image courtesy: sgoldswoblog

1) FR-reader Simon sent me his impressions of the new Fuji XF 55-200. Read it all and see his shots here. Among the others he says that:

“[…] it has a faster maximum aperture than similar lenses and looks lightyears ahead than similar mirrorless lenses (OK, I jest, but it is much better than the equivalent lens for Sony’s NEX system) in image quality. […] focus and aperture rings are firm and move nicely. […] The OIS on this lens is excellent […] The autofocus speed is, well, average, just like the rest of Fuji’s lenses. It can be quick but it can occasionally fail to focus even in bright light. This larger issue is in low light when it struggles to focus at all. But, let’s be honest, it’s still a relatively slow lens and my Nikon 70-300 can struggle for lock or accuracy in similar light. […] I am very happy with the sharpness from this lens. […] You can probably see it in some of these shots but the bokeh is excellent for this kind of lens. […] What I am seeing is a good bit of light fall off at the edges. This does seem to be automatically corrected in jpeg, but at least in Aperture, it isn’t automatically corrected […] This isn’t one for sports, or birds in flight, but for every other long lens purpose it is very good to excellent. Given its bokeh and and faster aperture, it makes an excellent back up portrait lens.

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XF 55-200 in stock status check: USA:  Adorama / BHphoto / AmazonUS / DigitalRev / Uniquephoto / Pictureline / Europe: AmazonUK / AmazonDE / PCHstore Brussel / Worldwide ebay: slidoo

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2) FR-reader Roland posted a first impression blog post on the new XF 55-200mm with a few full size samples here.

“Nothing definitive to say yet other than the initial impression is quite good. Lens construction is very good and solid and up to the same standard as other XF lenses. It is the biggest XF lens so far, but still a reasonable size lens and small compared to typical DSLR telephoto zoom. […] I have not updated the camera firmware yet when I tried out the lens yesterday, but autofocus speed seemed to be quite satisfactory.”

3) And, as noted in the comments, Rico added a few SOOC JPEGs at Flickr here too.

have a great weekend
Patrick

image courtesy: rolandrim

“This shot was taken at 200mm ISO6400 f4.8 and 1/40sec. Resolution seemed very good at 200mm even at ISO 6400.”

Craig

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Opinions diverge at the question whether the Fujinons or the Touits are better: Petapixel for example would go for the XF lenses, while Tom Grill says that the Zeiss are better. Now, I know that Rico Pfirstinger is working on a comparison which should be posted in the next days on Fujirumors. Maybe nobody can say the final word here, but I’m very curious about Rico’s findings! But now, read the reviews and download the samples: be prepared for the next X-pert corner.

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1) Craig just posted his full size samples here. He wrote me that “I’m not a wide-angle shooter (since I shoot mostly people), but this lens is really tempting. It handles fantastically, and is a sheer joy to use and renders beautifully.”

“It is truly amazing just how little distortion there is for such a wide lens.”

2) There is a new report on the Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 in DCWatch here (translated version).

3) thephoblographer posted his 12mm review here. From the conclusions:

“The Zeiss 12mm f2.8 earns the highest marks for nearly everything in our eyes. […] The user of this lens may be the typical Zeiss customer: the higher end that appreciates better build quality and image quality for the money. When they purchase this lens, they’ll be rewarded with fast autofocusing and excellent image quality on top of the already mentioned stellar construction. […] The only thing holding us back from giving this lens an Editor’s Choice is the fact that we really wish that it had a depth of field focusing scale and I personally wish that the rubber rings were returned to metal or some sort of plastic.

4) You can read the conclusions of petapixel for the 12mm here “The Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 Feels Un-Zeiss-Like. Don’t Touit:“ ()

“I’d love to say the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 should be purchased for your Fuji without question, but I can’t. […] But at $1,250, with the issues it has — most annoyingly is the aperture control ring — I can’t see to it to plunk down that much cash. For the Sony, where the aperture ring is a non-issue, I suspect it’s the same game: not sharp wide open, feels toy like and is a little too pricey for most when many other options are available.

At this point for the Zeiss, I’m paying an extra few hundred bucks for a lens with blue logo, no depth of field scale and a wonky aperture ring.”

5) Seems that Tom Grill doesn’t agree with petapixel and would choose the Zeiss over the Fuji lenses. But read his review (and download high-res samples) here. From the conclusions:

“These are truly professional grade optics with exception resolution across the image plane, and no noticeable distortion. Truth is the Fuji lenses are really very good, but the bottom line is that the Zeiss lenses are better. […] My opinion is that the Zeiss Touit lenses improve the Fuji X-Pro1 camera to an image level that is commensurate with the top pro cameras out there, and I mean even the full frame models. If you can afford to go the extra few hundred dollars to upgrade to theses lenses, I think you will find they are well worth the price.”

Zeiss Touit 32mm in stock status check: USA: Adorama / BHphoto / AmazonUS / Uniquephoto / Pictureline / Europe: AmazonDE / ebayUK / PCHstore Brussel
Zeiss Touit 12mm in stock status check: USA: Adorama / BHphoto / AmazonUS / Uniquephoto / Pictureline / Europe: AmazonDE / ebayUK / PCHstore Brussel

image courtesy: aboutphography