If you're anything like me, musing on dream camera gear can be a bit of a habit. That lens you wish you owned, or the one missing from your camera system's line up. Fujifilm just democratized the process... of sorts.
During a 'Focus on Glass – Untold Stories' live event, the retro digital camera maker proposed 14 lens concepts, and it wants you to have your say on your favorite(s).
Fujifilm's Yukitaka Takeshita and Yumi Miyauchi, leads in the X-mount product planning team, unpacked each option throughout the 38 minute presentation (see the YouTube video below), covering Character Rich, Wide Aperture, Reviving Legendary and High-Magnification Zoom categories.
Three options included mark II variations of the original 35mm f/1.4 prime, but I expect various new 'wide aperture' options will get Fujifilm fans especially pumped.
The front runners
There's scope for picking your three favorites, and I've cast my vote. Fujifilm has set the vote results to live, meaning that once you've voted you can see the front runners, with the voting updated every 5 minutes.
I'm hardly surprised which two options are pulling away from the pack in the opening 24 hours; the XF 16-80mm f/2.8 and XF 18-50mm f/1.4 – two versatile, fast aperture zooms, taking 32% of the entire vote at the time of writing.
Remember, X-mount lenses are APS-C format, meaning the above lenses have equivalent 24-120mm and 27-75mm focal lengths in full-frame terms respectively. The f/2.8 zoom is expected to weigh between 400-500g, the f/1.4 zoom less than 800g, so both are moderately lightweight and compact considering the optical construction.
The XF 16-80mm f/2.8 is likely to top the votes overall – it feels like the perfect travel lens. For me, however, I'd be really keen to see one of the 'character rich' options – an XF 90mm f/2 APD. If you're unfamiliar with what APD means, it refers to an apodization element – a rarity in today's lenses and which is designed to add extra dreamy bokeh effects for portraiture.
Fujifilm's option is the equivalent of a 135mm focal length in full-frame terms, and harks to a Nikon F-mount lens I owned for many years before cashing in for more than I paid for it, the legendary 135mm f/2 DC. Sony has such as lens in its lineup too, a 135mm STF (smooth transition focus).
I'm sure you'll have your own ideas too. So if you're keen to have your say, head over to the Fujifilm site to see all the options, which also includes an XF 33mm F1.0, and cast your vote. You can pick up to three of the 14 options.
Of course, there are no guarantees that any of these lenses will be made. However, I'm a big fan of Fujifilm involving the public in such processes, and I'm sure if either or both of those two frontrunners are produced, they would be super popular.
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