XF 100-400 Aperture Range now from 4.5 to 5.6? – POLL: Better Slower & Smaller (and cheaper) or Bigger & Faster?

[amiliv]

For 100-400mm lens, f/4.5-5.6 is just fine.  Canon 100-400mm and Nikon 80-400 are also f/4.5-5.6 and cost $2000+.  At that price tag, make no mistake, those are pro-level lenses.  If Fuji can deliver under $2000 price tag, the better.  If you want f/4 or faster lens at 400mm, things get ridiculously large and expensive and generally not affordable for non-pros; i.e. market for those lenses tend to be either pros in which case lens pays for itself after some time, or relatively wealthy non-pros (and there's not that many of them).  One of Canon's very popular 400mm primes is also f/5.6 (and incredibly sharp at that).  Let re-iterate, f/4.5-5.6 is realistic expectation since this is first lens in that range Fuji is releasing and it will cover very wide range of non-pro and pro photographers.  They can always take a shot at much smaller market for 400mm (and longer) and/or f/4 (or faster) lenses; which is tiny in comparison -- those lenses are simply incredibly expensive to manufacture.