I shoot a lot of swimwear and often at sunrise. Light weight, sharp wide open and teams flawlessly with 1.4 teleconverter. Price is crazy but it is the only game in town.

AMAZING Lens

Lens was very much worth the wait! It’s fast, lighter than expected in weight, and the glass is absolutely perfect. Fuji knocked it out of the park with this 500mm lens! Using it on a GFX100S body.

Extending Medium Format Options

Longtime pro shooter here. I've been working in Medium Format for the last ten years. Last year switched from Pentax 645z system to Fuji. I shot the Pentax 400mm f5.6 for a long lens, which comes in at about a 315mm FF equivalent.This new FujiFilm lens is a fully modern prime telephoto that comes in at about 400mm FF equivalent. It is lighter and smaller than the Pentax 400, focuses quicker, is sharper, and has in-lens stabilization that works great with the GFX IBIS. You can also add the teleconverter to get more reach.In practice these things make this lens very useable handheld, where the Pentax was not. The AF through this lens is very good, and along with the lens and body stabilization combined extends medium format use cases way beyond where they used to ... MoreLongtime pro shooter here. I've been working in Medium Format for the last ten years. Last year switched from Pentax 645z system to Fuji. I shot the Pentax 400mm f5.6 for a long lens, which comes in at about a 315mm FF equivalent.This new FujiFilm lens is a fully modern prime telephoto that comes in at about 400mm FF equivalent. It is lighter and smaller than the Pentax 400, focuses quicker, is sharper, and has in-lens stabilization that works great with the GFX IBIS. You can also add the teleconverter to get more reach.In practice these things make this lens very useable handheld, where the Pentax was not. The AF through this lens is very good, and along with the lens and body stabilization combined extends medium format use cases way beyond where they used to be.I'd say the first thing you notice if you've carried long lenses before on either MF or FF systems is that this combo (GFX 100sii and this lens) is light. Surprisingly so. They have balanced the weight so that the center of gravity is really more toward the camera body than the end of the lens. It's even lighter than my old canon body and 70-200mm with 2x teleconverter.I used to use the Pentax long lens for long landscapes, but it was really hard to get shots of anything that was moving. With no stabilization, and the weight of the system, it needed to be locked down on a tripod. It just wasn't feasible to shoot a lot of things in the field with the Pentax system with a long lens. I'd always end up renting a Canon body and one of the excellent Canon telephoto primes. But that's heavy, and definitely needed a monopod or tripod.I'd say this combo is perfect for those who want to gain extra reach and keep using MF. With that said, MF systems still have some limitations compared to the top end Sony FF systems, and real sports or wildlife shooters may want to stick with those.Personally, this lens and system combo is great for me. If I got another gig shooting F1 or MotoGP I'd take this, but I would also rent a Sony with a Sony Teleprime as a backup until I was satisfied I could get the results I want.Just a note, it's interesting to see the MF 3D look along with the compression of a teleprime. I'm still learning the lens's strong and weak points. I don't see any distortion in this lens at all. I don't see any falloff of sharpness toward the edges. And surprisingly, it's just as sharp at 5.6 as it is at smaller apertures.

First long telephoto that delivers

I have been a dedicated photographer for 60 years and have used many long telephoto zooms that all turn to mush at the longest portions of their range. I have not paid $12000 for a fixed focal length lens from a major manufacturer, but I have rented and again really not totally sharp. I bought the 500mm Fuji lens expecting to be annoyed once again. However, at any price point, this lens delivers. I took it out and shot buffalo hand holding in bright light at the widest aperture. The results are nothing short of stunning. I can see dirt and sticks in the fir and the lens resolves the animal's fir beautifully. The color out of the camera is excellent. At $3500 this lens is a bargain. Yes, it can be hand held at f5.6 with very sharp results. I am stunned.

Great lens

Very sharp, light weight, Works great with 1.4x teleconverter. Only problem is you don't get the versatility of a zoom. If you are shooting large subjects, they have to be pretty far away to fit the frame. I took it to the zoo, but missed a lot of shots because of the distance, but I also took it to capture a rocket launch from 4 miles away and it worked great. You just have to know the limits of this focal length.

Great lens, but camera not fast enough

The lens is sharp, well-corrected, and relatively compact and light. Fujifilm’s camera focusing system, however, lags behind full-frame competitors. It’s not up to par when taking pictures of birds in flight, for example. I used the lens on the Fujifilm GFX 100 II, and there were too many out-of-focus shots, something that rarely happens with my Sony a1 camera. When the photo is in focus, however, you can crop severely and still retain detail with very little noise. A 102 MP medium-format camera with the focusing ability of the sony a1, and this lens, would be ideal for wildlife photography. Unfortunately, such a camera does not exist (yet).

Super sharp

Incredible sharpness , great build. AF performance only limited by my older 100s. Look forward to purchasing this lens for. My Arican safari trips.

[Rewarded Review] Super light

Excellent, so far. Got a fairly sharp shot of the moon when I took it home, hand-held (image stabilized). Can't wait to try it with the teleconverter.It seems a bit odd that Fuji went for a sports/wildlife aimed long lens with such a slow camera system, but considering I had to wait 2 months to get my hands on one of these, they obviously know what they're doing.

[Rewarded Review] Surprisingly Lightweight

I've only taken a few test shots, but right out of the box I was surprised at how lightweight this lens is.

[Rewarded Review] Very Nice Lens - Versatile, Sharp and Handy

I've really been enjoying this lens. It is very sharp and surprisingly well-balanced and easy to carry on the GFX 100S (I used it as a travel combo on a recent cruise). The autofocus, while not blindingly fast (primarily because of the camera's limitations), is still quite capable and can produce good action shots. The image quality, coupled with the crop-ability of the 102 MP sensor, makes for some very nice results. And the OIS of the lens coupled with the IBIS of the camera is a very stable platform. Really quite a delight to use.