FUJI X WEEKLY

I love using vintage lenses on my Fujifilm cameras. I have a bunch of them, mostly ones I picked up for cheap. Over the last couple of days, I wanted to use three specific M42 mount telephoto lenses: Helios 44-2, Vivitar 135mm f/2.8, and Cavalier 200mm f/3.5. I picked up the M42-FX adapter from eBay 10 years ago for under $20. The photos below were created over the last week or so—mostly just yesterday and the day before—using these three lenses. The Helios 44-2 is a legendary Soviet-era 58mm…

I woke up this morning to the news that Fujifilm announced a new lens last night: the Fujinon XF 400mm f/4.5 R LM OIS WR. This is a long-telephoto prime for wildlife, sports, and aviation photography, with a $3,199 MSRP (in America). It has a little less reach but with a 2/3 stop larger maximum aperture than the Fujinon 500mm f/5.6. I remember when Fujifilm didn’t offer any prime lenses longer than the 90mm f/2. Then, in 2018, the Fujinon 200mm f/2 was released, but it was a big flop—not…

I reported a couple of weeks ago that in 2025 Fujifilm surpassed Nikon to become the third largest digital camera brand. That fact has been discussed at length across the internet, but my takeaways were 1) that the camera industry as a whole has continued to grow from rock-bottom sales around 2022/2023, 2) Fujifilm has been growing rapidly the last couple of years, selling nearly three times as many digital cameras in 2025 as they did in 2023, 3) Fujifilm is the first brand outside of Canon and…

I frequently get asked which lenses one should buy for their Fujifilm X-series camera. Lens choice is very personal. One might love a certain focal length while another might dislike it. I like primes, but you might prefer zooms. Some photographers prioritize character while others want maximum sharpness. Without knowing exactly what your preferences are, I cannot give good recommendations. What I can do is tell you what I like, and maybe—just maybe—that information will be helpful to you. The…

The Fuji X Weekly App can now send Recipes straight from the App to your camera using a USB-C cable! Right now, this is only available on Apple, but it will be coming to Android within the next few months or so. If you haven’t read the announcement, there’s a bunch of important information in it, so I recommend starting there (click here)—it’s essential reading if you plan to use this feature. The new Recipe transferring feature is called App-to-Camera Recipe Transfer Protocol (ATC RTP for…

Fujifilm X100 Photographer – Austin, TX – Fujifilm X-E5 – Classic Retro SOOC Live is back THIS Thursday, August 27th, at 10 AM Pacific Time, 1 PM Eastern. Nathalie Boucry and I will have a bunch of guests to chat about a number of things, including the future direction of the show. If you can tune in while we’re live, that would be great; since it is an interactive program, it’s much better with your participation. I hope that you can join us live! If not, no worries—catch it whenever you can.…

When I launched the new App-to-Camera Recipe Transfer Protocol (ATC RTP) in the Fuji X Weekly App a few days ago, which allows you to send Fujifilm Recipes from the App to your camera, I said, “I do anticipate some bug reports, and hopefully they’re all very minor.” So far, they’ve all been pretty minor, but I think you should be aware of them. First, if you have an older iPhone that uses a Lightning plug, in order to get this feature to work, you will need a Lightning-to-USB-C adapter. I’ve…

Cruiser’s Cafe 66 – Williams, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – PRO Negative 160C As widely reported by Digital Camera Life, PetaPixel, Fujrumors, etc., etc., who got their data from Nikkei Industry Map (“the best resource” according to PetaPixel), Fujifilm is now the third largest digital camera maker worldwide, topping Nikon for the first time ever. Specifically, the data, which only looks at Japanese camera makers (so, not Leica), details the number of digital cameras shipped by each brand, and what…

I’m excited to announce a new feature in the Fuji X Weekly App: sending Recipes straight from the App to your camera! This will make Film Simulation Recipes much more accessible because it removes the necessity to manually program them into your camera’s C1-C7 Custom Settings presets. I’ve been working on this for about a year-and-a-half now, and I believe it will transform and significantly improve the Fujifilm experience for many people. There’s a lot that I need to discuss regarding this, so…

Fire, Truck – Lordsburg, NM – Fujifilm GFX100S II – 1970’s Summer Over the last maybe two years, I’ve read here-and-there people say that yellow-tinted Fujifilm Recipes have a “piss filter” as if the photographer shot through a glass of urine from someone who is not particularly hydrated. The term has spread across the internet over the last eight months or so, it seems, with people now using it more frequently. Today, Selishots posted a YouTube video called 5 Recipes So Your Photos Don’t Look…

Baloney Maroney’s – Tulsa, OK – Fujifilm X-E5 – Retro Slide Fujirumors wrote a post last week entitled How to Load Unlimited Fujifilm Recipes on Your Camera – FAST and FREE that I wanted to comment on right away, but I was traveling and just didn’t have the time. So I’m just getting to it, now that I’m back home. The article begins with, “Over the years, I’ve seen a wave of film simulation recipe apps appear—often trying to cash in on the popularity of Fujifilm’s JPEG recipes. Some have even…

Dumbo Crowd – Brooklyn, New York City, NY – Fujifilm X-T50 – Reala Ace Fujifilm just dropped more details on the upcoming Fujikina in New York City, which will take place October 16-18 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (they haven’t yet said the exact location). Fujikina events are a must-attend for Fujifilm photographers. If you live anywhere near New York City, it will be worthwhile to go, I promise. For all the details and to register, click here. There are a lot of talented photographers…

Meadow Gold Mack – Tulsa, OK – Fujifilm X-E5 – Retro Slide This new Fujifilm Recipe began with a stack of slides. Some were mine from the late-1990’s and early-2000’s (captured on Kodak Elite Chrome 100 and Elite Chrome 200), some were my grandpa’s from the 1970’s (I believe captured on Kodak Ektachrome-X and Ektachrome 64, although I’m not 100% certain). I really liked the look of some of the pictures as viewed on a light table (how slides are viewed—whether printed, scanned, light table, or…

Frontier Motel & Cafe – Truxton, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Vericolor III 160 According to Fujirumors, Fujifilm is delaying the announcement of the upcoming X-T6; however, Fujifilm has not announced that they’re announcing any camera. How can something be postponed that hasn’t even been publicized? Let me put it this way. Let’s say that you are the manager of some office somewhere, and you tell your secretary to pencil in some time and date for a meeting that will take place some months in the…

The Tropics – Lincoln, IL – Fujifilm X-E5 – Vivid Velvia After yesterday’s post, Thoughts on the Upcoming Fujifilm Camera, someone reached out to me on Instagram and proposed a question about the upcoming sixth-generation cameras: if I could ask Fujifilm three things about it, what would those questions be? It was an unusual message, but it did get some cogs turning in my brain. How might X-Trans VI look different than X-Trans V? While this seemingly should be pretty predictable, each X-series…

There are a number of Fujifilm and Fujifilm-related events that are coming up soon, especially in September and October. I’ll be at a few of them, so I wanted to give you a heads up, in case you want to stop by and say hi or sign up for a class or photowalk. First is the FocusPoint Photo & Video Expo in Denver, Colorado, on September 11th & 12th. I’ll be doing a class entitled Film Simulation in Action on September 12th at 10:30 AM, followed by a photowalk. Next is Fujikina NYC on October 16th,…

Blue Swallow Motel – Tucumcari, NM – Fujifilm X-T5 – Vivid Velvia Until this year, Fujifilm has always announced at least one new X or GFX series camera by the end of June. We’re in August, and nothing new has been announced. Some people are getting antsy, anxiously waiting for whatever is to come. Personally, I’m glad that there’s a little gap. In my opinion, camera companies introduce new versions of their lineup much too quickly. It made some sense in the earlier days of digital technology…

Central Camera Co. – Chicago, IL – Fujifilm X-T5 – 1976 Kodak I get asked fairly regularly which Fujifilm Recipes are the most popular. For me, this is a fascinating topic, but it’s definitely hard to know definitively. While I get a glimpse on social media, my best gauge is the Fuji X Weekly website statistics; specifically, which Recipe articles are viewed the most. I don’t collect any data on the Fuji X Weekly App, so that’s no help—although, if I did, it would likely offer the most accurate…

A Fujifilm X-T5 mocked up as a Kodak model A couple of years ago I disguised my Fujifilm X-T5 as a Kodak model, programmed with Kodak-inspired Film Simulation Recipes, which I took to the Grand Canyon. I made a YouTube video about the experience. In the video I wondered how the camera industry might look different today had Kodak made retro-styled cameras with built-in Kodak film aesthetics. We will never know, because Kodak never did it. After they filed for bankruptcy, Kodak was split…

One of my absolute favorite YouTube channels is simultaneously both incredible and weird. It’s by far the most original camera channel on YouTube, and Fujifilm is often (but far from always) the topic of conversation. Which channel is this? Some of you probably already guessed, but for those who haven’t, it’s GxAce, run by Casey Cavanaugh, and described as, “Your present, as the past, through the lens of the future.” Casey just teased a new camera called GxPan. Almost no details were included…

Blue Swallow Motel – Tucumcari, NM – Fujifilm X-T5 – Vivid Velvia I’m writing this article while on a big roadtrip. Specifically, I’m traveling Route 66, photographing the neon signs, abandoned gas stations, old hotels, and whatever else I find interesting. This is a project that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, and finally the time was right to do it. Even though I’m taking my time exploring The Mother Road, I also haven’t found much time to write. In fact, I’m typing this out on my…

White Boat at Nyhavn – Copenhagen, Denmark – Fujifilm GFX100RF – Copenhagen Negative People often ask me why I think Fujifilm Recipes have become so popular. The answer seems obvious: they produce beautiful pictures. That’s certainly part of it, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. After years of creating hundreds of Recipes and talking with photographers from around the world, I’ve come to believe that what we’re really drawn to isn’t just the look, it’s how Film Simulations and Recipes…

Nyhavn Red Boat – Copenhagen, Denmark – Fujifilm GFX100RF – Avalon Ace I just spent an absurd amount of money on a new camera: the Fujifilm GFX100RF. I’m writing this article to myself as much as I’m writing this to you, because it is so easy to believe that new gear will have a larger impact on photographic outcomes than it likely will. New cameras with the latest tech and highest specs will have some impact on our photos for sure, but probably a very small one. The next camera purchase is…

Ever since Fujifilm announced the GFX100RF back in April of last year, I’ve been saving up to purchase one. The desire for such a camera dates back 25+ years ago to my analog days, when I really wanted to shoot medium-format film. Cameras like the Contax 645, Pentax 645, and Fujica GS645 were all high on my list, but always just out of reach. In fact, in my early 20’s I sold my beloved Canon AE-1 with the intentions of using the profits (along with some other cash I had) to finally jump into…

Downtown Austin – Austin, TX – Fujifilm X-E5 – Classic Retro This Classic Retro Recipe began as an accident. The Fujifilm X-E5 has a Film Dial, but Classic Negative was excluded as a default option; however, you can set it (or any other Film Sim that was left off) to FS1-FS3, which is what I did. The X-E5 also has the option to program Recipes into FS1-FS3, and you can toggle the Recipes on and off. I was shooting with the Film Dial Recipe set, so I turned off the three Recipes set to FS1-FS3…

Let’s talk travel photography! I have two upcoming classes and photowalks this month: Austin on July 8th and Oklahoma City on July 25th. These will be centered around gear selection, tips, and Recipes for your summer outings. If you live in Texas or Oklahoma, I hope that you can make it to one of these two events. The Austin class and photowalk will be at Precision Camera & Video, located at 2438 W. Anderson Lane, on Wednesday, July 8th. The class will begin at 5 pm, afterwards—about 6:30 pm—we…

Tacoma Nights – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 & 18mm f/1.4 – Vivid Velvia (modified) I have an upcoming project, and as part of that I want to create some Troy Paiva inspired night photos. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Troy creates nighttime photos of abandoned buildings, cars, airplanes, etc., illuminated by colored lights and the full moon (check out his Instagram). For this project, I want to do something similar for some of the pictures. I don’t have very much experience with this…

Red Boat in Nyhavn Canal – Copenhagen, Denmark – Fujifilm GFX100RF – Avalon Ace Last night I was scrolling Instagram when I saw a Reel that bothered me a bit. Maybe you saw it, too. It wasn’t from anyone I follow, just something the algorithm thought I would like. I would have much preferred to have been shown content from those I follow, but Meta kind of sucks and instead gives me things that I don’t really care for. The video in question was insulting, so I thought I would address it.…

Vintage Sunset – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – Kodacolor Part 1: 5th-Gen, Part 1: 4th-Gen This is Part 3 of what will be a five-part series exploring Fujifilm Recipes for each generation of cameras. Beginning with the latest models, we will work our way back towards the older cameras. For each article, I will suggest seven Recipes to try. This is intended for those new to the whole Recipe thing, who haven’t tried them before (or perhaps only a few Recipes so far). The intention is to provide you…

Viltrox recently sent me a lens to try out: their brand-new AF 75mm f/1.8 EVO. This a portrait lens with a somewhat large maximum aperture. As a third-party (non-Fujinon) option, how good is it? Where does it fit within Fujifilm’s lineup? Is it worthwhile to buy? Those are the questions I will try to answer in this review. The first question I had is: what does EVO mean? Apparently, it is short for “Evolution of Essentials” and designates Viltrox’s mid-tier lineup. They call their low-budget…