Analogue Photographer and Digital Neanderthal Here

[kenneth]

xI am an analogue photographer using 35mm and MF Leica M and Rolleiflex camera systems who is tempted over to the darkside, solely due to the pending arrival of our first Grandchild. This system appeals as, (a) I can use my Leica M Summicron optics with the X Pro adaptor and ( I will be able to buy and add the wonderful Carl Zeiss Touit Lenses. I have long preferred German optics to Japanese ones, have used both. I would appreciate constructive comments from other uses of either the X-Pro 1 rangefinder or the mirrorless X-T1, Thank you

[milandro]

Welcome to FR forum Kenneth.

 

Well, since you have Leica lenses why not let the Leica dark side tempt you and buy a Leica SL?  You can use M lenses on that system too, but even then...with an adapter of course.

 

You need a lot of cash though. Perhaps this will be a deterrent and the reason why you are looking for a Japanese alternative.

 

 X-T1 and the X-Pro-1 are both mirrorless ( you say the rangefinder ...and the mirrorless...)  but the X-Pro-1 has also an Optical Viewfinder (OVF) as well as an Electronic Viewfinder ( EVF). 

 

The EVF of the X-Pro-1 is not of the same quality as that one of the X-T1 or X-T10.

 

Anyway the X-Pro-1 is certainly on the way out, being the oldest camera in the system and having seen how everybody talks of the new X-Pro whatever it will be called. The X-T1 is still, and for the time being unchallenged, pinnacle of the system.

 

Not using native to this camera lenses ( the so called “ legacy” lenses, a neologism referring to: lenses made for analog cameras used on a digital camera by means of adapters) on a Fuji camera is certainly possible, many do, but you will have all the “ problems” of not benefiting of the many functions which the lenses and the camera have.

 

Besides because the way film and sensors capture light is different, making, in the case of the sensor, not such a good use of light coming at an angle at it , compared to film, all “ legacy” lenses used on a digital camera will always perform at a lesser resolution than they originally had on film and their counterparts especially made for digital photography. Read this test of someone testing a Leica lens on a X-Pro-1

 

http://photomadd.com/using-a-leica-summicron-50mm-with-the-fujifilm-x-pro1/

 

“.....To my eyes, and my surprise, the Fujinon is the sharper of the two.   At f/2.8-f/4 they are pretty evenly matched, but by f/8 the Fujinon is way ahead and by f/11 there is really quite a difference.  That isn’t missed focus on the Summicron – I was very particular and I’ve had a good look over the whole frame at 100% and it’s consistent across the frame......"

 

This is consistent with the phenomenon that many have observed that evern the best adapted lenses perform (certainly in resolution terms) not as well as native digital lenses on digital cameras. 

Therefore, despite your lenses being Leicas , they won’t perform as well as a Fuji lens on a Fuji camera will do.

 

In addition to this, the Fuji camera “ recognizes"  Fuji lenses and automatically performs corrections ( even on the raw files) to compensate, for example, for light loss at the border of the format, this won’t happen with any adapted lens or any third party lens (aside from the Zeiss lenses, specially made for Fuji which are possibly an alternative to you, seen they are German and not Japanese whatever that means. 

 

Unless you use special focal reducers ( which cannot be used with all type of lenses!) because the APS-C ( unlike the LEICA SL) sensor being smaller, every lens you use will be performing as a longer focal length than it did on the 35mm camera.

 

A 35mm would be the “ normal” focal for APS-C instead of the 50mm on your analog camera and so on.

 

The benefits of the current OVF are very limited and even more so if you adapt lenses because, for example, to focus manually you always need the EVF.

 

You can use the various focus aids of the EVF but it won’t be easy to follow objects moving rapidly and focus accordingly and you will quickly find ( I think) that you will use your autofocus lenses ( Japanese or German) rather than your Leica’s.

 

Of course we don’t know yet what the future will bring, Who knows, maybe the X-Pro to come will have many features that this doesn’t have.

 

This forum is particularly prone to speculations ( it is called Fuji Rumors after all) but the reality is that the new X-Pro is still very far away and nobody really knows what its features will be.

 

As for the camera that you would need if you like to enter the system now and not in a year or so when the X-Pro will come out.

 

 

The X-T1 is certainly a great camera ( I own that one) but If I were to enter the system as you seem to want to do, and you don’t need the Weather resistance then I would certainly save a lot of money and buy the X-T10 which is a lot cheaper and performs at least 95% as well as the X-T1 if not even better.

 

Good luck.

[Larry Bolch]

xI am an analogue photographer using 35mm and MF Leica M and Rolleiflex camera systems who is tempted over to the darkside, solely due to the pending arrival of our first Grandchild. This system appeals as, (a) I can use my Leica M Summicron optics with the X Pro adaptor and ( I will be able to buy and add the wonderful Carl Zeiss Touit Lenses. I have long preferred German optics to Japanese ones, have used both. I would appreciate constructive comments from other uses of either the X-Pro 1 rangefinder or the mirrorless X-T1, Thank you

 

I have a bunch of analogue lenses, but they are a mixed bag. On my X-Pro1, my f/1.8 105mm Nikon performs brilliantly. If I mount it on an adapter, I have the field of view of a 157.5mm lens, and on the Metabones Speed Booster, a f/1.2 105mm. However, it is big and heavy and I don't carry it much.

 

I have the Fuji M adapter for 50mm and 90mm Canon Serenars, and both are disasters. They were fine on film. However, the rear element of both is flat, and I suspect that there is a repeating reflection between it and the sensor. Film does not reflect. Furthermore, sensors need the rays of light to strike as close to a 90° angle as practical. This is the case with current lenses designed for digital cameras, but not necessarily with lenses from the film era. Excellent lenses for film cameras can fail miserably on digital. 

 

Back in film days, I rented Fujinons for large format photography whenever they were available. Even though these X-camera lenses are more consumer-priced than industry-priced, quality is superb and you have easy aperture control and autofocus, which adapted lenses lack. I assume that our Fuji lenses are so affordable because they can be made in sufficient quantity. Fujinons for video, on the other hand, start at around $3,000US and top out at $233,490.00 for a 101× zoom. Whether watching a movie or TV show, odds that it was shot with Fujinons is high. Fuji has been in business for over 80 years, producing lenses primarily for the industry, but their skill shows up to our benefit now that they are also in the consumer market.