archeophoto
I love 1950's quality
Hi all,
a few days ago I bought a X-Pro 1 kit with the 35mm 1.4 lens and the new 18-55mm OIS lens.
I kinda waited for the 18-55 lens to come out as I think it would make a great travel setup with the X-Pro 1. I got finally tired of lugging my D700 on big trips around.
I knew what to expect with the X-Pro 1 but I had no idea how the 18-55mm would handle. On top of it I have not found many reports online with the X-Pro1/15-88mm combination. I was especially interested in the moving framelines in the optical viewfinder and how practical that is.
Here are my first impressions:
1. The lens is (for Fuji X-series standards) quite big. It feels very well built and therefore is not light. But the camera still feels well balanced.
Everybody that has ever handled a zoom lens will feel immediately at home. Zoom ring, aperture click stops and manual focus ring are all in the places you would expect.
2. As I said before I was especially interested how this lens would perform with the optical viewfinder. I'm not a fan of electronic viewfinders, so I try to avoid them wherever I can. I have a X100 so I'm very familiar with Fuji's excellent hybrid viewfinder system. A real intelligent design and to me one of the most innovative developments in camera design in the last 10 years.
The step less moving framelines in the optical viewfinder are - again cudos to Fuji - brilliantly implemented. In theory. Because the framelines are not very accurate. The 18mm frameline is ok, but unfortunately it get's more and more inaccurate as you "zoom in".
At 55m you really just get a "rough estimate" of what you compose. Even the frameline at the important 35mm setting is much more inaccurate compared to the 35mm 1.4 lens. This is of course a limitation of the optical viewfinder, but I think Fuji should look into re-programming the framelines for the optical viewfinder from 35mm to 55mm settings in the next firmware update. I good idea would also be to slide in the additional optical magnifier for the viewfinder once you zoom from 35mm on.
In it's current implementation the use of the optical viewfinder is limited with this lens and it feels a bit like an afterthought. But since the hybrid viewfinder is so flexible, there is lot's of room for improvement for future firmware updates.
For now this lens is definitely best used with the electronic viewfinder.
3. The image stabilizer in the lens is extremely effective and gives me at least 2 F-stops more. Nice. But thank god there a switch to turn the stabilizer of because the system drains the battery like crazy. I forgot to turn it off yesterday and after about 100 shots the red "charge me" light came on. So from now on I will only turn it on when I need it.
4. As expected, optical performance is excellent. Nice contrast, great colors and very sharp throughout the zoom range. At 55mm it's a bit softer, but surely not a deal breaker.
Bottom line: This is an excellent travel lens, I really like it. I expected a bit more as to usability with the optical viewfinder but I guess I will just have to get used to turn the electronic viewfinder on if I zoom in 35mm and over.
Cheers!
a few days ago I bought a X-Pro 1 kit with the 35mm 1.4 lens and the new 18-55mm OIS lens.
I kinda waited for the 18-55 lens to come out as I think it would make a great travel setup with the X-Pro 1. I got finally tired of lugging my D700 on big trips around.
I knew what to expect with the X-Pro 1 but I had no idea how the 18-55mm would handle. On top of it I have not found many reports online with the X-Pro1/15-88mm combination. I was especially interested in the moving framelines in the optical viewfinder and how practical that is.
Here are my first impressions:
1. The lens is (for Fuji X-series standards) quite big. It feels very well built and therefore is not light. But the camera still feels well balanced.
Everybody that has ever handled a zoom lens will feel immediately at home. Zoom ring, aperture click stops and manual focus ring are all in the places you would expect.
2. As I said before I was especially interested how this lens would perform with the optical viewfinder. I'm not a fan of electronic viewfinders, so I try to avoid them wherever I can. I have a X100 so I'm very familiar with Fuji's excellent hybrid viewfinder system. A real intelligent design and to me one of the most innovative developments in camera design in the last 10 years.
The step less moving framelines in the optical viewfinder are - again cudos to Fuji - brilliantly implemented. In theory. Because the framelines are not very accurate. The 18mm frameline is ok, but unfortunately it get's more and more inaccurate as you "zoom in".
At 55m you really just get a "rough estimate" of what you compose. Even the frameline at the important 35mm setting is much more inaccurate compared to the 35mm 1.4 lens. This is of course a limitation of the optical viewfinder, but I think Fuji should look into re-programming the framelines for the optical viewfinder from 35mm to 55mm settings in the next firmware update. I good idea would also be to slide in the additional optical magnifier for the viewfinder once you zoom from 35mm on.
In it's current implementation the use of the optical viewfinder is limited with this lens and it feels a bit like an afterthought. But since the hybrid viewfinder is so flexible, there is lot's of room for improvement for future firmware updates.
For now this lens is definitely best used with the electronic viewfinder.
3. The image stabilizer in the lens is extremely effective and gives me at least 2 F-stops more. Nice. But thank god there a switch to turn the stabilizer of because the system drains the battery like crazy. I forgot to turn it off yesterday and after about 100 shots the red "charge me" light came on. So from now on I will only turn it on when I need it.
4. As expected, optical performance is excellent. Nice contrast, great colors and very sharp throughout the zoom range. At 55mm it's a bit softer, but surely not a deal breaker.
Bottom line: This is an excellent travel lens, I really like it. I expected a bit more as to usability with the optical viewfinder but I guess I will just have to get used to turn the electronic viewfinder on if I zoom in 35mm and over.
Cheers!
Michiel Fokkema
Michiel Fokkema
On point 2, if you zoom in you can switch the magnification of the OVF by puling the VF lever and keep it pulled for a few seconds. This magnifies and improves the accuracy of the frame lines.
majid
Fazal Majid
You should turn the option to activate IS only during shooting, rather than all the time.
Johnhw
Established
I am finding the 18-55 to be a very versatile lens and it has remained on my x pro as the main lens lately. Has seriously made me think about the 55-210 coming out.
The rest of the time I still find I use the 35 1.4 for DOF shots
The rest of the time I still find I use the 35 1.4 for DOF shots