OIS is BACK ? XF 16-55mm f/2.8 WR coming “early 2015″… and with OIS (source Fujifilm Magazine)

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Back on the 24th of July (I remember the date, because I worte that specific article while sitting at the back of a rented car between 2 hyperactive kids during my holidays in Tuscany… believe me, a real challange to write it ;-) ), Fujifilm updated the lens roadmap, and, amongst the others, they told us that the XF 16-55mmF2.8 release had been pushed back to spring 2015… and it will be without “OIS”.

Now we have some more information about this lens, shared at the latest issue of the Fujifilm X-magazine (and spotted by attentive FR-reader Dan R Smedra – thanks for sharing at the FR facebook page)

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First: we now have a slightly more precise indication of the release of the XF16-55… it will come “early 2015” (so I’d exclude May/June, and guess it will come around March)

Second: As you might or might not know, the latest official stamtent from Fujifilm (made in September at photokina) confirms, that the XF 16-55mmF2.8 will NOT feature an optical image stabilization (OIS), because of weight/IQ reasons. Many X-shooters were astonished by this news, especially since Fujifilm is right now explaining us that the 5 stop OIS in the XF 18-135 WR lens and 50-140 f/2.8 lens works miracles (and apparently it really does)! I’ve launched various polls here on FR and shared posts on facebook… and it’s pretty clear that the majority of X-shooters do want OIS.

Now, I don’t know if it’s just a typo or if Fuji changed plans, but according to the latest edition of Fuji’s official X-magazine, the XF 16-55 will feature OIS (and come early 2015, as said before). I really hope that this is not just a typo.

stay tuned
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RELEASED: Iridient Developer 3.0 beta 4 + Camera Raw 8.7.1

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Iridient Developer 3.0 beta 4

Iridient Developer 3 moves towards final release with a new beta 4 update! This new version fixes all known bugs with the previous beta and adds a few new features to the Detail pane as well. New features include a Clarity adjustment, two new sharpening methods (Iridient “Reveal” and High Pass) and edge masking support for all sharpeners.

The new download can be found here:
http://iridientdigital.com/products/iridientdeveloper_download_v3beta.html

Full release notes can be viewed here:
http://iridientdigital.com/products/rawdeveloper_history.html

Adobe Camera Raw 8.7.1 final release

Adobe just released Camera Raw 8.7.1 for Mac / Windows. Nothing Fujifilm specific this time.

Solving the X-trans Fuji raw conversion problem… at feedback.photoshop :)

Fujifilm XF 50-140 / X100T SHIPPING at B&H + Tom Grill’s review “Sharp Everywhere” with high-res samples to download!

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XF 50-140 Shipping

BHphoto has received the next batch of lenses and is right now shipping them to those who placed their pre-orders… hopefully they got enough units to fulfill all pre-orders. For now the lens is marked as “IN STOCK: shipping olny”. The XF 50-140 is out of stock elsewhere in USA, or available overpriced at AmazonUS via third party seller.

XF 50-140 IN STOCK CHECK USA: BHphotoAmazonUS / Adorama / EU: WexUK / WexDE / PCHstore / AUS: CameraPro

XF 50-140 hands on review

MUST READ: Rico’s First Look at the 50-140 f/2.8!

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image courtesy: Tom Grill

1) Tom Grill just completed a full hands-on review of the 50-140mm zoom and included plenty of high res samples for downloading so that you can judge the quality by yourself. The whole article and the samples can be checked out at aboutphotography-tomgrill. Here an excerpt:

“The lens is sharp everywhere — center, corners, and all apertures. The Fijifilm MTF charts on it are really impressive, among the best results I’ve ever seen. Is it as good as the rival, full frame equivalent zooms from the big two. Easily, and maybe even better.”

2) Preview of the 50-140 at mikemander:

“So… I don’t know about you, but I’d say that lens is pretty darn sharp! In fact, I actually ended up reducing the default level of sharpening in my PhotoNinja workflow from what I normally have it set to, since this shot was simply rendered far too sharp then. Focusing was silent and very snappy and the image-stabilizer seemed extremely effective as well. The bokeh was nice as long as the background was substantially blurred as in the above shot. With only a slight blur, there is some nervousness (outlining) to high-contrast details, as can be seen in the slightly out-of-focus beard hairs in the above photo.”

X100T
USA: BHphoto  / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / WexDE / PCHstore / AUSTRALIA: CameraPro

BHphoto also started shipping the silver X100T again. The camera is available in black at pictureline.

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