Fujifilm X-T3 First Impressions

 

Fujifilm X-T3, Sigma CONTEMPORARY 30mm f1.4 DC DN

Sigma really needs to shorten their lens names ;-) The name is longer than the lens, which is rather compact for an f1.4 lens even in APS-C. 

Yes, it's a little ironic that in acquiring a Fuji system to get access to a much broader selection of APS-C lenses than Z mount offers, I start with a lens that is available in Z mount, the 30mm f1.4 is one of 4 Sigma lenses available in Z mount (the 16/1.4, 56/1.4 and the new 16-300 are the other ones), but there's an additional 6 such lenses from Sigma in their Fuji lineup, including the 100-400 Contemporary that I had in Sony mount last year and liked aside from the apparently Sony-specific OIS issues. 

Likewise, Tamron just announced a new 16-50/2.8 in all 4 modern APS-C mounts, but their 11-18/2.8 that I am far more interested in is not offered in Z mount, in fact it's the sole lens on Tamron's Fuji lineup that isn't offered in Z mount (Tamron offers a total of 14 lenses for Z mount, including 3 APS-C lenses, and 5 in Fuji mount, but the fifth Fuji offering is the 150-500 which is a full frame lens also available in Z mount). Tamron does not offer a particularly broad set of APS-C lenses in general.

I've had the X-T3 now for a day, and had it out for one short outing and it's already shot 65% as many frames as the Z7 did this year. That's more a showing of just how little the Z7 has been used since I got the Z5ii, and it didn't really pick up at all when I got the Zfc or replaced the Z5ii with the D7500. 

Now as to the X-T3 itself, it's pretty much exactly what I expected, an improved X-T2. AF is definitely better than the X-T2, I was expecting it to be slightly worse than the EXPEED6 bodies, but I'd rate it as a bit better, but a little finicky. Mostly that's just that it's different and I need to get used to how to control it, just like some of the other UI differences between the two bodies. 

Ergonomics are generally better than the Zfc, notably the little thumbrest on the X-T3 that the Zfc lacks, but also the grip extension on the front, I had to get a 3rd party grip for that on the Nikon and it's good but not great. That grip addition actually makes the Zfc and X-T3 just about the same size and weight, which doesn't hold up well. The X-T3 also gives me better port covers, a much better EVF, proper sealing and more robust build, and the threaded cable release/soft release that the Zfc inexplicably lacks. Both suffer from Chiclet buttons, but the X-T3 has a joystick for AF points which is a win. The X-T3 also has more controls available to customize. Finally, the X-T3 offers both a wired remote port and a headphone port to the mic, USB-C and Micro HDMI ports on both bodies. The flip-twist screen on the Zfc is better for my video setup, but inferior for still use where I continue to prefer the dual-tilt setup on the X-T3. The X-T3 was instantly comfortable in my hands, much like the D7500, and that is a good place to start. The only real annoyance is that Nikon's Delete/Play buttons on the EXPEED6 and older bodies are the same spot as on the Fuji X-T bodies, but in reverse order. I have to check regularly that I'm hitting the right ones. Expeed7 moves the play button to the other button cluster so it's not the same disruption. But my Z7, Zfc and D7500 all have this issue compared to the X-T3, same as my D750 had with the X-T2 when I had that pairing. Neither is right, but it's way to easy to hit delete by mistake when swapping between Fuji and all but the newest Nikons. 

Frankly, I would have bought an X-T3 in preference to the Zfc back in April if one had been available, and now I have done so and unsurprisingly I prefer it overall. 

In hindsight, I wish I'd waited for an X-T3 to show up rather than jumping on the Zfc, although I have enjoyed the Zfc experience, it's a lot better than its reputation, but the DX lens gripes are very real. Unless the specific set of DX +FX lenses work for you, look elsewhere than Nikon for an APS-C system. The real question I think is do I trade the Zfc for a b-cam in Fuji mount or for glass. 

Chasing the Dragon

Nikon Z7, Z 40mm f2

 Yeah, I'm bad for chasing the dragon. Legendarily bad in fact as I've been doing a constant round robin between Nikon, Sony, m43 and Fuji for over 15 years now since I got my G1 back in January 2009.

What is Chasing the Dragon though? It's when following 'the grass is greener on the other side' to the logical extreme. At one point I made 3 total system switches in a 1 year period. That's crazypants, but it's also a legacy of my unwillingness to accept that I both have bad Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) and the perfect camera for me doesn't yet exist, nor does the perfect lens lineup.

Over the last few years I've been actively trying to stop and settle on one system. I almost achieved it with Canon, as I stuck with that system for 18 months (a recent record) and honestly only switched back to Nikon because I was unhappy with the adaptation experience for manual lenses on Canon, I was otherwise pretty happy with Canon (the bracketing UI aside). 

The other problem is that I just don't deal well with having 2 systems. Or more correctly, I want to have 1 system/2 bodies in the field ideally when I'm shooting landscape/nature. Ideally with shared batteries (I rarely swap cards in practice so while I used to select for that, it's no longer a requirement so long as I have enough 128GB cards so every body has its own card(s). )

The problem is that right now my sole body is a high mileage body I bought cheap specifically as a body to use with my old manual lenses. I like the body, but it doesn't meet my video needs without me buying several additional accessories to rig it out (external display for starters) and I'm always cognizant that a camera with 316k shots on it may die on me. Plus I'd like some more performance for bugging/wildlife/aviation. 

So what are my options?

I've really settled on 4 possibilities, and I'm about ready to narrow that to three. The plan really is to have 2 options when I'm ready to go to the local pusher. 

The first is to do the obvious, stick with the Z7 and just buy a bunch of interesting glass. The downside here is just the usual Nikon issue, the lenses are big & heavy unless I buy some of the few DX lenses, and those are very consumer. But I do have the option to get a bunch of lenses I'd always wanted. I also have the concern that my Z7 will die at a point where I can't just buy another body, but the flip side of that is that most of my lenses will work on DSLR's and a D610 or D800 is stupid cheap, so it's unlikely I'd be out a body more than briefly even if it died at an inopportune time. 

The second is to go Fuji. Keep the Z7 and use it primarily with my collection of manual focus FF lenses, even slowly adding to that collection, but the main system becomes Fuji. The biggest advantage here is that Fuji does have both compact offerings and all but 2 of their lenses are under $3k CAD, with the majority being under $1300 or so. Plus there's a wide variety of small lenses in the system, which is very nice. Biggest downsides here are processing X-Trans files (which I still don't love, but I can readily get good results from) and the pretty mixed selection of lenses in terms of rendering styles and resolution. The bodies available cover all my use needs, the X-Hx for fast PASM with good long-lens handling, the X-T series for retro/everyday use and the X-M5 as a small EDC/Webcam body.  Fuji also gives access to the ridiculous number of cheap & interesting APS-C manual primes (and AF primes too),

The third is to add the Zf and a couple zooms, which is in many ways the Nikon body I always wanted. But here the big issue comes down to the Nikon lenses not being well optimized for that body. Specifically the lack of aperture rings, as well as control dials on the handful of smaller lenses in the system. 3rd Party lenses do make up somewhat for that (both size & handling) but the best lineup of 3rd party lenses for the Zf isn't available in Z mount, so you need a MegaDAP adapter to use them (that's the Sigma 'i' series primes). Plus the Zf simply doesn't have as well sorted a UI as the X-T5. The other issue here is the Zf is best suited to the use I bought the Z7 for, old manual lenses, and I kinda want to keep the Z7 focused on those uses. There's a half-step option here of getting the Z50II instead of the Zf, and focusing on APS-C for most uses. The Z7 is a solid APS-C body to cover the Z50II's weak spots (and vice versa for the most part). This would be better if I could expect a higher-end APS-C body from Nikon. 

The fourth option is basically option 2, but Panasonic L mount. With the new S1RII arriving tomorrow with very aggressive pricing this looks even better than the third option for full frame for long term usage, with a wide variety of interesting glass existing in L mount, but we're still talking a large system, even if it's smaller than the All-Nikon Z setup. Could go S9 for a tiny body here, or S5II for all singing/all dancing with the view of adding the S1RII in the future as a resolution body to address the Z7's eventual demise. Lots of reasonably priced glass in the system, and some compact & excellent zooms as well. 

Now the reality is that I don't need better IQ than crop can deliver, and Fuji offers me a more compact option than Panasonic. Nikon just doesn't offer a compact/high performance option (only the Z50II which lacks IBIS and a good EVF, both items I'm sensitive to). 

What I really wish I could do is spend a week with an S5II, 20-60, 35/1.8 and Sigma 100-400, and a Week with the X-T5, 16-50 f2.8-4, 23/2 and Sigma 100-400 and see which I get along with better.

Regardless of what path I choose, I will continue to use the Z7 and add interesting primes to my system. I'll probably add 2-3 zooms as well eventually, likely F mount lenses I get for good prices.  

Walking with the X-T1

X-T1, 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO

I've been quite thoroughly enjoying the combo of the X-T1 and the 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO lens. The lens is tiny, surprisingly good and so simple that it takes a lot of complexity out of shooting. You can't focus, anything past 1m is in focus. Aperture is fixed at f6.3, which is great for walking around. No close focusing, kinda sucky corners and really weird flaring are the downsides, but the plus side is a nice rendering, good colour and a really useful focal length. 

The X-T1is a little unique in my bag, it's a very good camera with two issues. The first is my copy has the common issue with the control dials, they pretty much don't work. That has less impact than you might think, the only real uses of the control dials on the X-T1 are setting aperture on XC lenses and changing settings in the Q menu. The second issue is it's just got a lot of rough edges, from being a very early X series body and the first SLR-style body Fuji did. So the controls aren't as well laid out as the X-T2 and there's a number of UI and system oddities that would slowly go away as the X series evolved, most notably the somewhat limited focus peaking implementation. 

Because of the former limited the X-T1 is best suited to working with lenses that have an aperture ring or are fixed aperture. The latter makes the use of manual focus somewhat more challenging than on the X-T2. So combining the X-T1 with a fixed focus and fixed aperture lens is pretty idea. 18mm works better for me than other options because it's a nice moderate wide (28mm-e), a 10mm like the Pergear f8 could be fun but is too wide for everyday use while a 35mm like the 7Artisans f5.6 needs to be focused because of DoF limitations and is too tight to hipshoot with unless you're an absolute god of the hipshot. 

As such, I mostly just leave the camera in a variant of B&W+R with boosted contrast, although occasionally I will change up and shoot either Velvia when I have a really colourful scene or Classic Chrome when I just want colour. Classic Chrome I find really pairs well with these Chinese lenses and their somewhat muted colour due to limited coating.

So the X-T1 is now a point & shoot for me, ideally suited for walkabout. 

I do have to admit that an X-Pro1 would be an even better choice with the 18mm UFO if I can get 18mm framelines active in the OVF. I've been keeping my eye out for a cheap X-Pro1 anyways and I think the 18 would be the perfect combination with the X-Pro1 as it pretty much eliminates all of the X-Pro1's real weaknesses, namely lousy AF and lousy MF assists. 

X-T1 Hits a Milestone

 

X-T1, 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO

I missed it a couple weeks ago, but my X-T1 has hit a rather rare milestone. The X-T1 is now one of the few digital bodies I've owned for more than one year. I bought it at the beginning of March 2020 and have now owned it for 13 months.

That really shouldn't be a big deal, but I can count on one hand the number of digital bodies that have achieved that and only one of them (my last D300) was at all recent. 

I've long known I need to settle down the gear churn and quit chasing the dragon, and I think I might actually be getting there finally with the two X-T bodies and the Z5. The Z5 covers my needs & desires for shooting landscape & nature, especially when hiking, as well as for a platform for adapting classic 35mm lenses while the two Fuji's cover my needs for a good handling almost-P&S in the X-T1 with the 18/6.3 UFO, and a general purpose body that does everything reasonably well without being too large or heavy in the X-T2.

The X-T1 for me is somewhat limited in its utility as my copy has issues with its control dials and the focus peaking implementation is somewhat weak. But it's great paired with the 18/6.3 UFO where focus peaking is irrelevant as the lens is fixed focus, and I just leave it in B&W mode with a red filter applied and boosted contrast and get great stuff. It does alright with other manual focus lenses mounted but my only current Fuji AF lens is an issue because the XC35 doesn't have an aperture ring and that means it relies on the wonky rear control dial for setting aperture. So I pretty much just leave the 18/6.3 UFO mounted and use it as a light walk around body as it's still noticeably lighter than the X-T2.

What About Fuji?

Fuji X-T1, 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO

That's some really funky flare shooting into the sun with this surprising little lens. It works for this image, which would otherwise need a sunstar to be at all interesting.

Now that I've got the Z5 and really settled what will be my primary landscape kit for the foreseeable future, as well as a platform for adapting my old film lenses, what does that mean for my Fuji kit?

Well, I considered 3 options.

1. Sell the X-T2 and XC35, buy a Z50. 

2. Keep shooting the Fuji stuff on the side, but don't buy any more X mount glass

3. Keep shooting the Fuji stuff, continue to invest in primes for X mount and leave the zooms to Z mount.

The first option would have got em settled on a single mount. I'd have kept the X-T1 simply because there's so little value in selling an X-T1 with bad control wheels, and same goes for my 3 manual focus X mount lenses, only the 12/2.8 has any sale value and that's fairly minimal. The downside is the EVF on the Z50 isn't as good as either Fuji, most of the neat manual lenses aren't in Z mount and the Z50 doesn't share batteries with the Z5, leaving me to buy more batteries in yet another form factor. Only the manual lens availability could really be mitigated, as I could buy E mount versions and use my Haoge E to Z adapter. 

The second option really was never happening, regardless of what I planned. No way I'm not going to buy some neat lens for the Fuji's if I had them.

The third is basically going back to where I was last July/August before I sold the D750, except with a body that's neither timed out (the D750 I had was beyond its rated shutter life) nor a large DSLR. I'd continue to shoot with both Fuji's, especially for cityscape & street work as well as some nature work and I'd continue to acquire neat APS-C lenses for them, be it AF lenses like the XF line, or manual focus lenses. 

I've been trying to make a decision on this, and my head prefers options 1 or 2. I took the X-T1 out on a walk today, shooting primarily with the utterly tiny 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO lens, and was reminded about what I could do with that kit that I can't with the Z5, which is wander around with a camera in my hand shooting without any cares, as the X-T1+UFO combo is so ridiculously light while still offering full controls and a pretty darn good EVF.

Needless to say, I'm going with option 3. I won't go whole-hog on expanding my Fuji setup, but the reality is I only ever sold off two zooms and I'd only got them for landscape/nature shooting in the first place. The Z5 will do that better (and I won't have to struggle to get the blues I want). I'll just continue to shoot my Fuji stuff with neat primes, and the Z5 with classic lenses and zooms.

 

X-T2 as a Manual Focus Body

 

Fujifilm X-T2, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI, Acros+R Film Simulation

The image above is straight out of the camera, Acros film simulation with simulated Red 25 Filter and H+1, S-1 and Sharpness +2 for a bit of extra punch. Cropped down to 1:1 and slightly less than full width.

This is part of why I still love the Fuji's, especially for B&W and cityscape work. The film simulations just give a great starting point to get a great image. I took the X-T2 out with a bag full of primes, native & adapted, and just had some fun shooting in the city. 

I've largely settled on how I'm going to approach my kit for now. The Fuji's will stay and will be paired with manual focus lenses and mostly be used in the city. The Oly will be primarily zoom-based and backpacking/rough weather kit. The 12-40 replaces the XC 16-50 and a 40-150 Pro will replace the departed 55-200. I'll still need a UWA for the Oly, likely a Laowa 7.5mm f2 as I'm just not sure I want to spend on a 7-14 Pro with its lack of filter compatibility and likelihood to just get used at 7.5mm. Maybe I'll look at a zoom when Oly releases their new f4 option (they have 2-3 f4 zooms known to be coming, all of which are interesting to me)

So the X-T2 will mostly get used with the inexpensive Chinese manual focus lenses I've been buying. I really do find manual, mechanical lenses more fun to use than zooms on the Fuji bodies. I've ever liked focus by wire that much and the more I rely on just the physical controls, the more I like the Fuji's. The only physical control I never really liked is the M/S/C AF switch on the front, and shooting MF glass makes it irrelevant. I suspect I will continue to add inexpensive MF lenses to my Fuji kit, but right now I don't really see adding any AF lenses, although that could change, Fuji's primes are excellent and I could totally live with an all-prime Fuji kit if the Olympus kit handles my zoom needs. That also saves me from looking for a second Olympus body, as I'm quite conflicted as to what would be interesting there. No smaller body has battery compatibility with the E-M1.2. 

All of this will let me use the two kits at what I like best about them. Oly colours for landscapes, Oly tech for landscape & long exposure work, Oly sealing for rough conditions. Fuji Film Simulations for B&W and night work, classic Fuji handling & big beautiful finders for manual focus lenses and taking advantage of the fact that most manual focus crop lenses are designed for APS-C use (Laowa's MFT lenses being some of the rare exceptions). 

This also lets me continue to focus on the inexpensive lenses that I so enjoy, without giving up performance by settling on 3 higher-end lenses for my landscape work, where I need the absolute quality.

This won't stop me from shooting landscape on my Fuji's, especially while my only UWA option is on that system (I sold my Nikkor 20mm and my Laowa 15mm Macro is already spoken for, eliminating my UWA FF options, outside of my 7Artisans 12mm on Fuji, all my other systems are limited to 24mm-e at the widest for now). I ill just prioritize using the Oly when I have to go somewhere I don't want to carry 4+ primes to.

The New Lens Experience

 

 

Fuji X-T2, 7Artisans 12mm f2.8

One of the more surprising experiences I've had while dipping my toes into cheap Chinese lenses is just how great the New Lens Experience can be with some of them.

Fuji already had a pretty nice unboxing experience with the XF lenses. Nice boxes, if standard cardboard packaging and they all come with a combo lens pouch/lens cloth.

My Laowa 15mm f4 came with bog-standard packaging. Real nice build to the lens, but a standard new lens experience. The Neewer 25mm f1.8 was different, coming in a nice faux leather pouch in what is seriously the most flimsy cardpaper box out there, so thin it didn't even qualify as cardboard.

My two 7Artisans lenses on the other hand have been a VERY different experience.

 The 12mm f2.8 came in a very high quality cardboard presentation box, filled with high quality open-cell foam inserts (like a Pelican case). It included a very nice microfibre lens pouch and a Pergear lens cloth. Very nice for a lens that cost me $230CDN or so, and frankly better than the Fuji's (and significantly nicer than Nikon/Sony/Canon, even on expensive lenses)

I picked up the 7Artisans 18/6.3 UFO body cap/fixed focus lens this weekend. This is a cheap fixed focus lens ($69USD) and still came in a surprisingly nice presentation (the lens is also surprisingly a 7-element design, vs the usual 2-3 element design for most fixed focus applications). The overall package was just bubblewrap, but pull the contents out and there's a Pergear lens cloth and a plastic case with the lens in a nice microfibre lens pouch. And the plastic container doubles as a carry case for the lens in its pouch.

The level of presentation from these 7Artisans lenses gives a real anticipation for opening the box when it arrives. I'm given to understand their 'Wen' M mount lenses are even better, coming in proper leather presentation boxes.

It's little things like this which make buying some of these cheap lenses so much fun, and which really shows how the big brands cut corners and it affects the new lens experience.

The biggest part of this? If my $69 lens can come with a proper rear lens cap, why does a $300 XC lens from Fuji come with a crap push-on rear cap? Nikon & Sony are equally guilty of the cheap accessories in cheap lenses (something that makes no sense, stocking a second SKU has to cost them more than the penny or so they save, especially since they still have to cut a mold for them)

2021 is Finally Here

 

Fuji X-T2, AF Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6 D

It's been a while, the last quarter of 2020 was extremely busy for me in terms of work and my commitments as a member of the Board of Directors for MAAC. That meant that I did very little photography in the last 3 months of the year, less than the already low level I expected to do.

Now 2021 is here, and we're locked down. That means minimal photography for me this winter, as I expect we'll continue to be locked down through February and maybe even March. That said, I should get out some as I really need to get outside more. I've been cooped up too long and it's getting to me.

I'll post a summary for 2020 soon, but I met pretty much all of my goals, except I was unable to maintain my pace of posting on Instagram and Flickr in the last quarter of the year.

On the gear front, I have one major purchase I'm looking at, a Fuji 10-24/4 OIS. Aside from that, my gear focus is going to be on a Smallrig L-Bracket with grip as an upgrade for my X-T2 (my current bracket is OK, but I miss the extended grip I have on my X-T1) and I plan to continue investing in inexpensive manual focus lenses for X mount. The next on my list is the new TTArtisan 50mm f1.2, which was recently introduced for $99USD and seems to be pretty decent. I still want to expand my collection of 7Artisan lenses as well, but that will wait a little, the TTArtisan 50 is just so cheap I can't resist it.

Beyond that, once things start opening up I need to get out and hike. A lot. Actually doing photography is something I want to focus on more than gear this year. I'm largely happy with my current setup in terms of bodies and my lenses meet my needs aside from a lack of flexibility in my UWA setup. I do love the 7Artisans 12mm, but it's a lot less flexible than a zoom would be.

 

Fuji on the Cheap - Lens #4 7Artisans 12mm f2.8

 

Fujifilm X-T2, 7Artisans 12mm f2.8

The 4th lens in your basic 5 prime set is your Ultra-Wide Angle lens. We've covered the wide/normal (25mm f1.8), the normal (35mm f2) and one good option for the mild telephoto (the 55/3.5 Macro).

Rounding out the kit on the wide end for now is the moderate Ultra-wide. This is going to be in the 18-21mm range in terms of 35mm equivalent, so 12-14mm. Keeping the focus on cheap options, below $200 USD, there's really only a couple options in this area, specifically the Meike and 7Artisans 12mm f2.8's. These are different designs, not the same lens rebadged (as is so common for these Chinese lenses) and 7Artisans has the better overall reputation for quality, although their offering is a little more expensive (about $10USD more). 

I've selected the 7Artisans and have been shooting it for about 6 weeks now. I was extremely impressed with it from the initial presentation through the handling and image quality. 

The 7Artisans lens arrives in a very nice presentation box, frankly a much nicer one than many far more expensive lenses. it's nestled in quality foam (no styrofoam or cardboard like Zeiss or Sony/Nikon/Canon respectively) and includes a good rear cap, a push-on front cap, a microfibre pouch, a microfibre lens cleaning cloth and a stick-on focusing tab. 

The build quality of the lens is excellent. It's all metal, smooth focusing, no wobble/wiggle anywhere. My stick-on focusing tab did unstick after 6 weeks, but that's just going to happen with anything stick-on. It was a nice add and I'm looking at more permanent attachment options for it. 

Optically, it's quite good. Don't expect something that will embarrass the XF 14/2.8 or Touit 12/2.8, but it's sharp everywhere except the extreme corners, has nice colour and a nice overall rendering. The flare control is very 70's, with some loss of contrast and mild to moderate ghosting. Nice sunstars, but expect to deal with ghosts if you include the sun in the frame. 

I do recommend this lens quite highly. It's a much better experience in terms of handling and quality than the 25, which was merely nice for the price. The 7Artisans lens could easily command twice the price or more if 7Artisans got access to better coating technology. As it is, I think it's still worth $300USD or so, which is pretty good for a $180 lens. 

More images from the 12/2.8 can be found here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mawz/tags/12mmf28/

 

7Artisans 12mm f2.8 FX - Initial Impressions

Fujifilm X-T2, 7Artisans 12mm f2.8

My 7Artisans 12mm f2.8 arrived yesterday, after a surprisingly long wait for an Amazon Prime order (ordered last Friday, man I've become spoiled by next day shipping). This will be my go-to UWA on my Fuji bodies for the foreseeable future.

Initial impressions are very good. My expectations in terms of presentation were for something akin to my Neewer 25mm f1.8, ie a lens in a decent little leather pouch, in a simple cardboard box. The Neewer is a re-branded 7Artisans lens and led me to that conclusion.

What I got was much different. A slick black box with 7Artisans LENS filigreed on it, opened it up to find a lens cloth (nice, but in the listing so no extra points), a slick microfibre lens pouch and a little plastic pouch containing a stick-on focusing tab, plus the lens paperwork (Warranty card and a little manual with some useful bits and some Warm Ticks). Lifting those out finds a removable closed-cell foam insert, which can be removed to find the lens securely cradled in a second closed-cell foam insert, contained in a small plastic bag. Really impressive packaging, better than my Laowa 15mm for sure, and for a lens which sells for 1/3 the price. Frankly, most camera makers do not package their lenses this well, even at far higher costs (my Zeiss 85mm f1.4 came in good old styrofoam)

Taking the lens out of the package, I continued to be impressed. Again, I was basing my expectations on the Neewer/7Artisans 25mm f1.8, which has an OK build, completely uncalibrated focusing and a very grindy focus feel when new (the helical needed to be broken in, it's quite nice now). The 12mm on the other hand has excellent build, just about on par with the Laowa 15mm. Infinity focus appears to be dead-on (and I mean exactly on) and the focusing is buttery smooth, with just the right amount of damping to make the focusing tab a useful add-on. The lens cap is a metal push-on cap that fits over the integrated hood. It's not that wide to not include a filter ring, but 7Artisans sells a 77mm filter adapter as a $25CDN addition, I'll be ordering that eventually and I like that it's optional as this is a surprisingly compact lens without it, barely larger than the XC35/2. The aperture ring is clickless and ranges from f2.8-f16, a little surprising that it doesn't make it to f22 or smaller for those deep-DoF shots. Not an issue for me, I'll pretty much leave it at f5.6 or f8 for the most part.

A couple quick test shots showed that the sharpness is good in the centre at least. Close focus is 20cm, more than adequate for a lens like this, even if I'm spoiled by the Laowa 15mm and its 1:1 close focus. No flare/coating tests yet, and I expect that to be the biggest weak point of this lens, I have lenses from 4 different Chinese brands and 3 different factories (Laowa, 7Artisans/Neewer, Yongnuo) and all of them have lousy coatings, even the $500USD Laowa 15mm f4 Macro.

Overall the presentation and quality are far better than I'd expected for a $240CDN Ultra-wide angle lens. Well done 7Artisans.

Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI - Shooting Fuji on the Cheap Lens #3 Option 1

X-T1, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI

The third lens on the list is the mild telephoto. This is your everyday portrait, macro/flower and general use telephoto. I'll cover a few options here as this is one place where there are both many options and those options are somewhat specific to the sort of work you do.

This is a real classic of a lens and well known in the Nikon community for its excellent optical performance at all focus distances and low, low cost. It does 1:2 macro natively and 1:1 when paired with one of the various 27.5mm extension tubes like the PK-13.

They can be had on the used market for as little as $30USD, depending on version. Skip the non-AI preset version, it's collectible and thus wildly more expensive. The other versions are all pretty much the same in performance aside from the coating getting better with each variant.

Combined with a cheap eBay or Amazon sourced Nikon adapter the 55mm Micro-Nikkor makes an excellent do almost everything mild telephoto on APS-C. I've used this lens on Nikon bodies as an APS-C mild tele and a Full Frame normal with excellent results. The only real weakness is the f3.5 maximum aperture. If you want shallow depth of field or a lot of low light work, this isn't the lens for you.

The 55 has had a spot in my bag for the better part of 2 decades on APS-C and Full Frame and if you don't need the speed, it's hard to beat it as a macro & general purpose mild telephoto for the Fuji shooter.

Neewer/7Artisans 25mm f1.8 MC - Shooting Fuji on the Cheap Lens #2

X-T1, Neewer (7artisans) 25mm f1.8

The second lens I'd recommend buying is your mild wide, in the 17mm to 25mm range for APS-C (28-38mm equivalents). Like the fast(ish) normal this is generally a lens you can leave on the camera and shoot all day long, in fact the image above was taken on a photowalk where I only shot with this lens. 

The mild wide is also the alternate option for your first lens. If you prefer a wider angle, or are a street shooter, you may want to get a lens in this range even before a normal. Others may prefer to only have a lens in this range and not buy the normal (or vice versa). 

The 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 was my choice here. It's equivalent to a 38mm lens on Full Frame, which sounds like an odd focal length but was actually a very common one for fixed-lens film P&S's back in their day. It's just a touch longer than the classic 35mm focal length. 

I picked this lens semi-arbitrarily. I liked the cosmetic design better than the other common 25mm (from Meike and various rebrands) as I like SLR-style lenses more than RF style lenses in terms of looks. I bought the Neewer-branded version for price reasons, but they are just rebranding the 7Artisans lens. There's also an available 22mm f1.8 from Zonlai for those looking for something just a touch wider. Sadly I've yet to see a 17-18mm (28mm equivalent) yet from the various chinese makers. 

Out of the box my copy had a rough focus ring, which broke in fairly quickly and focuses well past infinity (infinity is at the 15' mark). These do not come with the focus calibrated. Thus I recommend buying from Amazon, and sending it back if it doesn't reach infinity focus (past infinity is fine for most uses, although it does limit close focus). As this lens is made in 4-5 different mounts, be sure to get the Fuji X mount version. 

I've found the optical performance to be surprisingly good for the very low cost. At well under $100USD, this may end up being the cheapest lens in the series, depending on which path I go down for a mild telephoto. Is it world class? Not at all. But it can get very sharp in the centre, acceptable at the edges and actually outperforms Fuji's other-wise excellent 23mmf 2 at minimum focus distance. 

Compared to adapting a rangefinder lens in this focal length, the 25/1.8 is cheaper and faster than anything even vaguely affordable (like the Cosina Voigtlander 25/4 Snapshot-Skopar)

Next up will be the mild telephoto options in the 55-60mm range. That will cover a few posts as there are a number of viable options there as that's where adapting really comes into its own. 

Fujinon XC 35mm f2 - Shooting Fuji on the Cheap Lens #1

X-E2, XC 35mm f2

On a budget and shooting Fuji? Start with this lens.

It's a fastish normal for $199, sharing the optics and AF drive of the very well regarded XF 35mm f2 WR 'Fujicron', but in an inexpensive plastic housing. It also shares the (not included) hood of the XF35/2. Hint: Never buy Fuji hoods, get cheap knockoffs from eBay or Amazon. The Fuji hoods are ridiculously priced for a single piece of plastic. 

Every compromise here is in the barrel. It's plastic with a plastic mount, it's not weather sealed, there's no aperture ring, the cosmetics are 'modern tube' rather than 'classic gem'. The focus ring is large and well damped, the optics are great and the AF is fast. Fuji cut corners in exactly the right places to produce an inexpensive lens that doesn't actual feel cheap when you're actually using it.

And it's literally half the price of its big brother ($199 vs $399)

While there are some neat 35mm options available from 3rd parties on the cheap, this is the way to start. It gets you an AF lens in a classic focal length for very little money with proven outstanding performance and zero hassles to acquire. This frankly is the lens you buy with the body, or the moment you have the body (I bought mine new when I got my used X-T1). 

As to performance, it's sharp, flare is very well controlled (little need for the hood), colour is the usual excellent Fuji colour, and out of focus rendering is delightful. However close focus is adequate but nothing to write home about and the lens does focus breath significantly (the field of view gets wider as you focus closer). Don't expect to do any pseudo-macro work with this lens. 

Shooting Fuji on the Cheap

X-T1, Neewer (7Artisans) 25mm f1.8

And now back to my regular gear-related focus.

This is the first in a series of posts as I explore how to build a Fuji system on a budget. It will be focused on prime lenses, as frankly the answer to zooms is buy the 2 XC zooms, a cheap EF adapter and whatever EF-S UWA zoom you can afford. There's really not a lot of options around zooms beyond the obvious.

I'm going to make a few assumptions here.

The first is you have a 16MP X-Trans II body (X-E2, X-E2s, X-T1, X-T10) or an X-T100. What I say applies to Fuji in general, but these bodies are the cheapest really useful bodies in X mount. I'd generally avoid EVF-less bodies as primary bodies (X-A's, X-M1) and I find the X-E1 just too slow to use. The X-Pro1 is interesting as it's a very unique body, but I can't recommend it as an only body due to performance.

The second is the following. Cheap lenses sell for $200USD or less, inexpensive lenses sell for $200USD to $500USD. I'll be using these definitions throughout. The dividing lines are arbitrary, but accurate I think.

I'll be focusing on cheap lenses to start with, then move into the inexpensive realm.

To start with I'll be putting together a 5 lens kit covering UWA, mild wide, normal, mild tele/portrait/macro and moderate telephoto. 

Where to start? That was a difficult question until a few months ago. Now it's easy, there's one Fuji AF lens that is a given for a cheap system, the $199USD XC 35mm f2. This will be the only AF lens on the list, but buy it first. I have this one. There are cheaper manual focus options, but a first-class 35mm for $199? How can you go wrong. 

The second one for me is a mild wide. I went with the Neewer 25mm f1.8 here. Around $70-80 new it's proved to be a good performance. This is a rebrand of the 7Artisans lens, but there's 2-3 different options here that are all decent performers. None are exceptional, but we're talking lenses that retail for well under $100USD new. I may acquire a couple of the others for the heck of it.

For the third, today I'm using a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI on a Nikon adapter. It works well, but I will be exploring inexpensive native alternatives, midspeed, fast and macro options all abound here, all in the 50-60mm range.

The next one for me is the UWA. On the cheap side and wider than 16mm you really have two options, get the 7Artisans 12mm f2.8 or hunt for a deal on a used Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f2. I'll start with the first one. This is the one lens I don't have an entry into my kit for (the widest I have now is my Laowa 15mm f4, but that's not a cheap lens, and it's also kind of unwieldy on APS-C mirrorless as it's an FF DSLR UWA, I will cover it when we get to the inexpensive kit as it has a couple unique capabilities that make it truly interesting).

Finally the telephoto. Right now I have a Nikkor 200mm f4 AI on a Nikon adapter. That's just too long. I've also used my Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AI-S as an alternative, but it's a tad too short. A 135 should be just right. There's no cheap new 135's that I've seen, so I'll likely get a Nikkor 135mm f2.8 AI-S (why this one? It's got much better close focus capability than the other Nikkor 135's, otherwise I'd go for a cheaper 135/3.5). What you pick here is really dependent on what sort of shooting you do. Anything from 75mm on is viable if available cheaply. The go-to lenses I'd recommend here are 100/105's, 135's or 200/4's, all can be had cheaply in whatever mount you might desire and most in this space are at least quite good.