Interestingly, Fuji has just released their WCL-X100 wide
angle converter lens for the Fuji X100.
This 0.8x converter turns the X100's 23mm lens into a 18mm lens,
equivalent of just under 28mm in Full Frame terminology. One thing about this converter is that it
looks extremely well made and well designed, unlike those cheap and nasty
converters that every small New York photo shop seems to want to sell you. It features multicoating (Super Ebc in Fuji
speak), has four elements in three groups for proper correction and sharpness
and is meant to be extremely well made.
This converter attaches by screwing into the 49mm filter thread.
At $349, it sure isn't cheap, though compared to other high
end converters such as Nikon's TC-20 II 2x teleconverter, it is priced
similarly.
Early reviews suggest that the image quality is excellent,
almost as good as the 23mm lens on its own.
There's meant to be some barrel distortion that is corrected when
accessing the appropriate setting on the camera, which I believe requires the
latest firmware; but that's about it.
The major issue that I see is that 28mm is a bit close to
35mm in focal length. Maybe it would
have been better to go to a 0.7x converter which would mean a focal length of
approx 15.5mm, or a full frame equivalent of just under 24mm. Of course this would result in more design
challenges, and therefore purchase expense, to retain the top notch quality
that Fuji was requiring.
I must also say that on my Nikon SLRs, the further I move
away from 35-50mm focal length range, the less I use the lens. My fisheye and ultra wideangles don't get
much use, and I sold my 80-400mm for lack of use. So, maybe I would get more use out of a 0.8x
converter than a 0.7x converter.
