*White Bridge across Pond *– Charleston, SC – Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 – Pacific Blues Recipe

PetaPixel published an interesting article today entitled The Enduring Desirability of the Fujifilm X-Pro by Jaron Schneider. In the post, Jaron shares that Vogue France published a snippet of an interview with Jisoo from the very popular K-Pop group Blackpink, who discusses the Fujifilm X-Pro3.

Jisoo states, “I bought this camera about three years ago. And the photos came out with a really cinematic, atmospheric look. And the day right after I bought this, the members and I had a magazine photo shoot. So I took photos of all the members that day. Rosé also liked this camera so much that she said, ‘oh, Unni, can I buy this, too?’ Of course! So we have this as our couple camera.”

Jaron goes on to discuss the X-Pro3 and the importance and influence of the X-Pro line. I want to go a completely different direction. What Jisoo, Rosé, and the rest of Blackpink liked about the camera was (very specifically) the cinematic, atmospheric look of the photographs. Presumably, she’s talking about camera-made JPEGs—probably unedited (or lightly edited) straight-out-of-camera images. I have no idea if the pictures in question were captured with factory-default settings, or if Jisoo and Rosé are using Film Simulation Recipes. It would be such an honor to find out that they are using some of my Recipes!

The “enduring desirability” of the X-Pro3 and all other Fujifilm cameras is partially the classic body design, which is oftentimes unique among all current camera brands; it’s also partially—and just as importantly—the aesthetic quality of the pictures that these cameras produce. There’s something special about the camera-made JPEGs that’s highly desirable—the color and tonal nuance of Fujifilm’s Film Simulations give the images a finished, film-like quality without post-processing. That’s a big reason why Fujifilm cameras are so popular right now.

You might say, “So what? Just because some K-Pop singer likes a discontinued camera, that doesn’t mean anything.” I disagree. The influence will be noticeable. I suspect that this will cause not only a spike in sales of used X-Pro3 bodies, but also Fujifilm products in-general, including Fujinon pancake lenses, since the 27mm f/2.8 is seen on the camera in the interview. Vogue France has nearly 11 million followers on Instagram. Blackpink has nearly 60 million. Jisoo and Rosé have over 80 million each. If even just a tiny fraction of their following is influenced to buy a Fujifilm camera, it will be a lot of cameras. Don’t forget, it was two South Korean television shows that helped make Instax popular.

Fujifilm could help themselves capitalize on this. They should share the interview as much as possible on their channels. In the past they have used Mr. Bean in their advertising, so why not Blackpink? Most obviously, they should fast track the next X-Pro model. It’s really too bad there are not brand-new X-Pro units to buy right now. The timing of all this could have been much better if Fujifilm had something for Jisoo fans to buy. Still, I think there will be a notable increase in interest in Fujifilm cameras because of this interview. Fans of the group will want to achieve that same cinematic, atmospheric picture quality in their own photos. And, of course, with Film Simulations and especially Film Simulation Recipes, it’s very easy to do—not just with the X-Pro3, but with any Fujifilm model.