Mirror-less experiences and ramblings
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:50 pm
This seems as good a place to put this as any.
Last year I acquired an X-M1 camera and 16-50mm lens to play about a bit the results images wise I put up on another thread. However once I had picked up the A mount to Fuji X adapter it became very obvious very quickly that a lack of viewfinder was a very significant handicap unless you were using a pancake prime (it was OK with the kit lens but bigger lenses are just a no go hello super camera shake) I also discovered you could not set the min shutter speed above 1/200 sec and the focus magnify was limited to one magnification.
I decided to offload the X-M1, and picked up an X-E1 ex demo 12 months warranty and an extra discount seemed like a cost effective way to experiment.
This slightly older Fuji does have a bit of charm a pretty solid body (not as tough as the pro but a step up over the entry ones) Very much a back to basics camera in a lot of ways old school shutter speed dial, no scene modes or other gimmicks (not even face detection) it does have a panoramic mode, double exposure and the usual jpeg styles/filters and a bank to store user settings but it's remarkably feature thin just the basics.
I also used a few lenses and borrowed a few to try out just to see how I liked them. I have to be honest in that I was considering Fuji for an alternative system, but I have come to the conclusion I have very little to gain by doing that.
Things I liked/like about Fuji
The sensors are good different but good in their own ways tonality and dynamic range as good as you can get, 16mp with no AA filter really not much in it v 24mp I'd be surprised if anyone was struggling to get excellent prints off this sensor
Retro feel/novelty value, whilst this isn't required it is nice to try something a bit "different" this doesn't apply to the entry X bodies as much (they have less controls and don't have the styling) something a bit unusual and "slow me down" pace wise about them
It is useful to be able to use an adapter for the A Mount lenses it's an additional low cost body that slips in the bag if needed, granted manual focus (not much of a problem) aperture control is a bit of guesswork but you should have an idea how lenses perform
Fuji's peaking isn't as good as Sony's but it's fine for manual focus (and focus magnify)
The 16-50mm kit lens is actually really good sharpness wise, close to the Tamron 17-50mm not quite up there but not far off bar the obvious lack of speed weak min focus distance it is a very good optic for a kit lens
Stuff that just wan't my cup of tea
Any ILC maker putting out an entry body with no viewfinder is smoking something a bit dodgy! Honestly it's OK at best with a small tiny lens but absolute disaster land for anything remotely bigger or longer it makes no sense and they're fooling themselves here I think if you want to use the back LCD fine but to have no choice is dumb. I quickly tired of the rear LCD on the M1 (applies to A1 too) nice swivel but just not practical for hand holding
Fuji's min focus distance sucks, plain and simple across many lenses I tried. Not used the 1:2 macro lens but almost all their lenses have below average min focus distances the 16-50mm has a newer version out that improves this a bit, but many new lenses even the 16-55mm F2.8 are nothing special either. 27mm pancake neat little lens not fast enough really and bad min focus distance.
Battery life well put it like this SLT's are not amazing but you can halve that at least with the X bodies (and most other similar bodies) whilst 2 batteries will probably do for a space body if you were using it as your main system you'd want at least 5/6 just to be on the safe side
Lack of IBIS, this is less of an issue with some lenses (that have IS aka 18-55mm and 16-50mm etc) but you really notice the absence with primes and the adapted lenses. If I take into account the near 1 stop high ISO fudging (ie 3200 on the Fuji is near to 1600 on my Sony bodies) I've gained nothing for low light not really probably lost a little.
I think it was a serious mistake for Fuji to release a 16-55mm F2.8 without IS
Cost, if I had to replicate the system in X mount it would prove costly and many lenses are not available, though you could keep some and buy others I don't see any real incentive here
Flash, Fuji are way behind here no HSS no proper wireless flash either it's promised to arrive but when?
You can set a min shutter speed but it's not focal length aware a choice of both would be best (or which one you wanted)
Part II to follow
Last year I acquired an X-M1 camera and 16-50mm lens to play about a bit the results images wise I put up on another thread. However once I had picked up the A mount to Fuji X adapter it became very obvious very quickly that a lack of viewfinder was a very significant handicap unless you were using a pancake prime (it was OK with the kit lens but bigger lenses are just a no go hello super camera shake) I also discovered you could not set the min shutter speed above 1/200 sec and the focus magnify was limited to one magnification.
I decided to offload the X-M1, and picked up an X-E1 ex demo 12 months warranty and an extra discount seemed like a cost effective way to experiment.
This slightly older Fuji does have a bit of charm a pretty solid body (not as tough as the pro but a step up over the entry ones) Very much a back to basics camera in a lot of ways old school shutter speed dial, no scene modes or other gimmicks (not even face detection) it does have a panoramic mode, double exposure and the usual jpeg styles/filters and a bank to store user settings but it's remarkably feature thin just the basics.
I also used a few lenses and borrowed a few to try out just to see how I liked them. I have to be honest in that I was considering Fuji for an alternative system, but I have come to the conclusion I have very little to gain by doing that.
Things I liked/like about Fuji
The sensors are good different but good in their own ways tonality and dynamic range as good as you can get, 16mp with no AA filter really not much in it v 24mp I'd be surprised if anyone was struggling to get excellent prints off this sensor
Retro feel/novelty value, whilst this isn't required it is nice to try something a bit "different" this doesn't apply to the entry X bodies as much (they have less controls and don't have the styling) something a bit unusual and "slow me down" pace wise about them
It is useful to be able to use an adapter for the A Mount lenses it's an additional low cost body that slips in the bag if needed, granted manual focus (not much of a problem) aperture control is a bit of guesswork but you should have an idea how lenses perform
Fuji's peaking isn't as good as Sony's but it's fine for manual focus (and focus magnify)
The 16-50mm kit lens is actually really good sharpness wise, close to the Tamron 17-50mm not quite up there but not far off bar the obvious lack of speed weak min focus distance it is a very good optic for a kit lens
Stuff that just wan't my cup of tea
Any ILC maker putting out an entry body with no viewfinder is smoking something a bit dodgy! Honestly it's OK at best with a small tiny lens but absolute disaster land for anything remotely bigger or longer it makes no sense and they're fooling themselves here I think if you want to use the back LCD fine but to have no choice is dumb. I quickly tired of the rear LCD on the M1 (applies to A1 too) nice swivel but just not practical for hand holding
Fuji's min focus distance sucks, plain and simple across many lenses I tried. Not used the 1:2 macro lens but almost all their lenses have below average min focus distances the 16-50mm has a newer version out that improves this a bit, but many new lenses even the 16-55mm F2.8 are nothing special either. 27mm pancake neat little lens not fast enough really and bad min focus distance.
Battery life well put it like this SLT's are not amazing but you can halve that at least with the X bodies (and most other similar bodies) whilst 2 batteries will probably do for a space body if you were using it as your main system you'd want at least 5/6 just to be on the safe side
Lack of IBIS, this is less of an issue with some lenses (that have IS aka 18-55mm and 16-50mm etc) but you really notice the absence with primes and the adapted lenses. If I take into account the near 1 stop high ISO fudging (ie 3200 on the Fuji is near to 1600 on my Sony bodies) I've gained nothing for low light not really probably lost a little.
I think it was a serious mistake for Fuji to release a 16-55mm F2.8 without IS
Cost, if I had to replicate the system in X mount it would prove costly and many lenses are not available, though you could keep some and buy others I don't see any real incentive here
Flash, Fuji are way behind here no HSS no proper wireless flash either it's promised to arrive but when?
You can set a min shutter speed but it's not focal length aware a choice of both would be best (or which one you wanted)
Part II to follow