X-T1 roundup: very likely the first magazine cover ever photographed with a Fuji X-T1, walk in Paris and more.

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image courtesy: modabambinimagazine (facebook)

– Pro photographer Sinjun shared the image above with FR via email. I told him that finally the X-T1 could be the camera that lets many Pros like him get rid of their DSLR. He answered:

What? are you suggesting we trade a 4 pound DSLR and 8 heavy lenses for a 1.5 pound mirrorless and 3 lightweight Leica comparable lenses that we could put in a coat pocket and shoot anywhere in the world without having to lug a big camera case around?  ;-p

what we have experienced so far: IQ on the XT1 is comparable to pro DSLR’s up to about 1600 ISO, X series lenses are as good or better and the X series IQ at higher ISO’s will only get better with time so we will very likely go all Fujifilm mirrorless within the next year or so.

Street Looks a Go Go on facebook / Moda Bambini on Twitter / the digital version of the entire first issue of Moda Bambini Magazine can be seen here

Fuji X-T1: [shopcountry 21553]

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image courtesy: Sabino Parente

– A walk in Paris with the Fuji X-T1 at sabinoparente: “Just few days before my long trip to Japan and to improve the confidence with the new Fuji X-T1, I’ve got a nice weekend in Paris, a walk between the “bistrot” and “patisserie” of the “rive gauche” and with a visit to the extraordinary photographic exhibition of the master Henri Cartier Bresson at the Centre Pompidou. I did pure street photography, a great workout in view of the intense japanese days that has improved the feeling with the X-T1, the perfect camera for travel photography.” And if you wanna see what gear Sabino put in his bag for his Japan trip, check out this article here: “The purpose is to travel as light as possible and also don’t appear as a tourist photographer, full of gears and big heavy lenses. This is where the magic of the Fuji X come

– X-T1 Shooting from the hip ~ A day at the races at the-owl: “I decided to shoot entirely from the hip, pretty much most of the time without the flip screen deployed either.  I used a zone focusing technique and added a little bit of hope to the mix. You know what, it was a bit of fun but I’m happy with a selection of the images.”

– Maarten: “I’ve created an XT-1 firmware update wishlist. Everyone can add suggestions and vote for ideas. Please check it out! Thanks!” Vote the poll here.

– reiview at neocamera: “With its professional features and top-notch image-quality, the Fuji X-T1 is very promising. Those who are careful enough with its controls and do not shoot in the cold [with gloves] should find this an extremely rewarding mirrorless camera.”

– MrGecko: “I see you are posting a few pics shot with the new X-T1  You are welcome to post links to my shots (also X100) at 500px.com/thegecko/  If you would like me to send files of anything in particular I would be glad to.”

Sorry Fuji Fans, The X-T1 is Going Back at thewanderinglensman: “In the mean time, I can’t afford to have a great camera and 4 lenses sitting around not being used because of the aforementioned issues.  When and if everyone agrees the green foliage detail issues are solved, I will probably delve back into this system.  After all, it is a good system for photographers.”

– First session with the X-T1 at schwarzweissart: “What can I say after some portrait shoots with the X-T1. It is the right camera for my available light portrait work. I like the new view finder, my XF-60 is now focusing much faster. The files are superb, especially the jpg quality (my preferred film simulations are MONOCHROME+Ye and RO Neg. Std). Ok I need to learn again the positions of the buttons and I have to say I prefer the 4 way controller of the X-pro1.”

– Fuji X-T1 First Impression by Mike Villa at artoftheimage: “For me, it’s proof that mirrorless (and particularly Fuji) is serious about gunning for a spot in a professional photographer’s bag. As someone who doesn’t shoot sports very often, this little camera easily fills 90% of what I ask from my D800.”

– Review at flemmingbojensen: “In conclusion, there is no conclusion. It is an amazing camera with a truly outstanding viewfinder – and some other pros and cons. I shall be traveling the world and working the upcoming Copenhagen Summer festivals with both my X-pro1 and XT1 and post much more. Stay tuned.”

– Review at boxedlight: “But know this… it’s not perfect.. no camera is… but it is small, lightweight and is capable of producing some pretty amazing and detailed photographs at a price that most can afford. It holds its own against many more expensive cameras. The most important thing is this.. it is fun to use and you will never have an aching back or neck at the end of the day from carrying it with you… and you will have some outstanding photos to show for your efforts. Fuji’s lens lineup keeps getting better and you will be hard pressed to find lenses of Fuji’s quality at Fuji prices.”

– review at camera.itmedia (translation).

miXed zone: migration to Fuji, what X-T1 designers think, Zeiss Touit review by Max Angeloni, podcast and more!

[shoplink 22918 ebay] photo bb_zps31e329a9.jpg[/shoplink]

The X-T1 body is right now available at [shoplink 22918 ebay]Best Buy (via ebayUS)[/shoplink].
There is also an auction ending soon at ebayUS [shoplink 22920 ebay]here[/shoplink].
One more available at ebayUS [shoplink 22921 ebay]here[/shoplink]. According to the serial number of the product, it’s not a light leaking one.

 Fuji X-T1

X-T1 body only ($1,299): USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / PicturelineeBay / digitalrev / EU: wexDE / wexUK / PCHstore / eBay / digitalrev
X-T1 with 18-55 ($1,699): USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / PicturelineeBay / digitalrev / EU: wexDE / wexUK / PCHstore / eBay / digitalrev

– What makes the Fuji X-T1 so special? Here’s what its designers think… at imaging-resource here: “So that’s what Fujifilm themselves consider most significant about the X-T1. As you can tell from my writeup, I personally found the technology that went into the viewfinder the most impressive, but stay tuned as we update our Fuji X-T1 review, for more details on viewfinder performance, AF speed, and connectivity.”

– “Well to add to the confusion and general information here is Yet Another Rolling Review of the new Fujifilm X-T1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. I decided to write up a few of my initial observations and why I wanted to get this camera.” Read more at aps-photo here.

– X-T1 + 23mm review at byethan here: “So which one do I choose? Based on specs alone I would have picked the E-M1. It is a pro-level performer will very few flaws. However, based on my shooting style, the X-T1 is more suitable for me. Having quick access to all my manual exposure settings and a stellar EVF to focus trumps everything else. I wish I could put all of the E-M1’s features into the Fuji but in the end I have to pick one. Both cameras are excellent and I’m very lucky to even own either one.”

– The first outing with the new Fuji X-T1 at chuqui here: “I’ll give the camera 8.5 out of 10. I still need to spend time learning the quirks of the body and figuring out how to customize it to my preferences, but the “out of the box” experiment went very well, the image quality is stunning, and it handled a tough shooting situation with relative ease and gave me images I could easily haul through Lightroom and export good quality images.”

– fuji x-t1 review #5: face detect autofocus at f8blog here.

– initial thoughts and impressions at photosbygalloway here: “Throughout the post are some images that I’ve shot with the XT-1, on location, in the studio, on location with off camera flash. So far there are only two complaints about the camera. First is that the viewfinder is hard to use and compose on low key studio work. Quick work around is to adjust shutter and aperture so that you can see the subject, compose and focus the image then stop down to desired settings. Thats if you don’t have a modeling light to hand you can use that will not impact the image. Secondly with a standard tripod plate attached I could n’t manoeuvre the fold out screen, without loosening the tripod plate. Inconveniences more than actual problems using the camera.”

– setting up the X-T1 at johncaz.

Took the X-T1 Out All Day Yesterday; What a Pleasure! A Shooter’s Camera but I have Mixed Feelings; Why? at thewanderinglensman: “I don’t know what to think about all this.  I think Fujifilm has made a terrific camera.  The X-T1 is a real “shooter’s camera” as I like to say.  I really like using it.  The size, weight, shape and controls are perfect.  The ergonomics and haptics are great.  Everything works as it should and it screams quality.  I think the problems with the files have to do with Adobe not rendering the RAW files to reflect the real quality available.  I had read one photographer’s blog where he felt that Adobe had now solved the past issues with this version of ACR.  I disagree.  I see mush. ”

 XF 56mm f/1.2
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Highly Recommended: the XF 56mm at cameralabs: “The Fujifilm 56mm f1.2 is another great quality lens for the X-series. It’s a confidently-built, optically superb, well-priced for a lens of its class and exploits the latest body technologies to deliver crisp details into the corners and effective tracking of moving subjects. Bokeh obsessives may prefer the rendering of some higher-end options, but there’s few who wouldn’t look at the images from the 56mm on a modern X-series body and be anything other than delighted. If you’re an X-series owner who needs a short, bright telephoto with AF, it may be your only choice, but thankfully it’s also a great one.”

– Patrick: “I know it is supposed to be a portrait lens, but I climbed up on the roof of the school and took this picture of the entire student body yesterday with an X-T1 and a 56mm.  I was about 100 yards away, but the shot came out pretty good … here is the full-sized file.”

XF 10-24
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– 10-24mm Lens – unboxing and initial Images at f-sunny: “AF is fast and silent – in fact it hardly seems to move at all – which you’d expect with the super wide DOF of a lens of this focal length.”

– Fujifilm XF10-24mm f4 OIS R Lens, Unboxing and Sample Gallery at grittymonkey: “The new XF10-24mm f4 OIS R lens by Fujifilm is a joy to use. It is bulkier and heavier than most of the other X-mount lenses, but as a consequence it feels well-built and solid in the hand.”

X-E2
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– Victor: “I dont know if you are following bill claff on dpreview. He has a site with sensor analysis similar do DXOMARK but he is not using their software. I contacted him and offered him to measure the XE-1/2 data. He agreed. I provided him the data, (and maybe other people as well) and he has it now analyzed. It is finally posible to compare between fuji and the other sensors. Here is a link to the data with comparison to D7000 16mp sensor. Remember he is using the reported iso values rather then the normalized values. Data looks very interesting!”

– Zirkus Lamberti with the X-E2 and 60mm here at mingart.

– Panasonic GX7 compared to Fuji X-E2 at soundimageplus here: “With all the provisos about personal taste and choice if I was forced to choose one or the other, I would choose the X-E2. For me the OLED viewfinder, the ability to use higher ISO’s and still get clean files, the exceptional lens range that suits me well, the prices of said lens range and the look and feel of the camera all contribute to that choice. Plus perhaps more importantly I’ve written enough times about how I’m a can’t help myself Fuji fanboy. I pick up the X-E2, attach one of those beautiful lenses and I just go weak at the knees.”

– Fujifilm X-E2: Using only available light for meeting at stanleyleary here.

lenses

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image courtesy: riflessifotografici

– Zeiss Tuoit 12mm and 32mm review at riflessifotografici by Max Angeloni here (English version): “It’s not a mistery my love affair with Zeiss. I think lenses are the most important things for a photographer and Zeiss is always capable of creating unique lenses regardless the size of the sensor and the mount they are designed for. Sure, the price is higher than the comparable lenses by other manufacturers and sometimes it’s not clear the reason behind that. But trust me, there is a reason.”

Zeiss Touit 12mm ($999): [shopcountry 13645] Zeiss Touit 32mm ($720): [shopcountry 13646]

The Zeiss Touit 1:1 macro 50/2.8 is now available for pre-order also at Adorama here.

– Cody: “I just posted the best of my photos from this weekend taken with the Fuji X-E2 & Zeiss 32mm X Mount. I believe I am the 1st one on Flickr with this camera combo. Here is the link.”

– Must Shoot Primes!? Fujifilm X-Pro1 w/XF 18-55 OIS & 55-200 OIS (Part 1/4) at roblowephoto here: “In this first part (intentionally a four-part post) I am going to begin my exploration of two of Fujifilm’s zoom lenses, namely the 18-55mm OIS and the 55-200mm OIS. The only reason for separating into four editions is subject matter, pure and simple. There are plenty of reviews of these two excellent lenses, everywhere you look, so I am not going to review them scientifically as such. These posts will be all about real-world usage and images, latterly, the whole point of the exercise.”

– 55-200 review at henrysmithscottage here: “The [shoplink 12892]XF55-200mm[/shoplink] is clearly another high quality Fuji lens. It is easily as crisp (but not as fast) as my big Nikkor 70-200mm. The image stabilization allows me to easily shoot freehand, without a monopod, and still obtain critical sharpness.”

XF 55-200: $200 off (price $500) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline

– Fuji XF 27mm f2.8 review at lightpriority here: “The 27mm isn’t a lens for everybody, those with deep pockets will likely opt for an X100S or 23mm f1.4. But for anybody looking for a really tiny, affordable lens to make their X series body as portable as possible and with a good all-round focal length, its hard to beat. It punches far above its weight in terms of sharpness, rivalling Fuji’s best performing primes from f5.6. AF is quick and quiet although sadly not internal, so the front element does pump in and out during focusing.”

– 27mm review at danbaileyphoto here: “The XF 27mm also makes a great first lens for anyone just getting into the X camera system, it’s like having a nifty fifty, just a little bit wider and a whole lot smaller.

XF 27mm: $250 off (price $200) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline

– lenstip XF 23mm review here: “The Fujinon XF 23 mm f/1.4 R, tested here by us, must get a really positive assessment. Still the situation is hardly so rosy if you start comparing the price of that lens to the prices of its rivals. The Sigma A 35 mm f/1.4 HSM, a device more difficult to design and produce, is not only cheaper but also its optically a bit better. It shows that the Fuji specialists could have done a better job. Perhaps the savings on low dispersion glass made themselves felt but, if you actually save on something the price of the lens should reflect it as well and in the case of the Fujinon it cannot be noticed at all.”

XF 23mm: $150 off (price $750) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline

 switch to the X

– The road to the X, migrating from Canon to Fuji at tomleuntjensphotography: “I still haven’t answered my intro question. Why? Because the X system really matured. Because it’s much more compact and weighs significantly less. You don’t stand out from the crowd. (I now don’t mind that uncle bob is sporting a bigger L lens) The lenses are amazingly sharp and the image quality is up to par with the bigger guns out there. But the most important reason for me is that I simply love holding & shooting these X camera’s and how they helped me rediscover my love for photography in a more pure form.”

– Mike: “I’ve been shooting with an X-E2 the past few months, and just spent 10 days in Norway. I shot almost exclusively with it even though I had a D800 and Df with me. I just posted some of my thoughts and my favourites on Exposure, and thought you might be interested in sharing.” See his top 10 images of Norway and read more here at mfergusson.

-switching from Nikon to the X-E2 at mirrorlessons here: “Yes, I am selling my entire reflex system. The switch is effective as of now – I’m going mirrorless and the Fujifilm X-E2 is my camera of choice.”

– Daniel: “I made the plunge from the Canon 5DII to the X-E2 four months ago and haven’t looked back! I thought you’d enjoy a look through some of my shots with it. The EXIF data is under each photo.” See the shots here at hermosawavephotography.

– From DSLR to Mirrorless at johncaz: “I have long desired to reduce my kit and have now found the answer to my needs, its the Fuji X-T1.

podcast

– Matt Brandon: “Last year after the Rajasthan Photo Trek, Piet Van den Eynde and I decided to take a few minutes to talk about our experience with the X-series cameras in the field. It was such a big hit, we decided to do it again.” Here the conversation podcast here at thedigitaltrekker. “Also if you are intersted, I reviewed the new Fujifilm Instax printer, the Share SP-1. It is a real photographers friend using it with the wifi system on the X-E2 7 X-T1. Read it here.”

new blog

– Boris: “I decided to start a new blog and have a short article about street photography with the X-E1 and how I try to work around the slow operations if the camera to take candid shots. If by chance you find it worth sharing, I would be happy of you want to post a link to it on the Fuji Rumors (if not, no worries :-)).” bt-photoblog: ”

 X100S
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–  The Streets of San Francisco at valeriejardin.

– Barcelona, perfect place for street photography at nicole-struppert.

– Streets of Dublin at gaborimages.

X-E1 + X100
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 – Fuji X-E1 with some Japanese touch at mengyeap here.

– (X-E1+X100) A visit to Easthope Stained Glass Studio, Folkestone at timallenphoto.

X-PRO1
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 – Carlo: “just to share my last two published works with X Pro1 and 35mm” Toccata and fugue in Venice here and The old house on the mountain here.

XQ1
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– review at eyalg: “The XQ1 almost stands out among these serious competitors – its imaging capabilities are very impressive – with output as good as the X20’s. The bug in the ointment is its focusing – quick as it may be, it misses on too many occasions, spoiling the good taste it otherwise leaves in your mouth.”

XF 56/1.2 vs Leica 42.5/1.2 Redux at admiringlight

Some days ago admiringlight posted a comparison between the XF56 and the Leica 42.5 f/1.2. The winner was pretty clear: it was the Leica. But the battle wasn’t fair. Jordan used a faulty 56mm for the comparison. Now he got a new one and repeated the test and re-evaluated the results here:

So who wins?  We do!  If you shoot Fuji, you’ve got an awesome fast telephoto in the 56mm f/1.2, and if you shoot Micro 4/3, the Panasonic Leica is phenomenal. When I first conducted this test with my slightly faulty Fuji 56mm, I ruled that the Panasonic was the slightly more corrected lens.  Now with a properly functioning Fuji 56mm, it’s far less clear cut.  Close up, where these lenses would be used for portraiture and the like, the Fuji has a slight edge.  At a distance, the Panasonic does slightly better.”

Not bad at all for a lens that costs 37% less than the [shoplink 22883]Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2![/shoplink].

Fuji XF 56mm: [shopcountry 21554] Panasonic Leica 42.5mm: [shopcountry 22883]

miXed zone: 10-24 hands on, 56 reviews, X-T1 tests and more!

XF Lens Deals

BHphoto: New Benefits for International Customers: PayPal now open to all countries!

XF 14mm: $200 off (price $700) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 18mm: $200 off (price $400) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 23mm: $150 off (price $750) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 27mm: $250 off (price $200) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 35mm: $150 off (price $450) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 60mm: $250 off (price $400) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 55-200: $200 off (price $500) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline

EU-ORDERS: FR-reader Luzu (BHphoto): “Choose UPS for international delivery, their option “UPS Super Saver” for around 45$ is the cheapest anyways. If you “pay on delivery”, UPS will handle all the customs work for you and deliver the item home to you where you pay the customs costs directly to the mailman. No going to customs office needed! Declaration of the deliveries from B&H is made very professionally by them and UPS, so I guess German customs are seldom stopping them. I already ordered two lenses this way (the 27mm and the 55-200mm) without problems! Btw.: The delivery is by plane and super fast!

Fuji X-T1
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– X-T1 Video Test (see it on vimeo here) at weddingetcetera here: “As we will see later, the Fujifilm X-T1 is not really dedicated to the film. Video mode is just a bonus. Shooting each shot is a little “tricky”. The Video standard of the X-T1 is the Ntsc with a 30 or a 60/i footage in 1080p. Why not ! All screens and editing software accept American and Japanese format. It also allows a better integration with YouTube or Vimeo. However, it is strange that the maximum capacity of a recording is limited to 14 minutes and 30 seconds where it adapts to the capacity of the card on a DMC-GH3.”

– Canon user in love for the Fujifilm X-T1 at eyeaperture here: “When I saw the X-T1 i was immediately fascinated by the  concept. I got it a few weeks ago together with the 23mm, 35mm and 56mm and without any doubt i must confess that I am completely in love !!!! Great ergonomics, small package and from the little work i did with the raws I see great depth, great latitude, smooth tonality and as usual the awesome fuji colors!”

digitalcameraworld review here: “In lower light, focusing speeds drop a little though. It’s not quite as fast as a DSLR shooting through a viewfinder, but it’s certainly much quicker than one shooting in live view, which this camera is essentially always doing.”

– John Caz: “To whom it may concern, please find a link for a short article about the light leak issue that may help those who may be panicking about their new investment to keep calm.” From the article here:

“In the photo of the still life on the top of the page, I have used a 30 sec exposure. While I’m lighting my subject with a very small light source, I’m also shining the same torch I used in the light leak photos above on the CLOSED port door. Most of the light bouncing of the camera during the whole exposure was lighting my subject as well. So with the door closed, you are safe! So under normal shooting conditions, its hard to imagine anyone having any issues with this, especially for exposures that are under 30 seconds. Also, knowing that there is a possibility for light leaking during exposure when the port door is open, you can help the situation by ensuring to do what you can to cover the weak area on the left side of the camera during that long exposure.”

–  jlmphotos told me via email: “Yesterday my grandson came over for some Pop Pop time and I whipped out my new X-T1 and shot about 900 frames in JPEG. On my blog here are the results of my shooting between ISO 400 all the way to ISOI 6400.  Not very scientific but to  me these are so revealing.  I honestly feel the X-T1 has over a 1 stop advantage in ISO over my X-E1. I also tried the face detection, and the continuous auto-focus.  Unfortunately as I’ve only had the camera since last Monday, less than a week, I’ve yet to master the AF-C use.  So my results stunk. I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the camera which is why I shot so extensively.  I really wanted to put it through it’s paces and I must admit, it’s a KEEPER! Anyway, feel free to click on my link and check out what I’ve posted.  Maybe some of your readers may find it helpful.”

– X-T1 test at photoreview here: “But probably the most irritating thing about the new camera is that Fujifilm STILL hasn’t got the message that the bundled Silkypix raw file processor seriously compromises the quality of processed RAF.RAW files and dramatically reduces their resolution. We can think of no reason why anyone would want to use it.”

– fuji x-t1 review #3: single shot autofocus at f8blog here: “With one big exception (focus point selection), I’d call the single-shot autofocus on the Fuji X-T1 fantastic. It’s very fast, very accurate, and I can focus anywhere I want.  It’s perfectly fine for most subjects.”

– Review at procameraman here (translation).

– Muses on the Fuji X-T1 – First Thoughts at outdoorimagesfineart here: “Some folks don’t like the buttons and how they are pressed.  For me, I prefer dial use anyway and limit my button pushing.  Yes, the buttons are recessed a little and yes they are tougher to press than the X-Pro1, for example.  However, the X-E2 has recessed buttons that are hard to push when compared to the X-Pro1.  So, first, you get used to it.  Second, I’m sure it has a little to do with the weather sealing, which is part of why I bought the camera body anyway.”

Why did I move away from M4/3 and buy a Fujifilm X-T1? at thewanderinglensman here.

– Fujifilm X-T1 on the street at larsauthen here.

– FujiFilm is Testing My Patience! at thewanderinglensman here: “I was, and still am, very frustrated to receive two consecutive cameras that were defective.  My confidence level in Fujifilm right now for quality control is not high.  I decided last evening to try one more copy of this, what appears at first use to be, a very nice photographic instrument.  Let’s hope the third copy works as it should.”

– X-T1+SanDisk.Honeymoon.At.Yosemite at fortheloveofx here: “The X-T1 performed beautifully in the dark and focus was fast and crisp, even in the midst of a difficult operation – shooting with one hand while managing a sliding 4-wheel-drive Toyota FJ that I was riding.”

-Jorge Moro: “Here is a link (jlmphotos) to today’s X-T1, auto -focus test on the X-T1.  Rather impressive performance I’d say.”

– Mike Croshaw: “Hi, I’ve updated my blog with some impressions of the XT-1 and lots of images here (mikecroshaw).

– X-T1 vs. X-E1 for long exposure photography at fujivsfuji here.

– Nordic Beauty workshop shot with Fuji X-T1 with 56mm, 35mm and 23mm lenses at prophotonut here: “These soft light beauty shots were taken on the 56mm lens wide open at f/1.2. It’s not easy to nail the focus because the depth of field is so shallow. However with practice and care it should be fine.”

– X-T1 analysis at brooksreview here: “I shot for many years with a Canon 5D, and I can tell you that I never enjoyed shooting with the 5D as much as I have with the X-T1. Canon’s are made for you to trust the camera, and the X-T1 seems to love you even more when you flip to manual and stop trusting it.”

– First Impressions Review of the New Fujifilm X-T1 at contrastly here: “Fuji built a camera that looks like it should compete with the SLR market, but what they have really done is cashed in on the concept of “cool.” Instead of making a mirrorless camera that caters to amateurs looking to upgrade from a point-and-shoot camera, Fuji developed a platform that is full of advanced features, simplistic in execution, and stylish.”

XF 56mm f/1.2
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Fuji’s first f/1.2 prime knocks it out of the park at slrgear here: “Fujifilm is really knocking it out of the park with their X-mount prime lenses, and the Fujinon 56mm ƒ/1.2R is another triumph. Typically, an impressively bright ƒ/1.2 aperture brings with it some big sacrifices such as sharpness, vignetting and CA, but the Fuji 56mm avoids them all. With stunningly sharp images, even in the corners at ƒ/1.2 with extremely minimal CA, vignetting and distortion, Fuji shooters looking for the premiere portrait lens for the X-mount should look no further.”

– First impressions at thephoblographer here: “So far we don’t have very much to complain about with Fujifilm’s 56mm f1.2 except that we wish that the lens had a dabble of Zeiss’s micro contrast. It feels great and delivers beautiful images with the right settings or the right massaging of a file in Adobe Lightroom.”

– Fujinon 56 f/1.2 First Impressions: Bokeh with a Side of Bokeh! at markschuelerphoto here: “As some­one who pre­vi­ously owned and loved both the leg­endary [shoplink 22141]Canon EF 85 f/1.2L[/shoplink] and the super-quick Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, all I can say is that I am aston­ished by the lens. It seems to have all of the strengths of a good wide aper­ture por­trait prime with none of the weak­nesses. Yes, the edges are soft at f/1.2, but you’re shoot­ing at f/1.2. And the cen­ter is dead sharp.”

– Review at admiringlight here: “Fuji has crafted a gorgeous lens that provides excellent subject separation, nice bokeh, fantastic sharpness, outstanding color and contrast and a beautiful response at wide apertures for portrait use, while providing enough resolution and detail to punch it up if needed.  At smaller apertures, the lens is essentially flawless: tack sharp from corner to corner with great contrast and color while still maintaining good bokeh.” For the comparison between the Fuji 56mm f/1.2 and the Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 for Micro 4/3 click here: “Overall, the Panasonic Leica is a little bit better corrected.  It’s slightly sharper over most of the frame (though the Fuji is a little better into the corners in my experience), it’s got a little smoother bokeh and better contrast at wide apertures.  However, it’s definitely not a runaway.  These systems have two heavyweights in this range.”

jonasraskphotography review here: “I tend to get very exited about new stuff, so I am always overly exited about the things that I review on this blog. With that in mind however, I can safely say that this is the single greatest performing piece of photo-tech I have ever owned. A bokeh monster for the X-Series. Sharp as a razor, and built to last.

XF 10-24
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image courtesy: Gianluca Colla (via Fujifilm blog)

 – Hands on with the XF10-24mmF4 R OIS (with beautiful shots!) by Gianluca Colla at fujifilmblog here: “You judge the result your self. All of the images featured here were taken on the X-T1 with a (pre-production) XF10-24mmF4 lens and are JPEGs straight out of camera. I dare you to find me another combination like this..”

– David Hobby’s Flickr set here: “This thing is the real deal: Tack sharp wide open, surprisingly rectilinear and with RIDICULOUS optical image stabilization.”

XF 10-24 pre-order: [shopcountry 20414]

X100S
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– Matt Ludtke: ” I wanted to drop you a line to let you know I just finished a blog post about shooing a strobe lit action shot of cross country skiing with my x100s. I thought it might be something the readers would be interested in“. Check out his blog post X100s with strobes at ludtkephotoblog here.

– FujiFilm X100s Advanced Filters at fernandogros here.

– Fuji X100S in Black & White at michaelkircher here.

– Fujifilm [shoplink 12893]WCL-X100 Wide Conversion Lens[/shoplink] at sebimagery here.

X-PRO1
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 – March 10th, 2014 ….. Fuji XP1 & 35mm Find The Light … and Some Other Things at streetshooter here.

– How the Fujifilm X-Pro1 helps me Combat G.A.S against the Gorgeous X-T1 at roblowephoto here.

– Berlin with the X-Pro1 – Part One at petetakespictures here.

– Rock & Roll with The Fuji X-Pro1 at roughly365 here: “I shot the images around Little Venice in London and chose to use the Fuji X-Pro1 because its so inconspicuous. I love the fact that you can walk around busy areas and no one notices it. It doesn’t scream professional camera so wont attract attention and unwanted questions.”

– Pimping my Fuji X-Pro1 ~ X-Signature Skin at kevinmullinsphotography here: “Good Value?  I think so.  It’s not going to be for everyone of course but if you fancy being a bit different and adding a bit of quality personalisation to your camera then go for it.  You can get your X-Series pimped with a X-Signature Skin on the Fuji UK Website.”

lenses

– FR-reader Yunsoo Kim took a closer look at Fuji’s upcoming Cap Lenses and told me that they intergrate soft filter and cross filter: “I found it has soft filter and cross filter inside itself. You can choose it by dial and it will notify the modes by colors.” Read here (translation).

– Making the most of a distracting zoo environment with a Fuji 55-200mm zoom and the X-T1 at aboutphotography here.

– Fuji XF 55-200mm 3.5-4.8 OIS -vs- Fuji XC 50-230mm 4.5-6.7 OIS at colinnichollsphotography here: “If its £199 get the XC, its really great and nice and small, its not as good as the XF in terms of build and speed but its really only marginally different, however if it were a case between the two I would have the 55-200 if the XC wasn’t so cheap. So overall see what you’ve got in your wallet, if you can afford the XF buy that but if you can fins a deal on the XC you won’t be disappointed with it, don’t feel like you are missing out on getting the cheaper lens it is still and awesome piece of kit.”

– Fuji X-T1 + 14mm, Sony A7 + Voigtlander 20mm, Sony A7r + Sigma 20mm at soundimageplus here: “Over the past two days I’ve been shooting with the above camera / lens combinations to get some idea of how the Fuji XF 14mm f/2.8 performs in comparison to the other alternatives I have.” For this X-E2 with 14 and 60mm lens article click here.

RAW-conversion

 – Sharpening and Finishing Fuji X-Trans Files in Photoshop and Lightroom at thomasfitzgeraldphotography here: “I hope this series on X-Trans processing has been useful. I’ll provide a summary page and direct links to all the articles at a future date. (for now you can see them all on this category page) I’m also considering putting all these parts into an e-book to serve as a kind of manual for getting the best out of X-Trans files, so if you would like to see that let me know. I’m still hopeful that Adobe will improve the demosaicing/sharpening issue in the future, so hopefully at some point all of this will be un-necessary.”

flash

 – Fujifilm EF-42 Flash Review at nextimelah here: “All in all, I’m really pleased with the flash. It’s doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of more flashy flashes (pun intended) of the Canikon, but it works pretty well for me and is useful for events and simple studio setups. I’m also sure Fujifilm will be making an update to this flash to match the competition in the professional realm. For the time being, semi-pros and amateurs will still find this a value for money purchase. Now, I really wish that Fujifilm will update my X-M1 camera firmware to enable WiFi shooting though, will really help those self portraits!”

“Only two years ago all of this was like asking for the moon!” X-T1 review at riflessifotografici (part 2)

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And here it is, part 2 of riflessifotografici’s X-T1 review. After Max Angeloni (part 1), now also Donato Chirulli shares his X-T1 findings on the Italian review site here (English version).

New FR-readers, who don’t know riflessifotografici, may be warned: if you are looking for pages over pages of mere specs, pixel peeping, technical data and graphics, then this is not the kind of review you should read. But, if what you’re looking for is a real life review, a review that doesn’t need many words, but just the right words to reveal the good and the bad of the X-T1 and with beautiful images, then check it out here.

“The X-T1 is the closest thing to a reflex that I’ve used since that day in 2009. For the first time since I started to use CSC cameras I haven’t had that subtle and almost unconcious feeling to have a slightly lesser camera compared to a DSLR. Pictures were good, sure, but sometimes the AF system, sometimes the viewfinder, sometimes the responsiveness left something to be desired…You know what I mean. Trust me when I say that the X-T1 won’t let you feel like that.

[…] The Ev compensation and shutter speed dial would have had a better feeling if swapped, at least for me. Too many times I found myself changing the EV compensation while I wanted to change the shutter speed. […] My third complain is shared with some of the other X-series cameras (i.e.X100S) and is related to the impossibility to shoot RAW on a double exposure, a feature that the X-E1 has…Why is it missing on the X-T1?

[…] What else should I say before leaving room to the image gallery? Not that much, to be honest…I have just one thing to say: at this point I think Fuji should focus on a weather sealed 300mm lens (as bright as possible, I would say F3,5) in order to fill what is the only “hole” in the Fuji lenses lineup.”

Fuji X-T1 in stock check: [shopcountry 21553]