It’s Here

It’s never easy to let go gear you used and loved a lot. Gear like my good old Fujinon XF23mm f/1.4 R for example.

But now the time has come.

I’ve just received the new Fujinon XF23mm f/1.4 R LM WR and I’ve explained the reason why I bought it here already.

The Magic of Making Money by Buying Gear ;)

I bought the lens at Amazon IT here, as they had a better price than my local store and are also qualified for the Fujifilm cashback.

Convincing my wife of this investment went like this:

1. I don’t need to pay for the lens, because I am paying it with the money I made from the X-T4 sale
2. there is a sweet deal on the new XF23mmF1.4
3. by buying the new XF23mmF1.4 I can get rid of the old XF23mm and make even more money
4. I’ve booked a table for 2 for dinner at a fancy restaurant tomorrow. Yes, only for 2! It will be our first dinner without our son after 2+ years. Grandma is informed, she will watch after our son

This tells us one thing: photography is definitely an expensive hobby when you build up your system, but it gets much cheaper once you can fund new gear by selling old one.

Remember the Good

But I don’t let go my good old Fujinon XF23mm f/1.4 with a light heart, as I had many great moments with it. Let me name a few “episodes”.

Beating Sony ;)

Fujifilm has published its financial result for the 3rd quarter of the fiscal year 2022.

We remind you that the fiscal year in Japan ends on March 31. That’s why Fujifilm now launched massive lens deals to push the sales numbers before the final yearly report.

These are the results for the imaging division:

X-T4 – Remember the Good

My Fujifilm X-T4 is gone… sold.

Unlike when I sold my X-T1, there won’t be a huge emotional goodbye today.

But that’s not to say I didn’t appreciate my X-T4.

On the contrary, I have done lots of work (wedding included) and travel with it (taking lovely family images).

At a certain moment, I even fell madly in love with… with the selfie screen!

It was 2020, and since February I was in lockdown and teaching online. I filmed my lessons with my X-E3, but when I finally received the X-T4, it totally improved my workflow to be able to see myself during recording, but I also started to make more creative videos for my students (which they appreciated, as you can here from their Whatsapp feedback I’ve shared in this article – direct video here).

So I guess this could be called my best experience with the X-T4: it simplified my teacher life during lockdown and also gave me a creative boost.

• My First Trip with My Fujifilm X-T4: What I Loved, What I Hated… and Unveiling What I Really Teach at School

And to be honest, there were several other occasions where the fully articulating screen turned out very handy, as I have described here.

• So What, Did FujiRumors Fall in Love with Fully Articulating Screens?

So to be clear: it might not have been my all time favorite camera, but I appreciated it and had lots of fun with it.

The Sale

And yet, the day I’ve received the rumor that the Fujifilm X-T5 has a 3 way tilt screen (a masterpiece of a rumor btw, with quotes from V for Vendetta ;)), I did put my Fujifilm X-T4 up for sale. Because although I can see the advantages of fully articulating screens, for my style of shooting the disadvantages just outweigh the Pros.

I needed a couple of months to sell it. I feel like most buyers simply have unrealistic expectations on how much second gear should cost. I received messages from people who said they won’t pay more than 500 bucks.

Of course I declined such offers and wished them good luck to find an X-T4 for that price in 2038.

At the end I found someone living just 15 minutes car drive from my home who bought it at a fair price.

The new owner of my X-T4, Nicole, is more into video and prefers the fully articulating screen of X-T4. I am happy to see my X-T4 in the hands of someone who is going to appreciate and love it.

My Next Lens

And what should I do with the money earned from the X-T4 sale?

Buy more lenses, of course! :)

After lots of thoughts, I decided that it will be one of the new fast 40MP capable primes. But which one?

What Not

• the good old XF35mmF1.4 is source of eternal joy and happiness for me, snapping personal favorite images over and over again. It kills any desire for the XF33mmF1.4 for me
• I use the original XF56mmF1.2 mostly for portraits. I don’t need faster AF in those occasions. And I also don’t need the even sharper images of the new XF56mmF1.2 R WR. It’s portraits, people usually don’t really desire to have their wrinkles captured in high resolution 40MP glory. The current 56 is plenty of sharp enough. No need for even sharper portraits

What’s Left

• the original XF23mmF1.4 is a lens I have used in some of the most important moments of my life: it was the only lens I took with me when my son was born. It was a stunning performer during the weeding I photographed. I made some travels carrying only the XF23mmF1.4 with me. It’s just incredibly flexible and also fun and beautiful thanks to the focus clutch. But as much as I appreciate it, I am not madly in love with it like with my XF35mmF1.4. So the new XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR is an option
• XF18mmF1.4 R LM WR: I once owned the pancake XF18mmF2 lens. When I sold it I did miss the pancake style and the 18mm FOV every now and then. I replaced my desire for pancake with the XF27mmF2.8 R WR, but I still sometimes miss to have a nice 18mm prime

The Decision

One would say, so keep the old XF23mmF1.4 and get the XF18mmF1.4.

But here is the thing: as you’ve seen from the examples I made above, 23mm is a really nice focal length that I use in many important moments of my life. And the idea of having the stellar ultra sharp and fast focusing XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR is intriguing me.

So the masterplan is this: with the money from the X-T4 sale I will buy a new XF23mmF1.4 R LM WR (I give it 1/2 months and hope in a sale, otherwise I’ll buy full price). Once I have it, I’ll sell the old XF23mmF1.4 and have some more money to buy even more lenses. Maybe the 18mmF1.4 or why not, even the XF16mmF1.4.

2023 just starts as 2022 ended: I still struggle with my GAS :D

• XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera
• XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
• XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Focuscamera / Moment
• XF 56mm f/1.2 R WR: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / Moment
• XF 56mmF1.2 R – $300 off: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama

UPDATE: Price is back to normal for most people. Some countries (like me in Italy) still see the higher price)

UPDATE 2: Reply from Viltrox:

We do not change the price of 75mmXF lens at Viltrox Official store—US$549,
but MSRP varies by regions like all of Viltrox other products as below for your reference:

Euro Countries: €599.00
GBP Countries：£533.00
USD or other currency countries:US$549 533
CAD: C$729.00
JPY: ¥70,600

ADMIN NOTE: even from Italy I always saw the lower price. Now suddenly this changed, and in Italy I see the new higher price. But US residents still see the old price. Also strange that I see the old price for their 85mm (hence I see the same price in Italy as it is in USA). But the other lenses have a different price.

Original Article

When checking the Viltrox store today, a FR-reader noticed that Viltrox started to increase the prices on their X mount lenses.

I don’t know what is happening and dropped an email to Viltrox to ask for clarification. As soon as I get a reply I will update this article.

But for now my best recommendation is that if you wanted to grab any of the lenses, better do it now at BHphoto. We don’t know if soon also BH & Co will have to raise the price on Viltrox X mount lenses, or if maybe Viltrox will revert back to the original pricing.

Here is a breakdown of the prices at Viltrox compared to BHphoto at the time of this post.

• Viltrox 75mm f/1.2
  $549 at BHphoto vs $669 at Viltrox
• Viltrox 13mm f/1.4
  $459 at BHphoto vs $559 at Viltrox
• Viltrox 23mm f/1.4
  $299 at BHphoto vs $401 at Viltrox
• Viltrox 33mm f/1.4
  $279 at BHphoto vs $340 at Viltrox
• Viltrox 56mm f/1.4
  $299 at BHphoto vs $401 at Viltrox
• Viltrox 85mm f/1.8
  $399 at BHphoto vs $399 at Viltrox