Fuji XF 55-200 Revisited, the 18-135, and Other Musings!

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guest post by Philip Sutton: philipsuttonphotography website + Instagram @finartfoto

Previous guest posts of Philip Sutton

  • Fuji X-T1, X-T2 – A New Way of Seeing! – Read here
  • Fuji X-T2 and X-T1 – a New Perspective on Myanmar in 2017 – Read here
  • Fuji X-T2/X-T1 – Recce in Bali – Read here

As you would have read on my last two blogs, I had recently sold off all of my Nikon gear over the last year or so and replaced everything with Fuji equipment. I have extensively used my 18-135 lens and the marvellous little 35mm f2. The 18-55 I never liked (not sharp or very useful wide open at the 18 or 55 end), so that was sold recently on ebay. However, the 55-200 kind of sat there in no-man’s land and never really got used. I did a commercial shoot last year where I had to shoot over 25 models for our local TAFE (Technical and Further Education). The girls were graduating from their Makeup and Beauty Course, and I was asked to photograph the models for their portfolios. Of course the 55-200 was the perfect choice for that occasion. The photos looked great and everybody was very pleased with the results.

One of the models from the shoot with the 55-200 lens.

After that – I kind of popped the lens back into the camera cupboard and forgot about it. I had thought long and hard about the lenses I would take on the month trip to Myanmar at Christmas, but because the 55-200 lens was not sealed, it did not even get on the short list. I ended up specifically purchasing the 18-135 because of the weather sealing. I had been to Myanmar on two prior occasions and I remembered how unbelievably dusty and dirty it can be over there (especially Mandalay and Hsipaw).

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Fuji X-T2/X-T1 – Recce in Bali

'The Moment'
‘The Moment’

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guest post by Philip Sutton: philipsuttonphotography.com or on instagram at fineartfoto

A cataclysmic shift

I had a cataclysmic shift in my photographic equipment this year. As many seem to be doing now (after dipping my toes in the waters over the last few years), I bit the bullet and sold my beloved Nikon D3X and lenses, and swapped fully over to Fuji. I won’t bore you all with the minutia of the details – but suffice to say it was a very big emotional and financial endeavor. I have been shooting Nikon for over 30 years now – starting with the Nikon F3 and worked my way up through all the models, ending with the D3X. My wonderful Nikon F4 served me so well for many years of shooting ‘stock’ in the heyday (90’s).

However a few miles under the belt and a few creaky bones later, I was finding it increasingly difficult to lug my huge D3X and Nikkor 70-200 around in the tropical heat of Asia. My wife and I live in a small gold-mining town in the Western Australian desert. It is the most boring forsaken place on the face of God’s earth. However, with stable paying jobs and other reasons we choose to live here at the moment. However, because there is nothing to photograph here, my cameras sit locked in their little cupboard most of the year. Fortunately travel to Asia from Perth airport (not counting the 8 hour drive to get there), is cheap and not many hours flight. We go to Asia a lot and that is where I love to photograph.

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Fuji X-T1, X-T2 – A New Way of Seeing!

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guest post by Philip Sutton: philipsuttonphotography website + Instagram @finartfoto

Before I get to the point of this posting, I will give a little bit of background to add some perspective to my thoughts. I started my photographic journey way back in the film days. I shot for many years for a Stock Library in Sydney Australia. You know the deal – the generic girl with glossy white teeth eating a red shiney apple, or the squeaky clean couple with their 2.2 kids having a picnic under the perfect umbrella-shaped tree. All fairly boring stuff, bit it kept my artistic flair alive and helped to pay the bills. I still worked as a teacher (my main source of income), but I was able to make a healthy supplement to my earnings by selling ‘stock’. Back in those days the Nikon F3, then the F4 were the weapons of choice. Due to family reasons, I had a break from photography for about 10 years, and of course when I returned everything had gone digital.

DSCF8064

For the last 6 years now I have travelled Asia extensively (usually for 3 months of the year), shooting Fine Art images for my website. My recent weapons of choice were the Nikon D700 and D3X. After thinking long and hard how I could lighten my burden from dragging these huge DSLR’s around in the tropical heat of Asia, I eventually threw caution to the wind and in 2012/13 I sold all of my Nikons and lenses and bought a Fuji X100, X-Pro1 and some lenses. On a good day, the X100 was just OK, but the X-Pro1 experiment was an unmitigated disaster. That trip to Asia in 2012 was highlighted with mutterings and expletives all aimed at the Version 1 Firmware of my X-Pro1 and its lack of focusing ability. I returned back home with not many useable photos and immediately (at great expense), sold all of the Fuji gear and bought another D3X with a selection of lenses.

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