The rumor mill is already starting to turn with reports of an ultra fast Fujifilm medium format lens arriving in 2021. Historically, the widest aperture medium format lens has been the Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/1.9. This lens on a 645 back would be similar to a 50mm f/1.2 lens on a 35mm full-frame camera.
More recently, Hasselblad produced their very own XCD 80mm f/1.9 lens. Although, due to it operating on a smaller medium format sensor, this lens is similar to a 65mm f/1.5 lens on full-frame.
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Not to be outdone, Fujifilm has begun teasing its own version of this lens, except with an even wider aperture of f/1.7. This will in effect make the Fujifilm 70mm f/1.7 the widest aperture medium format lens produced so far.
Interestingly, as reported by FujiRumors, some of the information has already been confirmed by Fujifilm. Apparently, the 80mm lens will weigh less than 800g and will be significantly smaller than many portrait photographers’ favorite piece of glass, the Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 R WR.
In general, lenses with super wide apertures tend to be large and bulky. However, Fujifilm seems to have found a way to keep the size and weight far below what many were initially expecting.
As of right now, there’ is no official information on pricing for this lens. However, it may be safe to assume that Fujifilm is likely to price its own 80mm below the Hasselblad 80mm f/1.9 lens. If this is the case, we may see this bokeh monster of a lens priced below £4,000 – which is pretty reasonable for medium format!
With these interesting new rumors, it’s definitely the time to be excited if you already own a GFX series camera and you’re looking to invest in some new glass. Alternatively, if you’ve been considering investing in one of the best medium format cameras, this might just be the sign you need!
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