Not content with just giving us full details of their upcoming 110mm mid-telephoto and 23mm super-wide angle lens offerings, Fujifilm has lifted the lid on some of their GF lens series development plans for the future – featuring a move into the telephoto range next year.
Due at the tail end of this year is the GF 45mm f/2.8 R WR, the last of the six original lenses revealed with the GFX-50S at Photokina.
Alongside the telephoto prime lens, Fuji is also planning to release a tele-converter, most likely matched with the telephoto. Both are slated for release mid-way through next year. We haven’t got any details so far, though a 200-300mm focal length would be a reasonable guess.
While the GFX-50S probably isn’t particularly high up on the wish-list of options for the action, sports and wildlife photographers without the necessary super-fast autofocus, the move into the telephoto focal-length range will no doubt be a welcome addition for those looking to make use of its impressive 51.4MP sensor over a long range.
To see what we thought of the Fujifilm GFX-50S when we got our hands on it, visit our hands-on first look review.
Inside the next GFX?
In related news, a release earlier this month saw Sony’s ‘Semiconductor Solutions Corporation’ (its sensor-building division) showed off a roadmap of their own up to 2018, perhaps with some good news for medium-format enthusiasts.
Besides a monochrome 150MP sensor in the works, the roadmap revealed the 2018 release of a 100MP 44 x 33mm sensor – the same format as the sensor that inhabits the GFX-50S and Hasselblad X1D. The new sensor is back-illuminated, which should allow for the development of smaller, more compact lenses, as well as going some way to aid mirrorless cameras like these to deal with their occasional struggles in challenging shooting situations – particularly in low light.
It’s very possible that this 100MP sensor, or one like it, may end up inside the successor of the GFX-50S.
