It’s been almost four years since there’s been a Sydney-based photography event for either of the two mirrorless hybrid brands we follow here, at least one that I’ve been able to get to.
Today I checked my email as usual, got the message below, but when I got to the Fujifilm Sydney Photowalk Eventbrite page, I found that all I could do instead of registering for free tickets was join a waitlist.
A waitlist how long, do you think?
Fujifilm House of Photography Discover Fujifilm Photowalk, Saturday, 21st January 11am-12pm, 2 Park Street, Sydney.
Events like Fujifilm’s People With Cameras and Photowalks or Panasonic’s hands-on new product launches are crucial to get a real feel for whether new gear is worth considering and they help me cover both brands’ products for this website enormously.
It’s not so good for actually making photographs or videos unless a shot of the inside of the store is enough to extrapolate how it the camera and lens might work when making documentary photographs or video in a typical location.
I’ve dropped into the House a few times but poking a wire-tethered camera at the window onto Park Street gets rather old and the results are pretty much next to useless.
I’ve been desperate for a good on-location touch and try event for both brands and for many others for years now and I was hoping to get to this one but all I’ve been able to do is get on that waitlist and hope for the best.
Our sole remaining local camera store stocks few Fujifilm and Panasonic cameras and lenses compared to its Canikony holdings – Canon, Nikon and Sony.
I hope that some of our Sydney-based readers have fared better in obtaining tickets for the Photowalk.
Links
Eventbrite – Discover Fujifilm Photowalk – Sat., 21 January 2023, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm AEDT, Fujifilm House of Photography 2 Park Street Sydney, NSW 2000.
We have another article in progress about Fujifilm’s Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR stills and video zoom lens but we were impressed by what Singapore-based wedding photographer and Fujifilm X-Photographer did with one mounted on an X-H2 that we just had to share it with you.
This video , there first one below, depicts her using the 18-120mm attached to an X-H2 to photograph workers at a floating fish farm located out to sea in Singaporean waters and it proves the value of having at least one zoom lens with a decent range from wide to long in your documentary photography and video production kit.
We’ve been waiting for exactly the right zoom lens to appear in Fujifilm’s X-mount lens collection for the longest time now, ever since investing in an X-Pro2 with a couple of fast prime lenses.
Could the Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR be what we’ve been waiting for?
Fujifilm X-H2 with VG-XH vertical battery grip. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Global.
Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR stills + video zoom lens with lens hood. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Global.
OM System OM-1 camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 IS Pro zoom lens. Image courtesy of OM Digital Solutions Australia.
While waiting for Fujifilm to deliver on its promise to take video more seriously some years back, we had no choice but to invest in a Panasonic Lumix camera and Olympus zoom lenses for video production.
We were volunteering for a global human rights charity at the time and believed that the best way to communicate its message was to do it audio-visually, in still and moving images, and as the charity had absolutely no funding we bought our own gear for the charity’s work.
We still have a couple of those now rather old Lumix cameras that have no in-body image stabilization and our Olympus lenses aren’t stabilized either so our use of them for handheld video projects is a bit limited.
When we need to attend a rally or demonstration and must carry the bare minimum of gear while being prepared to shoot in-deep or from a distance we’ll pack one of the Lumix cameras with our Olympus M.Zuiko Pro Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro zoom with its invaluable manual clutch focus mechanism and we’re confident we’ll be able to handle pretty much anything that comes our way, for photography at least.
If Olympus’ M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 IS Pro zoom had been available at the time then we most certainly have bought that instead for its optical image stabilization.
Its f/4.0 maximum aperture would not have been a problem as we usually default to f/5.6 or f/8.0 for documentary photography anyway.
The Micro Four Thirds system’s Bayer sensors, smaller than the Fujifilm X System’s APS-C X-Trans sensors, have been delivering impressive results when processed in DxO PhotoLab Elite 6 using its DeepPRIME XD demosaicing and denoising functionality and we’re looking forward to DeepPRIME XD supporting X-Trans raw files soon.
We’ve been hoping that Fujifilm would take a leaf out of the Olympus, now OM Digital, professional prime and zoom lens design book and ensure that every new lens would have manual clutch focus.
Instead Fujifilm has taken a giant leap backwards and no new lenses since the Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R, XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR and XF 23mm f/2.8 R have come equipped with manual clutch focus.
Oh dear.
The question then becomes, is the non-manual clutch focus Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR up to the job, at least insofar as documentary photography goes?
Recent FujiGirl videos by Monday Tan, Photographer, sponsored by Fujifilm Singapore
We were so impressed by the video below that we added several more where Ms Tan makes documentary photographs with other recently-released Fujifilm cameras and Fujinon lenses, the X-T5. X-H2S and XF 56mm f/1.2 R WR.
“X-Photographer Mindy Tan pairs the Fujifilm X-H2 with the XF18-120mmF4 for day out in Singapore’s waters, to Ah Hua Kelong, a local fish farm in floating in the sea.”
“X-Photographer Mindy Tan pairs the Fujifilm X-T5 with the XF56mm1.2 R WR for an electrifying portrait shoot with Muay Thai fighters.”
Mindy Tan, Photographer: Fujifilm X-T5 x Trash Collector: Fujigirl13
“In episode 13, FujiGirl photographs with the Fujifilm X-T5 for a day with the Karung Guni – trash collectors who recycle and sort materials for profit.”
“Hoi An to Hue, Vietnam. With the Fujifilm X-H2s, I travelled solo for 8 days in Central Vietnam, taking in the sights and smells, taking my time to enjoy the world.”
Links
B&H Affiliate Link – click here to research and purchase or pre-order your choice of cameras, lenses and accessories for stills photography and video production whatever your genre and subject matter.
For many cinematographers and photographers using hybrid cameras, Polish lens tester LensTip is the number one website when it comes to in-depth tests and ratings of primarily stills-oriented prime and zoom lenses.
Professionals traditionally judge camera and lens systems by the quality and consistency of their prime lenses in particular while the highest praise that can be bestowed on their zooms is that they resemble “a box of primes”.
Fujifilm released its first three prime lenses over 10 years ago and that first and subsequent generations are due for a major revamp in line with Fujifilm’s three recently released “Fujilux” f/1.4 linear motor-equipped primes, the Fujinon XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR, XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR and XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR lenses.
solid, weather-sealed casing, mostly made of metal,
sensational image quality in the frame centre,
very good image quality on the edge of the frame,
negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
excellent correction of lateral chromatic aberration,
sensible coma correction,
blur areas pleasing to the eye,
efficient, silent, and accurate autofocus.
Cons:
a bit too high vignetting,
performance against bright light should have been better.”
Fujinon XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR on Fujifilm X-Pro3. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Australia.
We at Unititled.Net have high hopes that Fujifilm will create more “Fujilux” linear motor-equipped flagship prime lenses but if optical quality is maintained they can afford to add focal lengths with slower maximum apertures.
Not every focal length needs to be exactly matched in their dimensions and an f/1.4 maximum aperture or faster can be attractive to professionals building a lens collection to last for a decade or more.
That Fujifilm has produced three new f/1.4 primes with about the same physical dimensions is impressive given the widely varying weights, dimensions and filter diameters of first generation and later Fujinon XF lenses.
The first three “Fujilux” lenses, with many more to come?
Fujinon XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR “Fujilux” prime lens. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Australia.
Fujinon XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR “Fujilux” prime lens. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Australia.
Fujinon XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR “Fujilux” prime lens. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Australia.
Patrick DiVino’s Fuji Rumors website has long proven to be the most accurate when prognosticating about developments at Fujifilm, and he’s reported that a fourth “Fujilux” lens will be released by the end of the year, the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R LM WR.
Given the many mechanical quirks of its first version, the otherwise highly-regarded Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R, a major revision with fast linear motor, weather resistance and a more usable manual focusing functionality will be welcome.
I’ll probably stick with the original XF 56mm f/1.2 R even though its manual focusing is glacially slow and its autofocusing on our current Fujifilm cameras is slow and often inaccurate.
But as a portrait-only lens, it has its uses and we can handle the slow focusing during the types of portrait photography for which we bought it.
Slow and steady as she goes so your subject almost falls into a trance while gazing into the lens and out of the image into the eyes of the viewer.
As a documentary photography and video lens, though, the XF 56mm f/1.2 R leaves much to be desired, not least of which for me is its focal length which is either too long or too short.
It’s neither fish nor fowl in the same way as the Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR and XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR lens which are either too long or too short for my style of immersive documentary.
Likewise in situations demanding telephoto lenses then I prefer either 50mm for wider or 70mm for longer.
Fujifilm badly needs to increase its pro-quality “Fujilux” primes collection and this can be done with the following new Fujinon lenses:
XF 14mm f/2.8 R LM WR
With outstanding optics in the original version, all Fujifilm needs to do is add weather resistance, linear motor and a barrel about the same size as the other “Fujilux” lenses.
I’ve had no problems with its current maximum aperture of f/2.8 given this focal length is all about data and fine detail.
XF 27mm f/1.4 R LM WR
I’ve never liked 50mm-equivalent (in 35mm aka “full frame” or “full format”) standard normal lenses and have no desire to use Fujinon 33mm or 35mm lenses even if “Fujilux” style.
I find that 40mm or 42mm-equivalent (in 35mm) perfect normal lenses, 27mm or 28mm in Fujinon XF terms, are far more versatile and work very well for documentary or portraiture.
While it is terrific that Fujifilm has updated its Fujinon XF 27mm f/2.8 R with weather resistance to become the XF 27mm f/2.8 R WR also adding a better focusing ring and an aperture ring with auto lock button, to be more useful to documentary photographers and especially videographers it needs a faster aperture and barrel the same size as other “Fujilux” lenses.
In essence, a contemporary “Hollywood 28” but without any of the vintage-style optical quirks of the original.
XF 50mm f/1.4 R LM WR
The two current Fujinon XF 50mm lenses, equivalent to 75mm, lie on either side of the ideal 50mm lens that needs to have the same size as the other “Fujilux” lenses as well as a linear motor.
I’ve enjoyed borrowing the XF 50mm f/2.0 R WR “Fujicron” a couple of times for documentary work where I can’t physically get close enough and if money were no object I’d add one to our lens collection immediately as it works so well on our X-Pro2.
But it’s need for its very own dedicated set of ND and other filters for video is a costly nuisance and a “Fujilux” 50mm f/1.4 should have similar size and filter diameter as others in the collection and thus better fit a video production workflow.
I’ve yet to try out the Fujinon XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR but 75mm-equivalent is not a focal length where I want or need a “bokeh monster”.
In documentary photography, bokeh is effectively zero or even negative data and my use of 50mm demands stopping down to f/5.6 or up to f/8.0 to retain story-enhancing details behind the main subject of the image.
XF 60mm f/1.4 R LM WR
LensTip attributes this lens’ low test rating to Fujifilm’s lens designers unsuccessful attempt to merge a macro lens with a portrait lens.
I owned and loved a Leica Summicron-M 90mm f/2.0 for head-and-shoulders and full-face portraiture during my magazine editorial days and learned portrait photography at an otherwise dodgy art school with Nikon’s Micro-Nikkor 55mm and 105mm.
Could a 60mm f/1.4 “Fujilux” succeed at being a great macro and portrait lens in the way that the XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro is not, or is that the role of the XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro lens, a focal length I find uncomfortably long for my style of portraiture?
XF 70mm f/1.4 R LM WR
Conversely might a 105mm-equivalent 70mm “Fujilux” answer my prayers for a primary portrait lens for use in conjunction with 40mm-equivalent 27mm and 75mm-equivalent 50mm “Fujiluxes” as secondary choices depending on the physical and emotional distance needed to tell the subject’s story?
This optic may well need to be larger and heavier than the current “Fujilux” lenses, perhaps similar in size and weight to the XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro, but its not a focal length I’d rely upon for most documentary work given one must step back further from the subject than I’d like.
Too much camera-to-subject distance can translate into emotional distance and that’s the last thing we want for portraiture, unless a photograph demands an edge of alienation to it.
A note to Fujifilm
I’ve written about the need for Fujifilm to radically update its XF lens collection throughout a number of articles here at Unititled.Net, articles often ostensibly about other subjects altogether.
I suspect that making the same case in different ways with different words in different articles over time is what helps make the case for change and hope that someone at Fujifilm might read this and other such articles then act upon its suggestions.
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 14 mm f/2.8 R – “The Fujinon had no slip-ups. It’s obvious the exorbitant price is combined with zero tolerance for mechanical and optical compromise. You get a solidly build instrument which is optically excellent and will work very well in practice.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18 mm f/1.4 R LM WR – “The tested lens broke the latest resolution record and not just barely so but by a very healthy margin. In such a case we have no other choice than recommend the Fujinon XF 18 mm f/1.4 R LM WR wholeheartedly (even though its price, currently almost $1000, is rather high) and also award it our ‘Editors’ Choice’ badge.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 23 mm f/1.4 R LM WR – “The results of our test show clearly that refreshing the 1.4/23 model was a very good idea. The new lens provides an excellent image quality across the frame, no matter what aperture you employ. Taking into account the fact that you deal here with a fast, wide-angle lens such an achievement is especially praiseworthy.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 27 mm f/2.8 – “Our summary would include nothing but superlatives if only the price of the tested lens wasn’t set so high. You can’t demand almost the same amount of money for a “pancake” lens produced in China, far slower than rival devices from other systems, and for the much faster Fujinon 1.4/35, produced in Japan – it simply doesn’t make sense. A 2.8/27 “pancake” of worse build quality was supposed to be a cheaper alternative, not a direct competitor.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 33 mm f/1.4 R LM WR – “The Fujinon XF 35 mm f/1.4 R, presented almost a decade ago, didn’t age well; that’s why, in my opinion, launching a new, fast standard lens was a really good decision. The new Fujinon XF 33 mm f/1.4 R LM WR seems to be a much better instrument anyway. You get a superior resolution both in the centre and on the edge of the frame, much better corrected chromatic aberration, lower coma and more efficient autofocus. The older standard only prevails when it comes to a tad better distortion correction.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 50 mm f/1.0 R WR – “After looking at the results of our test and the lists of pros and cons, these are rhetorical questions. In a nutshell, the new Fujinon is really sharp in the frame centre but, looking at its price and parameters, our expectations were much higher than that. Such a lens can succeed on the market only if it proves to be a truly outstanding instrument and, we regret to say, the Fujinon XF 50 mm f/1.0 R WR is not outstanding at all. If it was supposed to be a show of strength, it failed completely.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 50 mm f/2 R WR – “An excellent lens – those words would be enough. Still, to make our summary more eloquent we have to add that for a very decent price you get a lens sensationally sharp in the frame centre, small, lightweight, weather-sealed and produced in Japan. It didn’t avoid some flaws but they aren’t very important and don’t change our assessment in any way. A round of applause, Fuji!”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56 mm f/1.2 R – “It is true that the Fujinon XF 56 mm f/1.2 R has many advantages – after all not every lens manages to break resolution records like it does. On the other hand the cons list consists of as many as four positions; taking into account the price of the 1.2/56 model it might be considered a bit worrisome. Still you need to assess those cons properly. The vignetting level is significant; still the lens fares better than its full frame rivals – even the Leica DG Nocticron 42.5 mm f/1.2 Asph. P.O.I.S., designed for smaller Micro 4/3 sensors, fared significantly worse in that category.”
LensTip – Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60 mm f/2.4 R Macro – “The Fujinon 2.4/60 doesn’t break any records despite its long list of advantages but it must be emphasized that the quality of images, provided by that lens, is still very good. Perhaps the fact that from the very beginning the lens was designed not as a typical macro device but as a compromise between a classic macro photographic instrument and a portrait lens is the reason. Compromises and emphasis on versatility result in gains in one area and unavoidable losses in the other.”
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