Fuji XE-1 users

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

To me zoomed liveview is the best approach to focus, focus peaking is a good aid but sometimes helps to make some confusion.
The best ever focus peaking I've experienced is on the Pentax K-01, you see a nice horizontal white band going along the image as you move the focus. Then the NEX system. In the Fuji is not so bright, but somewhat helps.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

I switched it off! Laughing

My adapter hasn't arrived yet, but my micro 4/3rds to EOS adapter seems to fit OK (!) so he's a first attempt with the Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon 35/2.8 @ f/4:

Liking it so far Smile

P.s. That's dust in the sunlight...doh!

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Dear X-E1 users, I'm asking myself some questions you surely can answer... Smile

Today, at beginning of may 2014, I can have the Fujifilm X-E2 for 170� more than the X-E1, and the X-Pro 1 for 200� more than the X-E1.

Which one would you choose ?

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

X-E2 for its quick performance and better EVF.

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Thank you Graham for your quick answer. Smile

Even with the X-Pro 1's price very close to the X-E2 ?

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

If you would prefer an optical viewfinder, then you only have the one option of course! But...the viewfinder doesn't show you depth of field and so is not useful for manual focus lenses sadly.

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

That's right.
Thanks a lot Graham.

Omar · Expire: 2011-02-21

just got an X-E1 for 300$, it was a demo cam but it looks brand new!
very nice camera with superb iq.

X-E1
Distagon 35 1.4

X-E1
Distagon 35 1.4
my wifes niece

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Congrats Omar.

For this price, did you have your X-E1 with a lens ?

Omar · Expire: 2011-02-21

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

Another member of the slowly growing X-E1 family. Recently got a (used) x-E1 and discovered what I missed using mf lenses on Canon 40d and Nex 5. No more digital shooting experience with analog lenses, but the real old-skool thing, using ISO and aperture to control your exposure, and focusing through the viewfinder - with peak focus to assist. Back to basics, with a better focus control (for my sight) as a bonus.

Next step will be a Canon EOS-x-mount adapter (for both my Nikon to EOS and M42 to EOS adapters) and probably a speed booster, to use my old M42's as if they were still on a M42 cam.

First try-out on a trip to Denmark: The one that did the shooting....

... and the one that got shot

uddhava · Expire: 2021-06-21

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

No reading glasses, but definitely shortsighted - I always had problems with my focus judgment. I tried everything, from exchangeable focusing screens (Exakta, Praktica VLC) to autofocus (Nikon F801(s)). In spite of huge steps forward in auto-focus technology, focusing always has remained a hit and miss issue with me. Only focus peaking on electronic viewfinders changed this. The ergonomics of my NEX 5 are deplorable, but the focus peaking works. With the Fuji range, I have found back the old-fashioned shooting "look and feel" plus a large step forward in judging focus accuracy. Don't know yet if the X-pro-1, the X-E(x) or the X-T1 will finally do it for me, as they all have different viewfinder characteristics, with lots of additional bells and whistles. But so far, I. like what I see on my X-E1, and economically, it's not that much of a setback, either.

Edit: if reading glasses are your problem, the X-E1 has a compensation wheel next to the viewfinder. But feedback from someone with the same challenge might be more useful to you

uddhava · Expire: 2021-06-21

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

It's quiet here on the X-E1 front. So I just thought I'd post my latest acquisition - the booster/adapter that will make all my full frame M42 and Nikon lenses act like full frame Fuji lenses. Reduces the crop factor to almost 1.0, while restoring the old full frame lenses' max. aperture to the original value. Thus, my MIR 35/2.0 will behave like a 35/2.0, my Helioses will be 58/2 and everything else will do as promised on the barrel as well.

Mine is the EOS-X-mount Kipon-Baveyes booster/adapter. Together with some EOS-M42 and EOS-Nikon mount adapters it will allow me to shoot full frame on the X-E1 with almost all my old MF lenses.

Edit: @uddhava: yes, the EVF has a 5 x magnification. Together with focus peaking a very useful feature

uddhava · Expire: 2021-06-21

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

As soon as I find an opportunity I'll try to post a comparison on FF d600 - FF X-E1 for some Nikon lenses - but it may take time. In the meantime, here's a quick pic of the Helios 44-2's famous "swirley bokeh" at f2:

(More sizes:www.flickr.com/photos/bobcom/14631537738/ and yes, I agree, the focus is shouldn't be on the involuted flower to the right)

(Edit: Re CATCAN booster - I don't have too much confidence in the expertise of a company that demonstrates the capabilities of its X1-Nikon booster by mounting a Nikon 35-1.8 DX lens on it - unless vignetting has become the latest hot thing in photography Wink

)

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

I have written an article (in German, though) about the Zhongyi adapter:

http://retrocameracs.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/das-pentazhong-nocticon/

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

@LucisPictor: Read your blogpost with much interest - thanks for signaling it. There is, however, one aspect in the FF vs DX-discussion which I think you are overlooking. Using a FF lens on a crop camera means that you will seemingly increase your focal distance, since you're only using the center part of the optics. Consequently, your aperture is also reduced - part of the light that is transmitted through your lens doesn't reach your sensor but the camera's innards.

So, your Nikkor 50 mm 1.2 on a crop camera would behave as a Nikkor 75mm, 2.0 - you've got to multiply the focal distance as well as the aperture by the crop factor. It will give you the image scale of a 75 mm lens, and the depth of field of a 75mm - 2.0 lens at the distance where you took your shot.

Putting in a booster means you are concentrating all - or most - of the light that enters your lens back on your sensor. This has a double effect
1. your lens gets (almost) back its original imaging properties - it will show the full frame image on your sensor, instead of only a cropped portion. Your Nikkor 75 mm lens once again becomes a 50 mm lens with the image scale of a 50 mm lens
2. your lens aperture gets back its original value - instead of the depth of field of a 75 mm 2.0 lens you get back the depth of field of a 50 mm 1.2 lens.

There is no way your Nikkor 50 mm 1.2 suddenly would suddenly become a Nikkor 35 mm 0,95 or something like that. Aperture is defined as focal length focal divided by pupil diameter (hence f/2.8 etc) - and a booster doesn't enlarge your pupil diameter - the only way to do that is add a lot of glass surface.

That's why I commented on the illustration of the CATCAN booster with the Nikkor 35-1.8 DX: it will forever stay a 35mm - 1.8 DX lens - A crop lens, and its image coverage is for a crop sensor. If you put a booster behind it, the booster will reduce the image - just as it reduces the image of a full frame lens to fit a crop sensor. But on a crop lens there is no more image than a cropsized image - so the rest the booster will show is black. You get a beautifully vignetted image of what a 35 mm 1.8 DX lens sees on your crop sensor.

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

Thanks. I know that, but what you can see in the EXIFs is that the camera metered different exposure times.

Fuji 1.4/35 @ f/1.4: 1/80 sec
Pentax 1.4/50 & LensTurbo @ f/1.4: 1/125 sec

So it seems that it "saw" the lens faster than f/1.4.
We talk about T-stops here rather than F-Stops (which are, as you correctly point out, purely arithmetic.).
The T-stop is "faster", the transmission stronger with the LensTurbo.

bobcominitaly · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 71 Location: Terontola (I)

@ LucisPictor There are a few things I don't quite get. In your blogpost, you assumed the Fuji 35 mm-1.4 has a 50 mm angle of view - which would be the case on FF. The lens itself still is a crop 35 mm 1.4, and will give you the image of a 50 mm lens on full frame, but still with the depth of field of a 35 mm 1.4 lens - which would be equivalent to that of a 50 mm 2.0 lens.

In fact this is where Ruben Kremer whom you referred to in your blogpost errs. He forgets to multiply the aperture by the crop factor, so assumes a 50 mm 1.8 lens on full frame will be equivalent to a 75 mm 1.8 lens on crop. Actually, it will be equivalent to a 75 mm 2.7 lens, Mounted it on a booster it will behave as a 50 mm 1.8 lens again - only on the crop camera, since the booster concentrates all the light of the lens on the crop field. But it does not add light - that would be physically impossible.

So your Pentax is a 50 mm 1.4 lens on a full frame camera and on a crop camera will have the properties of a 75 mm 2.0 lens. Once mounted on a booster it will be turned back into a 50 mm 1.4 lens, but with a crop field of view. Its depth of field will be that of a 50 mm 1.4 lens - which is smaller than a 35 mm 1.4 lens on crop, recalculated to be a 50 mm 2.0 lens on a full frame camera.

I have no explanation for the difference in T-stops with the Fuji and the booster-Pentax combination, but you might very well be right that it has to do with metering differences and differences in the way the lens apertures are calculated (rumor has it that Fuji is rather optimistic with its aperture figures).

I hope to find the time to repeat your experiment, though not with a 35mm 1.4 or a 56 mm 1.2 - they are beyond my means. Hopefully, the 18-55mm 2.8-4 will allow some conclusions, too.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Just to add to this, a 50/1.4 on a crop camera might have the dof characteristics of a 75/2 lens, but still has the light gathering ability of a 50/1.4. I've tested this theory by using the same lens on full frame and crop for the same test scene. Using the speedbooster and lens turbo clones will give you an additional stop of light over and above the standard light gathering ability (on crop or ff). This is useful. What was not useful on my lens turbo were the edges of the image, which were horrendous!