First Look: XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

UPDATE (18APR2013): Added more llama shots and a new flower shot.

UPDATE: US readers can already preorder the brand new Fuji 55-200mm lens at BHphoto (Click here).

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Rico’s XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Prototype Samples

Fuji’s XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS “kit zoom” was one of last year’s most pleasant surprises, offering very good image quality in a portale package at a quite affordable price. This May, it will be complemented by a telephoto zoom that was officially announced today. The new lens starts off exactly where the kit zoom ends: at 55mm, going all the way to 200mm. According to Fuji, that’s 84-305mm in 35mm (“full-frame”) equivalence terms.

The telephoto zoom’s full name is FUJINON XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS, and it’s supposed to sell for USD 699.– (plus sales tax) in the U.S. or EUR 649.– (incl. VAT) here in Germany. I have been able to work with an early prototype of the lens for more than a week, so let’s have a closer look, shall we?

Same, same, but different…

If you already know Fuji’s 18-55mm kit zoom lens, the new telephoto zoom will immediately feel familiar. It’s obvious that Fujifilm wants you to buy this zoom as an extension to your already existing standard zoom. Both lenses offer the same key features: a manual focus ring, an aperture ring without engravings, a zoom ring, an optical image stabilizer (OIS) and fast/silent linear autofocus motors. Everything is located in the same place: There’s one switch to turn the OIS on and off, and there’s another one to toggle the lens between automatic and manual aperture settings. Design, build quality and used materials appear to be quite similar, as well.

Would you like to know more about what all those letters and numbers in XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS actually mean? If that’s the case, you may want to read my article Decoding XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS here on Fujirumors. Pretty much all information on the kit zoom lens is also applicable to the new telephoto lens.

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Live updated Fuji news roundup! 55-200mm lens, roadmap, Zeiss…

Note: I will continually update this post with new links. So keep watching!

Preorders:
US readers can already preorder the brand new Fuji 55-200mm lens at BHphoto (Click here).

And here is the full Fuji news roundup:

photographyblog 55-200 sample pics here.
Full report about the Fuji 55-200mm and lens roadmap announcement by Rico here on Fujirumors.
Presentation at Fujiguys (youtube) and preview by Fujiguys (youtube).
Hands-on at ePhotozine.
Full preview at Dpreview.
XF 55-200mm press release at ePhotozine, Techradar, Whatdigitalcamera, Photographyblog, Nikkei (Japanese), Fujifilm USA, Photoscala (German), Quesabesde (Spanish),

Confirmed: 55-200mm announcement on April 17th!

I can confirm now that on April 17th Fuji will officially launch the 55-200mm lens and update the roadmap. You should definitely read Fujirumors that day!

thanks a lot for liking us on Facebook, following on Twitter and subscribing the RSS feed. Keep it up!

Now, the 55-200 is almost here. But there are 4 more lenses on Fuji’s “old” roadmap. Which one would you like to be released next?

cheers
Patrick

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First image of the new Fuji 55-200mm lens!

On April 17th Fuji will probably announce the new XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lens! The main features of the lens are:

From readers, we have to provide an image and information about the specs of F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Fujifilm XF55-200mm.
4,5 stop optical stabilization
Dual linear High Speed af motor as fast as 0,28 sec.

via Digicaminfo.

Fujifilm Asked, You Decided: These are the Fujinon XF Lenses You Want Next!

Your Most Wanted Lenses

A few months ago Fujifilm asked 200 journalists which lenses they’d like to see next for the X mount system.

Fujifilm proposed them 10 lenses that you can see here.

Well, we thought 200 votes are not enough, so we asked the FujiRumors community to vote on the Fujifilm suggested X mount lenses, and you guys dropped over 8K votes so far.

Now it is time time see the results and share some addition thoughts.

So, as far as most wanted lenses goes, this is the result:

  1. 38% – XF 23mm Pancake
  2. 13% – Super-Telephoto Prime lens XF 400mm or longer
  3. 13% – Compact Wide Zoom Lens at F2.8
  4. 10% – Super Zoom Lens XF 16-200mm
  5. 8% – XF 120mmF2
  6. 7% – Super Wide-angle Fast Lens for Astro Photography
  7. 6% – Tele-Photo Zoom Lens at F4
  8. 2% – Affordable Thin Standard Zoom Lens – XC Lineup
  9. 2% – Affordable Wide Zoom Lens – XC Lineup
  10. 1% – Fish-Eye Lens

Some thoughts…

The Winners

Already back in our mega-survey of 2022, the Fujinon XF23mmF2 pancake lens grabbed the first spot. So at this point this is a no brainer for Fujifilm. Just go and make it. FujiRumors even already shared a fan made rendering here.

Also very much wanted: a compact wide f/2.8 zoom lens. And actually this was kind of the top lens too in our survey. In fact, there were a couple of wide zoom lenses you suggested, and if we were to sum them up into a Fujinon XF 14-30mm f/2.0, then that would be the true most wanted lens by the FujiRumors community. But yes, our wish was mostly f/2, but we’d be fine with f/2.8 too.

Another hot lens would be the XF16-200mmm. Now it depends on the aperture range, but overall I think I’d be already happy with a XF 16-135mm f/4 for my needs. But if they can make it compact enough, then I’d take the 200mm too.

The Losers

I once saw Chris of PetaPixel TV expressing his wish for more affordable and compact XC lenses in one of his videos.

However, it looks like the vast majority of Fujifilm users couldn’t care less about more XC lenses.

As far as fisheye lenses goes, also here, no real wish for some. And I know who wants one, already owns one of the lovely third party MF versions out there and you don’t really need autofocus on a fisheye lens anyway.

Fujinon XF 8mm F2.8, XF 10mm F2.8 and XF 15mm F2.8 Patents Spotted

New Fujifilm patents surfaced on the web. They are for the following Fujinon lenses:

  • Fujinon XF 8mm f/2.8
  • Fujinon XF 10mm f/2.8
  • Fujinon XF 15mm f/2.8

Probably just variation of patents shared in the last 10+ years, such as:

The patents have been spotted by the Japanese website asobinet.

And remember, Fujifilm has also patented this foldable smartphone, so that one has to come soon, too :).

More seriously: Fujifilm recently said they have 10 lenses currently under study. Look up at those to see a more realistic list of lenses that might come at some point.

Fujifilm Patent Details

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Fujifilm’s Newest f/1.4 Lens Trinity is Now $100 off (and Many More Deals)

The latest Fujifilm deals in USA and Europe include some truly stunning offers.

Included are some lovely deals on the latest f/1.4 lens generation of Fujifilm, but there are many more deals.

TOP DEAL in USA

USA DEALS

GF Lenses

XF Lenses

X Cashback Deals in Europe – End June 30

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Fujifilm Spreads Great Deals All Over the Globe and Here are The Deals in USA and Europe

The latest Fujifilm deals in USA and Europe include some truly stunning offers.

TOP DEAL in USA

USA DEALS

GF Lenses

XF Lenses

X Cashback Deals in Europe – End June 30

GFX Cashback Deals in Europe – End June 30

Claim Your Money Back

Beyond Epic: The New Fujifilm X/GFX Deals in Europe (XF 70-300mm Included)

Fujifilm has launched huge deals in Europe.

We get record savings on lots of GFX gear, first time deals like on the GF20-35 and the XF70-300, a £2,000 rebate on the GFX100S and much more.

You can find the full list of deals below. Make sure that if you purchase X series deals on Amazon, the gear is also shipped and sold by Amazon.

At the bottom I will also share the pages, where you can claim your money back after purchasing your gear.

X Cashback Deals in Europe – End June 30

GFX Cashback Deals in Europe – End June 30

Claim Your Money Back

USA DEALS

GF Lenses

XF Lenses