There is another new source, who kindly shared the following information with the FR-community:
The TCL-X100 will come in ~3 weeks and it will cost between $350 to $400 (more or less as much as the [shoplink 12893]WCL-X100[/shoplink], which, at its launch, cost $400)
With the [shoplink 12893]WCL-X100[/shoplink] and TCL-X100, X100/S owner will have a three-lens mini system (28mm, 35mm and 50mm) with leaf shutter, fast aperture and terrific IQ.
Adorama has some XF 56mm in stock right now here (with 4% reward).
10 Responses
Will this work with the X100?
yes
hmm.. for about $2k, you get a pretty decent compact camera system that can do wide to short tele with all the great qualities the X100/X100S specifically offers.
hopefully it will quickly go down around the 250$. 400 is quite a sum for a converter, although I am the first to admit it’s almost like a new lens on an ILC, so…
I wish the Q menu could have custom functions and that the converter setting could be one of them, allowing to quickly change the settings when using one or the other.
Also, one question: I guess the image distortion is different when using one of the converters and that the camera automatically adapts the correction in the JPEGs. But what about the RAW? does the file include the information that the converter was used so that softwares like LR could correct properly (didn’t see any WCL mode in LR, though)?
I agree, the price a bit steep compared to regular lenses around that focal length. A Nikkor 35 f1.8 APS-C lens, which includes an ultrasonic AF motor, is around 165€. Then again, it’s probably quite an engineering feat to make a high-quality screw-on tele conversion lens.
Yes on this last point – with the WCL converter, if the option is set, the EXIF data shows 19mm instead of 23mm.
However my copy of Lightroom (latest) doesn’t have a ‘WCL-X100’ lens profile. (A guy over on DPreview swears it’s there, but I can’t see it!).
Yes, I believe I was looking at Lightroom a week ago and checking on some of the camera profiles available as well as lens corrections.. if I’m not mistaken, there is a WCL-X100 setting that will apply lens correction for that particular profile.
It’s been a while since I’ve had and used my Fuji X100 with WCL-X100 wide conversion lens.. I’m pretty sure it only applies the corrections to the jpegs only, that’s why there should be a profile in Lightroom which will correct for the conversion lens distortion.
I generally prefer a whole new lens to a conversion lens, BUT, I was damn impressed with the WCL-X100 wide conversion lens. The images were just as good as the fixed 23mm on the X100… and in some strange way, they almost seem to look a little better, hard to explain.
Some people complained that converting the X100 field of view to 28mm from the standard 35mm wasn’t much, but I beg to differ. It offers surprisingly just enough noticeable wider view. I’m sure it would help with landscapes as well as better capturing tight spaces such as building interiors, especially if you have a nice ceiling with art decoration, that 28mm is a lot better than the 35mm.
If the new tele conversion to make it a 50mm is as good as the wide, there will be little to complain about just how flexible and even more useful the X100/X100S can be now.
I think another benefit of the conversion lens is it screws on fast, as well as just as fast at removal. Just spin it on (or off). And you don’t have to worry about exposing the sensor switching between focal lengths.
I’m curious and wonder if any lens conversion users may know, but I think only time and experiment will probably tell this (once the new tele conversion lens is released), but how will depth of field be effected? If you converted the lens to an equivalent 50mm focal length, will you actually be able to get a bit more shallower depth of field? My guess is yes, but not sure how the optical qualities apply when using conversion lens such as these?
Think about it, if you used the wide angle conversion lens on the X100, you are getting a wider field of view that a 28mm focal length would render. However, you are actually adding some more lens and glass to the entire lens and camera system, so technically, aren’t you getting more focal length? would you actually get shallower DOF even with the wide conversion lens?.. It’s like moving forwards and backwards at the same time, I’m a little confused what direction shallow DOF will take with a conversion lens on, if anything?
Anybody know?
You do indeed get a deeper DoF with the WCL since it’s effectively a 19mm lens (and most usefully, the relative distance between foreground and background increases – something all reviewers and the ‘just step back to go wider’ crowd seem to miss ;).
By the same token, the TCL-X100 will offer solution for people that want shallower DoF for portraits etc than the naked X100/s offers, since it gives you a longer focal length. You’ll get more compression between foreground and background in relation to this increased focal length, too.
Awesome!
Thanks for sharing your insight into this.
It sure makes the X100S with varying focal length options now even more tempting.. for me to get another one again.. I still don’t think I could use this as my one main camera, but it would be a nice backup or carry all around all the time type of camera.
Did this guy just drop a Fujinon 23/1.4 ? (at 4:08)
http://youtu.be/H5e-GphXgkk?t=4m8s