milandro

I am not in “ adventure shooting”, so it is not a game changer, for me, but It might help with, sensor dust for the common user or when using a scuba case ( where water can always find its way although not pressurized enough to actually enter a camera that has water sealing ( and a lens to match!).

I am afraid that I like sharp pictures when they have to be or not when they need not being, but I think that there are 1000 and one manners to unsharp sharp pictures an not one to sharpen and unsharp photograph. But it is not only about sharpness, there is more to it.

The 18mm has to be the lens with the worst press ever in the X system until now. It is said to be the lens with the least image quality in the system. The lens is now offered , together with the 27mm in a kit with the X-Pro 1 ( In the NL the whole kit containing other goodies like leather pouches for camera and lenses costs € 899 for all of it!) , the camera is on the way out and these 2 lenses must be the least wanted lenses of the whole system. So, the chances of actually selling it, unless you give it away are slim, at best. In my opinion you could either use it or (better) trade it in at a shop for a more useful ( to you) lens.

I have mixed feelings about digital photography and adapted lenses. I understand that, especially in this thread, my stance won’t find much sympathy since the participants are obviously enthusiasts, so go easy with the flack! Exchanging opinions is the point of a forum, not being right or wrong or winning arguments. Using adapted lenses somehow makes me think of having a formula one car with the parking brakes slightly pulled while racing ( there is no parking brake on a formula one and for a good reason!). You have a camera capable all sorts of functions ( which you no longer have ) implying a communication between camera and lens ( including some software correction of the specific lens that we are using as opposed to a more “ general” one” chosen when you tell the camera which adapted focal length you are using, so the camera applies a general, un-targeted, correction). All of this produces some limitations ( ok, I respect your choice) and might have some ill effects on maximum achievable quality because the lens is not specifically corrected by the camera software ( it does so also on raw files not only jpeg’s) also because the lenses used weren’t made for the specific digital photography use and weren’t optimized for the sensor that you are using. It I have tried several lenses on my X-E1 ( and have my thoughts on this having been the cause of some dirt on the sensor) but the Helios 58mm, the Takumar 50mm and the Chinon 28 that I have used didn’t impress me. Yes the helios bokeh was fun for a couple of shots but then it became and end itself and not a means to an end. Clearing the radioactive Takumar was also interesting but the pictures were no better than with other lenses. The Chinon was not much of a muchness anyway. Anyway, I understand this is fun and games and that there has to be some form of satisfaction in using these lenses that I am not really understanding. About buying them. Despite the fact that now many people are aware of the fact that lenses which were useless until not so long ago have been resurrected and all seem to have a market now, it is still possible to buy for very little money these lenses at car booth sales. In my experience spending 60€ for an Helios is ... a lot of cash! If adaptive photography is thrifty as much as a good deed celebrating the “ legacy” lenses, you can do a lot better than that! Anyway, in answer to OP: Check for grease or oil on the aperture blades or in the lens. Cleaning it is NOT always necessary but it is NO fun! Check for fungus ( looks like cracks) in the glued element of the lens. Check for dust particles most old lenses will have some unless they have had a VERY protected life. Check that the focussing helicoid is smooth and doesn’t feel “ gritty” or has any hesitations in the action. Takumarks ( and other lenses) might be yellow because they contain radioactive elements which get yellow-brownish in time. It takes a bout two days with an IKEA special led lamp to clear them or very long exposure in the sun (if the lens becomes too hot the glued elements might detach) Adapters can be cheap or expensive, your call, the turbo adapters make you lose definition (!!!) but give the same look in terms of their nominal focal length on a reduced size sensor ( so a 35 stays a 35 and doesn’t become a 50). Turbo adapters CANNOT be used with all type of lenses. Those which protrude inside too much cannot be used with those adapters! Remember that long adapted lenses will have thick lens elements which add a lot of dispersion that is not beneficial to the quality and contrast of the images.

the 10-24 is the lens to go for me for a great many shots I have to say that using is a lot of fun!

if I only had primes it would be 14, 35, 56 or 60

Well, you know what they say, a sword cuts both ways. Could this apply to the Samurai’s Katana? The Kaizen or “ continuous improvement” in the form of firmware upgrades ( or the lack of them), which in the beginning must have looked like a good marketing idea to Fuji, is beginning to show the darker side of the shiny medal. If you look at the reactions at the simple hint ( and the publishing of an hasty declaration to the contrary, although by the sole Fuji France) that the X-E2 wouldn’t be upgraded or wouldn’t be upgraded as much as the X-T1 in relation to the X-T10, they are clearly showing some degree of hostility for something that I am afraid would only be the normal course of events if Fuji hadn’t, apparently firmly convinced, some of their customers to expect and take for granted. The “ why not me?” will rapidly go from dismay to rabid hostility. I don’t really know how this will play. I hope that some Japanese marketeer, but one with good grasp of the psychology of the western buyer, will realize that this going to produce a large dose of spiteful reactions created unwittingly by Japanese marketing based on a different psychology. We shall see. I would advise to appease the public but to be clear in the message that Fuji is in the business of selling new cameras. Any other mixed reaction will confuse the market and produce even more negative reactions.

if they have a crystal ball they might

My Japanese is not what it ever was and I rely on wikipedia..... “ The term comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け or ボケ), which means "blur" or "haze", or boke-aji (ボケ味), the "blur quality". The Japanese term boke is also used in the sense of a mental haze or senility.[8] The term bokashi (暈かし) is related, meaning intentional blurring or gradation "

QED. This is precisely what Fuji predicament is. Pleasing the customers but not enough from preventing them to want to upgrade.

Oh yes, of course, what was I thinking! The bokeh.........the bokeh! The “ Open Sesame! “ word of these confused times in need of blurring, a which also translates as “ mental confusion” in Japanese ( uncanny isn’t it?). Sure! Give them the bokeh and they will come to you! The Gospel of Fuji, lecture 35 f1.....

When I used my medium format cameras, they were used predominately in the studio. Therefore I wouldn’t have any need to have a strap on any of the cameras ( 6 x 7 cm or 6 x 6 cm ) but I had a large wooden grip on my Pentax 6 x 7 or a pistol grip for my Rolleiflex I have always had straps on 35mm cameras ( although back then I would use the standard strap which came with the camera and never went for extra large flashy things that were already available back then) and they never bothered me. I've also had a Cambo-wide ( 58mm) with a 6 X 12 cm which also had a large holding grip ( no strap). But I have more than a good reason now to use a thin strap or holding a camera while walking about and they are mainly medical. I have both problems with my hands and with my neck so a grip alone wouldn’t do and the neck has to have a wide support. I don’t walk around with the X-T1 hanging around my neck all the time ( and I am not into what is now know as "street photography” ) and I take the camera out the bag when needed, then put it around my neck when in use to then put it back in the bag when I don’t. I have never felt comfortable with the idea of the wrist strap or with those long body “ sling” straps with the camera hanging on the side bobbing and bumping about. There are obviously many possibilities for as many tastes and needs as possible. I have the feeling that some of these choices are adopted mostly to get what the photographer thinks is the “ physique du role “ and that several people are all to happy to provide us with, generally expensive, objects to complement our cameras (and looks!).

Yes, big guys in music are a different thing than semi-pro jazz big or otherwise band ( I play saxophone in a quintet of amateurs) . Fuji is one of the “ big guys”, you can’t run a business which implies years of market research and product development and let it be run by the spur of the moment ( with the exception of the introduction of selfie model X-A2 which was definitely a quick adjustment of the production). Everything is programmed but they might have underestimated the public's reaction.

iErnest strap with camera, lenses, gorilla-like tripod and bag

Pancake? Hardly!

essential for the modern photographer!

Yes, about 135-140 cm. Although I have immediately replaced it myself at the time when I bought the X-E1 with this iErnest leather strap. http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/138-a-very-“-special-leather-strap/ I wouldn’t call the original strap that came with both the X-E1 and the X-T1 ( which is still new, wrapped in the box of the camera) a piece of crap as Harlem calls it but it isn’t the most comfortable strap ut there. It is a honest standard piece of equipment which does what it says on the label. Frankly speaking I was more upset of the fact that the not cheap” leather” ( PU at best!) original half case came with pretty much the same strap as the standard one just in a different color ( because I bought a tan one the black one would have been the same as the camera). But there are so many straps out there with prices varying for couple of € to several hundreds. If you are a functionalist you might not care about any of those and just save money using the one you have been given. Which is what I do with the X-10 ( a very much softer strap which I don’t have any need to replace).

all performing artists have included the encores in they program before you even see it, in 99% of the cases nothing is given to you that the artist hadn’t programmed before.

I understand, but it is like people at any concert asking for an “ Encore! " Clapping hands and calling the artists back onto the stage chanting “ we want more! “ is not going to get you anything that the artist wasn’t prepared to give even before they went on stage. At some point they will go back in and don’t come back with the “ more” that you are asking, no matter what! Wishful thinking is not Logical thinking, at all!

Cheers Ron, you pics show your talent AND indeed how good the 50-230mm is despite what people, most of whom have never used it, think of it!

it’s all about marketing, not about work. When offering any product there is a certain amount of extra customers been gained by offering more products all in the same range but, above a certain threshold you are competing with yourself. So offering two almost identical products will not add anything to the revenue but produce expenses. Any marketeer will see that this is wrong and advise the Fuji Samurai accordingly. True the Samurai would be able to offer dutiful kaizen against his best interest but it will come a time when decisions have to be taken. That time might not be now but it will be very soon.

It is perhaps a little easy for me, as a X-T 1 owner, to find less than comprehensible that at least some people expect and demand some Kaizen for their X-E2.

that’s my opinion anyway!

lots of people have opinions on things they know nothing about

Neither can I but then again I hardly speak “bokeh “ which is the rage of these days. When I owned a 135mm on a 35mm film camera, I thought it delivered boring pictures and I don’t see why I would reform my ( not anyone else’s ) opinion about this focal length.