- Fujifilm hosted a live event two weeks ago, presenting 14 lens concepts
- The company ran a poll, asking viewers to vote for their three favorites
- More than 70,000 votes later, the XF 16-80mm F2.8 concept came out on top
Fujifilm recently hosted a 'Focus on Glass – Untold Stories' live event, during which its product planning team walked viewers through 14 different lens concepts, saying, "we'd love to make lenses like these". If you love camera gear, the event is well worth a watch.
Something totally refreshing happened as the event closed — Fujifilm opened voting for you, the fans, to have your say. Two weeks and 70,000 votes later, we now know which of these lenses resonated the most.
Each participant could vote for three of the concepts — the 'character rich' XF 90mm F2 APD lens caught my eye as a specialist portrait lens, but it was two wide-aperture zooms that predictably topped the votes (and they were my other two choices).
In top spot was the XF 16-80mm F2.8 with 16.4% of the votes, followed closely by the XF 18-50mm F1.4 with 15.85%. You can see the full results below, and see more details about each option at the Fujifilm website.
What's not clear right now is exactly how Fujifilm is going to use this information. There's no guarantee that any of these lenses will actually be produced, but many will no doubt hope that their voice matters, and that the XF 16-80mm F2.8 in particular becomes a reality.
Here's how you voted
Fujifilm XF lenses are APS-C format, and so the effective focal length (1.5x) of the winning XF 16-60mm F2.8 lens is 24-120mm. For me, it would fill a big hole in Fujifilm's lineup, and it looks like it could be my dream travel lens, especially given that it's estimated to weigh just 400-500g and measure somewhere between 80-100mm in length, despite its versatile zoom range and constant wide aperture.
Mark Wilson is TechRadar's News Editor and long time Fujifilm user so, naturally, I was keen to hear his take on the poll. He said,
‘The top two lenses are both versatile, bright mid-range zooms — perfect for walkaround shooting and video. The XF16-80mm f/2.8 would in particular fill a big gap in the Fujifilm lineup. It’d be the equivalent of a 24-120mm f/4 on full-frame, making it a one-lens banger for travel and a step up from the current XF16-80mm f/4. I’m less excited about an XF 18-50mm f/1.4, which would likely be enormous. But Fujifilm already has lots of excellent primes, so the popularity of high-quality zooms doesn’t surprise me.’
And the XF 18-50mm F1.4 will no doubt have photographers excited — an effective 27-75mm lens with a constant f/1.4 aperture would be incredible, even if it topped the expected 700-800g weight and 110-130mm length. I would expect both of those lenses to be extremely popular, along with the lens in third place, an XF 18mm and 30mm inspired by the 'Travel Mini' compact. Marginally bigger than a pancake lens, the XF 18mm and 30mm lens would have a mechanism that allows users to switch between two focal lengths (but not zoom, hence being called 18mm and 30mm, not 18-30mm), which in this case is an effective 27mm and 45mm.
This tiny lens would weigh between 100-200g and measure between 40-50mm in length. There's no word on what aperture the lens would have, only that the focal-length switch mechanism (as opposed to a zoom) would help to keep the size and weight down. It could be a superb option with one of Fujifilm's smaller mirrorless cameras, such as the X-E5.
Let's take a look at how the rest of the voting unfolded:
Lens |
Vote percentage |
Votes |
XF 16-80mm F2.8 |
16.4% |
11,121 |
XF 18-50mm F1.4 |
15.85% |
10.747 |
XF 18 and 30mm (mini) |
12.1% |
8,205 |
XF 14-140mm F3.5-6.3 |
9.21% |
6,246 |
XF 35mm F1.4 II |
7.07% |
4,794 |
XF 33mm F1.0 |
7.02% |
4,761 |
XF 35mm F1.4 WR II |
6.5% |
4,410 |
XF 23, 35, 50mm F2 with brass exterior |
5.89% |
3,993 |
Manual focus lens (either 23, 35 or 50mm) |
4.72% |
3,201 |
XF 90mm F2 APD |
4.49% |
3,042 |
Cine Prime lenses T1.2 |
3.35% |
2,270 |
XF 35mm F1.4 II (new optical design) |
3.26% |
2,210 |
Soft focus lens |
2.2% |
1,490 |
XF 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 |
1.96% |
1,327 |
What do you make of these lens concepts and the poll results? Are there any particular Fujifilm XF lenses that you're excited about? Let me know in the comments below!
