Fujifilm X Trans Buyer’s Guide, Film Simulations Guide, Neopan Acros 100 II vs. Film Simulation and More X-Trans Roundup

Here is a little roundup regarding Fujifilm film simulation and X-Trans, plus a little Fuji Guys bonus regarding using LUTs in Lightroom.

You can find the links and videos down below.

I wish you all a fantastic Sunday :)

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The f/0.95 Lens Battle: Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95 vs Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95

There is a vast offering of third party manual focus only Fujifilm X mount lenses. We share a selection of them down below.

Among the most popular ones, there are the ultra fast Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95, the Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 and the vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95.

Now Richard Wong compared them all on his youtube channel. As usual, I’ll provide a summary for you guys in case you don’t have time right now to watch at the 22 minutes long video.

Summary

Design and Built Quality

  • all manual focus only with no electronic contacts
  • all full metal construction
  • they all feel very solid
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans size and weight is similar. The Laowa is quite a bit bigger and heavier
  • The Laowa feels a bit front heavy on X-T3
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans, when you change focus distance, the high of these lenses will extend a bit. The size of the Laowa always remains the same
  • Only Laowa comes with lens hood, a metal lens hood. But the lens cap is of plastic
  • 7Artisans and Mitakon have a focus throw of 90 degrees, while the Laowa has a much longer focus throw of 270 degrees
  • Laowa focus ring feels smooth but also a bit tight. Changing from closes distance to infinity, it will be hard to do it quickly on the Laowa. Not a problem with the other lenses
  • 7Artisans has a quite loose focus ring, so it can be tricky to focus very precisely when shooting at f/.095
  • all these lenses have an de-clicked aperture ring, which he hates. Non of his videographer friends ever changes aperture while shooting a video. He’d prefer a clicked aperture ring
  • he prefers the design of the Laowa

Field of view

  • Laowa has the widest field of view (33 instead of 35)

Sharpness

  • Center at f/0.95: Laowa is clearly the sharpest, followed by Mitakon and the last is 7Artisans
  • at f/1.4 all lenses improve contrast
  • corner sharpness at f/0.95: all quite soft, but Laowa is the sharpest and borderline usable
  • corner sharpness at f/1.4 is reasonably sharp, while you must stop the Mitakon and 7Artisans down at f/2 to get similar results of the Laowa at f/1.4

Chromatic Aberration

  • at f/0.95: Laowa is the best with only a little bit of aberration, and much better than the other two lenses. Mitakon still keeps chromatic aberration at a decent level. 7Artisans has noticeably more chromatic aberration than the other two lenses
  • LoCA at f/0.95: serious color fringing on the 7Artisans. Laowa is best. Mitakon only marginally worst than the Laowa

Vignetting

  • at f/0.95, the Laowa is worst, followed by Mitakon and 7Artisans is best
  • it’s surprising, as the Laowa is the biggest lens

Bokeh

  • at f/0.95: Laowa has smoothest and most creamy bokeh, Mitakon a bit of halo, on 7Artisans pretty noticeable halo which makes it look more nervous
  • bokeh balls: Laowa pretty round a bit swirly in the corners. Mitakon relatively round in the center, but in corners a weird triangle shape. 7Artisans bokeh a bit similar to Mitakon but not quite as extreme and corners have oval shape bokeh with pointy end

Distortion

  • overall similar and noticeable barrel distortion

Focus distance

  • similar minimum focus distance of 35/37 cm
  • at close distance, Laowa has softest sharpness, Mitakon in the middle, and 7Artisans is the sharpest at close distance

Flare

  • All have quite some lens flare and contrast drops
  • lens flare looks quite different
  • 7Artisans is best with least amount of lens flare, but the Laowa has the best and very cinematic looking lens flare with lots of character thanks to a red lens flare

Sun Stars

  • from f/8 to f/11: Laowa most beautiful. Also 7Artisans has nice sun stars. Mitakon not quite as clean sun stars
  • You can stop down the Laowa only until f/11, while 7Artisans and Mitakon go until f/16
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans have quite a bit of ghosting when shooting at f/16, so while the sun star is a bit sharper compared to Laowa at f/16, the ghosting can become a bit distracting
  • Laowa and 7Artisans are a good choice

Coma + Focus Breathing

  • Laowa Coma is at acceptable level. 7Artisans has slightly more coma. Mitakon is the worst
  • Laowa and Mitakon similar focus breathing, 7Artisans more focus breathing

Final Thoughts

  • Each of the lenses has Pros and Cons
  • 7Artisans best value for money, Mitakon overall balanced design and reasonably well in most areas
  • Laowa is his favorite. It’s the sharpness of all and has lowest amount of chromatic aberration, making it most usable at f/0.95
  • Laowa renders best bokeh and lens flare
  • Laowa has way too long focus throw
  • He would pick the Laowa, even if it is larger and heavier

Where to get them

Some Third Party X Mount Options

The Resolution King Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 R LM WR in Stock at BHphoto and Amazon

The Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 recently got Gold Award.

It is optically close to perfect, with sharpness being definitely its super-power. In fact, Fujifilm itself said that with this lens they did focus on resolution to make it fit for “future higher resolution cameras” (aka Fujifilm X-H2).

I know, some might say that lenses are more than just sharpness. And I get the point. I mean, I totally love my XF35mmF1.4, which probably isn’t the sharpest Fujinon X mount lens out there, but has an overall vibe in the images that some describe as “magical”, and indeed, it took some of my favorite images ever.

But if what you need is the ultimate sharpness, then look no further, as the Fujinon XF18mmF1.4 might just be what you were looking for.

Hold on a second… there was one thing I wanted to say.

Oh, right, the lens itself is now in stock at BHphoto here and AmazonUS here. Still backordered at Adorama here and Focuscamera here.

My New Lens Temptation Gets a Focus on Glass Episode: the Fujinon GF100-200mmF5.6 R LM OIS WR

If you…

  • follow regulary FujiRumors
  • read more than just the headline

then you’ll know that not only I have a Fujifilm GFX100S on pre-order, and because in crop we trust, I pre-ordered also the Fujinon GF32-64mmF4, but for reasons I have briefly explained here, I am totally tempted by the Fujinon GF100-200mmF5.6.

I did handle the Fujinon GF100-200mmF5.6 at the store, and was surprised that it is actually so light, hence definitely portable for my hikes in the Dolomites.

However, I did put the purchase of that lens on hold, as in 2021 I already bought the XF80mm, XF27MKII, GFX100S and GF32-64, and it’s getting more and more tricky to convince my wife that we really need yet another lens.

And things have not become easier after Fujifilm launched a massive rebate on guess which lens? Exactly, the GF100-200!

For the sake of my bank account health I am still resisting, but Fujifilm keeps up fighting for my money, this time by dedicating their latest Focus on Glass episode to the Fujinon GF100-200mmF5.6.

Well, I’ve watched the episode, and here is what Fujifilm engineers and managers say about this lens:

  • Fujifilm wanted to make a tele-zoom suitable for handheld shooting
  • they needed to develop a smaller and lighter lens
  • at planing stage, they set their target at 1 kg
  • the lens has 5 stops OIS
  • this makes handheld shooting easier
  • Fujifilm hopes you will use this lens to take images that you have never experienced before with a 35mm format lens
  • with GF teleconverter it covers up to 221mm (35mm equivalent)
  • during the development tests, Fujifilm has conducted repeated toughness tests
  • it is a rugged lens while maintaining lightness and compactness
  • although it’s a zoom, resolution is superb and able to resolve the high megapixel of GFX cameras over the entire zoom range and even at f/5.6
  • in order to make the lens brighter and still have higher resolving power, a greater number of elements in the lens are required
  • but the more elements you use, the more the lens gets bigger
  • that’s why Fujifilm designed ever lens element to be as thing as possible
  • every effort to save size and weight was made
  • the engineer is proud of the final result
  • you can easily shoot handheld in places where you can bring a tripod
  • Fujifilm designed a small focus lock mechanism to fit in the lens
  • toughness test were contacted to overcome weaknesses on by one

But was is triggering my GAS more then what the managers and engineers said, is the photographers and their work shared inside that video. Definitely check it out in the video down below.

GFX Gear Savings in Europe

Fujifilm GFX Evolution: Leaving Perfection for…

ZP productions tested the GFX100S and GF80mmF1.7. He loves both, and owns both.

But there is one note he makes.

He says that when Fujifilm launched the GFX system a few years ago, it had sheer perfect lenses. But he noticed that with the latest lens releases, Fujifilm traded in a bit of that perfection to release less perfect, smaller and more affordable lenses.

In this context, he compares the GF110mmF2 to the GF80mmF1.7, the first one being expressions of Fuji’s perfection, the second one, while still being excellent and he actually totally loves to shoot with it, just not being just as perfect as the GF110mmF2.

I’ll make a summary down below of his 17 minutes long video below and would love to hear what you guys think about it.

Video Summary

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