For the final episode in this series David talks to historian Ayse Zarakol about the prospects for democracy in the age of strongman politics, from Trump to Erdogan, from Orban to Modi. Where did the strongmen come from? How unusual is this kind of politics in the broad sweep of history? Does democracy have the wherewithal to resist its pull? And if not, what happens next?
The 4th film in our autumn season at the Regent Street Cinema in London is coming up on Wednesday 5th November: a screening of Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein followed by a live recording of PPF with writer and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Get your tickets now https://bit.ly/47bsJcN
Up next: Fixing Democracy Q & A w/David Klemperer
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Fuji in many ways have taken over from Panasonic as the most highly rated niche creative force in the camera industry. Since they started taking video seriously with the X-T2, the green camp has got a lot of things right. The popularity of the X100 series. The purist photography experience of the X-Pro3, a camera I strangely really enjoy for video too. The GFX cameras have done extraordinarily well considering it’s carved out a whole new format, at very high prices. In fact, my all time favourite mirrorless camera of the last 15 years is the OG Fuji GFX 100.
But now it’s time for Fuji to get real about a full frame line-up.
There’s a big price gap between the X100 VI and GFX100RF for example, a camera which makes the Leica Q3 and Sony RX1 Mark III pricing look sane. Yet the market is begging, calling out for, insert cliched phrase here, for a full frame X100 VI with a sane price tag. Let’s face it, if you have silly money for a compact Leica is the only proper choice.
Full frame would solve other problems for Fuji too.
The X-Pro3 was a nice bold step into rangefinder land, but it’s in an odd place. It is neither a Leica M rangefinder, nor is it priced like one. It is not a Sony a7c Mark II competitor, but it IS priced like one. Nor is it really doing much to expand the popularity of XF-mount, and APS-C – because the X-H2 is a higher spec’ed, more modern do-it-all camera for the same price.
The way to differentiate the X-Pro series is to make it full frame and launch it alongside a new range of primes and a zoom. The initial lenses don’t even need to be that adventurous. Small primes, Leica M sized, and one small zoom – preferably a 28-70mm F2.8.
This would be joined by a 28mm F2, an 35mm F2 and a 50mm F1.4 which rather than aiming for technical perfection, go for character and small size instead.
Now you might say such a full frame adventure might kill the APS-C cameras, but you’d be wrong. You might say it would necessitate a price reduction on the high-end XF-mount cameras, and that the X-H2 would need to get even cheaper.
This has already been priced in. What dictates the price and sales numbers of the Fuji APS-C cameras are the mid-range full frame cameras from Sony, Nikon and Canon.
So the price of those nice XF mount cameras would stay the same.
What Fuji could definitely get away with is a higher price and higher margin on a full frame Fuji.
And a full frame Fuji is a what we need. Just ask me, who uses his GFX 100 not as a medium format camera but as a full frame mirrorless system.
I don’t have a single medium format lens for it, no native GFX mount lenses from Fuji. They’re big, clunky, expensive and slow.
What I like to do is adapt fast primes designed for full frame onto my GFX 100, and find what works the best. The rules are, no hard vignette, small, and with a very good quality mechanical focus ring.
These look glorious on the larger “Super full frame” sensor, unique in fact. So very different to sticking vintage glass on a full frame Sony.
So the GFX line will always have that same appeal – it’s an upgrade from full frame, but it’s never going to be mid-range, is it?
With so many mid-range full frame cameras eating Fuji’s carefully prepared APS-C breakfast, like the Nikon Z6 III, Sony a7 series and Canon EOS R8, it’s time Fuji told us that for just $500 more you could get something much more creative, with Fuji Film Simulations and X-Pro style Leica-ish ergonomics.
This would be the full frame camera that stands apart from a sea of black DSLR style mirrorless cameras, the sort of which are frankly all now a bit boring.
Fuji could even let Sigma swap the mount on their L-mount range to beef out the available optics at launch. It’s a no-brainer.
APS-C users will continue to buy APS-C cameras. GFX users will continue to flock to the high-end medium format bodies, but full frame users would have more reasons than ever to choose a Fujifilm.
The post Why it’s time for Fujifilm to go full frame appeared first on EOSHD.com - Filmmaking Gear and Camera Reviews.
In our penultimate episode in this series David talks to writer Sam Freedman about whether democracy can cope with the demands of the social media age. Are we really more vulnerable to disinformation than we have ever been? Is the bigger problem our ever-shrinking attention spans or our ever-divided politics? What happens to democracy as visual communication squeezes out the written word? And what might make things better?
Sam Freedman’s Substack is Comment is Freed https://samf.substack.com/
Next time on Fixing Democracy: Confronting the Strongmen
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O que será da minha vida sem você? Na semana que antecede a marca de um ano da morte do inesquecível Antonio Cicero, o 451 MHz reúne grandes leitores do poeta em uma homenagem. A cantora Marina Lima, sua irmã e parceira musical, o compositor Arthur Nogueira e a poeta Alice Sant'Anna se juntam à colunista do 451 MHz Bruna Beber para ler poemas da coletânea Fullgás: Poesia Reunida (Companhia das Letras), de Cicero. No encontro, gravado em junho durante A Feira do Livro 2025, Marina ainda relembra histórias com o irmão, entre elas a origem da célebre canção Fullgás.
Apoio confirmado: Lei Rouanet – Incentivo a Projetos Culturais
Assine a Quatro Cinco Um por R$ 10/mês: https://bit.ly/Assine451
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This week, Mary Beard grapples with a noisy new version of Euripides at the National Theatre; and Norma Clarke on the mysterious world of Helen DeWitt's new novel.
'Bacchae', by Nima Taleghani, after Euripedes, Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London, until November 1
'Your Name Here', by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff
Produced by Charlotte Pardy
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In this special live episode recorded in front of pupils from Hill House and Hayfield schools in Doncaster, David talks to political scientist Rob Ford about whether Nigel Farage is really going to be the UK’s next PM. Is there anything comparable to the prospect of a Farage premiership in British political history? What are the electoral routes that might lead Farage to No 10? What are the events or scandals that might derail him? Plus we hear from the pupils as well – what do they think of Reform and its leader?
Next time on Fixing Democracy: What is TikTok doing to Politics?
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