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Max_Elmar

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  1. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Yoan in 60 f/2.4 or wait for new 50 f/2   
    When you read about the 60mm, (one of the first 3 Fuji XF lenses) just remember that a lot of those reviews were written using an original X-Pro1 with 1.0 firmware. Many generations of "Kaizen" down the line - the 60mm is not nearly as bad as some of those early reviews suggest. That said, in the Fuji line up the LM lenses are the fastest focusers. Those linear motors are equivalent to AF-S in Nikon speak, or true (ring) USM in Canon parlance. Thus, it's really hard to beat the 18-55 as an all-around snapshot lens....
  2. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from KateB in Lens cap & lens hood woes   
    The stock Fuji lens caps are shockingly bad. I toss 'em in a box for emergencies/resale. Love cheap ($3) "Sensei" replacement caps from B&H. I keep the metal hoods on the 18/2 & 35/1.4 use Optech soft caps over the hoods. Still have one of the silly rubber ones left. Toss 'em in the same box as the other other caps. My favorite Fuji tip is that the metal hood from the 35/1.4 works perfectly in place of the giant metal hood provided with the 60/2.4 - that metal hood might be better used as mounting for a ring light. I kind of miss the days when one carried a set of 52mm filters and a few hoods and you were covered from 20mm to 200m.
  3. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to Peter Zimmer in Streetphotography (open thread)   
    09:56 by Peter Zimmer, auf Flickr
  4. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to Koreashooter in Streetphotography (open thread)   
    Another favorite shot of mine. Fuji X100S + WCL-X100 / Seoul, South Korea
  5. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to Koreashooter in Streetphotography (open thread)   
    The best snap I've made so far. It was the photo of the day at Smithsonian.com, a Daily Dozen at National Geographic, and in the featured gallery at Lensculture.
  6. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to Begi Nabara in GFX vs XT-2   
    XPro1 with the plastic lens XM-FL 24mm f8.
     

    DSCF0993 by Begi Nabara, on Flickr
  7. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from karin.gottschalk in GFX vs XT-2   
    In got used to 36mp in my professional work very quickly. I have never once said to myself "Gee, I'd like to go back to 12mp." 16 feels "adequate" for personal work, family photos, etc. But I won't turn down 24mp when I can make the jump. Of course it's a small market. Medium format has been small market for a long time. But it can really deliver in the right hands.
  8. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Aswald in GFX vs XT-2   
    In got used to 36mp in my professional work very quickly. I have never once said to myself "Gee, I'd like to go back to 12mp." 16 feels "adequate" for personal work, family photos, etc. But I won't turn down 24mp when I can make the jump. Of course it's a small market. Medium format has been small market for a long time. But it can really deliver in the right hands.
  9. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Chayelle in 18mm f/2 - Your experience/opinion on this lens?   
    I got into the Fuji system because of this lens. To this day Nikon does not offer a fast, compact 28mm DX equivalent. (I have been waiting since 2004. The upcoming DL is camera, not a lens.) This is a wonderful little lens, especially for PJ, or street style shooting. That a long-winded way of saying it's quite sharp in the middle at any aperture. It focuses very quickly, if not super quietly. People who say the zoom is better are just plain wrong. (That's OK with me, it help keeps the price down.) I've seen the measurements to confirm it. In the RAW files the 18/2 is sharper than the 18-55 in the middle and at the edges at F2.8 (of course the 18/2 isn't stabilized so quick, hand-held comparison shots will not reveal this.) This not to say either one is a bad lens - but for low light - photographing humans @ F2 & 2.8 - the little 18 gets the nod. For more typical shooting, it's hard to beat the stabilized 18-55. 
  10. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from frankinfuji in 60 f/2.4 or wait for new 50 f/2   
    When you read about the 60mm, (one of the first 3 Fuji XF lenses) just remember that a lot of those reviews were written using an original X-Pro1 with 1.0 firmware. Many generations of "Kaizen" down the line - the 60mm is not nearly as bad as some of those early reviews suggest. That said, in the Fuji line up the LM lenses are the fastest focusers. Those linear motors are equivalent to AF-S in Nikon speak, or true (ring) USM in Canon parlance. Thus, it's really hard to beat the 18-55 as an all-around snapshot lens....
  11. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Curiojo in 60 f/2.4 or wait for new 50 f/2   
    When you read about the 60mm, (one of the first 3 Fuji XF lenses) just remember that a lot of those reviews were written using an original X-Pro1 with 1.0 firmware. Many generations of "Kaizen" down the line - the 60mm is not nearly as bad as some of those early reviews suggest. That said, in the Fuji line up the LM lenses are the fastest focusers. Those linear motors are equivalent to AF-S in Nikon speak, or true (ring) USM in Canon parlance. Thus, it's really hard to beat the 18-55 as an all-around snapshot lens....
  12. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Iansky in Pre-War car hill climb   
    Nice work! All quite good, but that last one is fantastic.
  13. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from liamnas in Fuji Lens Caps   
    There are several styles in stock at B&H in the 43mm size - pinch-to-remove - even a nice metal screw in type if you want to be super-retro. One of the best looking models says "Canon" on it in big letters. (I have no idea what that means.)
     
    If you use the little hood that comes with the 35/2, you may be able to find a push-on type (obviously a little bigger than 43mm) that that would allow you to keep the hood mounted and the lens covered.
  14. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Aswald in Fuji Lens Caps   
    Oh, yeah, I agree, the dirt or fingerprints don't really matter... most of the time. Until you try for that great shot against the light or with the sun in the frame. And then you're screwed. (Hey, maybe you like Instagram flare filters...) It only has to bite you in the butt once or twice and then you get it... 
  15. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Curiojo in Exposure on 30" with X-E2   
    The manual says 60 minutes on Bulb. Setting aperture to "A" forces 30 seconds. So try a manual aperture setting. (FW4.0 p. 50)
  16. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to flysurfer in 14mm f2.8 zero distortion??   
    I don't see any distortion here. Just volume deformation. 
     
    As our friends at DxO put it: "In practice, the principles of optical geometry dictate that it is impossible to maintain both straight lines and volume consistency."
  17. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Curiojo in Ken Rockwell is unimpressed   
    Ken is a goofball, but he puts a good bit of info out there and it can be useful info. The reviews themselves border on clickbait.  Entertaining, perhaps. Hey, it's his opinion and he's entitled to it. Before you give any weight to his evaluation of color, go look at his work and you'll understand where he's coming from. I would describe it as lurid. Or exaggerated. Perhaps bat-shit crazy. Maybe that look sells in SoCal. I actually like it sometimes, but generally not my thing. But there is good info in there when it can be separated from the clickbait in which it is embedded.
  18. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to adzman808 in Ken Rockwell is unimpressed   
    It's all tongue in cheek, and he's generally quite disparaging (in one way or another) about most cameras...
     
    Plus... By and large... He's not that wrong about things....
     
    For example, the X-T10 does represent better VFM than the pro2...
     
    He likes leica... But he pokes fun at them... He seems to poke fun at most cameras...
     
    It's entertainment at the end of the day...
     
    I bet when Huff eventually reviews it, we all like that review even less
  19. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Sunglass in Ken Rockwell is unimpressed   
    Ken is a goofball, but he puts a good bit of info out there and it can be useful info. The reviews themselves border on clickbait.  Entertaining, perhaps. Hey, it's his opinion and he's entitled to it. Before you give any weight to his evaluation of color, go look at his work and you'll understand where he's coming from. I would describe it as lurid. Or exaggerated. Perhaps bat-shit crazy. Maybe that look sells in SoCal. I actually like it sometimes, but generally not my thing. But there is good info in there when it can be separated from the clickbait in which it is embedded.
  20. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to bambam in Travel storage box for Fuji NP-W126 battery ??   
    I found Superdrug in the UK selling "Tic Tac 100" (49g) and the box *exactly* fits the Fujifilm NP-W126.
     

     
    The battery fits with room to spare vertically, as below, but I chose to store the battery horizontally which makes it a sliding fit (see later). I case you're wondering (I was), the box does *not* taper from top to bottom.
     

     
    First step is to trim the lid down (it saves space, but mainly it makes it easier to pop the lid on and off):
     

     
    Then you can trim the box down. In the image below you can see the battery slid into the box horizontally, and I found it was easier to cut the box down with the battery already inside it, because it stiffens the box while it's being cut.
     
    Also from this image you can see I added a 'push' hole in the base of the box. As the battery is a sliding fit I thought I'd prefer to push the battery out rather than mess around knocking the box into the palm of my hand each time I wanted to remove the battery...
     

     
    Job done:

     
    Because the battery is a sliding fit, I'm not convinced I actually need the lid at all. I'll keep it for a while and see how it goes. Maybe in future I'll just trim the box so it just covers the battery (and protects the terminals) and discard the lid.
  21. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to jlmphotos in Travel storage box for Fuji NP-W126 battery ??   
    Think tank dSLR battery holders.  Mine holds four batteries.  charged units go contacts face down.  used units contacts face up for easy identification when out in the field.
     
  22. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Tommyboy in Riding the Rails   
    It's crisp, sharp, and super-detailed, that's for sure. That appeals to me as a photographer. As a railfan, I feel it needs a little more context to be really interesting. Some railfans really dislike photos that feature tagging - I'm not one of those - but there is nothing that distinctive about this tagging that it can carry the photo. Including a nearby building, a signal, a locomotive, a crew person (the tagger?), or an interesting pattern in the nearby trackage would help a lot. Things that can move are usually more interesting when moving.
  23. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from craigget in Fujifilm X-T2 rumors   
    Hm. Let's take a closer look at that one shall we? Yes, the D500 is lacking a few compact wide-angle lenses. But the D500 can use the new Sigma 1.8 zooms. (Or any other Sigma for that matter.) And the Zeiss stuff. And all the exotic long glass, macro glass, specialized glass that Nikon makes or ever made. And you can rent any of those that you can't afford to buy. Sorry, love my Fuji gear, but I had to reality check that one. People who seriously need/want a D500 aren't really that worried there's no 18/2 DX pancake available for it... but rent a 400/2.8 and go birding? Oh, yeah - you just can't do that with any Fuji... yet.
     
    Until you can - and until ANY mirrorless camera can focus and track a moving target as well as a D500 or a D5 (or the Canon equivalents) - I'll be sporting an F mount in the big bag with my XF mount in the little one. Both are wonderful tools to have.
  24. Like
    Max_Elmar reacted to jlmphotos in Iridient Developer and Adobe Lens and Color Profiles   
    Holy Smokes Max.  Apparently you were NOT the last person in the world to know this, I was!  Many Thanks.  I had no idea all the profiles I had in LR, and used upon import would work inn ID.  I'll have to try that.
    Thank you.
  25. Like
    Max_Elmar got a reaction from Yoan in Building a Fuji kit   
    Hi Yoan-
    The X-E1 is still very useable but if you try a a later body, you will want one. The IQ is the same, but everything else about the X-E2 is newer, better, and faster. I kept my X-E1 as a back up body. Running FW 2.4, which was the last FW update that added functionality. No colors for focus peaking. No classic chrome film simulation (which is the only color film sim I really like.) Slower refresh on the EVF - quite choppy in dim light. AF doesn't really bother me. Still using DSLR for action/sport.
     
    I started with the original 3 XF lenses, the 18/2, 35/1.4, and 60/2.4 - all three are very good to great lenses to this day and the trio can handle most tasks quite well. I got the 18-55 to have a stabilized lens. It's an excellent zoom, I use it a lot for travel and events - still prefer the primes when the situation allows. I got a Rokinon 12/2, which is an outstanding value. It's sharper, faster, with less coma and distortion than anything else in the range, even the Zeiss. But it has CA - which the camera (or a good RAW converter) deals with pretty well. The XC 55-230 is another great value - especially for travel, as it is nice and light and small - so I often bring it - and t's pretty sharp - happy with the results.
     
    Waiting patiently for (what I hope will be) the 23/2 WR. Will get the 23/1.4 if the WR is just a rumor or if it doesn't perform. Would love to have the 90/2 and maybe the 14/2.8 - both are nearly perfect lenses, as far as I can tell.
     
    Everyone lusts after the 56/1.2 or uses an old 50/1.8 on an adapter for portrait lens but I find the 60 to be wonderful for portraits or light macro. Beautiful bokeh - and decently sharp right across the frame, even wide open.
     
    It's great that the Fuji works well with adapted lenses - and and I have tried more than a few - but iI haven't found one to out perform any of the native lenses. I don't own any $$$$ Leica lenses to try - so I can't say absolutely.  
     
    It's a great system.
     
    Regards,
     
    Max_Elmar
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