Fuji 23mm f1.4 X Series Lens is out

[GaryLH]

I wish Sigma would bring out those DN Art lenses for Fuji mount.

The ones they made available for Nex and m43 bodies are a nice size. The ones they made for their dslr are huge..some are even big by slr lens standards.

Lately, they have been making some very nice lenses and they have really been pushing the envelope much more then the OEM makers. An example is their new 18-35f1.8 zoom for apsc...

It would be nice to c them offer x mount lenses.

Gary

 

[jsrockit]

I wish Sigma would bring out those DN Art lenses for Fuji mount.

Me too. Reasonably priced and good.

 

[willie_901]

US Delivery Date Information

US Delivery Date Information

I was just received a delivery-date range for my 23/1.4 re-order from my local camera shop in the U.S. midwest.

"Delivery is indicated to begin at the end of September and we would hope to have delivery within the first two weeks of October."

I'll bet Canada is first in line again.

I just ordered a vented hood on ebay.

 

[willie_901]

New Results From The 23/1.4

New Results From The 23/1.4

Here are a series of photos from the new 23/1.4 Fujinon from a European photographer. I suggest looking at the last photo first and view them in reverse order.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25805910@N05/sets/72157635417877616/

 

[gavinlg]

I actually saw this lens in person at the melbourne imaging show yesterday. It is quite big. Still smaller than full frame 35mm f1.4s but definitely quite a bit bigger than the 35mm XF lens. They wouldnt let me try it on my camera due to it being a pre-prod model.

 

[NicoM]

The images that it produces (from the tests I've seen) look very good. It's a bit of a downer that the lens is so large. I understand that it probably needs to be that big to work the way it does, but it would have been nice to see it in a more compact form factor.

 

[Faintandfuzzy]

900$ (€) are way to much for a lens that only has an APS-C imagecircle.

Why? What does that have to do with anything?

 

[Harry S.]

the new sigma 35/1.4 looks pretty big...

Its about the same size as Canon's EF35mm f/1.4 L. Fairly large by RF and CSC lens standards but not unmanageable.

 

[gavinlg]

The images that it produces (from the tests I've seen) look very good. It's a bit of a downer that the lens is so large. I understand that it probably needs to be that big to work the way it does, but it would have been nice to see it in a more compact form factor.

It has full optical correction for distortion. I never thought I would say this, but I actually kind of wish they had gone for software correction if it had taken off even 25% of the size - the 18mm has software correction and is tiny and still optically great.

That being said, Im buying this lens as soon as I can and it will be welded to my camera. Not that hideous plastic lens hood though - I might try and start a petition for fuji to make a metal rectangular hood for it as an accessory.

 

[gavinlg]

Its about the same size as Canon's EF35mm f/1.4 L. Fairly large by RF and CSC lens standards but not unmanageable.

Sigma were really clever in that they made it the same size as the L with the lens hoods on, but without them it is a little bigger...

35 size

 

[Avotius]

I think what Fuji should do is sort of what Leica and Zeiss and other companies have done. They have their flagship 35mm equivalent 1.4 lens, now they should make a "budget" version, like a f2 or f2.5 that is more pancake form for those of us not ready to stick a big lens on the camera. There will still be those who will want the 1.4 aperture lens but then there will be a more basic version for the rest of us.

 

[willie_901]

I think what Fuji should do is sort of what Leica and Zeiss and other companies have done. They have their flagship 35mm equivalent 1.4 lens, now they should make a "budget" version, like a f2 or f2.5 that is more pancake form for those of us not ready to stick a big lens on the camera. There will still be those who will want the 1.4 aperture lens but then there will be a more basic version for the rest of us.

This makes sense.

If Fuji doesn't do this, expand and update AF lenses) eventually somebody else (Sigma, Tokina) will. The major DSLR brands don't seem to be concerned about third-party brands filling in gaps in their lens lineups. Occasionally the third-party lenses are much better than the OEM lenses.

Of course people who use manual focus lenses already have hundreds of alternates.

 

[Avotius]

Good point. I think that with Fuji's two recent budget oriented cameras there will be some more lenses coming along soon as well. As it stands the Fuji system is not budget friendly and someone with an entry level camera may not be willing to shovel over 900 bucks for a lens. Now if they could do an equivalent 35mm at say f2.5 for....under 350 bucks then I think it would appeal to a wider audience. If Sigma were to come in and make their lenses in X mount it would be a big blow to Fuji's lens sales IMO as there is a hole in the lineup.

That said I applaud Fuji for kicking some serious butt on the Prosumer side of things and really doing a good job making some serious glass. They made a convert out of me and I dropped m43 for Fuji. Now please do a mk2 version the 35, 18 and 60mm lenses with the current focusing tech, and maybe recalculate the 18 a bit.

 

[flysurfer]

My First Look article on the lens is now available: http://www.fujirumors.com/first-look-fujinon-xf23mmf1-4-r/

So far, so good. As you can see, I am not the greatest fan of the MF implementation of the 14mm and 23mm lenses. But maybe that's just me.

If you aren't interested in my opinion, you can go directly to Flickr and view 50 of my sample images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25805910@N05/sets/72157635417877616/

 

[Lawrence Sheperd]

Thanks , Rico, for you're thoughts and a great gallery of photos with this intriguing new lens.

 

[flysurfer]

Thank you. While it's hard to draw final conclusions with pre-production gear, it appears that Fuji is about to recap the positive experience most of us have with the 14mm prime.

 

[Avotius]

Thanks for that. The photos look good, but the size of that lens on the XE1....holy cow! Thats a big lens!