A few Fuji X questions

[Godfrey]

Well even though I think that thr Sony implementation of focus peaking is the best of the bunch (red medium is great) using adapted lenses is only a part of my plan. At first more so but later I will probably stick to one camera one lens as I have in the past and get the ultrawide when it comes out as that is 99% of my personal work having used an Oly EP1 and the pana 20 and 7-14 lenses. I would have gone OMD but I still have that annoying feeling that I am a step behind everything when I use m43. Also I know that Sony has some decent lenses but in my opinion the range is not on par with Fuji, especially with Zeiss lenses (my catnip) now available to play with on Fuji as well. Xpro1 and a Zeiss 32 would make a near perfect one lens one camera kit for me, as long as there is sufficient Zeissness to that lens.

Fnally a stupid but important for me point, I shoot a lot of professional stuff. Having a Fuji is better "face" than a Sony or tiny Olympus if you show up to a shoot with tiny looking cameras it is bad for your image, especially here. Sure right tool for the job and all but not here, clients are too vain to understand why a 7mm ultrawide on a tiny OMD is better than a 17mm on a 5d mk2 and will not use you if they think your equiptment is too "common", maybe a bit hard to understand but it is a factor here when dealing with people. When I go out to a social business event I am not going in there with a Canon hung around neck. There has to be something unique to show off, vain as that may sound.

Thanks for the response.

G

 

[GaryLH]

Making Zeiss lenses for Fuji was an after thought

Making Zeiss lenses for Fuji was an after thought

I really wouldn't go for the Fuji X Zeiss glass... expensive and not better than the fantastic Fuji lenses... They should have made lenses that were really different from what Fuji's offering, like a 10mm, or a 85 1.4 ...

I believe that these lenses were originally designed w/ the intent of being for the Nex camera line, adapting them to the Fuji x mount was probably a last minute decision.. Which is way outside of the 12mm, everything else is close enough in the Fuji native lens line. The difference of 2mm between 12 and 14 is actually pretty significant compared to a 2mm difference at 35 end for example.

However, one would need to be a wide angle junky to have both a 12 and the 14. Plus Fuji is going to have a wide angle zoom in the near future.

Gary

 

[Bike Tourist]

I have gone from always fretting about dust (D600) to having no concerns at all (X-Pro1). One little feature I like on the XP1 is that when the power is turned off the shutter is open. You can take all the time you need to clean the sensor without worrying about the battery. I've only cleaned it once in several months and that might not have been really necessary.

I have the 14mm, 35mm and 60mm Fuji lenses. They are great. For those of us with some RF tradition the OVF is the way to go. Having the EVF available is just icing on the cake.

 

[Avotius]

It is funny and sad at the time. If they are so knowledgeable why they just don't do the job?

I had a client I did a couple jobs for...in the end they did just go do it. I did a few projects with them and after they saw what it was I was doing they went out and bought almost exactly my same camera setup and went and took the photos themselves. I have a few friends who work in their company and have seen their "results"...needless to say I was not amused.

Focus peaking is cool, but it's not foolproof. Hopefully the Fuji implementation will be better than Sony...oftentimes the peaking will indicate focus, but magnification shows otherwise. I run into this almost daily with the 5...peaking gets you close but magnfication is required to actually nail it.

I was in the shops playing with a Nex 6 and I noticed this focus problem too. I was using manual on the kit zoom and it was obviously focused up close but indicating sharp focus far away too.

Hey Colin! I think you will like the Fujis. Save up for the native glass if you can but any adapted lenses from 35mm on up should render nicely. I've divested myself of my rangefinder gear, but plan to use OM lenses on the X-E1, especially once the Metabones speed booster comes out. (They are fine with a normal adapter as well.)

I think the native lenses will be the way to go too. As much as I may want a fix all solution for my legacy lenses, it just isn't going to happen. All my legacy lenses are M mount Zeiss 21 2.8 and 50 f2, and a LTM 50 3.5. Everything else is SLR but from a bunch of different mounts like exakta, C/Y and m42 and all are 50mm lenses.

I really wouldn't go for the Fuji X Zeiss glass... expensive and not better than the fantastic Fuji lenses... They should have made lenses that were really different from what Fuji's offering, like a 10mm, or a 85 1.4 ...

I checked out some pictures online of the new Touit lenses and I dont see much of the Zeiss character in them like you would find in the ZM line. I think I will skip unless I can get a really good deal on one.

I was a working pro for a few years recently (2007 to 2011). I used whatever camera was best to do the job with. Perhaps it's a different culture, ....

It is a different culture problem. Here so many people are swimming in cash and they are also a bunch of lemmings. The Canon and Nikon's are big here for people not in the know because they are big and brash, so thats what everyone wants. Here the best tool for the job is the camera that not everyone is carrying, otherwise there is no way you could be worth what they are paying you to do...right?

I have gone from always fretting about dust (D600) to having no concerns at all (X-Pro1). One little feature I like on the XP1 is that when the power is turned off the shutter is open. You can take all the time you need to clean the sensor without worrying about the battery.

Good to know. The Canon and Leica way of having the shutter open while cleaning never really bothered me unless my battery was low and I had to wait a long while to do it. I just got used to my carry camera to not have dust problems, especially here in China where dust is an everyday annoyance.

 

[Avotius]

So in my search for the next carry everywhere camera I find myself looking at the X-E1 as my prime choice right now.

Last weekend I was in another city and it just so happened out of dumb luck that one of my friends just bought a X-E1 and 35mm in Hong Kong and I got to spend a bit of time getting to know the camera. From my hour or so using it I could tell that it was obviously designed with photographers in mind. The manual focus zoom function works great. The little focus switch on the front of the body I liked. The viewfinder seems pretty good, not as good as the back LCD panel but good enough. The 35mm lens seems like a gem and the hood is cool except the cap it stupid. The autofocus on the 35mm lens is poor to say the least, slow and up close not very accurate but the new firmware is probably going to fix some of this. I did find the body a bit small and dainty in my hand but I understand the grip improves on this. My friend's was in silver and I will be having black.

I looked online at what Fuji has done for focus peaking on the X20 camera and was not impressed. It seems they are just taking the shimmering effect and amplifying it a bit as seen here: http://petapixel.com/2013/01/09/a-demonstration-of-fujifilms-new-focus-peaking-feature/

 

[stompyq]

I actually find the focus peaking as implemented by sony to be very distracting. I'd probably be concentrating more on focus than on composition. I liked the shimmering effect that my fuji XE-1 had.

 

[willie_901]

...
The 35mm lens seems like a gem and the hood is cool except the cap it stupid. The autofocus on the 35mm lens is poor to say the least, slow and up close not very accurate but the new firmware is probably going to fix some of this.

To get the most out of the AF takes a while. It is not poor once you learn how to use it. At it's best, the AF is not as good as the D700/D300, which is the only other AF I know well. But I found my out of focus reject rate with the current Fuji AF to be similar to what I achieved with my analog Zeiss Ikon M body.

 

[Avotius]

From what I found compared to my EP1 with the panasonic 20mm on it the X-E1 was slower and noisier, but its something I could live with. The upcoming firmware update says there is a new faster algorithms and new firmware for the lenses as well so I expect there will be some progress there.

 

[gavinlg]

The AF genuinely isnt inaccurate at all - you just have to know how to use it. AF correction on for the infinity/close focus boxes in OVF, and both the xe1 and xpro1 focus faster than the e-p1 with current firmware.