Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 Autofocus Lens for Fujifilm X: “A Killer Option for a Budget Friendly Fuji System”

Matthias contacted me via email, with an important update to his ongoing Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 autofocus lens for Fujifilm X.

“New firmware released, all bugs are gone and the focus speed has been updated! The Viltrox 85mm f1.8 is now one of, if not the best bang for the buck lenses in the Fuji system.”

Above you can see his quick video review update. He also updates his written review at gunpowdervideo.

The Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 is the 4th third party AF lens for Fujifilm X after the Zeiss Touit 12mm, Zeiss Touit 32mm and Zeiss Touit 50mm 1:1 Macro.

At photokina 2018, I had the chance to play with a very early prototype version of the Viltrox 85mm f/1.8. You can see an autofocus test and get RAW samples here.

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This Guy Sticks with Fujifilm APS-C, Does Not Go FULL FRAME and Shares a “Cure Your GAS” Excel Spreadsheet

Cure Your GAS

In times, where we are bombarded with marketing material about Full Frame mirrorless cameras, Jason wonders if he should switch to FF from his Fujifilm X-T2.

But instead of just following the hype (and the GAS), he decided to applied a methodology that helps him to decide more objectively if such a switch would make sense.

First he list the 5 most important characteristics he looks for in a camera according to importance:

  • portability – 30% importance
  • lens selection – 20% importance
  • user interface – 20% importance
  • image quality – 15% importance
  • autofocus – 15% importance

He then assigned a rating to each of the above features for the following cameras: Fujifilm X-T3, Fujifilm X-T2, Sony A7III, Nikon Z7, Panasonic S1 and Canon EOS R.

He ended up with the following results:

Ranking:

  • Fujifilm X-T3 – 7.9
  • Fujifilm X-T2 – 7.75
  • Sony A7III – 7.65
  • Nikon Z7 – 6.8
  • Canon R – 6.7
  • Panasonic S1 – 6.15

The results showed him that he can save himself the $6,000+ he’d need to switch to the Sony A7III (+ lenses he needs), since it ranks even below the camera he already uses, the Fujifilm X-T2.

He concludes that he better spends that money for nice trip with his X-T2.

Of course everybody will get different results, depending on which top 5 features you select and which importance you assign to them.

So which one is the right call for you?

Use Jason’s methodology, download and edit his “Cure Your GAS Excel Spreadsheet” on dropbox here, and let’s see if Fujifilm is still the right call also for you.

Altough I find this a cool methodology, I personally won’t make this test, since I already know that what need to reach ultimate photographic happiness is an X-E4 with tilt screen and this XF 27mmF2.8 with aperture ring.

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Should you Get the Fujinon XF 16mm F2.8 or XF 16mm F1.4? – POLL and Comparison

Fujifilm XF 16mm Battle

The Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4 is considered one of Fujifilm’s best lenses (if not the best). So how can the brand new little Fujinon XF 16mm f/2.8 hold up against it?

Now that the 16/2.8 is shipping, the comparisons start and the decisive question is: should you get the 1.4 or the 2.8 version?

Also ivanjoshualoh tries to answer this question, and he compares autofocus performance, bokeh quality, sharpness and more of the two 16mm lenses.

The winner, for his needs and style of shooting, is still the Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4. But there are definitely lots of great reason to go for the smaller rival, the Fujinon XF 16mm f/2.8.

Now it’s your turn… which one is your favorite? Vote the poll!

Fujinon XF16mm f/2.8 WR: BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS, FocusCamera
Fujinon XF 16mmF1.4 WR (save $250): BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama, FocusCamera

For my needs, the better choice is the

View Results

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Fujifilm X-T30 Beats Sony a6400 in Autofocus Stills Tracking, but Sony A6400 Better for Video and Vice Versa

Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400 – Part 1

Gerald Undone has often critiqued Fujifilm quite hard and never recommended to buy Fujifilm, except for the Fujiflim X-T3. He now reviewed the Fujifilm X-T30 and compares it to the Sony A6400.

Interesting to note that he gets better autofocus tracking results in stills with the Fujifilm X-T30 over the Sony a6400. But the a6400 is the better choice for video autofocus.

Down below are the key points of his comparison.

DEAL ALERT: Today only you can save up to 30% on selected SanDisk SD-card at BHphoto here.

Fujifilm X-T30 Review

  • less video features than Fujifilm X-T3
  • overheats much faster than X-T3 in video, hence shorter recording limit
  • X-T30 is a serious upgrade from X-T20
  • Mic/USB-C/HDMI ports are to close together. If you use one, you block access to the other. You don’t have this problem with Fujifilm X-T3
  • X-T30 battery life lasts 65 minutes when shooting 4K. You can 90 minutes when shooting 1080p
  • When used with external video recorder, the camera shuts down due to overheating after 31 minutes
  • to extend video-life up, turn boost mode off (it affects mainly brightness and EVF refresh rate), pull the LCD screen away from body, mount it on tripod (no hand-holding), less AF-C. He got up to 69 minutes recording this way
  • X-T3 is definitely worth the money if you shoot lots of video. But for shorter family/travel videos, the X-T30 is great

X-T30 Pros

  • Sony lenses tend to be a bit larger, hence X-T30 system is smaller
  • in video the X-T30 has higher bit rate (200 Mbps) whereas the A6400 shoots at 100 Mbps. But higher bit rate does not mean automatically better image quality

A6400 Pros

  • Sony A6400 tripod mount does not block access to battery door
  • A6400 has a better screen design (flippy selfie screen)
  • A6400 lasts longer when it comes to overheating and with high temperature setting enabled, it can last for hours
  • no recording time limits, so no external recorder required
  • true 120 fps at 1080p
  • 3.5 mic jack (X-T20 has 2.5mm mic jack)
  • Sony wins for overall video recording usability
  • battery life is similar, but Sony is a little bit better (around 10 to 15 minutes longer recording time and 50 more stills)
  • A6400 Sony’s RAW buffer is about twice at large

Autofocus in Video

  • for Video, the Sony wins by a little bit
  • X-T30 offers eye detection in video (the Sony A6400 only face detection), but the X-T30 is just a tad slower to catch up to a subject when moving in and out from the camera. The Sony manages to maintain the focus better
  • Both are great, but side by side, you can see the X-T30 autofocus drift a little
  • You can improve this on the X-T30, by increasing autofocus speed, but then it makes focus transition a bit too jumpy. The Sony has a nice balance of offering nice transitions while still locking on the face

Autofocus in Stills

  • in burst photo shooting continuous focus, the Fujifilm X-T30 beats the Sony A6400. The Fujifilm X-T30 hit a 100% hit rate in his test, whereas the Sony A6400, even with more expensive full frame glass, hit about 80%. The X-T30 consistently nails focus

NOTE: the Fujifilm X-T3 will get the same new AF algorithm in a firmware update in April. This means Tony Northrup’ eye-AF comparison between the Fujifilm X-T3 vs Sony A6400, Sony A6500, Sony A9 and Sony A7rIII will be obsolete soon and I hope he will retest it.

Noise and Image Quality

  • likely due to the lens he used, he got sharper results with the Sony A6400. He used the Sigma f/1.4 contemporary crop lens vs the Fujinon XF23mm f/2 [admin note: he uses Adobe, too. If he played with the RAW files, then Capture One Pro 12 or the new Adobe enhance detail feature would have given different results]
  • Fuji is 1 stop noisier, when equalizing the image brightness [admin note: comment about it below]

Conclusions

  • He recommends the Sony A6400 due to more flexibility: selfie screen, better battery life, better video capabilities, deeper grip etc.
  • X-T30 might be the better travel camera, since more compact

Fujifilm X-T30 vs Sony A6400 – Part 2

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Meike 35mm f/1.4 Lens for FUJIFILM X First Look Reviews

Meike recently added the very affordable Meike MK 35mm f/1.4 lens to their already vast manual focus lens offering for Fujifilm X mount.

You can get the Meike MK 35mm f/1.4 at BHphoto, AmazonUS, AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT and AmazonES.

Meike already offers other fast options, like the even cheaper Meike Neewer 35mm F1.2 and the Meike 35mm F1.7.

Full Updated List of Chinese Fuji X Mount Lenses
+
Video Reviews

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