We hear from Masazumi Imai, design manager at Fujifilm, on how a camera should awaken all our five senses with its creative form and innovative function
Masazumi imai forges a close bond with the cameras he creates. Seeing them as more than just instruments for taking photographs, the celebrated design manager at Fujifilm describes cameras as tools for self‑expression and “works of art with textures and details that we can enjoy looking closely at, and that appeal to our tactile senses with the turn of a dial or press of a button”. The man is behind Fujifilm’s award‑winning X-Series range of high-end compact and mirrorless digital cameras, which balances advanced technologies with classic designs.
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Imai, who studied product design at Tokyo’s Tama Art University, has been with the renowned Japanese photography and imaging company since 2002, and remains driven by a passion for building things with his hands, a skill he honed as a child. He decided to specialise in designing cameras after his university professor told him that “camera design is the most difficult form of product design to master. If you master it, you’d have developed a solid foundation for other fields of product design”.
These words stuck with Imai, who went on to spearhead the design of Fujifilm’s X-Series cameras, including the debut X100 model as well as the X-T2 and the GFX 50S. The designer recently saw the launch of brand’s latest creation: the X-H1, a flagship model of the range designed for more heavy-duty professional photography, such as shooting in rougher climates or high-speed conditions. He tells us more.
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