Well, as promised yesterday, I laid hands on one of the new Fujinon 100-400mm f:4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lenses. It is slightly longer than its name and has a very sturdy foot attached to the bottom. As you can tell from the appellation it has an optical stabilising circuit, weather resistant seals, and the premium nano lens coatings. It is moderately heavy, extremely well-built, and the fastest thing to focus you have ever seen through.
I took my Fujifilm X-E2 with the new 4.0 firmware loaded into it so that it was a fair comparison to the 35mm f:2 lens on the Fujifilm X-T10. I could not detect any difference in speed for the auto focus, and that was with the 100-400 set to the full range of focus movement. You can actually command it to a restricted AF to speed things further.
The images of the BHP and Rio Tinto buildings ( Is there some form of commercial rivalry going on here? Is this a sign...? ) taken in the very late afternoon have a different light from those with the 35 in the morning - and more atmospheric haze built up to try to see through. Nevertheless, even taking into account the slight reduction in contrast due to atmospherics, the resultant resolution is superb.
It is also quick, as I mentioned. That WSWW Beemer beetling down the street was not pausing for anything...but the lens focused fast enough to stop the grillwork perfectly. This is a lens that would be ideally suited to motor racing and would not have to be pre-focused on any particular part of the track to be able to capture fast action.
Apparently it is compatible with the Fujifilm company's 1.4 tele-extender as well, boosting it up to a maximum focal length of over 800 mm in the old film reckoning. That makes it a serious wildlife lens.
This is an optic that should be seen through and by all Fujifilm X-series users - it opens up a world of longer capture.
