Skip to main content

Fujifilm now has a crazy 46x zoom lens — 9.5mm to 437mm — for 4K video

Cramming a wide range of focal lengths into a single lens is tricky to do — but apparently not too tough for Fujifilm to produce a 9.5mm to 437mm with enough quality to shoot 4K. On Monday, August 20, Fujifilm announced the development of a 9.5-437mm lens, that’s a 46x time zoom, for broadcast called the Fujinon UA46x9.5. Fujifilm says it’s the first 4K capable broadcast lens with such a wide zoom range — and is even daring enough to toss in terms like “portable.”

The price hasn’t been announced yet, but broadcast lenses are typically pricey — more people will probably see the results of the lens than actually be able to get hands on it. (Fujifilm says you may see the results of such a lens in sports broadcasts, nature documentaries, news and other types of video). But what’s interesting even for videographers and photographers that don’t shoot broadcast is the lens design. The lens uses a multi-group zoom, which Fujifilm says means that the lens moves multiple groups at once instead of a single group of optics. That’s what has allowed the company to develop a lens with such a wide zoom range.

Recommended Videos

A 46x zoom broadcast lens for a 2/3-inch sensor isn’t the same thing as a 46x zoom on an APS-C Fujifilm X camera or a full-frame mirrorless camera, but the zoom range is impressive regardless. Both the 46x range and the 9.5mm focal length is a first for the category, Fujifilm says. Fujifilm says the lens design also works to create vivid colors and high dynamic range while suppressing chromatic aberration or color fringing.

Fujifilm says the lens is portable — but that’s compared to other broadcast-quality zoom lenses since the lens weighs over 12 pounds. The lens also includes stabilization. The lens joins other 4K compatible options in Fujifilm’s UA series.

The lens won’t be available until January 2019, but it’s real enough for the company to showcase during the Bejing International Radio, TV & Film Exhibition held this week. Fujifilm hasn’t yet divulged a price. Other Fujifilm broadcast lenses with a wide zoom range are priced in the six-figure range — so the new 46x zoom lens is one that most of us will probably appreciate from afar watching that view go from wide to crazy close during that 4K game on TV.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
Fujifilm’s new Instax mini 41 offers more instant-print fun
Fujifilm's Instax mini 41 instant-print camera.

Fujifilm has just dropped the latest addition to the Instax instant-print family of cameras. 

The Instax mini 41 is an update on the four-year-old Instax mini 40, bringing with it a sleeker look and new features to ensure you don’t waste a single sheet of the photographic paper that you pop in the back. 

Read more
Space station meets aurora in this stunning time-lapse video
An aurora as seen from the ISS.

In his final days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Don Pettit has shared a time-lapse video (below) showing the orbital outpost flying above cities at night before passing over a stunning aurora, shimmering in the darkness.  

https://x.com/astro_Pettit/status/1909841414713704577

Read more
The new Polaroid Flip comes with sonar autofocus
The Polaroid Flip camera, launched in April 2025.

Polaroid has just unveiled a new camera for some instant analog fun.

The Flip comes with fewer features than Polaroid's pricier I-2 model, but is more advanced than the Go, Polaroid's most basic instant camera -- so it could hit the sweet spot for some folks looking for such a device.

Read more