Planning to switch soon. Possible gear recommendations and Hello Everyone

[Gurcem Eugene Zekai]

Hey guys, how is it going?

 

This is going to be my first post here and I am very excited about it. Anyway, I am 26 years old pizza lover and a semi-pro portrait/headshots photographer. Since 2011 i have paid all of my 3 Ba degrees and most of my bills with photography and mainly shoot weddings-events until 2016. Oh and i am starting Ma degree on Commercial Photography at NTU this year!

 

My first DSLR was a 5d mkii and I sold all of my Canon gear in 2012 and switched to Pentax. Main reason was to have a lighter kit with much better ergonomics. I still love my Pentax gear, and since selling them is extremely hard, i will be holding on to the kit for awhile. However Constant AF issues, sub-par AF performance, Never arriving 3rd party HSS support and every increasing bulk of the system, K-1, started to put me off.

Fuji, on the other hand, has some tempting points over other systems in general. First being KAIZEN. than very sexy looking cameras, most compact aps-c system?, and lastly Godox announcing to support fuji tll/hss was my turning point.

 

 

For body/bodies, i will be getting an X-t1 or X-t2 depending on my budget. But can't pick my starting setup for the system. Although i am a prime person, 70-200 f/2.8 had always been my most used lens during my wedding time.

 

 

23mm f/1.4 or 35mm f/1.4 / f/2 is likely going to be my first lens in the system and next one to follow up.

 

For wide-angle, 16mm f/1.4 seems like a great choice and i will pick it up after my portrait lens.

 

 

But here comes the hard part for me. 56mm f/1.6, 90mm f/2 and 50-140mm f/2.8

 

135mm,FF, is my favourite focal length but i rather have 56mm first to have a "more complete kit". Yet Samyang 50mm f/1.2 is another cheaper alternative to fill that option but i have to get used to Fuji cameras and manual focus first, which is not a great feeling on DSLRs.

Buying 90mm + 56mm looks bit too expensive to get into, considering i am not selling any Pentax gear + Ma fees will make it hard to get both. 

 

50-140, on the other hand, covers both focal lengths and has IS. Since having been using IBIS for last 6 years i believe it is an important feature for my work by now. 

 

 

And one last question. Be honest and tell me how good is Fuji X-system actually + for studio and location portrait work. I haven't used one more than few hours so its good to know long term effects, such as unstoppable GAS i have been reading about Fuji glass.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for all the future answers/discussions  

[RadBadTad]

I came from a 5Dmk2 and traded it in for my Fuji gear. I got an X-T1, grip, 18-55, 23mm f/1.4, and a 35mm f/1.4 right off the bat.

 

The X-T1 wasn't really a solid choice. It was good enough for most things, but still felt like a lot of a compromise in order to get a lot less size and weight.

 

I've traded my way up to the X-T2 and I'm much happier. I've also gotten rid of the 35mm f/1.4 in favor of the f/2 for focus speed, and gotten the 50-140. 

 

I was missing a really fast lens for dreamy bokeh, so rather than shelling out for the 56mm, I got a Mitakon 35mm f/.95 which I've been using for those sorts of portraits, and I'm really happy now. 

 

The 90 and the 56 are both excellent lenses, though they're both super specialized. If you shoot portraits a lot, then really you're going to want either the 56, 90, or 50-140. I haven't ever been let down by my 50-140, so that's my suggestion. The 56 focuses too slowly for me, and the 90 is just a bit too inflexible for my style of shooting. 

 

I also got the 16mm and really liked it, but I only ever used it for test shots here and there, and never found myself using it in real life. I never took a "real" photo with it, and sold it a few months after buying it. I get by with my kit lens being my widest.

 

"How good is the X system actually"

 

It's really good, once you bend your workflow to accommodate a bit of the quirks. The flash system is lacking still, but using Canon triggers for studio strobes works just fine. For portrait work in general, I'm really pleased with it, especially after the most recent update to the X-T2 which gave some welcome upgrades to workflow. The only times I've been tempted to switch back to a different system have been in terms of processing large amounts of photos. RAF files are slow to work with, even on fast machines, and getting fine detail AND color AND full latitude out of the files can be an arduous task. Recently Iridient came out with "X-Transformer" which you can use as a plugin in Lightroom which has really helped a LOT though, so things are getting easier and easier every day.

 

I can confidently say that my best photos I've ever taken have been on a Fuji, and it's going to take a LOT to get me to change to anything else again. 

[Gurcem Eugene Zekai]

I came from a 5Dmk2 and traded it in for my Fuji gear. I got an X-T1, grip, 18-55, 23mm f/1.4, and a 35mm f/1.4 right off the bat.

 

The X-T1 wasn't really a solid choice. It was good enough for most things, but still felt like a lot of a compromise in order to get a lot less size and weight.

 

I've traded my way up to the X-T2 and I'm much happier. I've also gotten rid of the 35mm f/1.4 in favor of the f/2 for focus speed, and gotten the 50-140. 

 

I was missing a really fast lens for dreamy bokeh, so rather than shelling out for the 56mm, I got a Mitakon 35mm f/.95 which I've been using for those sorts of portraits, and I'm really happy now. 

 

The 90 and the 56 are both excellent lenses, though they're both super specialized. If you shoot portraits a lot, then really you're going to want either the 56, 90, or 50-140. I haven't ever been let down by my 50-140, so that's my suggestion. The 56 focuses too slowly for me, and the 90 is just a bit too inflexible for my style of shooting. 

 

I also got the 16mm and really liked it, but I only ever used it for test shots here and there, and never found myself using it in real life. I never took a "real" photo with it, and sold it a few months after buying it. I get by with my kit lens being my widest.

 

"How good is the X system actually"

 

It's really good, once you bend your workflow to accommodate a bit of the quirks. The flash system is lacking still, but using Canon triggers for studio strobes works just fine. For portrait work in general, I'm really pleased with it, especially after the most recent update to the X-T2 which gave some welcome upgrades to workflow. The only times I've been tempted to switch back to a different system have been in terms of processing large amounts of photos. RAF files are slow to work with, even on fast machines, and getting fine detail AND color AND full latitude out of the files can be an arduous task. Recently Iridient came out with "X-Transformer" which you can use as a plugin in Lightroom which has really helped a LOT though, so things are getting easier and easier every day.

 

I can confidently say that my best photos I've ever taken have been on a Fuji, and it's going to take a LOT to get me to change to anything else again. 

 

 

Thank your for the reply mate 

 

I have looked the 3rd party lenses such as Samyang and Mitakon but i might want to get AF lenses  IF i continue to do events/weddings. I am trying to bounce commercial work, hence Ma degree (mostly for networking though).

 

Sad to hear 56mm AF speed is not fast enough, i was expecting it to be usable at X-T2. Without a reliable 85mm-ish lens i will struggle to do full-body portraits. My current gear has the same problem, as much as i love Tamron 90mm f/2.8 it is too slow to work with and af hunts all the time, whereas 70-200 works just fine.

 

You guys at Fuji don't know how luckily you are with compact-ish 1.4 and 1.2 primes 

Edited April 15, 2017 by Gurcem Eugene Zekai

[RadBadTad]

 

Thank your for the reply mate 

 

I have looked the 3rd party lenses such as Samyang and Mitakon but i might want to get AF lenses  IF i continue to do events/weddings. I am trying to bounce commercial work, hence Ma degree (mostly for networking though).

 

Sad to hear 56mm AF speed is not fast enough, i was expecting it to be usable at X-T2. Without a reliable 85mm-ish lens i will struggle to do full-body portraits. My current gear has the same problem, as much as i love Tamron 90mm f/2.8 it is too slow to work with and af hunts all the time, whereas 70-200 works just fine.

 

You guys at Fuji don't know how luckily you are with compact-ish 1.4 and 1.2 primes 

 

Well really you shouldn't be too put off by my word that the 56 is too slow to focus. It's too slow for ME, but I tend to be really demanding of my AF speeds. I complain about the AF speed of Fuji in general on here fairly regularly, and many times someone comes in and disagrees, so it's worth testing for yourself. For comparison, I couldn't use the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L either, because it focused so damned slowly. 

 

And the 50-140 will do you nicely for full body work so long as you aren't demanding wider than f/2.8

 

I understanding wanting AF lenses, especially for event shooting like weddings, but the manual focus aides that you get on the X-T2 are incredible. very difficult to miss focus with them turned on. Even shooting at f/.95 on my Mitakon, I feel very confident in my focusing abilities. So you could always get a 56 and use it normally, or use it as a manual focus lens with the focusing aides, or get an old 55mm f/1.2 from another mount and adapt it and save some money. You have lots of options with Fuji!

 

Attached is a shot I took at f/.95 with my Mitakon. 

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[Haswell]

I can't stand warm beer!

[dck22]

I can't stand warm beer!

You just have to drink it faster. The fun is taking it out of and putting it in the "holder."

 

 

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[Guest mikEm13]

You just have to drink it faster. The fun is taking it out of and putting it in the "holder."

 

 

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I agree.

[Gurcem Eugene Zekai]

It won't feel hot if you drink it inside  fridge ?!?!