35mm options for Fujifilm X-A10

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hi folks

I bought an XA-10 dirt cheap a few weeks ago and like it quite a lot, even though it's the bottom of the range model.

I have lots of vintage 35mm lenses, but I'm looking for something physically much smaller so the camera and lens will fit in a coat pocket.

I have the Fujinon-TV 1.7/35, well, I have several copies, actually, and it is a superb lens on 1" and M4/3 sensors, but on APS-C, it vignettes slightly. I have tried one copy on the XA-10, I'll post samples later. I had to machine both the back of the lens and the adapter to get infinity, it took a couple of hours to get it right, had to remove a surprising amount of metal.

There are Cosmicar (Pentax) and Computar (Kowa) 35s in C mount, but hard to find, I'm keeping my eye out for them.

What does interest me are the new Chinese lenses from brands such as Meike and & 7Artisans.

Meike has two options - a 1.7/35 for 60ukp and a 1.4/35 for 75ukp.

7Artisans has three options - a 1.4/35 for 65ukp, 1.2/35 for 100ukp and a 0.95/35 for 200ukp. They also sell a 1.4/35 and a 2.0/35 for full frame,

There's also a no-name 1.6/35 c mount for 25ukp and the well known Fujian 1.7/35 c-mount for about 20ukp.

There is a more expensive nicer looking c-mount 1.6/35 as well but I suspect it's the same optics in a fancier looking barrel.

Anyone own any of these lenses and can share experiences?

[Sciolist]

Have you thought about a collapsible Ian? I have a FED 50 3.5 (Industar 10) in LTM which is really snug on my Fujifilm X-E1. This FED version has the slightly shorter barrel which allows it to close completely on the X-E1, at least. Fiddly aperture control mind.

[D1N0]

The Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm F/2.5 II isn't too expensive

[iangreenhalgh1]

I have an ISCO Westron 35 that is really tiny and surprisingly good, even with an M42 adapter it's pretty small. I was just wondering how good the modern Chinese optics are.

Of course, the Fujinon XF 1.4/35 Aspherical is the one to have, but it's out of my budget, sadly.

[vivaldibow]

Congrats!

Is it easy to do manual focus using this camera? I have always been interested in buying a Fuji mirrorless but not sure how the manual focusing process is compared with Sony a7 series.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I have never used an a7 to know what those are like, the closest would be a NEX-3.

I find the Fuji is very similar to the NEX as it has focus peaking and a magnify feature so I find it easy to use with manual lenses.

Here's an example shot wide open in terrible light yesterday using the Fujinon-TV 1.7/35, wasn't at all difficult to get the focus right.

[kiddo]

You have several copies of this fujinon lens? Is that because there is big difference between copies ?

[iangreenhalgh1]

No, I've just picked them up over the years as they are very cheap, I have a lot of c mount Fujinons from 1.8mm to 75mm and they are all high quality excellent optics.

[ylyad]

According to this recent thread: http://forum.mflenses.com/pergear-35mm-f1-2-review-t82126.html and his blog, yukosteel owns some of those cheap Chinese 35mm...

[Oldhand]

The 7 artisans 1.2/35 is tiny and very good on Fuji.

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[iangreenhalgh1]

That does look good, that tree against the sky is a very tricky subject and I don't see any visible CA. What sort of owl is that? it looks like the snowy owls we have here in Blighty, but with different eyes. Thanks for the samples, very useful.

[calvin83]

If F1.2 is not enough, consider F0.95.

7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 Lens Review - Lab Testing, Real World, and Sample Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glNKWU12dx4

[Oldhand]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Cheers Tom, that lens looks plenty good enough for my purposes.