[18-135 mm or 55-200 mm lens?]

I’ve been shooting with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm for two years now and always wanted to replace them with one lens because: a) I hate to change lenses and I feel like I missed some great shots in the past because of that; I hate carrying additional weight with me and 18-135mm weights about half of what 18-55mm and 55-200mm weight together.

For two years I couldn’t convince myself spending that much for a lens that got so many negative reviews claiming it was a mediocre lens for that price.

Two weeks ago I finally decided to get one and play with it. Boy was I surprised! The quality of my copy is fantastic! I run some tests comparing all the three on my X-T10 and the 18-135 beats the crap out of 18-55mm at any focal length and at any aperture. It is almost as good as the 55-200mm and the only way you can see a difference between them is if you start pixel peeping. And even then the difference is very insignificant.

I only give up about ½ stop of light which is easily compensated by a great OIS system which will easily give you 5 stops. It doesn’t reach as far as 55-200mm does but 95% of the time you won’t really miss it (unless you’re a wildlife photographer).

18-135mm is a keeper! 

[X-T10 firmware update wishlist]

As to your points:

 

1. Hmmm, well, I have to say I rather like this arrangements, and am quite pleased I don't have to resort to the back dialfor changing Aperture. Then again, when using XC lenses, I DO have to do that, unless I switch the button mapping in the BUTTON/DIAL menu, and then I can assi\gn Aperture to the front dial instead...

 

2. I also find this quite annoying, but this is a hardware issue and won't be solved in Firmware. Before the "T" setting was used for Universal range, this didn't really matter, but now I find I would have really wanted to have the Shutter Dial look like: "A->T->4000->2000->etc.". That way I could switch quickly from A to T and back. Hope the XT-2/XT-20 will have this arrangement....

 

3.You can disable the automatic magnification and use the back dial for manual magnification toggle (on/off) only when you need it....

 

4. On one hand, yeah - the option would have been nice. However, it would rather defeat the purpose of the "AUTO" mode, as most settings wouldn't really matter anyway. You CAN simulate RAW auto by doing the following:

                a. Set to RAW

               b. Set to P mode (Aperture+SS in A)

               c. Turn on Face/Eye detection

               b. Put camera in AF-C and Zone focusing

There - you have your RAW auto mode...

And besides, I like AUTO mode to be in JPEG as that gives me an option to get good shots on the go, when quality is not critical, but card capacity is....

 

5. Yeah - that would be nice... I hope we get the +-2 bracketing from the X-Pro2...

Thank for your reply. To address your points:

3. When you magnify your image in AF+MF mode the only way to return back to a full image view is to switch the camera to Manual focusing mode. I'm quoting from "The  Fujifilm X-T10: 115 X-Pert Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Camera" by Rico Pfirstinger: "After you have made manual focus adjustments using the automatic Focus Check magnification, you can get rid of the magnification and return to a full view of the scene by switching the camera to manual focus (MF) while still keeping the shutter button half-depressed. Then fully depress the shutter button when the moment is right. A future firmware update could take care of this issue by allowing you to manually switch the magnifier on or off in AF + MF mode."   Of course when you flick that MF switch your camera shakes which defeats the purpose of magnification tool which is to fine tune the focus. And why do I need to go through all theses shenanigans if it can be fixed be a software update?

4. ....or you can just enable the RAW shooting option   

[X-T10 firmware update wishlist]

Welcome around to Fuji and have fun fighting against your muscle memory

 

It's something that all of use that are used to other systems have to break down first. One never really register the muscle memory part until you get something as alien in control as a Fuji camera.

Don't worry tho, after a few months of shooting you will get used to it and also wonder why we were using that silly PASM dial.

Controls are actually a lot more intuitive, want auto mode ? Put everything on "A", need to change the aperture ? Just turn the ring, need speed changes ? Turn the dial. Want the old S mode ? Just turn the Speed dial. Manual ? Just set things you want with the hand holding the lens and the thumb for the speed.

 

To address your issues:

 

1. Just muscle memory, you will get used to it, just let it flow naturally and after a while you won't even notice your hand movements and will be able to manual focus and change aperture with your left hand.

 

2. Sorry that's hardly an issue, as you said yourself, just set your dial to T and leave it there for your needs. I tend to change mine from either Auto or T, the rest of the speed settings where only needed before the T mode was changed.

 

3. If you half press, it will go back to normal view to re-frame if needed, even on MF mode.

 

4. X-T10 was made for enthusiast that doesn't need that much controls, the Auto mode on the X-T10 is very frugal, you want more control ? The X-T1 will be a much better choice. Or workaround, don't use the Full Auto mode on the dial, move up the dial up to the alternate mode but move the speed and aperture to "A", you keep the same benefits as not worrying about anything and still get raw files but you lose the Auto Scene Selector feature. 

 

5. That's something I can fully get behind, it's really annoying to have only +/- 1 EV.

Thanks for your reply. To address your point:

1. Muscle memory won't allow me to shoot with one hand like when using an of camera flash for example.

2. The problem is finding that T without looking at the knob

3. If you half press again it will loose the focus and for me it's pointless since the only reason to magnify is to be able to check if the certain part of the image is in focus and fine tune it when I'm in AF+MF mode.

4. ...or they can enable the RAW shooting option 

5. I'm glad we agree on this one

[X-T10 firmware update wishlist]

I’m new to a Fuji system. I’m switching from the Sony NEX-6 simply because couldn’t find any decent lenses in a Sony e-mount world. So after reading tons of great reviews about Fuji cameras and lenses I bought an X-T10 with 18-55mm F/2.8-4 lens and I’m blown away by the image quality. Love it!

However, some of the controls and the way this camera works feels  to me very outdated and insufficient. Some of the shortfalls are the result of the specific design: for example centrally located EVF window not protruding back far enough which makes the nose press against the LCD screen making a weird and uncomfortable shooting experience. Others are the result of certain philosophy (like replacing a simple PASM dial with confusing system of on-body dials and lens switches to select a desired shooting mode). I understand that those are the things I have to live with and I’m willing to accept as long as the images look great.

What can be improved though is the firmware. Fuji is known as a company that pushes significant firmware updated to their cameras so would like to make my wish list and ask you guys to share yours and maybe if Fujifilm reads the feedback those things would find their way into the next firmware update.

1.   Aperture control. While some people think the lens aperture control ring is a “cool” and “retro” kind of thing I find it annoying.  It’s hard to find, it’s too close to an aperture control switch on a lens and too close to a zoom ring. But what really bothers me is that Fuji doesn’t allow aperture to be controlled by a dial on the camera body and forces you to use the ring. It makes it impossible to use the camera one handed or to adjust the aperture while zooming. I don’t understand why the Fuji chose to limit us to a ring only. After all it’s not a mechanical aperture ring. It’s just a gimmick!

2. Shutter control. The shutter dial has 17 clicks on it. However, only 1 of them (T) will allow you a full range of shutter speed adjustments using a front dial. Others will limit you to couple of stops up or down and that’s it. Again, my question is why? Why do I need to struggle to find that one magic T click to be able to gain full control of the shutter speed? It’s especially annoying when you want to capture a scene that changes quickly. So I would like to be able to control the shutter speed from a front dial regardless of the position of a top Shutter Dial.

3. Focus check. It’s a great feature but the Fuji’s implementation is awful. After the image is magnified to allow the focus check there is no way to return back to a normal view. You can’t recompose and shoot so you’re stuck. On my Sony NEX-6 the image will return to a normal full view after being magnified for a second or two of inactivity so you know exactly how your composition looks like with your focus locked in a desired position. Again, something that can be easily fixed with the firmware update. Also it would be nice if Fuji allows us to use it with more than one autofocus modes (currently available in Single Point mode only) and also use it in Auto mode.

4. Auto mode. Why are we limited to a JPEG only? Why can’t we shoot RAW in Auto mode? Sony does it, why not Fuji?

5. Bracketing. Most of today’s cameras allow you to bracket 2,3 or even 5 EV to create a high quality HDR image. The maximum allowed on X-T10 is 1 EV which is useless. I’m not sure if this can be fixed by a firmware update, but if it can it would make the camera much more HDR friendly.

So these are the major issues I have with this camera and I really hope Fuji will address it in the next firmware update.

I would like to hear your opinions regarding those issues and suggestions how to improve this camera. What would you like Fuji to bring with the next update?