Heccie Thump

I currently own a XT4 and love shooting macro, using both the Laowa 65mm and the Fuji 80mm lenses, while dabbling in most other types of photography but mainly landscape/seascape. I never shoot video. I am considering upgrading to one of the newer bodies and my attention has fallen on the XH2 as the prime candidate for the 40M sensor but haven't really seen a lot of information on how good the camera is for macro. Most of the videos on YT seem to focus on comparing the three new cameras as a general overview and seem to spend a lot of time on their relative video capabilities, which is fine as they are marketed as hybrid cameras. Does anyone have any opinions on how well the XH2 holds up in the macro arena? I know the XF80mm is on the approved 40Mp lens list so not worried about that. Oh, and the other consideration that is important when settling on the XH2 is the ergonomics - I am a fairly 'robust' person with hands like shovels and the form factor of the new bodies with the deeper grip is what made me discard the XT5. I use the XT4 at the moment as I have fitted a SmallRig hand grip to it which makes holding it and carrying it a lot easier.

There's a few videos on YouTube that explain focus stacking on Fuji cameras. The ones I have seen most of relate to the XT line but I checked the manual for the XH2 and XH2s and the interface is identical between the two ranges so should work the same. I have been doing it on the XT4 and you do, indeed, set the timer to 0 sec and it will take the sequence of images as fast as it can, based on the shutter speed selected. However, this can become an issue if your flash cannot regenerate fast enough. Micael Widell did a good video on this, doing a comparison between a few common affordable flashes to highlight the issue. Bottom line was that the Godox V350 flash is a unit capable of firing rapidly enough and with stable, repeatable light for each exposure with the camera focus stack set to 0 sec.

I couldn't find my manual so downloaded a PDF copy and did some searching. From p146 of the manual, regarding Shooting Only stabilisation: "Image stabilization enabled only when the shutter button is pressed halfway (focus mode C) or the shutter is released." So it appears that the camera is 'working as intended' and that in AF-S the stabilisation mechanism kicks in only as you release the shutter. I think I would prefer it to activate on a half press, like it does in AF-C.

I want to check with you guys on how image stabilisation is meant to work on the XT4 and whether I might have an issue. I was out with the camera yesterday with the 80mm macro lens, which has OIS, and the 1.4 Teleconverter and did some tests to see how good the stabilisation was performing by pointing at random objects/general landscape. On the lens I had the OIS switch turned on and I selected the stabilisation to be always on in the menu option and was suitably impressed with how much camera shake was reduced. However, when I went in the menu and selected Shooting Only for stabilisation I noticed something odd. My understanding with this mode is that when you half press the shutter release the OIS is meant to turn on and stabilise the image just before completing the shot. With the focus switch set to Continuous AF this is exactly what happened - shaky image, half press, stable image. But, if the focus selector switch is set to Single AF I half press the release and I get no stabilisation. The focus locks and the exposure locks but the image is still shaky in the viewfinder. I swapped out the lens for my 16-80mm kit lens and this performs exactly the same - no image stabilisation with Single AF selected, so it appears to be something to do with the body and not the lens. Is this normal? I would be surprised if stabilisation only kick in when you fully press the shutter release because some shots are taken with tiny fractions of a second of exposure and the mechanism will still need a finite time to engage.

It's been almost a year since I worked out what lenses I wanted and I am now happy with what I have ... at the moment. Hehe. Looking at my kit bag as it stands today, if I were to condense it to meet the requirements of this post I would have to go with: 16-80 F4 kit lens - I realised just how good and flexible this lens is. After all, it is a kit lens. 80mm F2.8 macro - I love macro and the lens is a beast. And it works exceptionally well with the 1.4x teleconverter! Viltrox 13mm F2.8 - for those huge landscape vistas Fuji 50mm F2 - my go to portrait option. I'm not a professional shooter and this is a lovely lens. I did go out on a day trip recently and took the three Fujicron lenses (23, 35 and 50) with me but spent way too much time swapping between them and afterwards realised that I could have got by perfectly adequately with just the 16-80 lens. I'll keep the 23 and 35mm F2s for low light street photography in the city.

I bought the Laowa 65mm macro lens last year after discovering I enjoy taking macro photographs and I found the image quality is top notch. It is quite a small lens with a relatively narrow body and blue markings on it so it sort of clashes with the retro style silver body, but hey ... function over form. The only downside from my point of view is that the lens is fully manual and as such you can't make use of the automatic focus bracketing function in the body of the camera - you have to do any image stacking manually. Which isn't all that much of a problem - the auto bracketing function might take 100 images where you can achieve the same effect with 15-20 images taken manually if you use the focus peaking to overlap them. However, only two weeks ago I bought the Fuji 80mm macro lens and have been getting some wonderful images with it and I can clearly see the difference in the images I get. You gets what you pays for, I suppose. The downside with this lens over the Laowa, apart from the cost, is that the Fuji 80mm is only x1 magnification compared to the x2 of the Laowa. I plan on keeping the Laowa for the short term as it will still come in handy for studio/product shots where that closer detail is needed, but I suspect that I might be selling it in the not-too distant future.

I have seen discussions in the past about whether Fuji should bring out a Monochrome only camera to go toe-to-toe with Leica, and I am one of those who think they should. I would love to have a mono specific body that will take my lenses. I already shoot a lot of my pictures using the Acros simulation and love the results, but having a specific body designed from the bottom up to take mono would be a step up. However, with the recent release of the Pentax K3 Monochrome camera I am starting to think that Fuji may have missed the boat. Even if they decide to go down that line, by the time they produce the camera and ramp up production and marketing I suspect that a large portion of the market may be already invested in other models.

Laowa 65mm F2.8 Macro and XF35mm F2

I use the Lowepro Flipside 450, but it is more of a daysack than a proper hiking/camping bag. It splits the body into two compartments, the lower with back access for camera gear and the upper compartment for general purpose stuff, although the divider is not sealed and can be removed, if desired, to make the bag more like a conventional rucksack. I usually carry a small pop-up umbrella, snacks, a lightweight waterproof jacket, spare batteries, cleaning cloth and a 1m diameter folding reflector (for natural reflected sidelighting or as a shade while doing macro). It has a front zipped area that can house a pad or small laptop that could easily hold a hydration bag of some sort, but I bring along my camera manual for light reading!! I usually carry a water bottle or flask in one of the side mesh pockets and a travel tripod in the other side. I wouldn't like to use it for extended camping out, though On a recent trip abroad I used it as my walk-on flight luggage. Having taken out the photography gear I didn't need to carry with me on the trip I used the empty spaces in the camera compartment to take spare underwear, socks, t-shirt and wash kit with me. It was all very organised!!

I use the X-T4 and the longest lens I currently own is the 16-80mm kit lens but I want to branch out a bit and have a go at some sports and nature photography. The main sport I want to have a go at is village cricket and from a nature perspective will most likely be birds. I have been trying to read up on the various options open to me and I find myself getting tied up in knots with all the options and could use a little advice from anyone who has experience: 50-140mm I like the sound of this one. Premium quality. F2.8 all the way and usable with the teleconverters. I worry about the range for getting decent images in the centre of a cricket pitch, the cost if you include the TCs and the possible reduction of image quality when coupled with the x2 TC. Would probably be looking at a used one. 70-300mm The natural lens to fit in with my 16-80 kit lens. Reports are good for the cost, size and image quality, but again I worry about the range without adding in a teleconverter. 100-400mm A decent lens by all accounts, but quite pricey and leaves me with a gap between 80-100mm focal length (probably not that much of an issue, to be fair). Seems like it should be capable of taking the right images at range without resorting to TCs. 150-600mm A beast. Definitely going to be long enough, but possibly a little overkill. Probably way over any sensible keen amateur's budget. What are people's thoughts on the matter?

It can get quite boring fielding on the boundary! I bet having the camera with you makes it more bearable.

The Pacific Ocean comes rolling in to steep coral shelves and is forced through small tunnels in the coral to spurt up into the air.

The blowholes on the west coast of Tongatapu island.

X-T4, 16-80 kit lens, 11mm Macro tube

I found out they are called Squash Leaf Footed Bugs, and those are the nymphs. This is the adult form. Taken with X-T4, 16-80 kit lens at 80mm and 11mm Macro tube.

Not sure what category they come under

XT-4, 16-80 kit lens at 80mm, F5.6

XT-4, 16-80 kit lens at 80mm, F5.6

I find myself coming back to this thread regularly as I am at that stage of working out what I need, rather than what I want. I recently invested in the X-T4 with 16-80 kit lens and got the camera bag (Lowepro Flipside Trek 450 rucksack) that suits my needs perfectly. The carrying capacity of the camera area of the bag is fairly limited, and covers the camera, filters, flash unit and around 3/4 average sized lenses. Now, I am not 'unnecessarily restricting myself' by limiting myself to 3-4 lenses - I could buy a bigger bag and raid the magic money tree to get any lens I want but I think this is a very valid exercise in affordability and compromise, but still being able to achieve what you want. At present, I have: - 16-80 kit lens - 35mm F2 And top of my list to get is the 80mm macro lens. I have also been looking at what zoom lens to get. I love macro photography, hence my first choice of lens to buy is the 80mm, but as a secondary photography interest I like landscape and wildlife photography in equal measure. This leaves me in a bit of a quandary as the better landscape zoom is the 10-24mm, whereas for wildlife I would be better off with the 100-400mm. Maybe I can squeeze the camera and 4 lenses in my bag Edit: I have been doing more research on telephoto lenses and discovered that the 70-300 will be a far better fit for my needs, budget and restricted space - it is a much smaller and lighter lens with very good quality results and will be a seamless fit with the 16-80mm kit lens.

Still saving for my 80mm macro lens, so I was pottering around in the garden when I came across a bumble bee. Had to shoot it with what I had on me at the time: X-T4, 35mm at F11, ISO 200, 1/250 sec

For those living in the UK, Currys have got the XF35mm F2 available at the moment for £219.97, where the usual selling price in the UK is around £380. However, it is only available at this price in Silver finish - the Black version is full price. If you look on the Camera Price Buster photographic equipment comparison site you can see from the price history for the lens that this is the third time they have had this lens for sale at this price in the last three months. I ordered mine yesterday and it arrived this morning.

Not proper macro shots, but I took these on my X-T4 with the 16-80 kit lens and macro extension tube.

Apologies. I was at work when I thought to ask this question and I only just remembered I had my camera manual in my bag so I looked it up. I quote: In 'Shooting Only' the image stabilisation is enabled only when the shutter button is pressed halfway (in focus mode C) or the shutter is released. So, when you have the camera in continuous autofocus and you depress the shutter release half way then IBIS kicks in as I expected it to, but if in single focus mode it does not activate until you press the button all the way in, so you probably won't even notice it turning on and off. It doesn't fill me with confidence, tbh, that it ever engages. I would rather the IBIS comes on when you half press whichever mode you are in so you can see its effect. I think I will leave it permanently on - that way I can see it working and when I put the camera on a tripod it turns itself off anyway.