Fujifilm held a Focus On Glass livestream event, which I’ve included below. A major aspect of it was that you get to vote which three of 14 X-series lens ideas you’d like to see Fujifilm develop in the future. To let your voice be heard, click here. I’m traveling right now and don’t have a ton of time to talk about this, but I wanted to bring it to your attention in case you were unaware, and also provide a few quick thoughts.
The 14 lenses that Fujifilm has identified as potential future releases are 33mm f/1, 18-55mm f/1.4, 16-80mm f/2.8, 35mm f/1.4 II (new optical design and larger), 35mm f/1.4 II (same optical design but weather-sealed), 35mm f/1.4 II (with linear motor), 18mm+30mm dual focal length semi-pancake, soft focus lens somewhere between 35mm and 60mm, 16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 w/ghosting (lens flare control), prime with brass (23mm f/2, 35mm f/2, and/or 50mm f/2), manual focus (23mm, 35mm, or 50mm), 90mm f/2 APD, cinema lenses (16mm, 23mm, 33mm, and/or 56mm T/1.2), and 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6. Obviously some of these are more interesting than others, but we all have different tastes and needs, so you get to help choose what lenses come next.
The ones that are more interesting to me are the dual focal length 18mm+30mm semi-pancake, which would be especially great for travel, manual focus lenses, and a v2 of the 35mm f/1.4 (there are three options to choose from! I voted for the WR version). A number of years back Fujifilm had plans to make a 33mm f/1, but they determined it would be too large, heavy, and expensive to be successful, so they made the 33mm f/1.4 instead. In one way or another, there is something intriguing about each of these 14 options. I like the outside-of-the-box thinking for some of them; others are barely different from what is already available. The dual focal length lens idea might be best reserved for an X70 successor type of camera.
Those lenses that seem obvious but weren’t included in the list could potentially already be in the pipeline. The lens ideas that Fujifilm provided are not currently in development, so your favorite concept that wasn’t included might actually come first. A new version of the 18mm f/2 comes to mind—I have no idea if Fujifilm is actively developing that, but they should be, and I hope they are. I take its exclusion as hopeful.
My guess is that some of these, if they are chosen, could come quickly (the brass lenses, for example), while others might take years to develop. Probably the earliest will be in 2027, but it’s possible that one or more might not arrive until 2028 or 2029 or later. I would not expect most of them anytime soon. I think it’s really cool that Fujifilm is including the community in the process. I’m crossing my fingers that this experiment goes well for them, because I’d like to see more of it in the future. Be sure to vote right now, if you haven’t done so already. Also, I would love to know what you voted for, and what lens ideas you’d like to see that weren’t included on Fujifilm’s list, so let me know in the comments!
If you are wondering where I am, well, I’m in Houston, Texas, but I’m leaving tomorrow. It was just a short stop to visit some longtime friends who live out here while my kids are on school break. I have one more destination before returning home early next week. I apologize for any delays in answering emails and comments, and for not posting about this Fujifilm livestream event earlier in the day. Anyway, I’ve got to get up early in the morning, so I’m going to post this and sign off.
Any lens that goes long or short, is typically less used it’s just useful sense. I use the XF90mm f2. I like the lens and I will keep it, but it’s highly selective in use. If Fujinon made a 75mm f1.2 which is equivalent to a 100-105mm focal length, I think it would be most useful. The 90mm is equivalent to 135mm in full frame, that’s getting long in that it can get crowded in many situations. 75mm 1.2!
It’s very possible that a 75mm-ish lens is currently being developed. I’m guessing that as many as 10 X-mount lenses are at various points in the development process, none of which would have been included in their survey.
A tele-converter for the GFX100RF would be interesting.
The use case is quite simple, when I go travel, nowadays I only take one camera with me, and leave all the Leica and Leica lenses at home, just take the RF with me, and there are cases, where a longer lens, which is still compact, would come in handy.
I like the versatility of a zoom for travel and street. Two considerations are the size of the lens and low f stop. Work on the typical ranges 18-35, 18-50, 18-70, with f2, f2.8.
The ones leading the pack (16-80 f/2.8 and 18-50mm f/1.4) will be a bit large/heavy/expensive, and it will be interesting to see if they actually sell well (assuming that Fujifilm makes them). I think a 16-35mm f/2 and 35-80mm f/2-4 could possibly work as reasonably sized (and priced) two lens travel kit, should Fujifilm make such lenses. But the ones proposed and leading in the survey I have my doubts about how practical they really are and how well they’ll actually do.
Fuji has a specific quandry.
We are in a Frankincamera era. With the right Fringer adapter, bodies and glass are nigh interchangeable. I use Nikon Z cameras as well as my T5 (for macro work). I own no, repeat no mirrorless lenses. My glass is ecstatically happy on both Nikon and Fuji bodies.
I am happy, clients are happy.
I could mount Fuji X glass in a Nikon or Canon. My image would be top class, what I had of it!
The quality of premium Fuji glass is as good or better than anyone.
The X series has greater relief than Canon and especially Nikon.
This means, you can’t use Nikors or Canon mirrorless lenses on your X-Tn. No sale.
Regrettably, you can only use your Fuji X lenses on limited albeit interesting, Nikon or Canon bodies.
If they were full frame, that would be another matter.
I might well use full frame Fuji X glass on my Z7ii.
AF capabilities. Who cares? I carry Voigtlanders!
Summary. Full frame glass please whatever it is.
Malcolm Hayward.
Fujifilm has a few X-series lenses that cover full-frame I believe, but it’s only a small number.
WR on the OG trio 34/1.4, 18/2, and 60/2.4, ideally also with better focus motors, but WR is most important. No new optics.
The 14-140 kind of makes sense, too. Standard and travel zooms are starting wider these days, and having something from Fuji that’s XF and not XC would be nice. Personally, I’d rather see a 13-40/4, a premium version of the new kit zoom, but a travel zoom isn’t a bad plan.
My third wish is actually a little different. I want improvements to X Raw Studio. First off, a few more tools for cropping and rotating, basic things like that. Take a raw, crop way down to a bird in whataver ratio you feel like, maybe rotate 2-3 degrees to straighten the lines, and done. But the big one: I really want to be able to run it without my camera attached. My computer and camera don’t live in the same room, the plug-in is a faff, and I really would like to just fire up the computer and test things. Maybe it involves downloading a special module for each individual camera, and maybe you can only do that with the camera attached or such, but I really want to be able to just use it.
I could see the 14-140mm being a popular choice for those who want to carry one lens on a trip. I would pair it with a faster prime, for when a smaller footprint and/or larger maximum aperture is necessary (actually, I’d probably just use the prime… 🤣).
18mm+30mm dual focal length semi-pancake
manual focus
Those would be the only ones I would crave. Ideally in combination. Dual focal lenth manual lens.
I know, I am sitting in a niche of a niche here.
I’d buy it, I think it would be interesting. But, who knows, maybe you and I are the only ones in that niche of a niche….
A compact 18-30 dual focal lens with a brightish aperture like 2.8 would be dream for travel, combine that with digital teleconverter and you have pretty much the standard range. If they managed to put that into the next generation of X100 series, I will be camping in front of the store to get one.
I would be first in line with you. 😀
To be honest, reading that Fujifilm want’s to hear from us made me nicely surprised but then… I was disappointed by choices they offered. Not exactly by the fact that I would not buy almost any of them. To me it seems that choices are mostly around high apertures. Well, I understand, this plays a role for a lot of photographers, perhaps majority that generates higher revenue. I get this point of view.
What is worse: why they suggest three different improvements of 35/1.4 ? Does it need better optics, just design it, add weatherproof and better AF, name it Mark2 and sell! Does zoom 16-50/2.8-4.8 have ghosting issues? It’s still a new lens, then please fix this, don’t ask! etc.
We discussed this topic a while ago and most of our desires aren’t here. Updated AF into proven old glasses like 18/2 or 60/2.4, ther isn’t anything the other people mentioned quite often: 75mm prime.
There almost aren’t new lightweight lenses and pancakes. Disregard 23, 35, 50/2 in brass barrel… nice design this would be but… does anyone care too much? Would they really be “new lenses”?
Still I would choose following:
– soft focus, preferrably with 50mm focal length. hmmm this one would really be something interresting
– 18+30mm although with a wish: please make it 16+30mm this makes a big difference for me (then I might consider buying it)
– 14-140/3.5-6.3 – even if I am not about to get it (who knows…), this focal range makes a lot of sense and would be attractive for people I believe.
I think the point of the 35/1.4 having multiple entries is to find out what folks want to keep about it, and what improvements folks want most. The 33/1.4 exists, and that’s got a more modern optical formula, WR, and better motors, but some folks still love the old 35. It’s smaller, and the rendering is more classic.
I think there’s a value to Fuji to know that folks are pretty evenly split between WR and AF motors, with new optics much lower down the list.
yeah, you’re right theBitteFig.
When I did my selection, I could see the statistics of previous votes and noticed exactly what you said. Then I thought about the same. And my comment was already posted here 🙂
I think it’s important to take this with a grain of salt. There are likely 6-10 X-series lenses in various stages of development not included in this list. These are simply some that might possibly come later. My best guess is that Fujifilm will consider 2-5 of these to develop, but it will take a few years.
The three 35mm f/1.4 options are because no matter how they update it, someone will be unhappy. This allows them to choose the path that will make the most people happy/least people unhappy, and for those who complain they can point back to this survey. I think this is actually the main purpose of the survey.
The 16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 does not have ghosting issues—the “issue” is that it is too good, too clean, too clinical, and not enough character. The new version proposed in the survey would allow you to achieve flare that’s not possible with the current iteration.
I hope that gives a little clarity.
Haha to the too clinical, too good :-D. Be careful Ritchie, you can attract another herd of haters similar to those anti-recipes.
Theoretically: can someone add desired character by mounting crappy UV filter that lacks coatings or even make things worse with smudges of vaseline on it?
Yes, you can absolutely do that. If you lightly scratch up a cheap UV filter, that can produce fun results sometimes. It can be quite fun to experiment with things like that.