Bert Stephani has a nice impressions video on the XF 90mm f/2 →. My favourite part is at 0:29, but keep watching until around the 4 minute mark, where Bert takes the lens outdoors to shoot, and provides some great sample images.
The 90mm f/2 looks like it will have no trouble creating separation for your subject, and rendering busy backgrounds as creamy, blurry, bokeh backdrops. Wedding photographers are going to be all over this thing.
The other big news along with the X-T10 was the official announcement of the XF 90mm f/2 WR.
The 90mm marks the the fourth officially announced XF lens from Fujifilm in a row that is weather sealed.1 I really hope this is a sign of Fuji’s intentions going forward; that every new lens will be weather sealed. Based on the mockups we’ve seen, we can be pretty sure the yet-to-be-officially-announced XF 35mm f/2 and XF 120mm Macro will also be weather sealed.
It seems like it was just yesterday that Fuji announced the “The World’s First” Triple Linear Motor in the XF 50-140mm. That lens is pretty swift already when it come to AF speed, so this Quad LM ought to help the 90mm focus quickly. Going by Fuji’s own numbers, which rank the 90mm at 0.14 seconds, it won’t be quite as quick as the XF 16-55mm f/2.8, at a mere 0.06 seconds.
There were some rumours that the 90mm f/2 would get us to 1:2 macro levels like the 60mm f/2.4, but it turns out 0.3x magnification is as close as we’ll get. Pairing the 90mm with either of the extension tubes will help, but I still have every intention of waiting for the XF 120mm Macro for my serious close-up needs.
I suppose compared to other ways of getting to 90mm it’s reasonably small and light, but this will be Fuji’s heftiest prime to date. Fuji’s reported weight is 540g without the caps. That makes it heavier than even the 10-24mm f/4 and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6.
I’ll wait until I can do some testing with my own copy before I weigh in on this, but it’s bound to be great. The first comparison will be how it fairs next to the 56mm f/1.2. It may have a shorter focal length, but that extra stop+ of aperture on the 56mm just might even things out.
During Photokina, I tweeted this:
Interesting tidbit in Fuji’s marketing materials: This [APD] filter has been introduced to the 56mm f/1.2 ahead of others in the line.”
— Fuji vs. Fuji (@FujivsFuji) September 17, 2014
Fuji advised that I not look too far into it, but if there’s another lens that an APD filter might make sense for, it’s the 90mm f/2. I suppose the only trouble is that with a maximim aperture of “only” f/2, the drop off in light gathering might slow the lens down too much for it to be as useful.
This is a focal length I was on the cusp of buying in my DSLR days many times. With the 90mm f/2, I’ll finally have it. At $950 USD, it’s going to make the choice between it and the 56mm a tough one. Look for a Versus comparison article after its release.
Fuji have officially announced their latest prime, the FUJINON XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR,→ the first prime in their line up to offer weather resistance. You can count on a Versus article involving this lens once I get my hands on it (and have ample time to do my testing and analysis), but for now, you can check out a few initial impressions posts on the lens.
The first is from Tomasz Trzebiatowski over at Fuji Love. It’s a nice overview, however there is one statement that has me genuinely stumped on its meaning:
Images are crisp, but still not overly sharp.
I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of over-sharpness being a problem on the hardware level. I’d be interested to know what Tomasz means by that.
Next up, Neill Soden, despite admitting he’s not a fan of wide angles, appreciated the 16mm, and has a good size comparison photo of the new wide angle next to what was previously Fuji’s chunkiest prime, the 56mm f/1.2. Neill’s impressions are a testament to the impact 2mm can have on wider focal lengths.
Max Demartino has posted full resolution JPEGs over on his site. Full crops from a pre-production lens are a rare find.
Flemming Bo Jensen has probably the most interesting to read impressions on the new wide angle. If I had to choose one review to read this would be it. The astro capabilities in particular have my interest piqued.
Björn Moerman has gone to town, posting test charts, product shots, bokeh samples, the works.
UPDATE:
Ivan Joshua Loh has posted his thoughts on the 16mm as well. It won’t be replacing his 23mm f/1.4 anytime soon, but that will be the case for just about anyone who owns the 23mm. Ivan references the weather sealing of the 16mm though, which could end up being a big reason why I have it attached to my X-T1.
Ben Cherry is another recipient of a pre-production unit. I’m happy to see him address the potential duplication or even triplicating of adding this lens to your bag, and he calls attention to the size difference between it and the 14mm, which is substantial.
Fuji has really gone to town on shipping out samples to get the word out about their new kit. There’s a bit too much gushing for my taste, but it’s tough to get beyond the initial excitement of a new lens and get the feel of it, warts and all after only a few days. Sometimes you need weeks to really get a sense of whether or not it’s something you reach for regularly.
I’m looking forward to having my own impressions of this lens. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the 14mm f/2.8, and both the 10-24mm f/4 and 16-55mm f/2.8 at 16mm.
For those who haven’t yet noticed, detailed handling comparisons of what I’ve called “Standard Zooms” and “Telephoto Zooms” are online. I have a good start on comparison images as well, but it’s been difficult with the frigid temperatures we’ve been experiencing in Canada recently. Comparison crops are in the works though, and will be posted as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out my impressions of these new lenses and how they compare as far as handling and build quality is concerned.
Fuji are at it again. Not content with having just three items in the pipeline, they’ve doubled the unreleased product count with the addition of two more lenses and a teleconverter for good measure. Here are my thoughts on the latest roadmap update.
Read MoreBig Head Taco has written a nice piece about his time with both the President and Vice President of Fujifilm Canada. His impressions of the imaging leadership is certainly of interest1 but this is the bit that really caught my attention.
I asked Greg why no prime WR lenses and he said they are coming soon. He mentioned the new 90mm f/2 and the 16mm f/1.4 are going to be WR lenses, but the lens roadmap doesn't mention it.
This is fantastic news. Weather sealing is the one thing I find lacking with Fujifilm lenses. I suppose the question now is, how does Fuji go about re-issuing WR versions of existing lenses? There aren’t many I wouldn’t like to see WR appended to their model names.
In starting a comparison including the new 50-140mm, I was struggling with how to categorize Fuji’s lenses. My initial thought was to describe the 50-140mm f/2.8 as “Pro” with all other lenses being “Consumer.” The trouble with that of course is Fuji already have a second consumer-focused set of lenses that carry the XC moniker.
Perhaps Fuji has already found a way of differentiating between these two levels of quality within their XF series of lenses though. The red badge.
Fuji’s red XF Zoom badge
I noticed this badge immediately when I first saw the 50-140mm f/2.8 at Photokina. I wasn’t crazy about it when I first saw it, but it’s grown on me.1
Just two lenses carry this badge officially to date, the 16-55mm f/2.8, and the 50-140mm f/2.8, which are the two lenses unofficially referred to as “pro zooms.” These lenses also happen to be the only two lenses in the lineup that come with the new Nano GI coating so the red badge might be the signifier of this coating’s presence,2 but it could just as well be their version of the gold band found on Nikon’s pro glass or the red band found on Canon’s L lenses. It’s clearly not indicative of weather sealing since the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 has the standard black XF badge.
Looking back at my my images from Photokina, it appears as though the XF zoom badge was deliberately left off of the the new Super Tele-Photo Zoom 140-400mm f/4-5.6. This would suggest that Fuji do have an idea of what the red badge stands for, and that they hadn’t yet commited to adding the stamp to the new Super Tele Zoom. Or maybe it just fell off. It is a prototype after all.
No XF Zoom badge? What does it mean???
It’s interesting that Fuji have created a new tier of zoom lenses with these latest releases—I’d bet the farm that this isn’t a revised design language for all lenses going forward, and I suspect they won’t dish out the red badge often—but it’s odd that there doesn’t seem to be an official word on what the red badge stands for.
This morning I woke up early to do some shooting with my new 50-140mm f/2.8. I figured I might as well throw the 10-24mm f/4 in my bag as well to round out my focal range. It occurred to me right then how great a combo the 10-24mm and 50-140mm is. Add in the fantastic 35mm f/1.4, and all your focal length bases would be very well covered.
This might be the most ideal kit available from Fuji, and would probably remain that way even after the 16-55mm f/2.8 comes out if it weren’t for one thing.
I’ve griped about this before, but this morning was another reminder of how much I wish Fuji had made this weather resistant. I packed my bag, jumped in the car, and upon exiting the garage, discovered it was drizzling quite heavily. I was undeterred thanks to the 50-140mm, but I thought to myself “Whelp, guess I won’t be using the 10-24mm.”
That sucks. Especially since as the 16-55mm f/2.8 approaches, I find myself thinking more and more that I’m going to prefer having the 10-24mm f/4. It zooms internally like the 50-140mm f/2.8, it shares the same 72mm filter thread,1 and it goes quite a bit wider than the 16-55mm f/2.8.
Rumours of Fuji releasing a Mark II version of their 35mm f/1.4 abound,2 but just last week they’ve shown their willingness to re-issue lenses with Mark II versions of their XC lenses. I also asked one of Fuji’s engineers about the possibility of re-issuing a weather sealed version of the 10-24mm f/4 with weather sealing, to which he replied it was possible, but the lens mmight be slighty larger. I’d take a slight bump in size on a lens like that if it I could use it unfavourable weather any day. Here’s hoping.
Fuji vs. Fuji is site dedicated to comparing and contrasting Fujifilm X Series mirrorless cameras, FUJINON and X Mount compatible lenses, and related accessories.
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