Fuji New News on the TCL-X100?

ean10775

ean10775

All-Pro
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Name
Eric
Since it was announced mid February I haven't seen a single new discussion anywhere regarding the TCL-X100 50mm equivalent teleconverter for the X100/X100S other than the March 20th post on FujiRumours that notes that the lens is listed in B&H's online catalog with no pricing or availability information. The reports I've read stated that the lens would be expected in April or May and as such, I'm surprised that there haven't been any teasers or reports from Fuji insiders that typically receive test copies of lenses prior to their release.

I'm slightly interested in this teleconverter even though it appears to be quite pricey (as is the WCL-X100) if it comes out at the rumoured price of around $300 and seems a bit large and therefore changes the form factor of the X100/X100S. I really do enjoy shooting with a 50mm FOV, and would love to see some images taken with the TCL-X100.

Has anyone seen or heard anything new?
 
Haha, I just googled this yesterday... was wondering the same thing myself.

Strongly considering selling my X100S but the possibilities of the TCL-X100 is pretty much the last thing making me hold off on that decision just yet.
 
jloden said:
Haha, I just googled this yesterday... was wondering the same thing myself.

Strongly considering selling my X100S but the possibilities of the TCL-X100 is pretty much the last thing making me hold off on that decision just yet.
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For me it wouldn't be of interest if I was also shooting an X-mount camera - the 35mm f1.4 is simply too good of a lens and at current prices only $150 more than what the rumored price of the TCL-X100 would be (but with a 1-stop aperture advantage and insane sharpness wide open). The high flash sync of the leaf shutter would be nice, but really that's the only advantage I see since it doesn't even offer much of a size advantage over something like an X-E1/2 and the 35mm.
 
ean10775 said:
For me it wouldn't be of interest if I was also shooting an X-mount camera - the 35mm f1.4 is simply too good of a lens and at current prices only $150 more than what the rumored price of the TCL-X100 would be (but with a 1-stop aperture advantage and insane sharpness wide open). The high flash sync of the leaf shutter would be nice, but really that's the only advantage I see since it doesn't even offer much of a size advantage over something like an X-E1/2 and the 35mm.
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Yep.. the flash sync speed is the main reason I'm interested. A 50mm is just long enough for environmental portraits, so that plus leaf shutter X-sync speeds and an in-built ND filter makes a pretty powerful & flexible setup even with a simple speedlight. That and I do enjoy the hybrid OVF enough that I'd miss it at least occasionally.

Otherwise yes I agree, I'd shoot with the 35mm f/1.4 lens instead.
 
Agreed about the flash sync and ND. I've been considering an X-T1 + 35mm and 56mm to replace my 5DII and Canon lenses (the only FL I would be missing would be my 200mm f2.8), but wanted to wait until the TCL-X100 was released to see if that could be serviceable option for me. For personal stuff I think I could get by with the 35mm and 50mm FOVs. The only times I use the 85mm and 200mm on the Canon is for planned portrait shoots, theatre work, or shooting cyclocross races where bringing gear is less of a hassle (though still indeed a hassle).
 
ean10775 said:
For me it wouldn't be of interest if I was also shooting an X-mount camera - the 35mm f1.4 is simply too good of a lens and at current prices only $150 more than what the rumored price of the TCL-X100 would be (but with a 1-stop aperture advantage and insane sharpness wide open). The high flash sync of the leaf shutter would be nice, but really that's the only advantage I see since it doesn't even offer much of a size advantage over something like an X-E1/2 and the 35mm.
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Of course now that I have said this and am planning on picking up an X-T1, I'm debating whether to pick up the 35mm f1.4 at its current rebate price as my 50mm FOV or wait and see what the TCL-X100 looks like performance wise.
 
ean10775 said:
Of course now that I have said this and am planning on picking up an X-T1, I'm debating whether to pick up the 35mm f1.4 at its current rebate price as my 50mm FOV or wait and see what the TCL-X100 looks like performance wise.
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The price is likely to be just about the same, my $0.02 would be pick up the 35mm lens. My thoughts:

1) The 35mm is unlikely to drop much below $400-450 even used for the forseeable future, so you won't lose money if you sell later
2) The TCL-X100 will probably be priced at $399 at release if the WCL was any indication, so the price point would be about the same
3) It's a known quantity and an excellent lens with great rendering. Only thing not to like IMO is the focus mechanism means it's still a little slow, and manual focus with it isn't very pleasant.
 
Thanks for the insights Jay. I had the 35mm briefly when I had an X-E1 and really enjoyed the rendering (though the focus was quite slow and failed to lock in low light quite often with that camera - all before any lens or camera firmware updates mind you). I like the idea of having a 50mm FOV equivalent, although admittedly if the price wasn't so good on the 35mm right now I'd just pick up the 56mm and see if I could get by with 23mm/56mm combo (the 23mm being my X100S). If I couldn't I'd pick it up later.
 
Indeed, today's press release seems to officially confirm all the expected details except the price (not listed yet).
 
ean10775 said:
I'd be very interested as to your thoughts on it when you receive one. Its wonderful to have you as a resource to this community. Thanks for all your efforts!
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Agreed on both counts!

I do think it's possibly rather telling they don't show anything wide open in the samples... I looked at the one of the 2 firefighters at f/5.6 and it looks a little soft in the details to me. Wonder if that's due to a relatively slow shutter speed at 1/100s? The shot of the colored baskets at f/4 looks crisp in the center but also shows what looks like some noticeable loss of sharpness at the edges and corners.

All in all about what I'd probably expect from a screw-on teleconverter I suppose. I'm definitely interested to see what Rico has to say when he gets one to test, as I find the manufacturer-provided samples to frequently be pretty poor indicators of actual performance.
 
jloden said:
All in all about what I'd probably expect from a screw-on teleconverter I suppose. I'm definitely interested to see what Rico has to say when he gets one to test, as I find the manufacturer-provided samples to frequently be pretty poor indicators of actual performance.
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Indeed - with all the X-photographers Fuji has listed on its website you'd think they'd be able to get the equipment in enough talented hands to really create some jaw dropping images to use as samples. That said, these are worlds better than what I've seem Fuji offer previously as samples from other cameras/lenses.
 
flysurfer said:
Yep, me too. Waiting for a sample to evaluate.
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I don't really get the idea of getting a camera without ICL's and the start getting screw on converters... Better get a TX-1 then. I was so happy with my x100 because I didn't have the urge to buy new lenses like on my dslr, and then they came up with a wide angle converter, and now this...

But that might just be me ;)
 
djunclesam said:
I don't really get the idea of getting a camera without ICL's and the start getting screw on converters... Better get a TX-1 then. I was so happy with my x100 because I didn't have the urge to buy new lenses like on my dslr, and then they came up with a wide angle converter, and now this...

But that might just be me ;)
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Its your only option if you want a 28mm or 50mm FOV, and OVF/EVF combination and a leaf shutter. I certainly wouldn't buy an X100S if I wanted the 50mm FOV as my standard, but if I wanted one camera and needed to shoot at 50mm occasionally I think its nice Fuji offers that flexibility.
 
ean10775 said:
Its your only option if you want a 28mm or 50mm FOV, and OVF/EVF combination and a leaf shutter. I certainly wouldn't buy an X100S if I wanted the 50mm FOV as my standard, but if I wanted one camera and needed to shoot at 50mm occasionally I think its nice Fuji offers that flexibility.
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Yeah it's pretty obvious from reading comments about the TCL and WCL lenses that people just see the value proposition totally different ways. Some people just see camera + lenses = ILC as the natural choice. Other people look at the X100(S) and see it as a totally different animal due to the unique features like leaf shutter and high flash sync speed, hybrid OVF etc.

For me, the reasons to buy the X100S and TCL-X100 would be either 1) you wanted one camera and the occasional option to shoot at 50mm equiv and/or 2) you want to make use of the leaf shutter and high speed flash sync + built-in ND filter for portraits.

The leaf shutter benefits are typically either super obvious to you, or really immaterial if you don't typically use flash to balance daylight.
 
jloden said:
The leaf shutter benefits are typically either super obvious to you, or really immaterial if you don't typically use flash to balance daylight.
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Valid argument ;)

Did not really think about the benefit of the leafshutter since I do all my flash work with my dslr. I should give it a go with the x100s though!
 

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