Coming to Fuji

[Heccie Thump]

Hello everyone,

I have had a long-term interest in photography but never taken it beyond amateur dabbling as a result of the various twists and turns in my life and a general lack of available cash!  However, now I am at that stage in life where I can dedicate more time to myself and pursue the hobby that I want to.

I recently joined a local photography club and am starting to put myself around and delve deeper into techniques using my bridge camera, a Canon Powershot G3X.  I have been researching all the different manufacturers over the last few months and I have decided that Fuji is the system for me.  Now here is my dilemna - I am coming into some money shortly and have set myself a limit of what I want to spend on equipment but I am having a devil of a time trying to nail down what will work best for me and would appreciate any sound advice people have.  I have had to sit and think seriously about what I want out of photography, and what I can expect to achieve.

First and foremost, I am in my mid-50s and dont expect to be able to develop fast enough that I can consider doing photography as a full time career change!  The photography club I go to runs monthly 'competitions', with different subjects each time to encourage members to try areas they may not have thought about before so whatever I buy will need to cover general photography and I fully expect a 'kit' lens to be good enough for this.  However, there are some areas of photography I am more interested in dabbling with - namely Landscapes, Astrophotography and Portraits/Still Life.

I do not need the camera to do video ... at all ... ever.  I have a camcorder for that nonsense!

I had pretty much opted to go for the XT-4 as the camera body, mainly for the bigger battery and IBIS, despite it having the same photography spec as the XT-3.  Besides, the XT-4 with 16-80 kit lens is only slightly more expensive than the XT-3 with the same lens for some bizarre reason.  However, I don't like the flippy vlogger screen on the XT-4 and I prefer the XT-3 screen.  Grrr.

So, I expect that the XT-4 and 16-80mm F4 kit lens is going to cover most of my general purpose needs and for the other areas, here is my thinking:

Landscapes - I used to do a lot of hillwalking and mountaineering in the past and love to get up into the hills.  I think this is going to be a no-brainer because everything I have read or seen on the subject points to the XF10-24 F4 wide angle zoom as the go to landscape lens, coupled with a mid-range zoom for those tighter shots (more on zooms later).

Portraiture - I was looking at the XF90mm F2 as a specialised portrait lens, while using the kit lens for 'wider' portraits.

Astrophotography - I am thinking of covering both wide shot 'milky way landscapes' and some image stacking shots of nebulae (with a star tracker eventually).  This is where I could use some advice.  Would the 90mm F2 lens also double up as a good enough focal length lens to be able to frame most common nebula shots, or will I need both a wider and a longer length?  Would it be worthwhile looking at the 'Red Badge' 50-140mm 2.8 zoom lens instead, which would also cover other areas I am interested in (landscapes and general zooming for wildlife/sports) as at the moment the 90mm prime would be my longest focal length.  For star field shots would the 10-24mm be ok to start with, or should I aim to get a faster prime lens dedicated to the job?

Now, I need to have a debate with myself because I ended up with two lists - the first option was my first stab, the second option was going for better quality lenses but thinking sideways:

Option 1: XT-4, 16-80mm kit lens, 10-24mm wide zoom, 70-300mm zoom, 90mm F2 prime, maybe 1.4 teleconverter.  Cost as of today £4,380

Option 2: Camera body with no kit lens, 16-55mm F2.8 Red Badge, 10-24mm wide zoom, 50-140mm F2.8 Red Badge with 1.4 teleconverter.  90mm F2 prime maybe?  Since landscape and astro photography will be most likely on a tripod then IBIS is less relevant and it may be worthwhile going XT-3 and waiting for the XT-5 to appear?  Cost with XT-3 £4610.  Cost with XT-4  £5060.

My quandary is whether to go XT4 with kit lens and 70-300 zoom, or pay £230 more for an XT-3 but have the better quality Red Badge lenses instead.  Is there that much difference in quality to make it worthwhile?  Would the extral length of the 70-300mm be more useful?

The budget I set myself is £5000, btw.

[RosieC]

Hi and welcome.

for your info I have the 16-55 and 50-140 which are both great lenses! Well worth having even though they are heavy. I do use them with the xt3 as I didn’t see the need to have the xt4 as the camera is mainly used on a tripod and when I need to go hand held as long as the shutter speed is set it’s ok. I did have the 10-24 once but changed it for the 16-55 as the original lens was not weather sealed.

for astrophography I understand that the Laowa 9mm is very good (see Andy Mumford, pro photographer and Fuji camera guy).

 

why don’t you just start with a wide and a long lens and then gradually build your kit rather than spending out all at once. Also I’d recommend some Fuji workshops which will help you understand the camera system better.

 

hope this helps.

 

rosie

[Herco]

Welcome to the forum.

First on the camera. The X-T3 and X-T4 are very similar except for a) IBIS in the T4, b) a slightly deeper grip on the T4 and a larger battery, c) the pivoting LCD (that most still photographers dislike) and d) some extended video capabilities on the T4. Because of the LCD, I'd always go for the T3 ;-). Even if it was the same price.

In your case both landscape and astro are probably often with a tripod, so you might forfeit on IBIS. Another option when you really want IBIS might be to buy a used X-H1 or an X-S10. Don't worry about the 24MP vs 26MP. In real life you can't tell the difference in 99.9% of the images. Though the X-H1 is an older camera, it is noticeably better build and weather sealed than all other X-cameras.

As for lenses, the 16-80 and 70-300 are good lenses, but nothing special. If you can afford it, buy the 16-55 and 50-140 (perhaps even with the 1.4 converter). The 90 is a great lens, but it is a bit of a specialist lens. Unless portrait is a main activity, I wouldn't buy it next to the 50-140. You'll probably won't use it that often. Both the 16-55 and the 50-140 are excellent for portraits in that 50-90mm range.

For astro and landscape I'd rather buy the 16/1.4 (instead of the 90). That is a great lens for landscape and astro (virtually no coma) and much better than the 16-55 at 16mm, which is rather 'soft' and has some coma towards the corners. Not ideal for astro.

However, when you start with the 16-55 and the 50-140 only, you can get used to the system and decide later on additional lenses. I host workshops for fashion and portrait photography in our studio and I see people carrying bags full of lenses. In practice they use 2 or 3 regularly and the rest rarely. 

 

[jerryy]

What they said 😀.

Depending on your budget woes, IBIS is not really much use for tripod shots especially if you go the astro-tracker route, but it is handy after you have been hiking for a while and the handheld shots are not as steady as you might want -- though OIS is still good.

One other option to consider for your astrophotography gear is the Samyang / Rokinon 135mm lens. This one is a favorite for many, here is a quick look:

https://www.astrobin.com/groups/108/samyang-135-f2/

p.s. With Fujifilm X-bodies you do not need to make any body modifications that you may hear about (recommended for other camera manufacturers) to let in H-alpha (red color) in astrophotography. Fujifilm's approach of not using the standard Bayer matrix lets in the H-alpha light already.

Edited March 9, 2022 by jerryy

[Heccie Thump]

Thanks for the replies.

I ended up going with the XT4 and the 16-80 kit lens to start with in order to get used to the camera functions before committing to getting any extra lenses, and so far I like it a lot.  I don't dislike the flippy screen as much as I feared and I found that I take a lot more images handheld than I was expecting to, thanks to the IBIS.

So far, all is good.

I tried some astro shots but I live too close to London and the light pollution around here is a killer, so tinkering with astrophotography may have to wait until I move away to the country in a couple of years time.

Edit: Spelling mistake.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Heccie Thump