Fujifilm announces the dream lenses its users want the most

Over 67,000 votes were cast in the Fujifilm Focus on Glass initiative, with three clear winners chosen by the public from the 14 X-mount lenses put forward.

Fujifilm has announced the winning candidates from its latest Focus on Glass presentation. As well as detailing some of the philosophy behind its lens manufacture, a key part of the presentation saw lens product planners Yukitaka Takeshita and Yuma Miyauchi walk through 14 lens concepts spanning four categories.

None are in development, and some would face significant technical hurdles before they could be made, which is precisely why the company referred to the 14 as a dream list.

Fujifilm then conducted a public vote on its website for users to select their three most-wanted lenses from the list, with the results feeding into future product planning decisions. This is not the first time the company has done this, with votes in 2019 and 2024 both leading to new lenses eventually being launched.

So, what's likely to come as a result of this vote? There were three clear winners: two from the Wide Aperture category and one from the Reviving Legendary one.

1. XF16-80mmF2.8 — 11,121 votes (16.4%)

A 5× zoom with constant F2.8 aperture, this would extend the telephoto reach of the existing XF16–55mm F2.8 R LM WR II, while aiming to keep the physical size close to the current XF16–80mm F4. The 16–80mm range equates to a 24–120mm full-frame equivalent, which Fujifilm sees as an all-purpose option capable of handling portraits at the longer end without the aperture penalty typically associated with high-magnification zooms.

2. XF18-50mmF1.4 — 10,747 votes (15.85%)

The most ambitious concept of the 14, the XF18–50mm F1.4 zoom is faster than any zoom currently on the market. The goal is to achieve F1.4 in a body no larger than the original XF16–55mm F2.8, delivering prime-like rendering without lens changes. The company acknowledges F2.0 would be technically feasible, but believes F1.4 is what would genuinely excite photographers. The engineering challenges are best described as non-trivial. This is a dream concept rather than a near-term product, though one the team hopes advancing optical technology may eventually make possible.

3. XF18 and 30mm — 8205 votes (12.1%)

A proposed dual-focal-length switchable lens offering 18mm and 30mm with no zoom, just a quick toggle between the two. The inspiration for this is the Travel Mini, a compact film camera that switched between 28mm and 45mm and was a major hit when it launched. The rationale is that many zoom lens users only shoot at the wide and telephoto extremes anyway, so dropping the zoom mechanism allows for a much smaller, near-pancake form factor, with 18mm covering wide-angle scenes and 30mm suited to people and objects. Fujifilm also hopes to achieve a consistent F-number across both focal lengths.

What happens next?

That's very much up to Fujifilm. There have been some murmurings about voting irregularities, but this is a non-binding contest and the company is under no obligation to treat this as anything other than some interesting market research.

That said, previous vote winners have made it into actual products, the 2019 vote giving us the XF 33mm F1.4 R LM WR and XF 18mm F1.4 R LM WR, so the odds are good on that front. And the company only released three new lenses in all of 2025, so there's some definite development headroom there. With other manufacturers aggressively expanding into X-mount, the opportunity for Fujifilm to reinvigorate its native lens strategy is possibly one worth seizing.

And for those of you who missed it first time round, here's the complete presentation.