Fujifilm X: gestalt or bust | Ohm Image
The crowning achievement of Fujifilm’s X series isn’t its X Trans technology. It isn’t its lenses. It isn’t its film simulations. It isn’t even the quality of the images its cameras and lenses produce. Each of those, while important, is ancillary to brand cohesiveness. Brand cohesiveness comprises many small things that combine to form a gestalt. Having lived in Japan since the end of 2011, I have noticed a distinct lack, or rejection of, gestalt. This lack pervades almost every market-successful Japanese company. In the world of Japanese cars, a specific model is recognisable as a Toyota, or a Honda, or a Suzuki by its badge, not by the look or feel of a car, or by the people who choose to purchase it. Without the badge, you’d be damned to guess which car belongs to which company. For the most part, the camera world is the same. What is unique about Canon? Nikon? Pentax? Who are their customers? The same could be asked of Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, etc. Each one is tackling one thing: gaining market share. And in order to gain market share, they must carefully hone a single benchmark: price/performance. While there are many levels in which price/performance is important, in the long run, it creates an incestuous market……
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