Fujifilm releases new firmware for its stunning XF 500mm super-telephoto lens
The Fujifilm XF 500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR just got even better
The Fujifilm XF 500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR is one of our favorite super-telephoto lenses, capable of excellent image quality. Even wide open at f/5.6 it delivers excellent sharpness. Fringing is minimal, as is distortion, and you get lovely bokeh quality. Factor its fast and accurate AF, superb 5.5-stop image stabilization, plus the premium build and handling, and you've got one heck of a lens for sports and wildlife photography.
Fujifilm XF 500mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR full review
The lens itself delivers a 35mm-equivalent 762mm focal length, but if that's not enough, you can pair it with one of Fuji's two X-mount teleconverters - the XF2X TC WR or the XF1.4X TC WR - which gives you a colossal reach of 1524mm or 1067mm, respectively. However, it seems that with the original firmware (V1.00), the XF 500mm has a bug when used with a teleconverter where:
"AF focusing is not stable when the focus area setting is not centered at shooting with a teleconverter lens"
Fujifilm has now released firmware version 1.01 which fixes this issue.
To update the lens' firmware, download the V1.01 firmware file from the Fujifilm website, copy it to a freshly formatted memory card, insert that into your camera and follow the update process.
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Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.