Fujinon XF 80mm Macro for Music Photography & Video
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Fujinon XF 80mm F2.8 for Music Photography and Video
Fujinon XF 80mmF2.8 Macro: BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS, FocusCamera
Guest post by Daniel Philipson Web | Instagram | Facebook
I switched from Nikon to Fujifilm in late 2014 and haven’t looked back since. Love the performance, look and feel of the Fuji cameras/glasses, the excellent JPEG handling with beautiful colors and film simulations and of course, the Kaizen updates. For a few years now I have photographed music in terms of performances, shows and concerts. The Fujisystem suits my needs for this very well and it’s a joy to use!
The current lenses works great but…
I have used the 35/1.4, 56/1.2 and 55-200/3.5-4.8 lenses for shooting music and shows. Great lenses, not as fast AF as the newer ones but they still produces really good results as long as the person/s on stage isn’t moving around too much.
…faster AF would have been really nice to have!
More action on stage usually results in a lot of blurry images and quite increased scraprate. To fully take advantage of the X-T2 performance I felt the need (GAS alert!) to pair it with one of the later, fast focusing lenses.
Why the XF 80mm macro?
The Nikon AF-S VR 105mm f2.8 macro was the best lens I had before switching to Fujifilm. Really sharp and image stabilized, excellent macro performance and also good for portraits. But I had problems with the AF speed for moving objects, especially in low light conditions, at least mounted on my Nikon D7000. And I just did macros now and then which sadly meant the lens was rarely used, most of the time it was stuffed away in the camera bag.
I was missing the ability to shoot macro with my X-T2 and a XF 80mm sounded really tempting!
For music/concert photography there are several other smaller, lighter and cheaper alteratives that makes more sense and seems like smarter choices. Like the 50mm f2, a fast, sharp and affordable lens. Or the 90mm f2, fast, sharp, more expensive than the 50mm but still cheaper than the 80mm. And then of course there are some really good zoom lenses like the 18-55mm f2.8-4 and 16-55mm f2.8.
If music/show/concert photography was my only planned use i´d probably go for the 50mm f2. But it lacks image stabilization so it’s not an good option for handheld video. To get that functionality the 18-55/2.8-4 would be a really good choice, even though a bit slow at 55mm. But none of theese lenses can double as a true macro lens!
Multipurpose
To avoid the same destiny as for the Nikon 105mm macro, the XF 80 macro had to be usable for more than just macros and portraits, otherwise I couldn´t motivate the investment. I wanted a multipurpose lens able to handle:
- Macro
- Music/concert
- Portrait
- Handheld video
After reading early reviews I had no doubt that it would be great for macro and portraits and it sure sounded like the AF speed was there, I was quite confident it could handle music also. But lighting situations on stage can be quite demanding, would it work well in that environment? Not only for stills but for video as well?
Oh yes, it does!
Got the lens early december and it has already been used and put to test at three occasions: a concert, a show and a rehearsal of a musical. Different locations with different light setups. Mostly shoot stills but tested the video capabilities as well. And the lens worked like a charm, it sure looks like a winner to me!
AF is fast!
I kept the AF settings simple, just choose AF-mode “Zone” and AF-C custom settings to “1 Multifunctional” and it worked just fine!
The singer in the picture above had a lot of energy and attitude, he was jumping, dancing and moving around all over the stage. Shot this band at an earlier occasion with the 56mm. At that time I only got good pictures when he was standing still, but with the XF 80 I managed to capture him in motion.
Another example where I most likely would’ve got an blurry image with my other lenses. But with the XF 80 I could follow the girl to the left and keep her in focus.
This is from a rehearsal of the musical Cabaret. Once again, no issues following the main character on stage during a dance and keep her in focus.
Focal length
A 80mm fixed focal length is obviously not ideal for capturing a whole band or a group of artists on stage, a wide angle or normal would be better for that. But as a short telephoto it gives you the possibilty to get up close and isolate the subject which is really nice.
As with all primes it forces you to move around more to frame the image which isn’t a bad thing, but it might be a problem at a crowded concert with limited space.
Video
In the video below all close up shots are taken with an handheld X-T2 and the XF 80 (the fixed camera covering the whole stage is a Canon EOS M). I’m really impressed how well the autofocus and image stabilization worked! There are some rough camera movements and change of objects but the lens quickly managed to find focus again. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to video, so please have that in mind :-)
Final words
It’s no surprise that the XF 80 macro outperforms the 35/1.4 & 56/1.2. They are great lenses but no AF speed demons. And with the latest Fujinon lenses the AF performance has really improved. After testing it out, this really seems to be the versitile and fast lens I was hoping for!
The XF 80mm macro manages music/show/concert photo & video great so it fits my needs very well. And now I’m able to shoot macro again so it’s going to be a very good complement to my lens collection!
For more pictures check out my portfolio and Instagram,
Happy new year everyone!
Daniel Philipson
Design engineer and semi-professional photographer
Gothenburg, Sweden
Fujinon XF 80mmF2.8 Macro: BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS, FocusCamera