links for Fujinon XF10-24mm f4 OIS lens

Track to Mt Hobwee circuit / Mt Wagawn at Binna Burra, Lamington national park

Fuji X-E1 & XF18-55mm; F5.6, iso 1600, 1/30 sec

I did some math today on lenses and cameras. It turned out that two Fuji X-E1 equipped with Fujinon XF10-24mm and XF55-200mm lenses have the same weight as Olympus E-30 with ZUIKO 50-200mm SWD. ZUIKO 50-200mm was my favorite lens for a very long time. In addition to the lens and E-30 I usually carried a sturdy tripod. With Fuji I can use a small "digital" tripod.

I did the math because of my last trip to a national park. It was cloudy, and it was fairly dark in the rainforest. Most of pictures during this trip were taken at high ISO and open aperture. Very often I hit 18mm (~28mm eqv) limit on XF18-55mm lens. In this situation XF10-24mm lens will be very useful.

I have not read much about XF10-24mm because of the price. The $200 cashback offer from Fuji changes the situation.

Links to XF10-24mm reviews:
LensTip
Admiring Light (by Jordan Steele)
Bjorn Moerman (with astonishing pictures)

More reviews of Fujinon XF18-135mm lens

Some links to reviews of Fujifilm's  Fujinon XF18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens. 

Interesting review  by Jordan Steele, a Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Admiring Light. The lens is a tad expensive and sharpness declines at wide and tele ends of the zoom range. The blog looks interesting, so I added it to the blogs and sites page for the future reading.

Review and test shots on Photography Blog. With aperture around f8 the lens is fairly sharp at 18mm even at edges.  It is also good at 135mm. The sharpness in the middle of the zoom range (33-100mm eqv) is excellent for 7.5 zoom lens. So, learn to avoid the extremes, or close aperture to f8, and it will be fine.  

Opinion about a pre-production version of the lens on Photo Review. 

Review on Dan Bailey Photo Blog, with pop-up window asking to sigh up, some animation and other stuff that activate my laptop. The review is written by an outdoor photographer. Not surprising that the lens with such versatile zoom range tends to steak to his camera.

To sum up: the lens is not perfect, but for me the advantages overweight the shortcomings. It would be nice to have it paired to weather-sealed Fuji X-T1. Unfortunately Santa does not brings checks to me, only cameras and lenses :(

Review by Bjorn Moerman (blog), an official X-Photographer: part 1, part 2. Comparison of XF18-135mm to XF18-55mm and XF55-200mm, illustration of the sharpness sweet spot around f8-f11 - all these things are there.

Macro with Canon M

I came across a post on the DPReview forum containing several amazing "macro" photos taken with Canon M and 90mm Tamron (link).

Another interesting post from Thom Hogan

Thom Hogan wrote an interesting article "dissecting" interviews with leading camera makers published by DPReview team. I hope the camera makers would read his post. If indeed many people buy DSLR with just one lens, why produce two items not one? I bet it is possible to make a compact camera with 1" sensor and bright collapsable lens, sort of Fuji X10 / X20 on steroids, with decent macro option. The camera will be smaller than any standard DSLR zoom kit.

It is m4/3 time

Thom Hogan had published on his site reviews for several m4/3 lenses including 12-50mm kit lens offered with Olympus O-MD E-M5. BTW, Thom is not the only person pointing on significant correction required for many m4/3 "kit" lenses. He also wrote a brief summary of his impression on Nikon 1 V2, Fujifilm X-E1 and Sony NEX-6. Thom used nearly all mirrorless cameras released in 2012, and he is thorough reviewer. He is one of the first people pointed on color smearing or "bleeding" in some images from X-Trans sensor used in Fuji X-Pro1 and X-E1.

Autofocus on Fuji X mirrorless cameras

It seems that the autofocus (AF) speed of prime lenses on Fuji X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras is one of the most discussed topics on Fujifilm X system forum on the dpreview site (example). Obviously, anyone used to (D)SLR cameras should notice the difference in autofucus speed in most mirrorless cameras. Several factors contributes to slow AF on compact system cameras. First, the focus speed depends on lens and lens' motor and not all lenses are created equal. Out of three available prime lenses, XF60mm F2.4 R Macro is the slowest which is not surprising considering that it is a macro lens. New XF18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS has different motor and apparently focuses fast but independent in-depth reviews on this lens are not yet available. Second, mirrorless cameras use different method for autofocus, so the tricks and skills from DSLR world may not work anymore. This post explains how to improve the AF performance on mirrorless camera (Fuji X-Pro1).

For anyone interested in comparison between Fuji X-E1 and Sony NEX-6: here is a very comprehensive comparison of the two cameras. Later in the thread the author of original post wrote that in some situation with dim light Fuji X10 might be better than the Sony because of the bright lens. Yes, the X10.

Fuji X-E1 vs Olympus OM-D E-M5: link

Lets promote interesting things on the web :)

I came across a very lengthly thread on Micro Four Thirds forum discussing merits of Fujifilm X-E1 and Olympus OM-D E-M5. There are over 20 "pages", and I have not read all comments.

There are posts by users of Olympus and Fuji cameras (but for Fuji it is mainly X-Pro1). There are some very interesting opinions on "gear lust" and some other things. I am really glad to see someone admitting that photographic skills are the limiting factor in getting better picture not the camera capability which is fully applicable for me. As for gear acquisition syndrome: you need to enjoy the thing. My Olympus E-30 is a better camera than my previous Olympus DSLR but I do not enjoy it as much as the E-500, and as a result it generally stays at home. I probably would be happier with a smaller model such as E-620 but it is too late to go 4/3 route. Sensors are better now, mirrorless CSC are getting better, too. Even advanced compact cameras were revived from a nearly complete extinction and flourished in recent years. One of these, Fuji X10, makes me happy. While OM-D E-M5 is one of the best "advanced" CSC, I am not sure that I would enjoy as much as Fuji X10. I do like PENs, and would consider E-PL5 over OM-D E-M5 because of form/size and price. But I don't like the external controls in E-PL cameras. The touch screen may solve the problem of external control, but it is hard to say how it will work for me. I do like the layout of Fuji X-E1 which is similar to that of the X10, but I have not tried the camera with FX 18-55mm F2.8-4 lens yet. Frankly, I was surprised with a relatively small size of the X-E1. On photographs the rectangular body creates an impression of the fairly bulky camera.


Now about serious stuff: The Fuji X-E1 is an interesting camera by Kirk Tuck. I really like his writing style.

Fuji X-E1 zoom kit in Australia

It seems that Fuji X-E1 kit with XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 zoom lens will be available in nearby future very soon because it is listed in PhotoContinental. It is big and reputable camera shop in Brisbane, with long history in photo business. Their price for the zoom kit is slightly lower than in another Brisbane shop, CameraPro, and comparable to the US prices in shops like Adorama (add 10% GST). Kudos to Fujifilm!

According to Fuji Rumors, the zoom kit will be available in Japan on November 17. One Sydney/on-line camera shop (Dirt Cheap Cameras) also expects to get X-E1 with zoom lens in November.

I am curious why X-E1 kits with prime lenses are not offered in Australia or US. Obviously, it is possible to buy body and lens separately but at least in Australia the price will be essentially identical to similar kit with Fuji X-Pro1 (see prices at CameraPro).


Useful links for X system:
flickr group dedicated to XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 lens - at the time of writing just several mainly high iso images
Forum for Fuji X system - all news are there
X lenses tests on Photozone - my favorite site for lens tests
Fujifilm's official page for digital camera and lenses: specs, lens roadmap etc

Good reading

Kirk Tuck wrote a very good post about popularity of Olympus mirrorless cameras such as OM-D, so I'll keep it as a useful link.

The same logic can be applied to current advanced compact cameras. Some people find the image quality is just sufficient for their needs, and such cameras represent reasonable compromise for usability and quality. I really like size and controls of Fuji X10, and because I rarely shoot in orb-prone conditions I am quite satisfied with the image quality. It does not mean that all people should buy advanced compacts and get rid of DSLRs. But some people will be very happy to do that.  

Here are just a couple snapshots of Begonia flowers taken with Fuji X10 on a windy day at iso 250, f4.0, in Supermacro mode. The photos were cropped and resized in GIMP, and unsharpen mask was applied to the final images. For pictures like these I am very happy to carry a compact camera instead of a DSLR.

 Begonia

Begonia

NASA on flickr

I came across a NASA account on flickr. The photos are amazing, for example, the international space station with the Earth on background, futuristic robot-manipulator or Soyuz Rocket. Highly recommended.

useful links for Fujifilm X10 users

This post contains links to useful information on Fujifilm X10 camera. I plan to add more links in the future.

Hidden features of X10: discussion on flikr.
This thread is one of many Discussions in Fuji X10 group. It seems that at time of writing it is the biggest and the most active group for this camera.

Reviews of Fuji X10 (actually, opinions of photographers about the camera, not tech reviews):
The Luminous Landscape
Digital Outback Photo
Serious Compacts

How to deal with the "white discs" problem (hopefully the software upgrade will make this link redundant).