miXed Zone: XF14mm review by Mike Kobal… and more

XF 14mm

Mike Kobal just received his XF14mm. After a couple of days shooting with it he says that:

“… I found AF speed to be right in between the 18mm and the 35mm. It sometimes struggles in extreme low light, just like the 35mm (latest firmware installed for all lenses and body)…. Capable of achieving insane depth of field when zone focusing: This is where this lens really shines, incredible depth of field already at f4 and it is possible to get everything “in focus” from 5 feet to infinity, the hyperfocal distance extends with smaller apertures. At f8, everything will appear “in focus” from infinity to about 2.5 feet.”

You can read it all (and I’m sure you’ll like some of his beautiful shots too) at his website here.

XF14mm in stock status check: AmazonUS/ B&H / Adorama / Amazon GERMANY / Amazon ITALY / or on ebay worldwide via slidoo

X-E1

Read the review of tech.blogsvoice.com: They liked  “the improved autofocus speeds that Fuji’s new firmware brings, coupled with the 18-55mm kit lens, make this a fantastic camera to easily take on its DSLR rivals” and  “there’s not many things to dislike about the camera, with just a few small niggles keeping it from perfection. It would be nice to have seen a touchscreen, while the autofocus speed when using other lenses could do with being improved.”

For the detailed digitalcamerainfo review click here.

X-PRO1

After six weeks with the X-PRO1, Rodney makes his considerations about it: “I know I had a few gripes, and most of them were things I knew going into this, but none of them are show-stoppers. None of them make me regret my purchase. At all. In fact, I absolutely love this camera and I want to use it as much as possible. It just makes me long for the day when these short comings don’t exist any longer and I can seriously consider delegating the DSLR for niche stuff (like shooting my kid’s soccer game, something I don’t think a mirrorless is going to handle for a long time).” Read it all and see his shots here.

“The styling is great, the handling is great, the autofocus is decent for a contrast detection based system, the sensor is relatively huge for such a small body and in my opinion packs just the right number of megapixels (16).  Crucially, the lenses are excellent (aherm, Sony) which makes the XF system such a great one.  To me, great lenses are the foundation of any system because they’re the pieces of equipment you carry over from one body to the next.  The JPG processing in-camera is good, but I’m still going to continue shooting raw because that leaves me the option of processing in-camera afterwards and because I believe raw support will improve.” Read it all and see the sunrise shots in Liverpool here at digitalrelish.

Read Tobias’ way to the X-PRO1 and his PROS and CONS in German here (translated version)

The winter in Montreal captured with the X-PRO1 at laroquephoto

XF1

Read the review of thephoblographer here.

online storage with bitcasa

Sylvain wrote me an email. He told me about bitcasa, a new online storage service. Bitcasa has no limit in space or number of files and no limits with file size. And if you subscribe in February you pay $69/year instead of $99/year. They have a free 10Gb limited account if one want to try. Take a look at the introduction video here or go to the bitcasa website here.