Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2

Fuji Photo Film · Fuji GX680 · 1986

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2 · Fujinon GX MD 180mm F3.2 · Fuji GX680 180mm f/3.2 · Fujifilm GX MD 180mm f3.2 · EBC Fujinon GXD 180mm F3.2 · Fujinon GX D 180mm f/3.2 · Fuji EBC GX 180mm 3.2 · フジノン GX MD 180mm F3.2 · フジ GX680 180mm F3.2 · EBCフジノン GXD 180mm F3.2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
EBC Fujinon GXD 180mm f/3.2 Fuji GX680 — — —
EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2 Fuji GX680 1997 — —
  1. Year: no source dates the lens's introduction. 1986, the system's launch (Japanese Wikipedia; Fujifilm's own history), is carried as a floor: the GXD form belongs to the generation before the December 1997 M chip, and no source says whether this lens was among the nine unnamed lenses shown at the GX680's PMA debut. Danny Burk's July 2002 review counts three f/3.2 lenses in the line. The end date is the system's discontinuation in April 2010 (camera-wiki), not a lens-specific date.
  2. Construction (7 elements in 5 groups), closest focus 0.97 m and the 95 mm filter are given by both Japanese Wikipedia (5群7枚, 0.97m, φ95) and the English Wikipedia lens table. Weight (1,030 g), the dimensions 101 × 107 × 105 mm and the list price ¥160,000 come from the English Wikipedia table alone, which gives no year for the price. Only the third figure is entered as length: the first two, 101 × 107 mm, are shared by most lenses of the line and describe the lens unit on its board rather than a round barrel.
  3. The D: no source expands the letter. Japanese Wikipedia says of the group that GXD is the large-aperture f/3.2 high-image-quality design ('GXDはF3.2の大口径で高画質設計'); English Wikipedia and camera-wiki list the three f/3.2 lenses as GX MD without explanation. The English table's f/3.2–32 is the source for the minimum aperture; the 180mm f/5.6 stops to f/45.
  4. Price: the English Wikipedia table lists the 180mm f/3.2 at ¥160,000 and the slower 180mm f/5.6 at ¥195,000, the one case in the line where the f/5.6 lens is dearer than its f/3.2 counterpart. The table gives no year for either figure, so the two may come from different price lists; the figures are reproduced as printed.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved EBC FUJINON GX MD (or GXD) 1:3.2 180mm with a 95 mm front thread; the 180mm f/5.6 of the same system takes 82 mm, weighs 800 g against 1,030 g and stops to f/45 rather than f/32 (English Wikipedia)
  • Mounted on its own electronic lens board with the GX bayonet, with an aperture ring and a depth-of-field preview lever on the lens and no shutter-speed ring: the Seiko leaf shutter inside is timed electronically, 8 s to 1/400 plus B, and cocks automatically (camera-wiki; English Wikipedia)
  • The longest of the three f/3.2 lenses, 115, 125 and 180 mm, and the only GX lens with 7 elements in 5 groups (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Not the large-format Fujinon lenses of 180 mm (the Fujinon-W, SF and A 180s in Copal shutters), which the GX680 takes only through its lens board adapter and which the body cannot time (English Wikipedia); a GX lens has no shutter-speed ring and sits on its own electronic board

EBC Fujinon GXD 180mm f/3.2:

  • 'GXD' (or 'GX D') in the name, without the M: the marking of the first generation, before the exposure-counter chip of December 1997 (Kamerastore's listing title '180mm f3.2 EBC Fujinon GXD'; Japanese Wikipedia's term for the f/3.2 lenses is GXD)

EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2:

  • 'GX MD' in the name: the M generation carries the electronic exposure counter introduced with the GX680III in December 1997, so the III displays a per-lens shot count; on a GX680 or GX680II the lens works without the counter (English Wikipedia)

Specifications

Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/3.2–f/32
Shutter
Seiko electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 8 s–1/400, B; flash sync at every speed
Min. focus
0.97 m
Dimensions
105 mm long
Weight
1030 g
Filter
95 mm
Years manufactured
1986–2010
Country
Japan
Coating
EBC (Electron Beam Coating) multicoating
Original price
¥160,000 list price (year not stated; English Wikipedia's lens table), where the same table lists the 180mm f/5.6 at ¥195,000 (today ¥206,000)

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2 is the fast portrait lens of the GX680, Fuji Photo Film’s 6×8 studio single-lens reflex of 1986, and the longest of its three f/3.2 lenses; English Wikipedia’s table makes it the equivalent of an 82 mm f/1.5 on 35 mm film. Seven elements in five groups, a construction no other GX lens shares, focus to 0.97 m, the diaphragm runs from f/3.2 to f/32, the front takes 95 mm filters, and at 1,030 g it is the heaviest of the three. The system also has a 180mm f/5.6 of six elements, 800 g, with the 82 mm thread that camera-wiki calls the system standard. Fujifilm’s own history of the Fujinon name explains the size of every GX lens: the revolving back meant each had to cover an 8 × 8 cm image circle and keep covering it under the front standard’s rise, shift, tilt and swing.

Like every lens of the system it sits on an electronic lens board with the GX bayonet and carries its own Seiko leaf shutter, timed electronically from 8 s to 1/400 plus B, cocked automatically and synchronising flash at every speed; the lens has an aperture ring and a depth-of-field preview lever but no shutter-speed ring. The lenses of 1986 were marked GX; with the GX680III of December 1997 came GX M, a chip that lets the III show a shot count for each lens and which the earlier bodies ignore. The three f/3.2 lenses are marked GX MD, and Kamerastore has sold this one titled GXD. No source expands the D: Japanese Wikipedia says only that GXD is the large-aperture f/3.2 design made for image quality. No source dates the lens. Its GXD form belongs to the generation before December 1997, so the 1986 given above is the system’s launch, carried as a floor rather than a documented date; Danny Burk’s 2002 review already counts three f/3.2 lenses in the line, and the system ran until April 2010.

English Wikipedia’s table lists it at ¥160,000, oddly below the ¥195,000 it gives for the slower 180mm f/5.6; the table carries no year, so the two figures may not come from the same price list. No published review of the lens was found. Forum owners who have put it on other bodies call it painfully sharp for portrait clients, but that is anecdote rather than a test. Left open: the introduction date, the meaning of the D, the number of diaphragm blades, and the relation between the two 180 mm prices.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a EBC Fujinon GX MD 180mm f/3.2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: EBC Fujinon GX MD 115mm f/3.2 · EBC Fujinon GX MD 125mm f/3.2 · EBC Fujinon GX M 180mm f/5.6 · EBC Fujinon GX M 150mm f/4.5

Sources (6)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.