milandro

Well, I have always had a very ambivalent look towards “ learning” composition by means of any book but if there is one subject where you can easily use a classic book ( and a cheap secondhand book easily found on line) this is certainly one. There are many such books! I have taught photography for quite some time and whenever someone asked for a book to illustrate what I was preaching I always recommended the book which saw me through the first paces in Photography. Andreas Feininger’s “ principles of composition in Photography” a 1972 book ( composition hasn’t changed anyway!). Feininger was a great photographer and photography divulger from the ’30 onwards and wrote many books, some of which are still relevant to this day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Feininger You may know him from this very famous image!

I am afraid that your expectations are not realistic in the world of possible law suits for damages and litigations where international companies live. A public admission, even if contained in a “ private” email or letter ( which turns out to be not quite all that private since you are here sharing it with the whole community of members here comprising many members from all continents in the world) such as “ there is a problem” will open up a can of worms that I think, they are not yet prepared to open. The part where you would want them to say “ we will change .....for free” appears to have been addressed that way ( if you go a few posts back) by Korean Fuji which promised to a Korean member to change ( and re-change if necessary!) any faulty rubber part for free. I think that much could have been said by the Bulgarian Fuji too but they didn’t. Companies are always very cautious to “ admit” responsibility for anything unless they are not forced by events to do this.

well, I don’t see too many problems with this, after all this is the normal form used when someone has a complaint with any company. We are sorry and we hope to be able to solve your problem. It is an euphemism not different from the one used in ordinary conversation when you tell someone that you have a pain somewhere, after all. “ I am sorry to hear about your pain and I hope that you will be able to heal soon”, many say this and don’t mean much with it. It is a conventional courteous form, nothing more, nothing less. Yet, from their perspective, which is obviously not the same as yours, this is still dealing with this particular problem on a one to one base. They are not admitting that there is a more general problem. It is your problem and their solution to your problem. Quite different, apparently for what was reported by a Korean member, where apparently ( since I haven’t read the original document) they admit there is a problem and they offer to fix it under guarantee. Again, since these complaints appear to be piling up in different part of the world, this doesn’t appear to be relative to some “ bad batch” and, at some point, if this keeps on growing, they will have to admit there is a problem but this will be ( for practical and legal reasons) much later rather than sooner and only when the phenomenon will have (if it ever will...) assume epidemic proportions. In that case a massive “ recall” will be necessary but that scenario is so costly and impractical (imagine de time it will take to process hundreds of cameras being sent to repair centers which are only equipped to deal with dozens of complaints) that they are keeping this as far as they can for as long as they can.

If this is everyone’s foreseeable future that expects all of us, there will be countries where this will raise some eyebrows, the problem is that they will belong to some judges in civil litigation courts

This the latest acquisition a 100mm f4 macro Asahi Pentax takumar. The lens is truly spectacular and I might use it for different purposes too. The f4 maximum aperture causes a bit of noise in the EVF when using it in very low light but it performs very well with the kipon adapter very slightly tilted and is very sharp in the very shallow area in focus . All these lenses are really performing very well for the intended purpose of portrait. I have also bought a 28mm 3.5 Pentax which I have tried this one too on the kipon adapter. Of course this is a medium wide-angle on this format and here the “ miniature” effect of the tilt adapter comes into its own (if that is what you are looking for ) Pleasant though it is, I am sure that if one would use this extensively the viewer would become rapidly bored with it.

thanks for the clarifications but again, many of your statements are, as you yourself say, based on you particular needs ( the frequent use of “ for me” in your explanation shows that you are aware of that) that is therefore not an universally applicable criterium, or your likes and dislikes, often times not based on direct experience but on someone else’s report. This is what these days is often found on the internet articles quoting other articles which often are based on other articles. Nothing wrong with that as long as one clearly says that what you are quoting is someone else’s opinion which you might very well share, but that you have no direct experience on. The list you made, commendable and useful though it is, might arise in some readers the idea that it was all based on factual, objective and direct experience collected by you personally and that, isn’t always the case.

It is not so much the reviews but the examples shown form us owners. If you don’t find those convincing then you need another lens. If you can reproduce, full format, an object that is 4,5cm in width as shown by my example of a ruler, then this 60mm is a lens with close up capabilities suitable for the majority of macro uses. Of course you could be hung up by semantics and insist that that is only 1:2 reproduction ratio. Naturally, you can crop and still have plenty of image or you can use a ring or a close up lens to get even closer to achieve the 1:1 ratio which you seem to consider the only ever “ macro” lenses. From Wikipedia, the article “ Macro-Photography” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography “...Apart from technical photography and film-based processes, where the size of the image on the negative or image sensor is the subject of discussion, the finished print or on-screen image more commonly lends a photograph its macro status. For example, when producing a 6×4 inch (15×10 cm) print using 135 format (3.6×2.4 cm) film or sensor, a life-size result is possible with a lens having only a 1:4 reproduction ratio....." However just to remind you, some of the best macro lenses of the history of photography didn’t necessarily reach ( without an additional ring) the 1:1. I own the Asahi Pentax 100mm 4 which got to 1:2 reproduction ratio too and was and still is an excellent Macro lens. Find your lens and most importantly use it.

A little bit crudely put but yes, as I said in other occasions: the expectations that the kaizen would be an eternal way of continuous improvement are unrealistic.

by the looks of it Fuji will have to fix them all, serious problem!

I’ve just bought the 12mm Samyang which has replaced the 10-24mm ( because I used it the most, practically only, on 10mm so I thought that I might as well buy a prime lens rather than a zoom), however I’ve bought a 18-55 to cover the intermediate field. The 12mm is absolutely spectacular for the price. Even slightly longer lenses (14mm) simply don’t cut the mustard for me in the super-wideangle department. I am selling the 35mm because, yes, I used it for many pictures and is a great lens, but I really wan to have a maximum of 5 lenses in my bag. I know that If I had more than that it would only become very confusing for me and I would ebd up not using certain lenses if not very occasionally. If I were to advise you it would be indeed to use the 12/27/35 but only because this is what you gave us to chose from . I have considered the 27mm and to keep the 35mm myself, but again, right or wrong I have decided to replace these two lenses for a general purpose small zoom, cheap but very well made and, within its class, I think, one of the best lenses on the market.

the X-E2 is equipped with the necessary sensor to enable the camera to use the new software. The only serious difference with the X-10 then will be the higher resolution of the EVF. Come december 2015, the promised update will come, by then the sales of the X-10 would have established the camera against older models such as the X-E2. But if not this time around , there will be a time when any older camera will no longer receive any more kaizen.

getting increasingly uncomfortable

I am puzzled discoturkey , are you sure you’ve posted in the right thread?

they are fixing the cameras upon request and under guarantee, so, they are not avoiding responsibility but I am not aware of a public and official acknowledgement which should, in all likelihood, bring to a re-call action ( costing them a fortune) to avoid possible litigation which could come if they were to publicly admit they have provided a faulty product. REMEMBER, this is NOT only a cosmetic issue. The doors and their shutting capability is an integral part of the Weather Resistance sealing. IF the camera develops this and you ( knowingly or not) then expose it to moisture and this would penetrate the camera THROUGH the doors, the camera will probably undergo a fatal electrical failure. IF this were the case you might not only sue Fuji because they provided a faulty product ( and get another camera) but you could, conceivably, even claim damages if you were working and the camera ceased functioning, because of their negligence, causing you to loose money or even to be sued yourself ( suppose you are in the middle of a wedding and your camera no longer works and you cannot carry out the task of a unique event). So, publicly admitting there is a problem has to lead to a very expensive re-call action. I suppose that their best strategy is simply keeping quiet and dealing with this on a one to one base if and when the problem appears (and it might never do so, hopefully, for most of us!!!) . We have recently learned that this problem affects the X-Pro-1 too.

I don’t tilt the screen of my camera (X-T1) much and I might have lived very happily with the X-E1 (non tilting) if she hadn’t developed a problem which led to me buying the X-T1. So, no, I am sure that your combination is a great one. Enjoy!

I suppose you might not have this enabled in the Set-Up (1) menu of your screen ( and EVF) which is the last of the screen options. Entering that menu you have many submenus, scroll until the last one which allows you to personalize what you see in your screen. There you have a number of options with boxes which you enable by ticking them. Tick the one which gives you shutter speed and aperture in the EVF.

Well, I don’t think that I was giving Fuji an unnecessary, undeserved and unfair hard time with the report of my direct experience. I can only judge things by direct experience and this was mine. Elsewhere you might have a completely different experience and I am very happy for you. It is, however, a truthful report of how the things happened to me. True, 2 of the 8 weeks were lost on the account of the shop sending the item to their collection center and from there to Germany, but 6 weeks were the turnaround time in Germany. You can turn it around and look at it from any side you wish and polish this in any possible way but it was what it was. The fact that the camera came back with a different problem ( a hair visible even on the screen or evf and that could have spotted simply turning on the camera before reshipping it to me) is also slightly disturbing. It was not FUJI which took back the camera that they hadn’t really repaired ( since it came back with another problem) it was the shop. They are the real hero here and I am happy for that! In fact I was getting very preoccupied when I started reading these reports of the several camera showing their skins coming loose. I shrug this off as a freaky occurrence ( which for the time being I still prefer to think it is) but once the reports have started piling up a bit I worry that it will happen to me. As I said we don’t even have a Fuji repair lab in the Netherlands ( and I suppose Belgium has the same problem) yes a small but a highly developed country, with substantial disposable income and with high density of his nearly 17 million inhabitants. Anyway. I hope never to have any need for the lab ever again.

...or so they think... ( not a reference to OP, just making fun really! )

well, I have complained before elsewhere about my only experience experience with my first Fuji camera. It was a X-E1. It went in for service because it showed “ oil” spots ( which I wasn’t unsure they were of my own making since up to that point I had had only once another lens with a adapter and always had the camera with the 35mm only. The shop first examined it, determined that it might have been a camera defect and sent it to Fuji GERMAY because there is no Fuji lab in the Netherlands (!!!!). The camera went if for a clean and the roundtrip from shop to lab, to shop in another city and then to me took 8 weeks ( 6 spent in Germany). Luckily they provided me with a X-M1 while I was waiting. The good news was that the camera had been serviced “ free of charge” the bad one was that there was a hair ( so big you could see it on the display) trapped on the sensor. The shop tried everything then they had to admit defeat and offered me to send it again ( 8 more weeks? Nein Danke!) The other possibility was to give me a discount for the amount paid on another camera. That’s how I bought my X-T1. I have to conclude that if the camera had belonged to anyone looking to use it as a pro camera no one in his right mind would put up with this. Turn around has to be less than a week, for any problem otherwise this ain’t working!

more of this in other threads, this is getting serious! http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/996-fuji-x-t1-rubber-surface/?do=findComment&comment=11343

Not only, legislation in most countries of the world protects buyers against fabrication defects and this protection extends longer than the 1 or 2 or 5 years guarantee. If Fuji wouldn’t correct this it might very well find itself being sued by someone for Manufacturer Negligence. I’ve written a lot about this in another thread about the doors of the X-T1 bulging http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/634-x-t1-accessory-door/ In Europe this protection doesn’t come from the maker company but it comes from the shop where you bought the camera. They are responsible, if they are no longer there, than the distributor is responsible, if they are no longer there the importer is responsible. In other words the law protects you from having to deal with a far away giant and you can, through local low level justice courts, get your camera repaired or receive compensation. This problem is getting way more important than I thought it would ever be! As time goes by more and more reports of camera doors bulging are coming to the light. I am afraid of taking my camera out of the bag and see that my camera too has started molting .

Well, where you comment on the 12mm Samyang being not sharp at the edges at full aperture you are openly reporting someone else’s opinion and not your own findings and that opinion is not even a common one among the many users and reviewers of this lens. However you don’t mention that the Zeiss 12mm has very similar resolution under the same circumstances but you correctly identify that it has the advantage of autofocus but at an incredible price for this against a similar performance. Another thing that you mention is that the 50-230mm due to its aperture would be a full sunshine only lens. Granted it is not the most light efficient lens but given the fact that I have shot great shots with Fuji cameras up to 3200 ISO , this lens is perfectly capable to go into relative darkness and in any case at only a very minor disadvantage compared to the way more expensive 55-200. In a thread that I have opened on this lens many report having been discouraged from buying it from comments like yours, while the many USERS of this lens show more than decent shots. I don’t use long focal lenses much and that’s why I bought this lens but I have been marveling at its quality ever since. In fact I am now selling mine to a friend and buying another ( in a kit where this lens practically comes for free!). The 60mm macro shows a 1:2 reproduction ratio, this was not at all uncommon for many macro lenses in the film days and they came with rings to expand to 1:1 or more. Exactly like the 60mm does. On lens quality. The second lens that I bought was a 10-24 mm at the time one of the most expensive lenses in the system. It came out from a never opened package with some black spec inside the lens sitting on the inside of the first rear element plus a few more smaller bits inside only visible with a magnifier. I was horrified and I went back to the shop and they gave me another one, no problem, but I have heard of so many of these stories afterwards that this was by no means a freak occurrence ( also about Samyang) and that includes also lenses (especially wideangles) with misalignment of some element showing a definite loss of sharpness on one side only of the frame. This I find particularly disturbing. Especially when it comes to buying a secondhand lens or one ordered overseas! Yet the video of the Fuji assembly line shows a spotless and very high quality ( the Samyang assembly line is nowhere near that perfect) operation. If that is the case specs in a new lens can only come from parts inside the lens wearing out after they have assembled it and they test the lenses ( but don’t look into them before putting into the box?). In the olden days ( even when lenses were already autofocus and had electric and electronic parts) I can’t remember hearing so many complaints. I understand that the internet makes this information more readily available but, as I said before, at that time I worked as a camera demonstrator and even as chief demonstrator, managing an entire crew of demonstrators, at trade fairs for Pentax and Nikon. I’ve heard all sorts of complaints and suggestions ( those drove me crazy, now we read them on line, people living in a fantasy world thinking that a lens which has been studied and developed of several years before finding production could be tweaked if only I communicated to Mr. Nikon or Mr. Pentax their wishes!) but never of the nature that I am reading, for example here on this forum.

thanks, so this is it https://ianpiper.smugmug.com/Test-images/OIS-tests/ I am not sure of the significance of the test, since, as I understand ( and maybe I don’t) if there is any undesirable effect of the OIS it would show at a very slow speed ( slower than the OIS can compensate for) and it would be more visible at the very edge of the format rather than in the middle? Otherwise, I agree, in the picture showed the things don’t appear to be much different either way.

Yesterday there was a guy who reported, in anther thread, that his X-Pro-1 has lost its skin, twice.

this, I suppose would indicate that some structural changes are taking place, unless the material is pressure applied and is meant to be compressed