This is the thing with FujiRumors: when new gear is announced, we admire it, we enjoy it, but we also start right away to look into the future at all the gear that will come.
But before we talk about that, I thought a nice way to kick off the next chapter in the book of rumors was to share a wishlist of a FR-reader.
In this case, it is Pablo, who contacted me shortly before the imminent X summit, but given the mega-buzz we had in the days ahead of launch, I could not publish it.
So when Pablo writes about the X summit “coming soon”, this means he refers to the one we just had.
But it makes no difference, as his wish is as valid today as it was before the X summit… and you can read it down below.
Well, we have been informed that TTArtisan is going to announce an autofocus lens for Fujifilm X mount soon. But here is the thing: it is not the TTArtisan 32mm f/2.8.
When Fujifilm launched the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2, they also published a list of lenses that get the maximum benefit from the new high resolution sensor.
This led quite some folks (also here on FujiRumors) to believe that the lenses not on the list will not profit at all from the increased resolution.
Some even said that because of this, they won’t upgrade to the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 (and also the upcoming 40MP Fujifilm X-T5)
I did try to explain that you have to see in other terms: the new sensor will finally let all XF lenses express at their best in terms of resolution. it’s just those not on the list won’t go quite up all the way to 40MP.
Finally Fujifilm understood that the message they put out was potentially confusing and now added a note on their official Fujifilm X-H2 page:
*The list specifies our selection of lenses that have high resolution performance from edge to edge at maximum aperture, allowing you to fully experience all that the 40MP sensor has to offer. Lenses not listed will also allow you to experience the improved resolution performance of the 40MP sensor.”
So if you want 40MP resolution from edge to edge at maximum aperture, then only the lenses on the list will deliver (see list below). But Fujifilm now clearly says that lenses not listed will also deliver improved resolution performance when used on the 40MP sensor.
Hence, if you want more resolution, buying a Fujifilm X-H2 or the Fujifilm X-T5 will give you that also by using lenses that are not on the list.
And from how I read it, some might even resolve all the 40MP when stopped down at least in the center of the frame. Would be nice if Fujifilm would be even more specific on that.
Let’s be clear: more or less every single Fujifilm XF lens will perform better on the 40MP sensor. So even if an older lens can’t really resolve all the 40MP, they will still perform better than on the current 26MP sensor. Some might resolve 30MP, others 33MP, others more or less.
In short: the new 40MP sensor will make every single XF lens perform at its best possible in terms of resolution.
And yet, not all take full advantage of the new 40MP sensor. And Fujifilm was kind enough to provide us with a list of lenses, that will get maximum benefit from the X-H2 40MP sensor.
Many years ago a bunch of people had a brilliant idea: why don’t we team up to give away meaningless awards that companies will pay us lots of money to “win”.
The idea turned out to be extremely successful.
Since then, once a year, on a tropical island sipping their mojito’s, a group of people meets with the difficult task to make up as many categories as possible to make every brand win and maximize their profits.
Today the concept still works, the tropical islands have fast WiFi, and selecting winners has become more fun than ever.
Anyone out there who wants to team up with to create an award?
But yeah, I can’t see the future. Nobody can. So Tony’s opinion is just as valid as mine. The future will tell.
Two System, Less Cameras and Lenses for APS-C due to limited R&D
Maybe I am not so much into other brands, but I don’t feel like Fujifilm is releasing less gear than other brands.
The real issue was more that so far not many third party brands released AF lenses for Fujifilm, but that has been solved in the meantime.
But in some way it is true. No GFX system could potentially mean more resources for X mount. But I think this is also why Fujifilm waited so long before offering a second sensor option. They did want to wait that their APS-C lineup is rich in lenses and once well covered, they can free up resources for other projects.
Lack of Fast Lenses
First off, let me say that there are many fast Fujinon XF lenses such as the XF200mmF2, XF8-16mmF2.8, XF50mmF1.0 as well as all the nice f/1.2 and f/1.4 primes.
But what about the f/1.8 zooms he’d wish for the X system? Well, that brings us to the next point.
High ISO
In the past, pushing your digital cameras to high ISO was something we absolutely wanted to avoid, as the performance was so bad. To avoid to go too high with ISO, we did indeed need fast glass for low light photography.
But that was the past. Today, ISO performance on digital cameras is vastly improved, which means you don’t need to try to desperately avoid high ISO with super fast and expensive glass. Nope, you can also push ISO up much higher than you ever could in the past.
What this means is that you can put smaller, lighter and more affordable lenses on your camera, as you can compensate the slower aperture with a higher ISO value.
Down below I will share a video of an extreme low light recovery I made of my wife overlooking the hills of Ronda in Andalusia, Spain (we made our honeymoon there). She basically went from almost invisible black to nicely visible in clean colors (thank you X-Trans for that high color fidelity) and in my eyes also very contained levels of noise, which make the image pleasing and usable.
But what about Bokeh? Let’s talk about it.
Bokeh
Not enough background blur? Well, this one is easy to answer. I’ll just share an image down below. And it’s not even the fastest lens Fujifilm has to offer (you can get even more radical with this one).
Autofocus (and Computational Photography)
True, Sony and Canon have better autofocus. But the point with autofocus is, that once it is near perfect, there is not much to improve anymore. Fujifilm just needs to catch up with Sony and Canon, and then the “autofocus war” will be basically over, since there will be little room for further enhancements.
Where there is much more room for improvement, is computational photography. And this is an area where smaller sensors simply are superior to bigger sensors. In fact, if done wisely, it could be even lead to a Renaissance of the M43 system (as the Panasonic GH6 shows with its terrific high res handheld mode). And certainly APS-C has a potential advantage here over full frame or medium format.
With the latest Sigma X mount releases, it’s high time for us to update the list of third party lenses with autofocus support for Fujifilm X series cameras.
We will include also the newly announced Voigtländer NOKTON 23mm F1.2 (as well as the already available Voigländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 X), which are not autofocus lenses, but they have electronic contacts for EXIF data transfer and more.
