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Voigtländer Nokton 35mmF1.2: Electronic Contacts, Full Specs, Press Release and Official Sneak Peek

We’ve shared hands on images of the new Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 for Fujifilm X mount earlier today.

Now we spotted an official teaser to this lens at the Voigtländer website. It’s in German, so I’ll share first the google translated version and then the original one in German.

Also, a Polish distributor has shared the full specs and press release, so we share that one too here on FujiRumors (google translated via optyczne).

Also in German you can find the full press release at photoscala (images below).

PRESS RELEASE and SPECS (translated)

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

The f/0.95 Lens Battle: Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95 vs Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95

There is a vast offering of third party manual focus only Fujifilm X mount lenses. We share a selection of them down below.

Among the most popular ones, there are the ultra fast Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95, the Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 and the vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95.

Now Richard Wong compared them all on his youtube channel. As usual, I’ll provide a summary for you guys in case you don’t have time right now to watch at the 22 minutes long video.

Summary

Design and Built Quality

  • all manual focus only with no electronic contacts
  • all full metal construction
  • they all feel very solid
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans size and weight is similar. The Laowa is quite a bit bigger and heavier
  • The Laowa feels a bit front heavy on X-T3
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans, when you change focus distance, the high of these lenses will extend a bit. The size of the Laowa always remains the same
  • Only Laowa comes with lens hood, a metal lens hood. But the lens cap is of plastic
  • 7Artisans and Mitakon have a focus throw of 90 degrees, while the Laowa has a much longer focus throw of 270 degrees
  • Laowa focus ring feels smooth but also a bit tight. Changing from closes distance to infinity, it will be hard to do it quickly on the Laowa. Not a problem with the other lenses
  • 7Artisans has a quite loose focus ring, so it can be tricky to focus very precisely when shooting at f/.095
  • all these lenses have an de-clicked aperture ring, which he hates. Non of his videographer friends ever changes aperture while shooting a video. He’d prefer a clicked aperture ring
  • he prefers the design of the Laowa

Field of view

  • Laowa has the widest field of view (33 instead of 35)

Sharpness

  • Center at f/0.95: Laowa is clearly the sharpest, followed by Mitakon and the last is 7Artisans
  • at f/1.4 all lenses improve contrast
  • corner sharpness at f/0.95: all quite soft, but Laowa is the sharpest and borderline usable
  • corner sharpness at f/1.4 is reasonably sharp, while you must stop the Mitakon and 7Artisans down at f/2 to get similar results of the Laowa at f/1.4

Chromatic Aberration

  • at f/0.95: Laowa is the best with only a little bit of aberration, and much better than the other two lenses. Mitakon still keeps chromatic aberration at a decent level. 7Artisans has noticeably more chromatic aberration than the other two lenses
  • LoCA at f/0.95: serious color fringing on the 7Artisans. Laowa is best. Mitakon only marginally worst than the Laowa

Vignetting

  • at f/0.95, the Laowa is worst, followed by Mitakon and 7Artisans is best
  • it’s surprising, as the Laowa is the biggest lens

Bokeh

  • at f/0.95: Laowa has smoothest and most creamy bokeh, Mitakon a bit of halo, on 7Artisans pretty noticeable halo which makes it look more nervous
  • bokeh balls: Laowa pretty round a bit swirly in the corners. Mitakon relatively round in the center, but in corners a weird triangle shape. 7Artisans bokeh a bit similar to Mitakon but not quite as extreme and corners have oval shape bokeh with pointy end

Distortion

  • overall similar and noticeable barrel distortion

Focus distance

  • similar minimum focus distance of 35/37 cm
  • at close distance, Laowa has softest sharpness, Mitakon in the middle, and 7Artisans is the sharpest at close distance

Flare

  • All have quite some lens flare and contrast drops
  • lens flare looks quite different
  • 7Artisans is best with least amount of lens flare, but the Laowa has the best and very cinematic looking lens flare with lots of character thanks to a red lens flare

Sun Stars

  • from f/8 to f/11: Laowa most beautiful. Also 7Artisans has nice sun stars. Mitakon not quite as clean sun stars
  • You can stop down the Laowa only until f/11, while 7Artisans and Mitakon go until f/16
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans have quite a bit of ghosting when shooting at f/16, so while the sun star is a bit sharper compared to Laowa at f/16, the ghosting can become a bit distracting
  • Laowa and 7Artisans are a good choice

Coma + Focus Breathing

  • Laowa Coma is at acceptable level. 7Artisans has slightly more coma. Mitakon is the worst
  • Laowa and Mitakon similar focus breathing, 7Artisans more focus breathing

Final Thoughts

  • Each of the lenses has Pros and Cons
  • 7Artisans best value for money, Mitakon overall balanced design and reasonably well in most areas
  • Laowa is his favorite. It’s the sharpness of all and has lowest amount of chromatic aberration, making it most usable at f/0.95
  • Laowa renders best bokeh and lens flare
  • Laowa has way too long focus throw
  • He would pick the Laowa, even if it is larger and heavier

Where to get them

Some Third Party X Mount Options

Nitecore NP-W235 and NP-W126S Batteries Announced

Nitecore has announced their new Nitecore NP-W235 batteries for Fujifilm X-T4 and Fujifilm GFX100S and their NP-W126S batteries for X-T3 and other X series cameras (except the older X100 models).

Nitecore NP-W235 – Coming soon to AmazonUS and at Nitecore

  • Voltage: 7.2V
  • Capacity: 2,250mAh
  • Energy: 16.2Wh
  • Operating Temperature:
  • Charge: 0~55°C (32~131°F)
  • Discharge: -10~60°C (14~140°F)
  • Weight: 78.2g (2.76oz)
  • Compatible Models: X-T4, GFX100S
    (Please refer to the original battery compatibility for more compatible models)

Nitecore NP-W126S – Coming soon to AmazonUS and at Nitecore

  • Voltage: 7.4V
    Capacity: 1,140mAh
  • Energy: 8.4Wh
  • Operating Temperature:
  • Charge: 0~55°C (32~131°F)
  • Discharge: -10~60°C (14~140°F)
  • Weight: 51.5g (1.82oz)
  • Compatible Models:
    X-H1, X-Pro3, X-Pro2, X-Pro1, X-T3, X-T2, X-T1, X-T30, X-T20, X-T10, X-T100, X-E3, X-E2S, X-E2, X-E1, X-M1, X-A7, X-A5, X-A3, X-A2, X-A1, X-A10, X100F, X100V, X-S10, X-E4
    FinePix HS50EXR / HS30EXR / HS33EXR
    (Please refer to the original battery compatibility for more compatible models)

Fujinon GF Lens Savings Continue – Save $500, €500, £450

There are big deals running in USA and Europe on Fujinon GF lenses. Here they are:

GF Lens Deals

USA

After purchase, go to this page to claim your money back.

EUROPE

All Fujifilm Deals

Used Fujifilm Gear

Kickstarter

Fujifilm GFX100S Trade in Deal

Some Fujifilm Europe branches (like UK and IT) decided that it’s time to get rid of your full frame gear and offers you £450 trade in bonus (on top of the trade-in value of your FF camera) if you purchase the Fujifilm GFX100S. You can also trade in other medium format gear (full list below). And not only that. If you buy the Fujifilm GFX100S, you’ll get the Fujifilm BC-W235 dual battery charger for free or a free NP-W235 battery.

Fujifilm GFX100S
USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
MHG-GFX S hand grip: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama
EU: AmazonDE / CalumetDE / WexUK / Parkc.UK / AmazonUK / PCHstore

Fujinon GF80mmF1.7
USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
EU: AmazonDE / CalumetDE / WexUK / Parkc.UK / AmazonUK / PCHstore

Fujiflm Deas in EU/UK

Officially Fujifilm Recommended SD-Cards

Officially Fujifilm Recommended Power Banks

Apple Savings

Save €500/£450 on Selected Fujinon GF Lenses in Europe

Well, nice to see Europe catching up with the amazing GF lens deals in USA, where there is a $500 mail-in rebate on the following lenses:

Now the very same deals now run also in Europe, from Germany to UK, from France to Italy, except that the GF110mm is replaced by the GF45mm. This time it seems that Amazon is excluded from the official retailer list participating to this deal.

As I pre-ordered a GFX100S myself, I am now torn between the GF32-64mmF4 and the GF45-100mmF4 for landscape photography, and this deals is just great timing from Fujifilm. Thanks!!!

Fujifilm UK/IT GFX100S Trade in Deal

Fujifilm UK and Fujifilm IT decided that it’s time to get rid of your full frame gear and offers you £450 trade in bonus (on top of the trade-in value of your FF camera) if you purchase the Fujifilm GFX100S. You can also trade in other medium format gear (full list below). And not only that. If you buy the Fujifilm GFX100S, you’ll get the Fujifilm BC-W235 dual battery charger for free or a free NP-W235 battery.

Fujifilm GFX100S
USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
MHG-GFX S hand grip: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama
EU: AmazonDE / CalumetDE / WexUK / Parkc.UK / AmazonUK / PCHstore

Fujinon GF80mmF1.7
USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
EU: AmazonDE / CalumetDE / WexUK / Parkc.UK / AmazonUK / PCHstore

Follow FujiRumors on Patreon, Facebook, Instagram, RSS-feed, Youtube, Flipboard and Twitter

Fujiflm X/GFX Deas in EU/UK

FujiRumors 2020: Most Read Articles, Top/Flop Blogger Moments, Most Used Gear and a MASSIVE Thanks!

FujiRumors 2020

There are wines, that get better only with the years. And there are years, that get better only with wine. I guess 2020 was such a year and so I hope you have a glass of wine ready to celebrate the end of this unreal year ;).

But let’s quickly look at what happened it 2020 here on FujiRumors.

Now, I already thought you were amazing, but in 2020 you did even better than in 2019!

  • 63,000+ comments on FR-articles (average 172 a day – was 145 in 2019)
  • 156,370 votes in our polls

Your massive participation is the reason why Fujifilm reads us with greatest care, as proven multiple times such as here, here and here.

As you know, I run FujiRumors alone in my spare time from my teaching job.

So it was not always easy, especially this year with the extra workload I had to do to switch to online-teaching, but I have tried to honor your fantastic participation by delivering you in 2020:

  • 967 blog posts written in 2020 (average of 2.65 articles every single day of the year)
  • 90 rumors shared
  • 94% correct rumors (rumor check here)
  • at least 7,000+ personal messages written to you via fujirumor@gmail.com, Facebook and Twitter and Instagram Direct (about 20 messages a day every day, holidays and weekends included)
  • 750+ replied comments in the various FujiRumors articles
  • 100% Free ;)

Phew!! :)

Most Read Article

Most Read Non Rumor Article

Most Read Guest Post

Day with most Contacts

Top & Flop Blogger Moment

FLOP

Anyone out there knows what a burn-out is? I hope not, but I am afraid yes.

As if all the hours I spend every day on the computer to work on FujiRumors weren’t enough, in 2020 I also had to make my entire teaching work on the computer. Correcting homework on PDF files, prepare online-teaching friendly material, cutting video lessons on Final Cut, writing tons of emails to give constant feedback to students and parents. So much work, it just squeezed the last drop of energy out of me.

I ended up staring at the screen for so many hours a day, that as a consequence, my eyesight declined to a point that I had to buy new glasses. But no complaint here… we have seen much worse things happen to people this year… sadly. So I consider myself lucky.

Anyway, somehow I managed to handle all the work anyway and I’ve always tried to deliver creative and fun lessons to my little students. And given the enthusiastic feedback of students and parents (and also my school principal), I’d say I did a decent job with that.

And I hope I did a good work also on FujiRumors. In this case, you are my judge and you’ll give your vote to me :).

TOP

If anything was good at all in 2020, then the fact that it helped to realign my priorities.

And so, all the things that I took for granted, like getting a beer with a friend, a coffee with a colleague, a hug with my mom, all those “normal” things suddenly revealed themselves as the real important things in life.

And hence, just like this, when inevitably the usual haters insulted me, the biggest achievement for me was that I could lightheartedly say to myself “who cares!”. It just didn’t bother me at all. On the contrary. I really would like to wish also to FR haters all the best 2021. We are in this unreal situation all together, and hence, from human to human, I truely wish you to come out of this as soon and as good as possible so that you can get back to your normal life and fully enjoy it again. And if after that you still don’t like me, that’s ok. Important is, that you and your families are safe and happy.

Top Instagram Post

My Most Used Gear

I got the Fujifilm X-T4 this year for these 5 reasons, and it became my most used camera. Mainly because it’s brand new and hence I wanted to test it and shoot with it more, leaving my X-E3 more often at home. And I must I say it definitely balances better with my most used lens, the Fujinon XF18-135mm.

But overall, I passed 5+ months in lockdown anyway, I worked a lot and had little time to take pictures, sadly. I hope this changes in 2021.

And 2021…

I don’t know in terms of global pandemic…. but surely in terms of Fujifilm stuff, 2021 will be fantastic! :) Don’t worry, we are going to talk about it soon on FujiRumors.

Social Media Boom

Our social media and pages have reached new heights compared to 2019:

And our facebook groups grew massively compared to 2019:

The Rise of Selfie Screens, The Myth of Them Being Better for Video and About Pleasing Youtubers instead of Customers

2020 Trend

These days everybody is making its list of the best and worst gear 2020, as well as best and worst trends of 2020.

And it’s on the latter one, the “trends”, that I would like to focus on today.

Because it is clear: one of the hot trends in the photography industry is putting selfie screens on cameras.

And guys, we have to talk about it!

I Am NOT a Selfie Screen Hater

To be clear: I do not hate selfie screens.

And in fact, during the various COVID-19 lockdowns, I often have to teach online and record my lessons, and the selfie screen is a true blessing!

A fully articulating screen is not the photography-evil of our times. It still works fine, it’s still flexible, and I have rather rapidly learned to accept it on my Fujifilm X-T4, sometimes even to love it (especially during my online lessons).

So, if you are one of those, who loves the fully articulating screen, I get it. Maybe I don’t love it as much as you do, but I could totally accept a selfie screen on cameras like the future Fujifilm X-H2 for example.

But….

But it’s getting a bit out of control, with selfie screens just popping up on so many cameras, that we have to talk about it.

And why is this happening?

Tony Northrup
“Selfie Screen? Pleasing Youtubers is Higher Priority than Pleasing Customers”

Vs.
Jonas Rask
“I have no count as to how many shots I missed becauseof the Selfie Screen”

** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

Top Selling Black Friday Deals (and Last Chance to Grab Them) + New Cyber Monday Deals on SD-Cards, Tripods and More

There have been a myriad of deals over the last few days. But which one were the ones that sold best among the FujiRumors community?

I’ll list them down below.

Most of the deals listed below expire either today or tomorrow. So, if there is something that interest you, you might be better off grabbing in right now.

Also, the new Cyber Monday deals are now live (list below).

New Cyber Monday Deal Pages Live Now!

Selected Cyber Monday Deals

  • Capture One – save 41% at Adorama
  • Save big on up to 1TB Sandisk cards at Amazon.
  • Save big on Lexar SD cards at Amazon.
  • Save big on up to 256GB Sandisk cards at Amazon.
  • Save on PNY SD cards at Amazon.
  • Save on Joby, Manfrotto, and Lowepro accessories at Amazon.

Best Selling Camera

  1. Fujifilm X100F (save $400): only at B&H Photo here
  2. Fujifilm X-T4 body/kits with Vertical Battery Grip (save $200): BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS
  3. Fujifilm X-S10 (not in offer, and yet beating other cameras): BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama, Moment, Focuscamera

Best Selling Lenses

  1. Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 AF (save 10%): Viltrox Store, BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama
  2. Fujinon XF 55-200mm (save $200): BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama, Focuscamera
  3. Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 AF (save 10%): ViltroxStore, AmazonUS, BHphoto, Adorama, eBay

Best Selling Software

  1. TOPAZ one-time-only mega bundle deal (save 68%+)
  2. Capture One (all products) (save 30% with code BLACKFRIDAY30)
  3. All products at the entire DxO shop (save 50%)

Best Selling Accessories

Note that you save on ALL Peak Design products directly at Peak Design store or at official retailers like BHphoto here and AmazonUS here.

  1. Peak Design Leash Straps (save up to 20%): PeakDesign, BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama
  2. Godox AD200Pro (save $80): BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS
  3. Peak Design Slide Straps (save up to 20%): PeakDesign, BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama

The Full Deals List

Dedicated Black Friday Pages

Software Deals and More

Viltrox Savings

Apple Deals (including NEW MacBooks with APPLE SILICON M1 Chip!)

Peak Design

Officially Fujifilm Recommended SD-Cards

Officially Fujifilm Recommended Power Banks

Fujifilm Deals

XF Lens Deals

X Camera Deals

Also, if you purchase of Fujifilm X100V, you get a free DOMKE Medium Camera bag or DOMKE Camera Strap.

GFX Gear