Fujifilm South Africa has announced the latest (and greatest) camera in the GFX lineup – the Fujifilm GFX100 II. This new flagship large format camera promises not only outstanding image quality due to its 102MP sensor, but also improved shooting speed, auto-focus (AF) performance and video quality.

To start, the GFX100 II features the newly-developed GFX 102MP CMOS II HS high-speed image sensor consisting of 102 million pixels. At 43.8mm x 32.9mm in size it’s approximately 1.7 times larger than a 35mm full-frame sensor. The mirrorless camera is powered by the high-speed X-Processor 5 image processing engine, which in combination with the sensor provide double the signal readout speed compared to 2021’s Fujifilm GFX100S.

Improved speed and auto-focus

Thanks to this improved signal readout speed, the GFX100 II is capable of continuous shooting of up to 8.0 frames per second, up from 5.0 fps on the previous GFX model. With a reinforced buffer memory, it opens the GFX Series up to the field of sports photography. It does so without sacrificing the high definition and high image quality synonymous with the large format sensor.

However, the GFX100 II is also the first GFX Series mirrorless digital camera that features Fujifilm’s AI-based subject-detection AF, developed with Deep Learning technology. The use of an improved algorithm has evolved not only Face/Eye Auto Focus (AF) but now allows photographers to automatically track animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, aeroplanes, trains, insects and drones. Once again, this benefits sports photography, which requires advanced tracking capability to track a subject that moves quickly within the frame.

And enhanced video performance 

The GFX100 II is the first GFX model that supports 8K/30P video recording, plus it can also record 4K/60P 4:2:2 10-bit video internally and features F-Log2, broadening post-production flexibility. The GFX100 II’s range of video features allows videographers to explore completely new avenues due to the possibilities of the large format sensor in use.

The camera is further equipped with the best Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) on a Fujifilm camera yet – a high-magnification and high-definition 9.44-million-dot EVF with 1.0x magnification. It boasts a smooth refresh frame rate of approx. 120fps in Boost Mode to accurately identify a subject’s fast movements. Alternatively, the 3.2-inch Tilt-Type touchscreen monitor at the back can be used, consisting of approx. 2.36 million dots.

This while low light performance is improved thanks to the five-axis In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS) now set to an impressive eight-stops – more than any other camera in the full Fujifilm lineup.

For those looking for even larger images, GFX users can use the Pixel Shift Multi-Shot function. This controls the IBIS mechanism to shift the image sensor by 0.5 pixel at a time and shoot 16 RAW images in a quick succession, with the dedicated software combining these to generate a mouth-watering 400MP image.

Price and local availability

The Fujifilm GFX100 II large format mirrorless camera, with its improved speed, AF and video capabilities, is set to land in South Africa during October 2023, with a suggested retail price of R160 000 incl. VAT.

Three new GFX lenses also coming

Fujifilm has also committed three new lenses to the GFX lens lineup. Two new tilt-shift lenses, the Fujinon GF30mmF5.6 T/S and the Fujinon GF110mmF5.6 T/S Macro, cater to the needs of professional photographers who want to explore composition and shooting positions in architecture, landscape and commercial photography. They do so by combining the tilt function of tiling their optical axis and the shift function of moving their optical axis, to alter how the optical axis relates to the imaging plane. The tilt-shift lenses are set to retail for a suggested R80 000 and R70 000 respectively.

Finally, the Fujinon GF55mmF1.7 R WR lens with its creamy bokeh characteristic and field-of-view close to that of human vision, allows for capturing genres ranging from day-to-day snapshots to full-fledged portraiture both indoors and outdoors. It comes with a suggested R45 000 retail price.

All the new Fujinon lenses are set to arrive in October 2023 in South Africa, alongside the Fujifilm GFX100 II large format camera.

Sony announced that Zoom Video Communications, Inc. is now available on Sony’s BRAVIA TVs that are compatible with BRAVIA CAM. This partnership will allow users to easily connect with friends, family, and colleagues for video calls and meetings from the comfort of their living room. Sony’s BRAVIA is the first TV brand to support the Zoom for TV app on Google Play Store.

With Zoom on BRAVIA TVs, users will be able to take advantage of all the features that make Zoom one of the leading video communication platforms. This includes video communication on a TV screen, screen sharing, and collaboration tools. Users will also be able to use BRAVIA CAM’s advanced features – it recognises where you are in the room and how far you are from the TV, then adjusts sound and picture settings so they’re just right. All of that is possible with a very simple setup – when using a compatible TV with a BRAVIA CAM, it only takes downloading the Zoom app from Google Play and launching it with the TV’s remote.

“We are excited to partner with Zoom to bring video conferencing to our BRAVIA TVs, making Zoom services available on the Android TV platform” said Shusuke Tomonaga, Head of BRAVIA TV Product Design, Product Technology Center, Sony Corporation. “This partnership will make it possible for our customers to enjoy more realistic video communication on a large TV screen in the living room, enabling them to be more connected with the people they care about, whether they are working from home, learning remotely, or just catching up with friends and family.”

“We are thrilled to work with Sony to bring Zoom to their BRAVIA TVs,” said Eric Yu, Head of Hardware Partnership at Zoom. “We are allowing our customers to enjoy the best of both worlds – the convenience of video conferencing on their TV and the power of Zoom’s collaboration tools.”

 According to research by HPE Aruba Networking (NYSE: HPE), 64% of IT leaders believe that cybersecurity concerns are negatively impacting their organisation’s willingness to invest in innovative tech. This is part of a broader trend locally, with studies showing that 42% of South African companies say fear of the unknown is a hinderance to their adoption of technology such as AI. But this comes at a time when IT leaders must be empowered to embrace AI to accelerate business-critical transformation – something more than 60% of South African companies say is important to their business.

With headlines full of the promise of the latest technologies, HPE Aruba Networking’s research, which features responses from 2,100 IT leaders across 21 countries, examined how organisations are currently approaching the interplay between innovation and risk. The report also sheds light on the role IT leaders and the network have to play in facilitating safer innovation.

The rise of innovation

A vast majority (95%) of IT leaders state that digitisation is fundamentally important to unlocking new revenue streams in the next 12 months. In fact, both IT and the broader business are pushing to bring in new technologies that can boost innovation in terms of how the business functions and what it offers. As they look to increase innovation, organisations are turning to emerging technology, and are currently using or planning to bring in 5G (91%), AI and machine learning (ML) solutions (89%), or IoT and smart sensors (88%).

Despite this push, only 45% of IT leaders describe their organisation as innovative – and worryingly, even less describe it as secure (44%). In fact, research from PwC shows most South African organisations say they expect third-party breaches to increase significantly in 2023 when compared with 2022, saying that this is primarily due to an increase in digitisation.

Managing the growing risk

There is also a growing gulf between tech demands and the IT team’s capability to manage it all – more than half of South African businesses feel they aren’t well prepared to implement AI, with a further 54% citing internal skills levels as the biggest challenge.

Combining this rise in technology use with the lack of resource and broader trends around remote working, hybrid cloud, and distributed centers of data, organisations are facing greater exposure than ever.

“In an increasingly tough business environment, South African executives are under significant pressure to drive new revenue opportunities by increasing their digitisation. The introduction of emerging technologies, however, requires a new approach to security that delivers build-in protection. This is where AI Networking comes in,” said Mandy Duncan, Country Manager South Africa, HPE Aruba Networking.

The role of the network

According to the HPE Aruba Networking research, there is growing recognition of the network’s role in business transformation – and, in particular, of the link between the network and both security and innovation. In fact, 64% of IT leaders believe the network can support cybersecurity effectiveness and 61% believe it can support greater innovation. And IT leaders are investing accordingly – organisations are starting to press ahead with network-based security solutions including, Security Service Edge (SSE) or similar edge-to-cloud security (89%), policy-based network access control (88%), and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) security (87%).

But evidence suggests that they still need help tying these investments together to realise their benefits – only 47% of IT leaders believe their current network can deliver or support flexible enterprise security and even less see its role in supporting emerging technologies (37%).

Duncan concludes: “The pursuit of innovation shouldn’t have to come at the cost of greater risk to the organisation’s security.  A unified approach that brings together all disparate network technologies can truly deliver a network capable of supporting safe innovation.”

Additional resources

To learn more, visit the HPE Aruba Networking website. For real-time news updates, follow HPE Aruba Networking on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and products, visit the Airheads Community at community.arubanetworks.com.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is the global edge-to-cloud company that helps organisations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open, and intelligent technology solutions as a service.  With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: www.hpe.com.