XF 35mm 1.4 Noise Manual Focus

[sime1780]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a XE-2 with a 35mm 1.4 and 18-55mm zoom lens.

I've noticed the 35mm lens is quite noisy, which is an observation echoed by many others. My concern regards the noise and vibration when manual focusing.

I've seen a lot of people referring to the annoying chattering type noise when autofocusing, which seems to have been made better with firmware updates, but not many people discussing noise issues with manual focusing.

All my other lenses don't make any noise at all when focusing manually. This lens almost seems like it's making a sort of electronic noise and feels jittery when rotating the focus ring. My 18-55mm kind of makes a similar sound (although no jittery feeling), but it's barley noticeable. 

I guess I just want to know is this normal?

 

[Maurice]

Congrats on a very good choice

 

The 18-55mm has a LM motor, while the 35mm has ALG focusing, so a difference is to be expected at least.

http://fujifilm-x.com/xf-lens/en/drive_control/#2ndPage / http://fujifilm-x.com/xf-lens/en/opticstechnology/#1stPage

 

And as i'm sure you realize, manual focusing is still done electronically. You're not actually moving anything manually, but the focus ring is controlling the motor with a electronic connection.

Some do better than others, but people still use true manual focus lenses for good reason, because there is simply no comparison to the real thing.

 

Don't know how much noise is normal.

[darknj]

Yep, quite normal.

 

That lens is noisy, but mostly because your ears are relatively close to the camera thus you hear a lot of its noise, about a meter away it's barely audible, I would say around 35 db noise level.

 

It can be distracting the first few times but once you get used it, you don't really hear it that much anymore.

 

The 35mm F1.4 was among the first lenses launched with the X system about 3 year ago, so yeah, its ages shows.

[johant]

 

 

The 35mm F1.4 was among the first lenses launched with the X system about 3 year ago, so yeah, its ages shows.

I never understand that "age" thing ... all technology, like linear motors, to make a fast focusing and silent lens, was available already years ago.

 

It's not like Fuji had to reinvent the wheel with their lenses somehow.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[darknj]

I never understand that "age" thing ... all technology, like linear motors, to make a fast focusing and silent lens, was available already years ago.

 

It's not like Fuji had to reinvent the wheel with their lenses somehow.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

Yep, they just decided to not use it to make the lens.

 

One thing you have to understand for any product manufacturing, when designing something, it can really take years between the first draft and the first actual product.

Manufacturers can sometimes decide to move some project faster than others but it would change a lot of things also in the resources needed to make the product and see if the factories are actually have a spot for your order(s).

 

So question isn't if that technology was available or not at the time of design, but rather what price it was when it was designed. Most often than not, the cost is the first factor in a product design before pretty much anything else.

 

The rumored X70 is a good example, the designs for it started years ago and we might get it in 2016 but there could be quite a technology gap between the draft versions and the first production ready model.

 

We know for example the Nikon D5 was already in test phase in early 2015 but it will be announced only in early Q1 2016, in the meantime a full year has passed by with tons of new technology that got released and/or existing tech made cheaper.

[frod]

I'd wager it's more like they were preferring tried and trusted designs (for them) while the X system was still in its infancy. Having established a base they are now using more contemporary features.