Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0, Where are You? Maybe Shipping October 15 and a Mini-Roundup to Pass the Waiting Time

October 6, 2020
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It was supposed to hit the market at the end of September, but so far the Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 is incredibly hard to find in stock.

I guess Fujifilm did not lie, when they told us they were overwhelmed by the pre-orders for this lens.

And as a matter of fact, the Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 is outselling by a large margin all other Fujinon lenses in 2020 here on FujiRumors.

Now, I got a report (thanks), that BHphoto expects stock on October 15. Let’s hope so.

Remains to see how many lenses they will get shipped… let’s hope enough to fulfill all preorders at least.

Anyway, in an attempt to manage our impatience and the waiting, I thought to publish a dedicated roundup to the Fujinon XF50mmF1.0.

The Complaints

There were some complaints here in the comments of FujiRumors, that the minimum focus distance of the Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0 is of only 70cm (hence same focus distance of the much loved XF 56mm f/1.2).

But let’s look at what the closest XF50mmF1.0 full frame equivalent lenses can offer in terms of minimum focus distance, and we quickly discover that most of them have a minimum focus distance of 85mm.

There is a technical reason why no company is able to deliver a super fast mid-telephoto lens with a minimum focus distance lower than 80cm (or 70cm in case of the Fujinon XF50/1), a reason explained by Gordon from Cameralabs in his 50/1 first look, that we shared in our Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 live blog here.

Larger aperture lenses suffer from increased field curvature at close distances, hence the 70cm limit on the XF50mmF1.0 and XF56mmF1.2. […] The full frame 85mmF1.4 lenses won’t focus closer either, typically around at 80/85cm

One day Fujifilm will re-invent lens design. But that day has not yet come, and hence for now we must simply accept the 70cm minimum focus distance.

And speaking of Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0, here is a little bit more of it :)