02.19.2018 FUJIFILM

X-H1 Development Story #2

On this story, we will take a look at inside of X-H1 camera body. New devices make new features possible for a camera. And in order to maximize the performance, the installment of the devices plays an important role. X-H1 is more robust with thicker frame. It allows new devices, that were not possible for previous models, to be installed onto the X-H1 body.

One of the new devices for X-H1 is the Image Stabilization Unit (IBIS). Realizing the first IBIS to be installed on the X Mount was a big challenge on its own, but our top priority is image quality, so we aimed for the highest standard from the get-go. This was not only a challenge for the IBIS development team, but also for the exterior design team.
We will explore more on IBIS on later episodes, so we won’t write much here. To put it briefly, it is designed to give the best performance, but the best performance is not possible by simply mounting it onto the camera.
The IBIS unit is supported by endoskeletal framework. The framework has a complicated shape, so magnesium, which is excellent in workability, was adopted. The frame is considerably thick. So it itself is a solid support, but steel reinforcements are combined to further increase the strength. Even if the IBIS unit vibrates at a high speed, it will not move a tiny bit.

IBIS vibrates by itself against external vibration such as hand shake to cancels blur. However, vibrations actually also occur from the camera within. The typical ones are mirror shock and shutter shock. Since X-H1 is a mirrorless camera, there is no mirror shock. However, there is the shutter shock.
The X Series has been designed to take measures against shutter shock as you can see in the article below.

Focal Plane Shutter

However, it becomes a completely different story for a camera that is equipped with IBIS. The sensor unit are not grounded to a surface, so it becomes more sensitive to shocks. Higher levels of shock countermeasures are required.
In short, the transmittance of shocks should be canceled to overcome the problem, but the shutter unit is right in front of the sensor. How could it possibly be done?
Spring was our answer. The shutter unit is suspended with five springs so they act as a shock absorber when the shutter is pressed. With this, vibration is not transmitted to other devices inside the camera.

The tension of each of these five springs is different because the impact on each of the 5 points is different when the shutter is pressed. The effect of this countermeasure is astounding. The impact on the image quality is barely noticeable.

The shock absorber also contributes to quietness of the shutter. You can see the adavantage with the following videos by Robert Falconer and Fabio Lovino.

 

X-H1: Robert Falconer x Cinema Still “Luchador” -Proud of-

 

X-H1: Fabio Lovino x Cinema Stills -Proud of-

Lastly, let’s also talk about improvement on video performance.
The continuous movie shooting time for X-H1 is 1.5x longer than X-T2. 4K shooting requires high processing power and to avoid the overheating issue, there is the limiter. So how can the X-H1 take longer movies than the X-T2 while the two cameras use the same device?
The frame design is one of the answers. The X-H1 has a larger heat sink to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by the processor to the outside. And by transferring the heat absorbed by the heat sink to the front and back of the camera and by securing more surface area, the heat is released to the outside of the camera in much quicker time.

To get the best performance out of any device, frame is critically important.
Next, we will explore on frame of camera body. Å

X-H1 Development Story

#1 Frame Pt.1
#2 Frame Pt.2
#3 Camera Body
#4 ETERNA
#5 ETERNA Pt.2
#6 Autofocus
#7 IBIS