XF 23mm first impression (Bert Stephani) + X-pert corner special on September 17 at 05:00 GMT

Share

 

USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto (expected availability already October 03)/ Adorama / Pictureline EUROPE: PCHstore / wexcamerasDE / wexphotographicUK

Bert Stephani came back from Tokyo and wrote about his first impressions of the XF 23mm. Here some extracts:

“What’s one of the first things every photographer does when he gets a new lens in his hands? Test if it’s sharp wide open. And yep, that looks pretty sharp to me. […] Vivid colors, sharp edges and smooth transitions between the sharp and unsharp parts of the image. The lens also lends itself to make natural looking black & white pictures too. […] The autofocus behaved fast and confident, even in dull low light. Out of the hundreds of pictures I shot with the lens only a few came out out-of-focus (and then it probably was user error).”

Read the whole review and enjoy Bert’s great shots here.

[P.S.: And in case you’ve missed it, Rico’s first look at the 23mm can be read here.]

_ _ _

There will be an X-pert corner special on September 17 at 05:00 GMT about, as Rico told me, “a new X-mount camera“. For those who follow Fujirumors it won’t be a secret anymore which X (and lens) will be probably announced on that day. So be once more the first to have this mystery officially revealed on Fujirumors!

Curtain up for the X-….!

Stay tuned on Fujirumors via facebook, twitter and RSS feed. Fresh rumors, hot deals, latest reviews and news… this is the place where you find them!

have a great day
 photo Patrick_zps381c10d9.png

 photo X-mountteaser_zps05e39fb3.jpg

 

Share

FR-readers zone: the black and white post

Share

After the colourtastic (© MJr) images of Sabino, Olaf & Kasia in the travel-X post of yesterday, today I picked out some black and white shots from all the images you sent me. Really, thanks a lot for sharing your passion for photography and the X-series with me and all the other X-shooters who stop by this blog. Keep it up! You can contact me at fujirumor@gmail.com, facebook and twitter.

enjoy your day
Patrick

Brandon

On the Fujirumors-facebook wall Brandon said: “B&W: I have to ask myself, does the color add anything to this image? Frankly, much of the time it does. Maybe another quarter of the time it could go either way. But sometimes it is just clear. The image should be in black and white, plain and simple. Read and see more images here.”

Brandon

 photo matt-brandon-kathmandu-0831-152615-Edit_zpsfd2a87b2.jpg

_ _ _

Marco

– Hi Patrick, i send you my experience with [shoplink 13828 ebay]X-M1/16-50[/shoplink] and B/W shots of Matera! Thank you so much! … and this is my Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fujixclubitalia/ and this is my personal facebook (all images shot with Fuji cameras) Excuse me for my english! :-) Marco Bozzato

X-M1/XC 16-50mm: First Impressions

First of all, i want to thank the Staff of Fujifilm Italy, I had the opportunity to fiddle with the latest arrival in the Mirrorless X Series Fuji, namely the X-M1 with the new lens XC16-50mm!
… I spent 48 hours in Matera where I took over 500 photos, both in daytime and at night and I have to say thatI was not astonished by the X-M1, in fact I was sure I would get the same results with its siblings,the X-Pro1 and the X-E1, since they share the same sensor, so I overlook about the image quality, that we already know.
… the approach to X-M1 is very different from the older sisters, I would define it in style Reflex, considering that the lack of the time dials and the calibration of overexposure and the presence instead of two multifunction dials.
… as you well know the X-M1 and the new 16-50mm are manufactured with a high percentage of plastic and even if you don’t notice any differences for the camera, you will notice the executive differences with the lens, especially if you had the opportunity to use the XF18-55mm.
… the X-M1 has not the viewfinder but it has a tilting monitor, very, very useful for different shots instead of the usual ones, of course under the sun there are some little problems, but everything is resolved with the motion of the tilting monitor.

… other option which I think is very important in some cases it is the Wi-Fi, I tried it with both my iphone 5 and with my iPad and I’d say it works very well.
… so I hope that these improvements will be added to the next cameras Fuji X Series.

In conclusion I think the X-M1 was created in order to have it always with you in combination with the XF27mm, compactness and top quality in a pocket!

http://marcobozzato.wix.com/fujixseriesgallery / http://marcobozzato.wix.com/x-users

Marco Bozzato (from the personal facebook)

 photo BW-05-Matera-By-Night_zpsb7fab145.jpg

_ _ _

Jean-Luc Fauquier

Hello Fujirumor,
My name is Jean-Luc Fauquier, french photographer, and this is my photo blog showing  “Les Plasticiens Volants”, an internationaly known street theater group working with ‘”inflatables”, giant inflated puppets and objects flying over the audience. I follow them during all their 2013 summer tour and will continue with their future creation on 2014. A “behind the scene” black & white photographic project. I only use my X-E1 with standard 18-55mm and an old Nikon flash for night pictures. We travelled in Nederlands, England and France. Blog is regularly “refreshed” with new photos during all summer. http://enrouteavecplasticiensvolants.wordpress.com/

Best regards,
Jean-Luc Fauquier

If you are interested you can subscribe to the blog to be informed of new posts.

Jean-Luc Fauquier

 photo DSCF5263c_zps143f252c.jpg

_ _ _

Scott

The [shoplink 13829 ebay]Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8[/shoplink] night landscape image samples and small users first impressions (click here).

The images in this post were captured using a Fujifilm X-Pro1 and Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8. This was the first time using this new lens which I received at the beginning of the week. The autofocus was the fastest I have used of all the fuji lens. It worked really well with the new updated firmware and focus peaking addition in low light. I was really impressed with the image quality especially in the centre of the image with some falloff towards the edges. The lack of aperture ring did not bother me at all in fact I preferred changing apertures with my thumb on the rear wheel.

http://www.scotthaskinsphotography.com/blog/

Scott (blog)

 photo DSF0997_zps2d39d9ec.jpg

_ _ _

G Dan Mitchell

I have extensively used a Fujifilm X-E1 compact mirrorless system for the past few months and I’ve been promising a review. I finally finished it. Enjoy and share! Click here.

[Patrick: It’s a comprehensive and well made review! Great work Dan and thanks for sharing it via FR-facebook!]

G Dan Mitchell

 photo TurretSkylightSFMOMA20130531_zps85eb3e2e.jpg

Share

travel-X: Morocco “on the road” with the X-E1 + 3 ghost towns with the X-PRO1, X100S and Iridient

Share

Sabino

 photo DSCF83121-620x413_zps91d5bd18.jpg

image courtesy: Sabino Parente (blog)

Now he’s back. Sabino Parente startet this summer for his trip through Morocco. He packed the Fuji X-E1, XF 18-55mm, XF 35mm, Asahi Super-Takumar 135mm/3.5 M42-lens, M42 to Fuji X adapter Kiwi, Small and light Manfrotto Tripod, 3 Fuji X-E1 batteries, Lots of SD cards… and iPhone 5 in his bag and returned with beautful images capturing the colorful life in Morocco. But read his story and see his shots here.

And if you liked the images of X-shooter Sabino, here is where you can choose your favorite pictures and print them: http://prints.sabinoparente.com/

“I mainly used the fantastic Fujifilm XF 18-55 f/2.8-4R LM OIS, high quality lens for any situation that has produced fantastic photos in any condition, high color contrast in high lightsun or low-light at night. For the street photography was the perfect lens for capturing moments in the crowdy and colorful medina and souks, an incredible discreet and silent camera. And it was excellent even at 18mm to capture the panoramic view of Fes and the magnificent red dunes of the Sahara desert.”

For the Morocco photo-book “written” with the X-E1 click here.

image courtesy: Sabino Parente (prints)

 photo DSCF7095_zpsf753fb21.jpg

_ _ _

Olaf & Kasia

 photo c2a9osztaba_sf_13-08-25_ir__dsf8203_zps82479fa6.jpg

image courtesy: Olaf & Kasia

10 days, 5,500 kilometres, three ghost towns… and lots in-between.! That’s the travel of Olaf and Kasia. All images were captured with the [shoplink 12882 ebay]X-PRO1[/shoplink] with [shoplink 12888 ebay]14mm F2.8 lens[/shoplink] and [shoplink 12883 ebay]Fuji X100S[/shoplink]. They images were processed with Lightroom, Capture One and Iridient. Read and see more here.

Olaf&Kasia also wrote me that finally, after months of working with Iridient, they finally put together a mini-review. So, if you are interested in some comparison pics Iridient vs Capture One you can read this post here: “Then when nobody was watching I indulged myself in an orgy of pixel peeping. What a party it was! […] In fact, the details I saw approached the details on the D800 files. Unbelievable! […] Clearly, the Iridient Developer is doing a fantastic job of extracting every single detail from the RAW files. Part of the secret formula could be the unique R-L deconvolusion sharpening method offered by the program. After talking to my more technically oriented friends they assured me this is the best way to sharpen files as of today. After working for a few months with this software, I admit I like it a lot. Its simplicity and layout are refreshing. The results are fantastic […]”.

image courtesy: Olaf & Kasia

 photo c2a9osztaba_sf_13-08-25__dsf8142_zps94c5ca08.jpg

Share

First Look: Fujinon XF23mmF1.4 R

Share

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (open forum for questions & feedback)Rico’s Flickr sets – XF23mmF1.4 samples set – Mastering the Fujifilm X-Pro1 reading samples (65 free pages) – Pre-order the new book: Mastering the Fujifilm X-E1 and X-Pro1

DSCF2157

Flickr bravely chose Friday the 13th for a major maintenance downtime, but they were back online with a delay of just one hour. Hoping for the best, I got things  started with this column, but then Flickr  was forced shut down again (well, what did they expect?), causing more delays. And yet, here we finally are, discussing Fuji’s latest XF prime, the fast and quite substantial XF23mmF1.4 R, a much sought-after “35mm equivalent” lens.

DSCF2285

If you are interested in this lens, you might also want to have a look at my previous article about using the XF14mmF2.8 R wide-angle lens. Conceptually, both lenses are quite similar:

  • they offer premium optics and build quality at a premium price
  • they feature a dedicated manual focus mode with analog (engraved) scales indicating distance and depth-of-field
  • distortion is fully optically corrected (no additional digital distortion correction necessary)

DSCF2256 – f/1.4

Size and Specifications

Share
** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

RAW Converter Shootout Results

Share

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (open forum for questions & feedback)Rico’s Flickr sets – RAW converter comparison Flickr set – Mastering the Fujifilm X-Pro1 reading samples (65 free pages) – Pre-order the new book: Mastering the Fujifilm X-E1 and X-Pro1

Hi there!
The jury is in, and the verdict isn’t clear at all.

Thank you everybody for reading and voting in last week’s little RAW Converter Shootout. About 7,000 readers looked at the comparison set on Flickr, and almost 1,000 made up their minds and cast their vote. In this X-Pert Corner special edition, I am going to present the results of our polling.

Let’s start with the first sample: And the winner is…

Share
** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **