Fujifilm XF14mm f/2.8 R

I’ve been looking for a while to pick up another lens, but was waiting for the right time etc.   However the marketing people at Fujifilm know this so a well timed £100 voucher and the winter cash back tempted me.

I was looking at picking up the XF18mm to accompany my X-E3 and 27mm.   Unfortunately the 18mm (along with the 23, 35, and 50) was excluded in the £100 voucher offer so I had to look elsewhere (I could’ve simply just not bothered, but a £100+Cashback saving is hard to turn down).

Why the 14mm?  I’ve toyed with a few different lenses such as the 56mm and 90mm.  The 56mm is a choice of many portrait photographers (matches roughly the 85mm on a Full Frame sensor) – but as I don’t really shoot portraits  it’s probably not a great choice at the moment.

The 90mm is a bit of an odd size (similar to the 135mm on FF), but having previously owned the Canon EF135 f/2 L it’s a type of lens I loved.   Still at this moment I consider it to be a nice to have lens rather than something that would get a lot of use.

Fujifilm X-E3, XF14mm f/2.8 R

Package wise, the XF14mm is a small compact unit – although not as small as the 18mm or the 27mm lenses.   It’s compact enough to fit in my small bag which I take to work in my rucksack.  The hood adds a little to the bulk,  but it’s an item you’d need to carry around as being a wide lens you may get a bit of flare in the sun light.

Fujifilm X-E3, XF14mm f/2.8 R

One of the annoyances with the 27mm pancake lens is the lack of the aperture ring, its a welcome addition on the 14mm.   Feature wise the 14mm is a little sparse, no IS and no obvious manual focus option.  The latter is available – the switch is actually the focus ring.  The ring can be pushed forward to enable auto focus and pulled back to switch to manual.  It’s a bit odd,  but you do get used to it.

14mm vs 18mm

Unfortunatley I purchased the lens on one the most miserable days of the year so far – hence testing have been limited.  The above image shows the what the extra 4mm gives you.   Granted it’s not a super wide angle (around 21mm on FF) but for most of my street/architecture images it’ll allow me to get a bit more in.

Close up Bokeh
Lens cap vs 27mm

In the end after the discount I picked the lens up for £644, plus after 30 days I’ll be able to claim back an additional £135 – so £509 for a nice wide angle was worth it.  Initial testing looks good, but I’ll be a better position to do some real testing next week when I’m back in the city centre.

Christmas possible lens indecision

Well, it’s coming up that time of year were I think about spending money once more – I had planned to save up a bit of cash and pick up a 56mm lens but funds aren’t there at the moment.  But Fuji are running cash back offers again – typically £45 for cheaper lenses moving up to £90 and higher for expensive glass.    For some reason because they like me* they’re also offering an extra £100 off as well so that’s got me thinking once more!

The 90mm is currently at £799 so that’s another temptation (as it’s a replacement for my old Canon EF135 F2), but also some shorter ranges are superb

I’ve been thinking about the 18mm for a while to use on my X-E3.  Currently that gets at £45 cash back, so with the £100 extra off it’s available for around £300  which on the face of it is a steal, but it can be obtained 2nd hand via MPB for £259!

One other option is a bit of a gap filler – the 55-200.   It’s a small zoom and ideal as a carry around lens instead of the monster 100-400 – that has the advantage of being available at John Lewis so I can get 12% discount, plus £90 and £100 cash back.  It ends up around £360 give of take a quid or so – but do I actually need it?

*Probably a generic email

 

/edit  Just noticed the t’s & c’s:

Excludes XF8-16mm, XF200mm, XF18mmF2, XF23mmF2, XF27mmF2.8, XF35mmF2 and XF50mmF2 lenses.

That that knackers my idea of a discount on a short lens!!

/edit 2 Just noticed John Lewis isn’t on the retailer list either!!

/edit 3 Decided to get the 14mm in the end.  Not bought it yet – but Wex are getting one in for me and hopefully I’ll pick it up at the weekend 🙂

 

Out of the Camera

Possibly a new feature based on me being lazy is upon us.   Behold Images pretty much straight out of the Fuji X-E3 (Cropped a bit to correct my internal leaning!)

All images taken using the Fuji X-E3,  XF27 f/2.8 Len – Acros Mode + Red Filter

Fishy – Samyang 8mm f2.8 UMC Fish-eye II (Fuji X Mount)

The fisheye lens is one of those marmite things – you know the analogy so I won’t bother.   As I’m purely in the positive side of that analogy I’m back in the fisheye game – thanks to a 2nd hand purchase of a Samyang 8mm f2.8 UMC Fish-eye II.

It’s one of the gaps in the Fuji X system plugged by a few manufacturers so there’s no need for an OEM lens to be rushed out.  In the fully electronic world of modern cameras the Samyang is a totally manual lens – anyone that’s ever used a fisheye however will realise this is a non-issue as you often shoot at f/8 and 1m to infinity so the world is pretty much in focus regardless.   The only issue with a manual lens is the lack of Exif information being passed back to the body.

Construction wise, it’s a solid lens – well built, controls move well and the aperture ring is nice and simple.   The lens hood is superb with a locking mechanism which Canon could have done with the adding to the old EF 15mm (although that originally came out in the 1980’s – so maybe I’m been too critical of them!).   The odd bit is a clear plastic/metal underneath section at the base – looks a bit odd, but looks are unimportant as this is just a lens.

Image wise, I’m impressed.   I’ve not gone down the pixel peeping route as frankly I can’t be bothered.   For me it’s a great replacement for the old Canon unit.

Click on the images below for a larger view.

Corporation Street – Early morning desolation. (Nik Efex Viveza and HDR Single Image Toned)
Old Square – Too early for the drinkers (Nik Efex Viveza used)

 

 

Fujifilm X-E3 & XF27mm f/2.8 Lens

My intention at the Photography Show wasn’t to pick up another camera body, but anyone that follows the blog will know that often other things get purchased instead of the original item.   My recent Fuji pondering was pretty much centred around the 100-400 and 1.4 TC – which I did pickup.   I could’ve been sensible and saved some of the money, but no not me (actually I’m generally being sensible with my money – just this Canon to Fuji swap left me with unallocated cash!).

I do have a preference for primes – but I’ve yet to make this happen on the Fuji system.  My Canon primes were generally 100mm plus (apart from the 15mm fisheye) so the 100-400 covers most of that range.  So the thought of shorter primes was one thing I was looking at.   Mainly the 18 or 27mm lenses.  My intention was to pair the X Pro 2 with a smaller prime – but then the X-E3 came to my attention, it’s almost a mini X Pro 2 – albeit with a few compromises size wise.   Both are rangefinder style – for me this represents a move from the SLR format – there’s nothing wrong with SLR’s but I like the rangefinder style and handling.

Double Trouble?

From the back the missing bits are obvious, the sort of wheel button arrangement is missing but all of the settings can be adjusted using the Q menu.   The Screen on the X-E3 is a touchscreen, but I  don’t like the sensitivity of it – so for the moment it’s disabled.

Rear Differences

The compact size means this is now my carry to work camera – I’ve managed to pick up a small bag to drop in my rucksack for the cycle to work.   I’m still a little worried about it bouncing around the bag – but I’ll look to securing it some how.

Lowepro Format 100 – Discontinued range

A surprise for me with the X-E3 was in the inclusion of the mini EF-X8 flash unit.   It’s a tiny flash that was supplied with the XT2 model but not the X Pro 2.

It works fine on the X Pro 2, in time it’ll prove useful or useless as it’s so small.  The unit (not referring to it as a flash gun!) is powered by the X camera’s internal battery so I guess we’ll use it with caution (or whilst carrying spare batteries).

On the subject of batteries it uses the same W126 type as the X Pro 2, so there was no need to unbox the charger.

One obvious omission is the Optical View Finder, to be honest whilst that is a nice idea, for the X-E3 its a logical removal – I do find on the X-Pro I’m using the EVF for most things – mainly due to the film mode being replicated in the electronic view finder.

Below are  a few samples from my first walk around Brum.   Nothing has been done to the images.  They are shot in Fuji Acros + Red Filter mode, transferred to my iPhone and then copied to my WordPress server.

Trams 1/250 – f/8 – ISO 400
Distracted 1/120 – f/2.8 – ISO 400
Cracks are appearing in Birmingham’s facade 1/2000 – f/2.8 – ISO 400

The following image was taken Thursday 22nd March and corrected a little on LR/Nik Efex (looks better large – click on the image to check).

Colmore Building  1/350 – ƒ/3.6 – ISO 400 – Acros + R mode.    Perspective corrected in Lightroom and contrast adjusted via Nik Efex

Overall I’m pleased with the little X Series, it’s the sort of thing that I should have tried years ago.