I was at Photokina when Fujifilm first announced the 33mm f/1.0 and I honestly didn't care. A few people were excited about it but it seemed like such a pointless lens to me at the time especially because it was probably going to be ridiculously huge. I'm elated at the fact that Fujifilm is now scrapping this lens in favor of a much more practical 50mm f/1.0
I understand that some of you are upset by this news because you really wanted a super-fast aperture lens on your Fuji camera. Realistically there was nothing special about a 33mm f/1.0 lens because it's almost as good as shooting with a 50mm f1.4 lens on a full frame camera; which are pretty common. Almost everyone I know has shot with a 50mm f/1.4 lens at some point in their career so I'm not sure why suddenly Fuji shooters were getting all excited about this lens. This is especially true when you consider the fact that a 35mm f/1.4 lens already exists for Fuji cameras and that lens is really good. Add to that the super affordable price point of the 35mm lens and I was sat in Germany wondering to myself what in the world is Fujifilm thinking?
Nikon is another company that decided to produce a ridiculous lens with their 58mm f/0.95 and so many photographers got excited about it. I couldn't help but give out an unsightly yawn at that news. It's quite honestly the most edge lord thing to do for camera companies right now.
Almost No One Was Going to Buy It
In the nicest possible way, who in their right mind was going to buy this lens and use it regularly? This lens was going to have an insane price point. I say this with the greatest of respect, most people who bought Fujifilm X-Mount cameras are not people who have ridiculous amounts of money to spend on cameras and lenses; I mean if we did we'd be shooting with a Leica. Most people who were looking at this lens were probably only going to appreciate it from afar or maybe rent it on one or two occasions just to see what it's all about. On that basis, it makes no sense to develop this lens from a business perspective. Anyone who did end up buying this lens would have spent a fortune on something that produces slightly worse results than a good 50mm f/1.4.
Even if we completely ignore the price, the lens itself was going to be a behemoth of a lens. The size and weight of this lens made it utterly impractical especially for video. In order to use this lens on a gimbal, you'd have to potentially upgrade to a full-on DSLR compatible gimbal. Typical mirrorless specific gimbals would not be able to balance such a lens further impacting how practical it can be. I'm sure there's going to be someone in the comments who will talk about how they don't mind the weight and they want a heavy lens and big camera; to that I say, just buy a DSLR then. Image quality differences between most cameras are negligible and the color argument is nonsense especially if you're shooting raw.
It wasn't very long ago when Fujifilm was "trolling" DSLR cameras with their evolution image. I feel like Fuji has been going completely in the other direction as of late with their huge cameras and lenses.
Let's be completely honest for a minute, most people were not going to buy this lens. Why would you bother with something like the 33m f/1.0 when you could buy a 35mm f/2.0 or a 35mm f/1.4. The difference is only 2mm in terms of focal length which is negligible and the difference in depth of field (compared to the f/1.4) would only really be noticeable if images were put side by side. Once again, who in their right mind was going to buy this nerd glory, spec sheet lens?
The Replacement
Fortunately, Fujifilm has come to its senses and realized how ridiculous the 33mm lens was going to be. Instead, Fujifilm has announced the development of a much more practical and actually usable lens a 50mm f/1.0. Although this lens has the same wide aperture, the difference in focal length allows Fujifilm to produce a lens which is not only significantly smaller but also lighter. Due to the fact that this lens will be smaller, and lighter, I'm hoping the price point will be far more reasonable in comparison too.
A 50mm f/1.0 on an APS-C sized sensor is somewhat equivalent to a 75mm f/1.5 on a full-frame camera. There are very few companies that produce a lens similar to this and due to that, I am properly happy about this change. The only company that comes immediately to mind is Leica who produced a 75mm f/1.25 lens. If you've seen any of the results this lens is able to produce you'll understand precisely why I'm so excited about the 50mm from Fujifilm. This type of lens sits right in-between two very popular focal lengths and adds something completely new for Fuji Shooters. Currently, nothing like this exists for any of the other major camera manufacturers and for that reason I think Fuji shooters should be extremely happy about this change. Consider the fact that previously we were due to get an oversized version of the common 50mm f/1.4, however now, we're about to get something relatively unique and far more practical.
Final Thoughts
I can appreciate that some of you may be disappointed by this change and want to point out how it's too similar to the 56mm f/1.2; here's the thing, it's not. The 35mm f1.4 sits much closer to the 33mm f/1.0 than the 56mm does to the 50mm in terms of angle of view. In all fairness, I do think that Fujifilm needs to update their 35mm f1.4 lens. Maybe an f/1.2 version with better focus motors would be ideal for many photographers and videographers. The biggest weakness of the current wide aperture 35mm is that it's pretty bad when it comes to video autofocus. Fuji has been properly developing their video features in cameras like the X-T3. It makes sense for them to start updating lenses to be more effective for video autofocus.
Ultimately, the 33mm was nothing more than an oversized, impractical, behemoth and the potentially upcoming 50mm lens looks like a far better option.
I was never going to buy the 33mm f1 both because of price and size. I would really like a 33/35mm f1.2 that is roughly the same size/weight as the current 56mm f1.2.
I'm not sure many people thought this lens would be a huge seller. It would have been a halo product. How much value is there in that? I really don't know. But at some point, its size and weight ballooned so much that it crossed the line from halo product into OM-D EM1X what-were-they-thinking territory. I agree that Fuji was smart to kill it. If FujiRumors is to be believed, this is actually the second time this lens has been killed off.
As for its replacement, I was in the we-already-have-a-56mm-F1.2 camp but you've made an interesting argument for its value. It's still going to be a huge lens. I assume it will be very expensive. I know I won't buy it but, if it makes money for Fuji and salvages some of the R&D already spent, maybe this story has a happy ending. Still, I wish Fuji, which is already dividing its efforts between two formats, would focus on what users (including you) are actually asking for: reworked versions of their early lenses that feature WR, better build quality, and quieter, faster, video-friendly focus systems.
Sensible thing... cancel the 33mm f1
Quick do something stupid to balance it out, 50mm f1
ok that made me chuckle haha.
exactly. there already is an f/1.2...
Your main contradiction was that a 33mm f/1 would be a normal 50mm f/1.4 which Full-Framers have been having for ages, and then proceeded to suggest that Fuji already had an f/1.4. Really? You used equivalency for the 33mm, but somehow both 35mm lenses are somehow exempt from such equivalency?
Also, why did you assume that no one would buy it? People buy expensive lenses all the time. Sure, the 33mm would've never been a staple lens in every photographer's bag, but to claim that no one was going to buy is just pure speculation on your part, and no facts whatsoever.
This whole article was no more than some opinionated photographer that provides nothing but his own bias, and speculation. Nothing of usefulness in this article.
Fuji should come up with a MANUAL FOCUS 33mm f/1 so that it would be decently sized...
Correction, Fujifilm should bring out a whole range of manual focus, manual aperture prime lenses, they would sell like hot cakes.
The Samyang 12mm is still one of my favourite lenses because you can dial the focus right in, and do day/night timelapse with no flicker.
A 23mm f1 would have been a lot more to offer from a 23mm f1.4 vs a 50mm f1 over a 56mm 1.2 if you don't specialize in portraits.
Maybe, but a 23mm f1 would probably be huge. I mean the current f1.4 version isn’t exactly small.
I was pretty excited about the 33mm. As a potrait photographer who actually wants to work more at the 50mm equivalent focal length, this lens looked pretty great. Especially since it seems the only lenses out there currently that come close on brightness are all manual focus. The 50mm F1 may or may not be worth it, given that I have a 56 1.2 in my bag. So, I'll likely get the Mitakon 35 .95 at some point.