Fuji X Series

[Barks]

SMAL Presets (incl. 2021 Version) - SMAL & SOULMATE

Famous SMAL01. Now with a modern 2021 Version. The classic SMAL set has a film like vibe. It´ll give you faded blacks, contrast, flawless skintones and a creative touch without being unnatural. It is extremely versatile and can be everything!

soulmatepresets.com

Wait for Black Friday though.

Looks great although will it work with iPad LR as it says “NOTE: these are NOT mobile presets.”

 

[Raymond Lin]

Looks great although will it work with iPad LR as it says “NOTE: these are NOT mobile presets.”

I didn't spot that.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Found this in the local LCE. Boxed with 3k shutter count. Seems pretty much as-new. Almost bought the 23mm f/1.4 they had too but the wife would have served me divorce papers. Maybe next time. You‘ll see from my earlier posts I was considering this against an X-T4 but the smaller package and price swayed me.

Initial play with it suggests it’s a significant step up from the X-T200. The shutter clunk reminds me of my old EOS 1V. I’m really liking the look from the X Trans sensor vs the bayer. I find this intriguing because one of my main reasons for choosing the 200 over this in the first place was the look of the Bayer - I guess my tastes have changed. Over the next week or so I’m going to play with some of the film sim recipes. I haven’t been this excited about photography in a long time! I’ve always preferred the film look and now this allows me to get closer than ever.

Quick question, how much did you pick this up for?

I have a chance to get one now and not sure about if it's good since I can see you can pick up the kit with a lens for £999 now.

Oh, and how are you finding it?

 

[Scuzi]

Quick question, how much did you pick this up for?

I have a chance to get one now and not sure about if it's good since I can see you can pick up the kit with a lens for £999 now.

Oh, and how are you finding it?

£699 and indistinguishable from new.

Really loving the camera. I’ve been doing some video work with it which is not something I normally do but I’m really enjoying it. One of my favourite features is the huge grip on a relatively small camera. I shoot with primes so I can pretty much exclusively shoot single handedly even with a lump of a lens on there, whilst still having a fairly compact package overall. The internals are broadly equivalent to an X-T4 so the imaging characteristics are fantastic, more than what I’ll ever need.

I always preferred shooting film and this is the first camera that’s made me feel like I can sell all my film gear.

 

[Raymond Lin]

£699 and indistinguishable from new.

Really loving the camera. I’ve been doing some video work with it which is not something I normally do but I’m really enjoying it. One of my favourite features is the huge grip on a relatively small camera. I shoot with primes so I can pretty much exclusively shoot single handedly even with a lump of a lens on there, whilst still having a fairly compact package overall. The internals are broadly equivalent to an X-T4 so the imaging characteristics are fantastic, more than what I’ll ever need.

I always preferred shooting film and this is the first camera that’s made me feel like I can sell all my film gear.

Nice, I think I will get one this evening, £699 too, I think my X-T1 and X-Pro1 are getting rather long in the tooth and I want a body with IBIS and I do miss the old DSLR controls from Canon. It will be my everyday/city break travel camera. Rather than take my Sony gear.

Did you get a lens with yours?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Bought it, £699 with the 15-45 OIS kit lens, 5 star condition on LCE, should be very good condition.

Not concerned about the battery since it shares the same one as my XT1 and XPro1 so I have a few of those. Looking forward to testing it out in Croatia.

 

[LiE]

Bought it, £699 with the 15-45 OIS kit lens, 5 star condition on LCE, should be very good condition.

Not concerned about the battery since it shares the same one as my XT1 and XPro1 so I have a few of those. Looking forward to testing it out in Croatia.

What lens you thinking to pair with it ?

 

[Raymond Lin]

What lens you thinking to pair with it ?

I already have a 23/1.4, 35/1.4 and 56/1.2

I thought about getting an 18mm, so i get the 24mm but i rarely go that wide for personal stuff, so the 15-45 might just fill that void.

At this rate i am going to need another small pelican case for the Fuji system lol

 

[Scuzi]

Bought it, £699 with the 15-45 OIS kit lens, 5 star condition on LCE, should be very good condition.

Not concerned about the battery since it shares the same one as my XT1 and XPro1 so I have a few of those. Looking forward to testing it out in Croatia.

Congrats! That’s a good deal. The 15-45 is a decent lens too. I pretty much only use 2 lenses on the camera. A Fuji 23mm f/1.4 and a ttArtisans 27mm f/2.8. It’s used for travel and family photography with the occasional bit of video for my sons YouTube channel. I recently did a trip to Amsterdam and Brussels with only the 27mm, albeit on my old X-T200. I did crave a wider lens while shooting sometimes but was pleasantly surprised with the shots afterwards as the tighter composition made for more interesting pics. X-S10 and a 23 or 27mm lens is the ideal travel setup IMO

 

[Raymond Lin]

Congrats! That’s a good deal. The 15-45 is a decent lens too. I pretty much only use 2 lenses on the camera. A Fuji 23mm f/1.4 and a ttArtisans 27mm f/2.8. It’s used for travel and family photography with the occasional bit of video for my sons YouTube channel. I recently did a trip to Amsterdam and Brussels with only the 27mm, albeit on my old X-T200. I did crave a wider lens while shooting sometimes but was pleasantly surprised with the shots afterwards as the tighter composition made for more interesting pics. X-S10 and a 23 or 27mm lens is the ideal travel setup IMO

I also bought a 256G SD card, these are so cheap now, £35....I have receipts when I paid like £100 for 128G CF cards from years back.

The 35/1.4 pretty much lives on the XT1, but I think I will go to my favourite 35mm eqv focal length and put the 23/1.4 on when i go on trips. I can take the 35/1.4 too, so small it fits in my jeans pocket!

 

[DRZ]

I had pretty much forgotten that OcUK had a photography forum!

After about two decades of running Canon I decided to try something different for a second system. After a brief flirtation with a Sony A7ii a few years ago, I bought an X-T2. I liked almost everything about it but eventually wasn't quite convinced enough to keep it. A couple of years back I ended up selling off all my Canon stuff including irreplaceable lenses like my 400mm f/2.8 and settled on an X-T4 as the replacement. I've currently got the kit zoom, 35mm f/2 and 56mm f/1.2 lenses and other than on the odd occasion where I find myself missing shooting wildlife stuff, I'm really happy with such a minimal setup...

So happy in fact that I recent picked up a Fujifilm GFX 50S II, 35-70mm, 45mm f/2.8 and the 100-200mm f/5.6. I am completely blown away by how good this camera is. Easily the best image quality of any camera I have ever picked up and shot with by some considerable margin.

Spoiler: Links to some GFX images

https://img.v8power.uk/DSCF3265.jpg

https://img.v8power.uk/DSCF3640.jpg

 

[Raymond Lin]

I had pretty much forgotten that OcUK had a photography forum!

After about two decades of running Canon I decided to try something different for a second system. After a brief flirtation with a Sony A7ii a few years ago, I bought an X-T2. I liked almost everything about it but eventually wasn't quite convinced enough to keep it. A couple of years back I ended up selling off all my Canon stuff including irreplaceable lenses like my 400mm f/2.8 and settled on an X-T4 as the replacement. I've currently got the kit zoom, 35mm f/2 and 56mm f/1.2 lenses and other than on the odd occasion where I find myself missing shooting wildlife stuff, I'm really happy with such a minimal setup...

So happy in fact that I recent picked up a Fujifilm GFX 50S II, 35-70mm, 45mm f/2.8 and the 100-200mm f/5.6. I am completely blown away by how good this camera is. Easily the best image quality of any camera I have ever picked up and shot with by some considerable margin.

Spoiler: Links to some GFX images

https://img.v8power.uk/DSCF3265.jpg

https://img.v8power.uk/DSCF3640.jpg

Funnily enough when i was looking whether I should get one of the older 50R bodies, which is now in the £2k range, I looked into lenses too. Tempted to give it a go but when i checked the equv Aperture to 35mm and it's DoF, it's not as good value for money in terms of how much a lens cost vs how thin the DoF i can get.

Which is why i went for the X-S10 in the end. The new GFX 100mk2 looks amazing though, it seems they are trying for every market from photography to videography, even has a desqueeze feature built in like in the Panasonic without an external monitor.

 

[DRZ]

Funnily enough when i was looking whether I should get one of the older 50R bodies, which is now in the £2k range, I looked into lenses too. Tempted to give it a go but when i checked the equv Aperture to 35mm and it's DoF, it's not as good value for money in terms of how much a lens cost vs how thin the DoF i can get.

Which is why i went for the X-S10 in the end. The new GFX 100mk2 looks amazing though, it seems they are trying for every market from photography to videography, even has a desqueeze feature built in like in the Panasonic without an external monitor.

f/2.8 on medium format is extremely nice, the feel of the images are just incredible. There's more to a great photo than depth of field - there is absolutely no way at all I would have got the two shots I linked to with my X-T4 in terms of detail, feel, anything. Not even close.

 

[Raymond Lin]

f/2.8 on medium format is extremely nice, the feel of the images are just incredible. There's more to a great photo than depth of field - there is absolutely no way at all I would have got the two shots I linked to with my X-T4 in terms of detail, feel, anything. Not even close.

Basically I was looking at this.

Fujifilm GFX Crop Factor and GF Lens 35mm Full Frame Equivalent Focal Lengths

The Fujifilm GFX mirrorless medium format system has gone from strength to strength in recent years. What was once a limited lens selection has now been

shuttermuse.com

F/2.8 on the GFX equates to F/2.2 on 35mm.

So the 45/2.8 equates to 35/2.2.

I know there is more to a photo than DoF, but the same applies to there is more to a photo than mega pixels. I am not saying more mp is bad, I just lean on the side of DoF (Bokeh), over mega pixels....or detail as you call it.

Sony also makes the A7R5, which has 61mp, and with the 35GM 1.4, the photo on that would have better bokeh and more detail. Which is what is stopping me getting a GFX. I also have an A7R3, which is 42mp.

And I think on the X-mount, the 23/1.4 will give me marginally better DoF too as 23/1.4 becomes 35/2.1

So essentially, I need to justify spending like £4k on a new body and lens and I wonder...in my shoes, with both the Sony and Fuji set up that i have, I don't think it was worth it for me. That's my math anyway.

(I am using 35mm as a benchmark as that is my favourite focal length)

 

[DRZ]

There is more to detail than sensor resolution! 61mp on a 35mm sensor is going to be inferior to 50mp on a MF sensor in some ways - pixel density isn't always a good thing. Regardless, the detail I am talking about has absolutely nothing to do with sensor resolution - if it did I would have bought the 100S II instead of the 50S II. On a similar note, nobody would buy the legendary Canon 400mm f/2.8 which completely blows the 100-400@400 out of the water for detail at any comparable f-stop (eg f/5.6 or f/8) on any sensor if detail wasn't a thing.

I promise you that 23mm at f1.4 on an X-T4 is nowhere close to the IQ of the GFX with 45mm f/2.8. Not even in the same postcode. Even if you leave ultimate IQ out of it and just go on "feel" then still the GFX has bucketloads more of it.

The ONLY reason I keep my X-T4 around is size. The GFX cameras are absolutely enormous and all of the lenses make every X lens look and feel like pathetic toys - which isn't always a good thing if you're walking around a city all day.

 

[Raymond Lin]

There is more to detail than sensor resolution! 61mp on a 35mm sensor is going to be inferior to 50mp on a MF sensor in some ways - pixel density isn't always a good thing. Regardless, the detail I am talking about has absolutely nothing to do with sensor resolution - if it did I would have bought the 100S II instead of the 50S II. On a similar note, nobody would buy the legendary Canon 400mm f/2.8 which completely blows the 100-400@400 out of the water for detail at any comparable f-stop (eg f/5.6 or f/8) on any sensor if detail wasn't a thing.

I promise you that 23mm at f1.4 on an X-T4 is nowhere close to the IQ of the GFX with 45mm f/2.8. Not even in the same postcode. Even if you leave ultimate IQ out of it and just go on "feel" then still the GFX has bucketloads more of it.

The ONLY reason I keep my X-T4 around is size. The GFX cameras are absolutely enormous and all of the lenses make every X lens look and feel like pathetic toys - which isn't always a good thing if you're walking around a city all day.

I am aware of what you are saying with regard to the Medium Format feel, but from my perspective, with 2 systems in hand, I just don't think that feel is worth the money, for me.

And as I have stated originally, I lean more on bokeh rather than detail, or IQ now as you call it. The math doesn't work for me in terms of what the DoF get on medium format for the money from their lens offerings, using 35mm as the benchmark. I hope you can understand where i am coming from.

No. 1 criteria, It HAS to beat the DoF for 35mm with 1.4 aperature. It has to, for me (i know not for you, but for me, it has to....I repeat, it MUST DO). This is a deal breaker. The math doesn't work out on this so that was what stopped me looking into it more when i was researching.

Then everything else like detail, and then colour, other lenses offering, Autofocus etc.

Feel...and IQ is probably like 5th-7th on the list of priorities?

 

[LiE]

I keep toying with the idea of getting another Fuji instead of spending money on a new phone. They [camera bodies] are just so expensive right now and since I've used the 35mm 1.4 I feel like I'd want that again or the 23 1.4. That size lens feels like it needs a decent sized body.

 

[DRZ]

I hope you can understand where i am coming from.

No. 1 criteria, It HAS to beat the DoF for 35mm with 1.4 aperature.

I have to say, I really don't. The way you're talking, I could create a 35mm f/0.95 and run sandpaper over the front element as part of the finishing process and you'd choose it over any other lens because OMG THE DOF. Do you only ever shoot wide open?

Another example that's a bit more real world is the Canon 85mm f/1.2 vs the Sigma 85mm f/1.4. The Sigma is in every way the better lens except for that f/0.2 difference - you'd have to be beyond obsessed with ultra ultra minimal DoF differences to throw away every other benefit and spend quite significantly more money on an inferior lens just because of that aperture.

I guess you've got your priorities and I have mine and we might as well leave it there

 

[Raymond Lin]

I have to say, I really don't. The way you're talking, I could create a 35mm f/0.95 and run sandpaper over the front element as part of the finishing process and you'd choose it over any other lens because OMG THE DOF. Do you only ever shoot wide open?

Another example that's a bit more real world is the Canon 85mm f/1.2 vs the Sigma 85mm f/1.4. The Sigma is in every way the better lens except for that f/0.2 difference - you'd have to be beyond obsessed with ultra ultra minimal DoF differences to throw away every other benefit and spend quite significantly more money on an inferior lens just because of that aperture.

I guess you've got your priorities and I have mine and we might as well leave it there

Actually, I did pick the Canon 85/1.2 over the Sigma and even though now I have the Sony 85/1.4 GM, and by all metric bar the 1.2…I prefer the look from the Canon. You mention feel, and there is something about that 85L that feels right.

Aperture is the main priority for me, it really is, not just about the look, it’s simply more light coming in. 1.4 is 1.4 from a light gathering point of view, the T-Stop will no doubt be higher but a F/1.4 won’t have a T-Stop of 2.8.

No system is perfect, and we have our priorities, wide aperture is the top of mine. Having a wide aperture also give you more control and flexibility, I might not shoot wide open all the time (I do a heck of a lot…probably 90% of the time), but having that flexibility to is important.

I learn this like the hard way a while ago when I shot film, and then reminded why again when I first got the Fuji x-Mount because I went and bought the 24 and 35 f/2.0 lenses, thinking….these will be fine, they are small…but the inability to go wider to under 2.0 really bugged me, I traded both for the 1.4 lenses within a month.

I know what I like and what my priorities are when come to buying lenses, and the GFX don’t have what I want, unfortunately. All but 2 of the lenses they make would be what I would get, but the equivalent 35mm one isn’t one of them.

It is one of the reason I switched from Canon DSLR to Sony, Canon still, after all these years on the R mount, don’t make a R mount 35/1.4.

When I say dealbreaker, I mean it. There is no exception for a 35/1.4 for me as it’s my favourite focal length.

 

[LiE]

@Raymond Lin you thought about the Viltrox 27mm 1.2 for max bokeh-ness?