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Maurice

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  1. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from blowabs in XF23mm vs XF27mm for Street Photography   
    It's unlikely that you need F1.4 for street unless you like to shoot at dusk(?), and the size of the 23/1.4 would scare away some people. It's better to look like a tourist than a pro .. perception can be everything. I think that even the Graphite X-T1 would be best because that makes it look more fancy than professional, making people curious instead of nervous .. just thinking out loud here.
     
    As you've seen, the image quality of the 27mm is impeccable. The X-T10 looks harmless as well in both colors i guess, it's tiny (too tiny for some hands). The main reason to get the X-T1 over the X-T10 is the larger viewfinder, but that's just a luxury .. as are most of the other small differences.
     
    As for the focal length, read this: http://www.japancamerahunter.com/2014/11/storytellers-kit-daniel-schaefer/
  2. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from chaosboi in Have both X100S/T and 23mm 1.4?   
    Most noticeable at close range, but really at any focus distance the X100 doesn't come close to the XF23 when shot at F2 and even F2.8. It bugs me all the time with 'real' shooting, in fact i didn't even do a test chart.
     
    *Don't have the XF23, but everything i've seen clearly looks much better. Mirrorlessons did somewhat of a comparison too: http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2013/10/28/the-fujinon-xf-23mm-f1-4-hands-on-comparison-with-the-x100s-2/
  3. Like
    Maurice reacted to Marc G. in Have both X100S/T and 23mm 1.4?   
    As wide angle lenses are used for getting up close, I think the practical IQ difference is quite important and I cannot support the statement "but for real shooting they are the same". Everytime I had to get close (e.g. for details) I had to stop down the X100 lens to f/5.6 to get an acceptable quality. The 23 1.4 offers a MUCH better close up quality. The X100 lens wide open and up close produces milky, soft results. Depending on the usage and the user it can be of utmost importance (e.g. for me) or of roughly no importance at all (probably Dis and many other users).
  4. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from Dis in Why is the trash button useless in shooting mode?   
    You have to do that for numerous things ... that doesn't mean it couldn't be put to good use. Offering the option is extremely simple and hurts no-one.
  5. Like
    Maurice reacted to jeremyclarke in Why is the trash button useless in shooting mode?   
    Is anyone else really annoyed that the trash icon button can't be assigned a "function button" for use in shooting mode? It makes no sense to me, as it never does anything unless you are in playback. There surely isn't a technical reason why it can't be re-assigned the way the video and d-pad buttons can. I can't think of a good ergonomic reason either, it's not a button I'm hitting by accident (on the X-T10 anyway). 
     
    Making it customizeable would be super useful and increase the value of the cameras with no downside. Fuji if you're listening please just make it work like it should!
     
    (I'd love to put Shutter type or Face Detection on/off there, next to the drive mode dial since they often need to be changed together to get CH+AF-C working together).
  6. Like
    Maurice reacted to Don Pino in Going to Europe - 14/2.8 vs 10-24/4?   
    I like the flexibility and the creative possibilies of the 10-24
    Zeelandbrug with 10mm and ten stop ND

  7. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from marcelo_valente in FX 60mm 2.4 Macro   
    You did notice that image looks like it would on a 8 bit Atari computer ?
  8. Like
    Maurice reacted to f/otographer in Best m42 50ish mm lens?   
    There are so many good 50 ish M42 lenses you definitely have plenty to choose from.
     
    One thing about the M42 mount is that it was in wide use in the time of photography just before good multi coatings became an expected thing. By the time makers really put emphasis on having multi coatings across their entire range most had already moved to a proprietary mount if they hadn't begun with one anyway.
     
    There are a few exceptions to this. M42 Pentax Takumars had extremely advanced coatings for their time. They are universally accepted to be excellent lenses and you would be hard pressed to not be happy with the 50/1.4. If you cant take nice photos with this lens then put down the camera.
     
    My personal favorite M42 lenses are actually lenses that I have never technically shot with with. Well, sorta. I highly recommend the M42 Yashica DS-M lenses. Like I said, I have never shot with the actual DS-M lenses but I shoot all the time with Yashica ML lenses in the Contax/Yashica mount. Yashica cameras used the M42 mount for a long time and the last series of them, the DS-M, were excellent optics with a very good multicoating. That is actually what the M stands for in DS-M and differentiates them from the older DS lenses. When Yashica hooked up with Zeiss in the late 70's to develop the Contax/Yachica mount they needed a full lens lineup to put on the new cameras. So they simply modified the old DS-M designs to have the new C/Y mount. If you look at the old DS-M's and their first series ML counterparts the lenses are identical except for the mount. The lenses were later updated with some cosmetic changes (and a few had new optical formulas) and these are known as the Series II ML lenses.
     
    A quick note about the series II lenses. There is a rumor, unsubstantiated but I believe to be true, that when Yashica changed over to the new series the bean counters at the corporation ran some numbers and discovered it would actually cost more money to make both the Yashica ML 50/1.7 and the Zeiss Planar 50/1.7 along side each other then it would be to simply make more Ziess Planars optics and put them in the Yashca ML body. The thing about the Contax Yashica system was that you had Yachica and Contax cameras using the same mount and all the bodies would be made by Yashica. But for the lenses you could choose the cheaper Yashica ML lenses or the nicer Contax Ziess lenses, some of which were made in Germany by Zeiss and some made in Japan by Yaschica but made to higher Zeiss standards. But the accountants figured it would cost less money to just make a larger batch of Zeiss Planar 50/1.7's and use them in both the Zeiss and Yashica ML lens bodies. They ML did not of course have the Zeiss T* coating but used the ML coating instead, which is still a very high quality coating. Yashica learned a LOT from Ziess during this period and it shows in the ML lenses. So if you buy a series II Yashica ML 50/1.7 there is actually a good chance you are getting a Zeiss Planar 50/1.7 with ML coatings. I can vouch for the lens and it is one of my favorites ever. Actually the Zeiss lenses from the C/Y period are some of the best manual focus lenses you can ever own. The ones made in Japan are actually Tomioka made Zeiss glass....holy crap what a combo.
     
    This is actually one of the best reasons to shoot Yashica glass. All Yashica lenses were manufactured by Tomioka, a Japanese lens making company renowned for excellent glass. Yashica had outsourced all of its lenses to Tomioka and liked the results so much that they ended up buying the company and bringing their lens making in house. When the Kyocera takeover of Yashica happened in the 80's all of the Tomioka stuff went to Kyocera. And somewhere, even today, the remnants of Tomioka are buried in the holding of they Kyocera corporation.
     
    But all of that is a little off the topic of M42's. Some other really nice M42's to look at are the Mamiya Sekor lenses. Well made, lovely little lenses with some more primitive coatings. A couple of examples of some Mamiya Sekor 50's...
     

     

     
     
    Probably my favorite M42 lens of all time is the Zeiss Jena Biotar 58/2. A stupidly good lens with some very nice old world characteristics. Technically the bokeh on this lens is nissen, or 'broken', due to the way it can double render some things instead of smoothing things out. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world and it is sitting now on my desk as I type this. Mine is a 1959 aluminum bodies version and they can be had for not a whole lot of money. When used properly a photographer can turn the weaknesses of this lens around and some very nice images can result. Here are some examples...
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    The mantis photo is a good example of what I mean by Nissen bokeh. You can see the very specific double rendering on the hind parts of the little insect. Technically bad, but beautiful nonetheless.
  9. Like
    Maurice reacted to f/otographer in Best m42 50ish mm lens?   
    I would be completely remiss if I mentioned M42 lenses and did not discuss my OTHER favorite fifty in this mount. The Auto Yashinon 5cm f/2. This is a very old lens from the earliest days of Yashica SLR business. I'm fairly certain that this is also made by Tomioka as the renderings are what I have come to expect from Tomi glass. Unfortunately the records are lost from this era so we will never know for sure. I can say that on the outside this lens is 99 percent identical to the Pentax Auto Takumar 55/2.2 which can lead to some interesting discussion. Did Yashica buy a design from Pentax early on or did a very new Pentax company also buy a readily available design from Tomioka to quickly get a lens to market? My money is on Tomioka, since as a third party maker they sold to a lot of basic designs to many companies back then with only minor cosmetic changes. Who knows for sure? But if you ever come across one of these I HIGHLY recommend you get it. It is a tiny, well made little jewel of a lens and resembles an old rangefinder lens way more then the big SLR lenses that came later.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  10. Like
    Maurice reacted to f/otographer in Canon FD - X Mount Adapters   
    Speedboosters are amazing and I highly recommend them. At least the ones from Metabones who developed them with Brian Caldwell, a notable lens designer. The others seem to have some type of issue or another and were generally just cobbled together concepts based off the Metabones unit without all the benefits the original one had from Mr. Caldwell and his research. Here are some examples from my C/Y Speedbooster on my NEX 7. Not a Fuji X camera I know, but the results should be similar. You may view more of my Speedbooster photos here if you like with all of the relevant lens info. https://www.flickr.com/photos/8539414@N07/sets/72157633126249795
     

     

     

     

  11. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from jeremyclarke in X-T1 FW 4.0 BETA: I have it and share my findings soon ;)   
    I vote calling it Discreet Mode.
  12. Like
    Maurice reacted to joergs in Seascape   
    strapped by Jörg Staudt, auf Flickr
     
    X-E1 with XF18-55
  13. Like
    Maurice reacted to marcelo_valente in FX 60mm 2.4 Macro   
    The 60 with the raynox works the same, but if you are that close it's easier to focus manually and moving the camera back and forward. If you will use it you will need to buy a 39mm filter, if it's a cheap one remove the glass. This is because when the lens retracts the raynox will hit the lens body and will not allow the lens mechanism to work correctly, you need some kind of "spacer" to move the raynox a bit further away. 
    If you want some specific test I can do it for you.
     
    Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
  14. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from Eva in X-T1 FW 4.0 BETA: I have it and share my findings soon ;)   
    I vote calling it Discreet Mode.
  15. Like
    Maurice reacted to mjh in why do all digital fuji X cameras need to have the "sound on" to use the flash?   
    I have always referred to it as ‘museum mode’ myself.
  16. Like
    Maurice reacted to olli in why do all digital fuji X cameras need to have the "sound on" to use the flash?   
    I too was confused by this when i first got my x-e2, but eventually worked it out. The renaming is a good idea though i tend to think of it as 'discreet' mode, for those times when you don't want to draw attention to yourself, or when you're in a place like a church or a museum where flash is not allowed and where (in theory) it should be a quiet place.
  17. Like
    Maurice reacted to joshinthecity in Looking for a lens to get 'real' 35mm   
    What JL said.....
  18. Like
    Maurice reacted to JLing in Looking for a lens to get 'real' 35mm   
    For the price of a new lens you could easily get a used x100 s/t in my opinion. The best 35mm experience you can get! I have a xt1 and x100s combo. Makes a very good backup camera and no fiddling with lens changes. The x100 s/t doesn't really take more space in your bag then an extra lens. You do get less speed and dof 2 vs 1.4 though, but that shouldn't be a big issue.
  19. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from BarwickGreen in Lightroom 6.1   
    Those thin branches/twigs are there, more clearly than they were before, but indeed any imperfections might be more obvious.
     
    I suspect that if they manage to get every bit of detail out some day that will also include some more noise. Indeed you can already see it in your example above in the patch of open blue sky. Of course the difference is that you can decide for yourself how much of it you want to have denoised, and then this will be down to the quality of the denoiser of choice rather than trying to fix the damage done by bad interpolation. With more information available it should be easier for the software to distinguish between detail or noise, for both DNR or sharpening, and combined. Even things like selective color editing, or black and white conversions with simulated color filters etc should perform better around edges in the finer details. Also high iso's should have noticeably more color detail. (though lowering the color noise reduction nearly all the way down fixes a lot of that already)
  20. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from boxlock in Not a lot of love for the 14mm   
    This is the first time ever for me to hear that. You must be confusing it with some other lens, the 18mm maybe? Because i hear (and see) nothing but good or great things about the 14mm.
  21. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from BarwickGreen in Lightroom 6.1   
    Ah so that's LR6.1, thanks much. Seems to be the same as ACR9.1.
     
    As we've learned in that other topic, the blue channel causing edge halos around edges like trees against blue skies and such probably improved slightly, but regular detail still the same mushy mush to my eyes. 
     
    Hope that collaboration with Fuji they're promising will amount to something !
  22. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from flysurfer in Lightroom 6.1   
    Ah so that's LR6.1, thanks much. Seems to be the same as ACR9.1.
     
    As we've learned in that other topic, the blue channel causing edge halos around edges like trees against blue skies and such probably improved slightly, but regular detail still the same mushy mush to my eyes. 
     
    Hope that collaboration with Fuji they're promising will amount to something !
  23. Like
    Maurice reacted to flysurfer in Lightroom 6.1   
  24. Like
    Maurice reacted to Trenton Talbot in Lightroom 6 improvements?   
    Yep. If you scroll changelog (sort of) down to "Reduced “color blur” artifacts when processing Fujifilm XTrans raw images" under "Bug fixes" and follow the link, you can see for yourself what exactly Adobe meant with this update for us Fuji users.
  25. Like
    Maurice got a reaction from m2usa in 18-135mm combined with XE2   
    Don't have it, but let's start with this: http://camerasize.com/compact/#493.359,493.426,ha,t
     
    You might want to get the add-on grip. Or a thumbs-up thingy.
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