PRE-ORDER XF 16mmF1.4 WR ($999): USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / EUROPE: WexUK / PCHstore /
[UDPATE: As to expect, the review has been removed due to NDA or/and embargo violation. I’ll put the link up here again, as soon as it is online again. I remind you that there will be a live blogging session here on FR as soon as the lens will be announced and the embargo ends. A trusted source said it will happen this week, so I expect it to come on Thursday or Friday (I never saw an annoucement on a weekend), as usual around midnight in New York (early in the morning in London).]
[UPDATE 2: Review is online again at fujilove]
FUJI X-SHIRTS available here in USA and here in Europe & CO.
Learn more about the 100% Fair Trade Charity X-shirts here.
36 Responses
So, a review of a F1.4 lens without a single shot at 1.4……?
Yes, call me a “fanboy”. It’s an amazing lens.
some samples at 1.4 would be great… but hey, you’ve been already brave enough to break the official Fujifilm embargo, so I’m satisfied with the tidbits you gave us… seems a great lens
Patrick, I got a “green light” directly from Fujifilm Switzerland to post a review. And please bare in mind, as I mention it in the beginning of my review, that I was reviewing a sample copy.
Then I guess it’s Fuji Switzerland that has to explain to the Fujifilm bosses in Japan why they allow to share reviews before the official “green light“ from the Fuji HQ in Tokyo.
But that’s not my business… I would just like to see also some samples wide open… some on your SD-card?
Count me in for F1.4 shots also please. Would love to see some samples wide open to understand the bokeh quality (even if you won’t get much bokeh at 16mm).
Actually, you can get plenty of bokeh. Stay tuned.
Any chance to see some macro shots with extension tubes? (I know it sounds weird, but sometimes I use UWA lenses for product shots))
You will see macro shots w/o extension tubes, which are possible due to the exceptional nature of this lens.
e.g. A floating element correcting for close focussing distances! 🙂 that i wish the X100 would have. 🙁
ps. Sounds good, can’t wait.
“the exceptional nature of this lens”, that’s teasing !
OK that comment alone will make me put off buying the xf23 in favor of this lens and I was literally ready to buy one today. Thanks Rico! This lens cant come soon enough.
According to my calculations, a 24mm equiv lens on APS-C at F1.4 should give almost exactly the same DoF as a 28mm at F2 on APS-C (like the WCL-X100).
How does the XF16’s bokeh compare to that lens in terms of character?
Plenty on mine. 🙂
What’s your experience of this lens when it’s shot wide open?
Given we can already shoot 16mm at slow apertures on three Fuji lenses, showing us what f1.4 would look like is about the only useful thing a review could do. Short of the lens being broken, if it can’t take a sharp shot between f4 and f8 then I doubt Fuji would even bother releasing it.
Tomasz, it’s strange you did not shoot any f/1.4 image with this lens.
You really like fake vignetting. ^.^
Such processed ‘samples’ are not very useful to me, but it’s nice to see and read something, so thanks for sharing. Looks awesome on the T1 .. It has a good size to it. Our Fuji system just keeps on getting better. Classic from the start.
Oh and if that shot at F1.8 is any indication, it looks like an awesome performer.
Due to premature NDA violation (AKA “little misunderstanding”), the review are offline now.
No worries. My report will include such samples, and it also respects the embargo.
Never doubted you, Rico.
Bottom line for people that didn’t get the chance to read the review (which incidentally is still available on Google’s cache):
Quoting from the conclusion:
“It seems that Fujinon added another gem to their lens collection. As I already wrote before, I didn’t pixel peep, I didn’t test this lens at every possible aperture/shutter speed combination. But the images I got with it are beautiful. Sharpness, color rendition (yes, I still look at it, even though I am primarily a black and white photographer), speed of operation and the built quality make this lens another reliable tool in our Fujinon arsenal. It was a pain giving this lens back, but I will once seriously consider getting this lens for street photography.”
I’m still confused as to why he published the review prematurely but didn’t publish the shot everyone wanted – a clean F1.4 image – so jury’s still out on the bokeh.
Bokeh? Oh, that’s gonna be one beautiful portrait lens!
Hehe, but seriously, I like getting close to things with wide angles, and if you’ve ever used a classic OM Zuiko 28/2 you know that bad bokeh can really be very bad.
But Fuji’s doing well so far, the 14mm has plenty of good-looking bokeh even though it’s only F2.8. And this 16mm is supposed to have 9 aperture blades! Yeah, the 56mm only has 7.. doh!
Found it to be important enough for sun stars i guess.
Oh, I was explaining the trigger discipline to Belorussian photographers in another window. Must be a sarcasm cross-contamination issue 🙂
I definitely gonna buy that 16mm as soon as my budget allows (which is not happening any time soon), but in the meantime I am a bit puzzled about how exactly I gonna use it. Sounds like it could be terrific piece of “reception” reportage glass. Maybe I’ll rent it first to find out.
Bokeh is important even with fisheyes. Fuji’s bokeh so far varies from excellent to superb with occasional outburst of “noodling”. What I kinda miss though are… the lens flare. Used artistically, lens flare rocks. Fujinons have pretty much none to speak of (and when they do catch flare, in most cases it looks unsightly).
Well then take a X100 along for that, why limit yourself with just one body. 😛 (seriously the best way to shoot imho)
Why limit yourself with just one X100? 😛 (these 2 are mine)
On a serious note, X100 series produce more of a “glowball” type of flare while I like the rainbowy-glittery kaboom all over the frame that some Canon lenses produce. When you gotta flare, you gotta have it big time.
24mm can be an amazing focal length for reportage – if used correctly. The slight perspective distortion (that really singles out this length from a 28) can be very immersive. Using it well demands getting close to your subjects, of course, but that’s a general rule for decent shots at any length wider than 35mm anyway.
Check out the work of Darcy Padilla, especially ‘The Julie Project’. She only shoots at 24mm.
Yes, this is a great “up close and personal” reportage focal length. Used to be my favorite about a decade ago, now my vision somehow changed and I prefer 35mm equivalent.
Well, at least we know all that wailing and gnashing of teeth by people saying the lens is vaporware were wrong. Just like we told them.
Was it an actual signed NDA or simply an embargo? I feel like the photogrpahy industry gets the two mixed up an awful lot. Know quite a few people who have been accused of “breaking NDA” when actually no such thing was ever signed and it was simply an embargo.
In any case: yay, at least we know it’s closer to being in our hands than previously speculated, and if it’s as good across the frame as the text suggested, brilliant. Would rather see some f/1.4 samples, though, since that’s really the main point of this lens. There are already lots of good wide primes that do 2.8 and even f/2 well. f/1.4 is the tricky one which nobody has manged to really nail yet. That’s what makes or breaks this lens.
Maybe he did not respect the embargo, maybe they told him not to disclose anything before day X but he did not respect it… or maybe Fuji Switzland gave him erroneosly the permission to share the review, so in this case the it’s the Swiss Fuji to have broken NDA or not respected embargo. I don’t know. I just say that there was an evident violation of embargo (or NDA).
Whatever happened this is a very weird story.
If I was Tomasz I would have been extra critical even if Fuji Switzerland gave me permission. I’m having difficulty believing that to be honest. Seems more like a tradeoff: get lots of attention for your website and in return never again receive a pre-release lens…
Tomasz, I do not mean to discredit you if I’m wrong but it’s very difficult to believe that Fuji Switzerland would be so stupid. And let me be honest – if it wasn’t simply for gaining attention – I would find your actions rather naive as well.
In the comments below he said he has permission of Fuji Switzerland to share the review…. but it seems that Fuji Japan is still more powerful than Fuji Switzerland, since the review is now offline
The image of the16mm f/1.4 on the X-T1 (image by Tomasz Trzebiatowski, that’s now removed) looks really awesome.
That 16mm FOV looks very interesting. Can someone explain the practical purposes and differences of this FOV, relative to 14 and 18 mm ? Thanks.