Fuji Announces the X-H1 Camera and MKX 18-55mm T2.9 and MKX 50-135mm T2.9 Cinema Lenses

Fuji Announces the X-H1 Camera and MKX 18-55mm T2.9 and MKX 50-135mm T2.9 Cinema Lenses

Fujifilm fans should be pleased to hear that today, the company has announced a new camera, the X-H1, which they're calling "the highest performance camera in the X series lineup." They've also announced two new cinema lenses, the MKX 18-55mm T2.9 and MKX 50-135mm T2.9. Check out the specs on everything here.

Fujifilm X-H1

The X-H1 introduces some first-time features as well as a range of improvements:

  • 24.3-megapixel X-Trans CMOS III APS-C sensor
  • ISO: 200-12,800 (expandable to 100-51,200)
  • 14 fps continuous shooting with electronic shutter, 8 fps with mechanical (11 fps with grip)
  • 4K (4,096 x 2,160) at 24 fps up to approximately 15 minutes
  • 4K (3,840 x 2,160) at 29.97 fps up to approximately 15 minutes
  • Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) at 59.94 fps up to approximately 20 minutes
  • High-speed Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) at 120 fps
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • 5.5-stop in-body image stabilization featuring a dual-processor setup that calculates corrections at approximately 10,000 times a second
  • An improved shutter mechanism to reduce vibration
  • Dust and water resistance with a 25 percent thicker magnesium alloy than the X-T2
  • Scratch-resistant coating
  • 3.69-million-dot viewfinder with 0.75x magnification, .005 s lag, and 100 fps refresh
  • 3-inch, 1.04-million-dot touch-panel LCD with tri-directional tilt
  • 1.28-inch top LCD
  • Larger grip design, leaf-spring shutter-release, new focus level, new AF-ON button, and enlarged rear buttons
  • ETERNA film simulation mode for emulating cinematic film
  • Flicker reduction mode
  • 1.5 stop improvement in low-light autofocus
  • Improved AF-C performance while zooming
  • Improved eyecup for reducing light interference
  • VPB-XH1 grip provides approximately 900 shots or 30 minutes of 4K recording

The X-H1 will cost $1,899 and will be available on March 1. You can preorder yours here

Fujinon MKX 18-55mm T2.9 Cinema Lens

Fuji's new cinema lenses are meant to be light, compact options for filmmakers that still maintain high optical quality.

  • Front inner-focusing system controls lens breathing
  • Independently driven front-focusing and zoom groups to control focus shift
  • Three long-throw (200 degrees) rings for focus, zoom, and aperture with standard gear pitch of 0.8 m for third-party accessories
  • Standardized design with 50-135mm for ease of use when using accessories with multiple lenses
  • 2.38 lbs (1,080 g)
  • 22 elements in 17 groups with 6 super extra low dispersion elements and 2 extra low dispersion elements
  • Aperture range: f/2.8 - f/22
  • Macro function enabling MFD of 2.75 ft (0.85 m) at tele end and 1.24 ft (0.38 m) at wide end

The Fujinon MKX 18-55mm T2.9 will be available in spring/summer 2018 and will retail for $4,099. You can preorder yours here.

Fujinon MKX 50-135mm T2.9 Cinema Lens

  • Front inner-focusing system controls lens breathing
  • Independently driven front-focusing and zoom groups to control focus shift
  • Three long-throw (200 degrees) rings for focus, zoom, and aperture with standard gear pitch of 0.8 m for third-party accessories
  • Standardized design with 50-135mm for ease of use when using accessories with multiple lenses
  • 2.38 lbs (1,080 g)
  • 22 elements in 17 groups with 2 super extra low dispersion elements and 2 extra low dispersion elements
  • Aperture range: f/2.8 - f/22
  • Macro function enabling MFD of 3.92 ft (1.2 m) at tele end and 2.75 ft (0.85 m) at wide end

The Fujinon MKX 50-135mm T2.9 will be available in spring/summer 2018 and will retail for $4,299. You can preorder yours here.

Altogether, the new camera and lenses look pleasing, particularly for filmmakers using Fuji's line of equipment!

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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12 Comments

Ooohhh sh*t! Cameras release since D850 are all beasts! I hope this one is as impressive as the specs claim.

Super expensive way to try and attract the movie makers to this brand with a limited product line-up for video. But then Fujifilm tend to know their market better than some other manufacturers.

I just bought this camera and I recorded a video talking about the specs 2 days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1fKvoI0exg

best

Looks awesome and almost makes me wish I didn’t switch to the gh5 for my video (like the 10 bit). Fuji is still doing cool things. Wonder what the low light ability will be?

I'm curious about the battery life with stabilization -- what I found says 310 shots/battery compared to 340 on the X-T2 (I routinely get way more than that). With stabilization on, I know it'll use more battery ... but what about battery life when it's off? It won't be on all the time, surely.

Super tempting!

Can anyone explain why Fuji's APS-C cameras are all 200 ISO base? Not 100. What's the problem, why 200.

I've seen a couple explanations, a combination of which is probably accurate:

The first is that base ISO is chosen because it provides the optimal dynamic range and lowest noise of any of the potential configurations for the sensor, or because it's the native sensitivity of the sensor without amplification or attenuation of the readout signal. I've seen a couple references to the fact that Fuji may choose a base ISO of 200 because it provides more dynamic range on their sensors than running them at ISO 100.

The other explanation I've heard is that ISO is actually (despite the name) not really that standardized, and there are different mathematical ways of approaching calculating ISO. Canon, Nikon and Sony use one method, Fuji and Olympus use another and there's about a 2/3 of a stop difference in sensitivity calculated by the two methods.

I've not seen an official Fuji explanation, but these are the explanations I've seen most frequently that jive well enough with my understanding of how sensors and light gathering work, and I suspect the real answer is some combination of these two details.

Very interesting. Thank you!

If that is true regarding the different companies using different methods, that could explain why my Fuji cameras always seem to be off 2/3s if a stop or so from my flash meter, while my Nikons have been bang on.

Not that it matters in most applications if you are just going by the camera’s meter or histogram to judge exposure, but my Nikons ISO setting seem d to be more in line with actual film ISOs.

It is true. Canon and Nikon and Sony use the REI standard, which stands for Recommended Exposure Index. Fuji uses SOS, or Standard Output Sensitivity. You can read more about them here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed#Digital_camera_ISO_speed_and_ex...

but to pull out the specific details:

"The Recommended Exposure Index (REI) technique, new in the 2006 version of the standard, allows the manufacturer to specify a camera model’s EI choices arbitrarily. The choices are based solely on the manufacturer’s opinion of what EI values produce well-exposed sRGB images at the various sensor sensitivity settings. This is the only technique available under the standard for output formats that are not in the sRGB color space. This is also the only technique available under the standard when multi-zone metering (also called pattern metering) is used.

The Standard Output Sensitivity (SOS) technique, also new in the 2006 version of the standard, effectively specifies that the average level in the sRGB image must be 18% gray plus or minus 1/3 stop when the exposure is controlled by an automatic exposure control system calibrated per ISO 2721 and set to the EI with no exposure compensation. Because the output level is measured in the sRGB output from the camera, it is only applicable to sRGB images—typically JPEG—and not to output files in raw image format. It is not applicable when multi-zone metering is used."

I'm not sure if this would affect metering, because frankly I don't know what information is shared with a speedlight to enable TTL (if it's a mixture of ISO/shutter speed/aperture and average lighting, or a calculated flash exposure time determined by the camera) but if it's just passing along the exposure info and leaving the determination up to the speedlight then it would be conceivable to me this could be the reason!

Thanks for this! When I say metering, I mean handheld flash meters... with my Nikons (and film), the exposures from my handheld meter were always bang on, but my Fuji’s are always overexposed if I use the handheld meter reading on them.