance, all informed by the field testing.

So now the viewfinder... 5.76m dots, 120fps, 0.8x magnification. That's pretty impressive. The X-T4 is just 3.69m dots, the X-S10 is 2.36m dots.

The largest viewfinder magnification of 0.8x in the history of the X series. They are describing its "descriptive" performance, and the EVF uses aspherical lenses throughout. 

The X-H2S has a 7-stop, 5-axis IBIS system tackling both high and low frequency shake for suppressing fast 'jitters' and slow movements – slow movements are the trickiest to suppress.

Low frequency/slow movement suppression could prove vital for non gimbal users.

Could the X-H2S make an ideal run and gun camera? 

The X-processor 5's speed allows faster frame rates and a. trio of ProRes formats. And one of the slots takes CFexpress Type B cards, which the X-H2S will need for its high frame rate video.

There's a new F-Log2 Gamma Curve with 14+ stops of dynamic range (1 stop more than before). There's mic input and headphone output and – now this is interesting – an add-on external. fan. There's also a file transfer add-on for FTP transfer via Ethernet. Still waiting for a longer look at the headline video specs – they flashed by pretty fast earlier – but it looks like 6K and 4K up to 60fps. Is that right? (Correction: 4K at up to 120fps – Ed.)

Now hearing that the FTP add-on also offers powerful remote camera control which sounds pretty smart, with a single control panel for multiple cameras – ideal for multi-cam setups for small teams.

Exterior design now. It does look pretty close physically to the old X-H1 – but there is a PASM dial, not the direct shutter speed/exposure control of 'classic' X-mount cameras. There is a nice-looking top-mounted white-on-black status panel, though.

You can even configure the pressure needed for the shutter release half press and press – good! The old X-H1's shutter was really light.

So the X-H2 is weather-resistant to IP6 standard, but it has also been tested in the field for "reliable durability". We're going into a video now... be good to know how much all this power and performance is going to cost, and when we can get it!

OK, and now two new lenses! The first is the XF150-600mm f/5.6-8 – the longest lens yet in X-mount. That's equivalent to up to 900mm in full frame terms, and it doesn't look TOO huge, but then the f/8 maximum aperture at full zoom isn't the fastest.

1605g, made from magnesium, aluminium and plastic (and glass, of course). So it has internal zoom, which is interesting, so it should be easier to handle with no lens creep. 0.15sec focussing speed, we're told. It's got 24 elements which suggests a pretty ambitious optical configuration, with 4 super ED and 3 ED elements.

Now for the next lens – the XF18-120mm f/4. It's an all-in-one all-round lens with "unique video features". Hmm... interesting.

It's designed for smoothness for zoom, focus and aperture adjustments... and full remote control! That must be using the X-H2S add-on we saw earlier. So what's it got to distinguish it from a regular long standard zoom?

And now for some new XF lenses currently under development:

• XF56mmF1.2 II – a new generation version of the original
• XF30mmF2.8 Macro – a new compact macro lens – great!
• XF8mmF3.5 – so that's 12mm equivalent!

X-H2S $2,499 available July

XF150-600mm $1,999 available July (we will check)

XF18-120mm $899 available September

And now, under development, the X-Trans CMOS 5 HR 40MP sensor! So we're not getting two new X-H2 models like we hoped, but it's confirmation that a 40MP X-H2 is coming.

And that's a wrap! It's goodbye from the Fujifilm team, until the next X Summit in September. We skated through the X-H2S video specs a bit fast back there and there's a lot more detail to go through, so make sure you head over to DCW's news and reviews sections where we will have all the details on the new camera and both new lenses and.

See you next time!