Fuji XT-1 Lens Advice

[Davy Crockett]

Hi all,

New here and looking for members advice

Recently switched from a Canon 1300d to an XT-1 body, no lens as yet but an xc18-55 on its way from a colleague.

On my canon I had a 50mm f1.8 prime lens which I love, I have a canon ef to Fuji adaptor but the lens needs power for focus.

Could you recommend a lens on a budget or a manual lens I can use with the adaptor to get me going?

Loads of stuff on eBay but like to hear from members.

I will be looking to get a Fuji lens later in the new year

Any advice welcomed

[RM_Photog]

The Fuji 35 F2 at $400 isn't at too bad of a price, why not start with that? It'll be wider than your 50mm on the canon, since the 1300d is a crop body also. Or are you looking for cheaper than that? I'm not sure what the price on the new Fuji 50 F2 is going to be yet, but likely a whole lot cheaper than the 56 1.2.

 

 

If you're looking for a manual focus lens just throw the switch on that 50 1.8 and turn the autofocus off. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by RM_Photog

[Davy Crockett]

The Fuji 35 F2 at $400 isn't at too bad of a price, why not start with that? It'll be wider than your 50mm on the canon, since the 1300d is a crop body also. Or are you looking for cheaper than that? I'm not sure what the price on the new Fuji 50 F2 is going to be yet, but likely a whole lot cheaper than the 56 1.2.

 

 

If you're looking for a manual focus lens just throw the switch on that 50 1.8 and turn the autofocus off. 

Thanks for the advice.

The Fuji 35 F2 I looked at when I bought the body, may end up with one eventually but not yet.

The canon 50 needs power even in MF setting, on the Fuji the focus ring turns but doesn't focus the lens.

I think in the short term I'll pick up a cheap manual lens to get me going

[johant]

I have a Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm lens that I love.

[milandro]

there are plenty of options in the adapted lenses world and the best ones lay within the range of 50mm of longer ( wideangles not specifically made for digital cameras are bound to disappoint because film gets away with projected rays coming at an angle which digital cannot negotiate too well images formed by light rays not very perpendicular to the grind of the sensor).

 

Anyway. there are options for that too, not as cheap, but Samyang makes great lenses and Meike does that too. ( Do think that both Samyang and Meike don’t need adapters while “ legacy” lenses do)

 

[Phil]

Canon doesn't have any manual focus-only EF lenses, so I'm not sure about the quality of the manual focus on the affordable ones. You should be able to pick up an older 50mm 1.8 II for like $50 on Craiglist or whatnot. That will MF on its own, but it's not an enjoyable experience. I can't speak for the original 50mm 1.8.

 

If you want to do affordable manual focus, I'd recommend getting a $10 Canon FD or M42 lens mount (there are a lot of options for M42, especially crazy Russian lenses). Then you'll have a lot of really interesting options in the <$100 and even <$50 range.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Phil

[Davy Crockett]

Thanks for the replies and advice, all posts very welcomed !

To get me going on a budget, I've just purchased a Pentax f1.7 smd 50mm manual lens and fuji adaptor

Hopefully receive the fuji 18-55 before Christmas and looking forward to the learning curve!

[Davy Crockett]

The Pentax 50mm arrived and taken a few photos....

Learning the art of manual focus but for £30 I'm very pleased!

Only used the XT1 for a few days and still got to get the settings refined but a lovely camera, image quality superb!

[Davy Crockett]

Since my last post I have received the Fuji 16-50 lens and only taken a few photos but a nice lens. Looking forward to grabbing an hour at the weekend to take a few snaps and look at proper daylight shots.

Looking at lenses for the future i have borrowed the 16-55 f2.8 from a colleague and very nice..possibly one day

also seen the 56mm f1.2 but £1159!! Wow!

[MirrorMirror]

If you're after Fuji and in the UK I would recommend refurbished from the official Fuji shop. They have full 12 month warranty and are literally indistinguishable from new.

 

Here's a link:

http://shop.fujifilm.co.uk/lenses/refurbished-lenses?limit=30

 

There's a lot out of stock at the moment but it's worth checking back. I've bought three lenses from them and saved a lot on a new price.

Edited December 15, 2016 by MirrorMirror

[Davy Crockett]

If you're after Fuji and in the UK I would recommend refurbished from the official Fuji shop. They have full 12 month warranty and are literally indistinguishable from new.

Here's a link:http://shop.fujifilm.co.uk/lenses/refurbished-lenses?limit=30

There's a lot out of stock at the moment but it's worth checking back. I've bought three lenses from them and saved a lot on a new price.

Thank you for the help, not in any rush and will keep an eye here

[FujiX-Man]

Hi, if this is of any help, I bought a Fuji X-T 10 body recently and, taking the advice of a pal who has the XT Pro 2, decided to use legacy lenses with cheap (£15 or so) adapters rather than pay a fortune (straight away) for a Fuji lens until I am sure which one I want. In terms of 'nifty 50s' I have a Canon FDn 50mm f1.8 that I share with my A1 when I switch to film, a Minolta MD 50mm f1,7 and a Helios-44 58m f2 M42 - all give great results and I am as fond of the Canon as you are. They're all cheap enough and if you're cool shooting in manual (which I don't mind) you might find this is all you need.

[milandro]

I have many adapters and manual lenses too.

 

As much as I like adaptive photography it doesn’t work the same way as using lenses which are native to digital cameras.

 

This is especially true of wideangles.

 

There are constructional reasons for this :

 

According to Mr. Takashi Ueno in his interview given to the Fujifilm Blog he says the following:

 

http://fujifilm-blog...ull-frame-dslr/

 

 

“...Firstly, the angle of light that film and imaging sensors can receive differ from each other. Film can receive light at the slanted angle of up to 45 degrees without any problem, but in case of the digital camera, the light needs to be as perpendicular to the sensor as possible. Slanted angle light causes mixed colors and therefore the real colors sometimes cannot be reproduced. In order to receive the light perpendicular to the sensor, it is important to make the rear glass element on each lens as big as possible to put the light beams parallel from the outlet of the light to the sensor. Finally, the back-focus distance should be shortened as much as possible to eliminate the degradation in image quality..."

 

 

 

And this made me think of why the resolution drops so badly on a digital sensor when using a “ legacy” lens and not as much when using a lens made for the purpose.

 

The grid of pixels in the sensor acts , in fact, like a curtain with blades partially in front of a window. If you are standing right in front you can see the window behind the curtain but if you go all the way to the left, or to the right you can’t.

 

 

 

Film was indeed more forgiving than sensors are.

 

 

This is why It is better to limit the use of “ legacy” lenses mostly to normal and longer lenses rather than using adapted lenses across the board.

 

However Samyang (for example but there are others) produces cheaper lenses than Fuji ( and some as good as Fuji) and has a range of wideangles. I own the 8mm fisheye and the 12mm two of the sharpest lenses ever.

Edited December 17, 2016 by milandro