Recommended: XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR review at photographyblog

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PRE-ORDER

Feel free to support my daily work here on Fujirumors. If you choose to pre-order this lens using one of the shoplinks in this post, FR will get a small commission on it. It won’t cost you a single penny extra on your gear. Thanks in advance to those who decide to support this blog and allow me to keep it running.

Pre-orders: USA: BHphoto / AmazonUS / Adorama / – EUROPE: wexUK / wexDE / PCHstore

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REVIEW

Photographyblog tested the brand new XF 18-135 WR lens. They recommend this lens and conclude that:

“Centre sharpness is very good throughout the zoom range, only requiring the user to stop down by one f-stop the lens to get the best results. Edge sharpness proved to be a little disappointing at the 18mm setting, although it thankfully improves at the other focal lengths.

The maximum apertures of f/3.5-5.6 are on the slow side, although the seven-blade iris diaphragm achieves some appealing bokeh effects none-the-less. Vignetting is practically a non-issue, and chromatic aberrations are only noticeable by their almost complete absence. There is some slight barreling at the 18mm wide-angle focal length, but very little pincushion distortion of note at the 135mm setting.

The Fujifilm XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR benefits from a fairly fast and pleasingly quiet auto-focus mechanism, generously wide zoom ring and a welcome aperture ring which makes it quick, easy and precise to set this key element of exposure. The lens mount is, thankfully, made of metal and, thanks to an internal focusing (IF) system, the front element and filter thread does not rotate on focus, which is very good news for those using polarisers and ND grads on a regular basis.”

More samples and first impressions at photoxels and danbaileyphoto… and in case you incredibly missed it, make sure to check out also Rico’s first look here.

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Fujifilm X-PRO2: 24MP APS-C sensor, tilt screen, WiFi and available in 2015 (anonymous source)

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If you remember, back in January an anonymous source (with nick-name) told us that Fuji dropped plans to produce an X-PRO1S. All R&D was placed into the X-PRO2. But, so the source, sensor and design were not finalized at that time.

A few months later, rumors of an Fujifilm X-PRO2 featuring a FF sensor were quickly corrected by the trusted Japanese FR-source, who told us that it will feature an APS-C sensor.

And now the dice might have been cast. According to an anonymous source, Fujifilm decided to put a 24MP APS-C sensor into the X-PRO2.

But the source shared some more details: the X-PRO2 will have a tilting LCD screen and, as to expect, a built-in WiFi. The camera should be in stores in 2015 (the source said February, but, as we know, this is always a tricky part of rumors, as Fuji can change the date in any moment).

Another question is if it will be announced in 2014 or 2015. Mirrorlessrumors said here that it will be announced at the photokina (September). This anonymous source told me the same, but for now I’ll wait for more feedback before confirming any date (I hear different dates). It could be the photokina, the CES (January) or even another day with no imaging fair (as the X-T1, which was launched in January 28). I’ll work on it and hopefully be able to give you an update soon (and any help is warmly welcome).

However, the Fujifilm X-PRO2 should be available only in 2015.

You know it, take it with a grain of salt.

If you can help me to find out more, feel free to contact me completely anonymously via rumor box (and maybe give yourself a nick-name, so that I can eventually identify you in future if you decide to share some more rumors) or drop me an email at fujirumor [at] gmail.com.

And now let’s have a look at the rumored X-PRO2 specs list (including rumors posted by other rumor sites):

(TS= trusted source / NeS =New Source / ASwN = Anonymous source with nick-name / AS = Anonymous Source / SRP = source who was right in the past, but not yet trusted / ORS = other rumor sites)

  • APS-C sensor (TS + ASwN + AS)
  • 24MP sensor (AS)
  • available in 2015 (ASwN + AS)
  • tilt screen (AS)
  • WiFi (AS)
  • Non organic ASP-C X-Trans sensor (ORS)
  • Announcement at the photokina 2014 (ORS)

stay tuned for more,
facebook, google+, RSS-feed and twitter

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Travel-X: “Think carefully before making a shot!” or how to explore Iceland with just the 35 + X-T1 (by Kamenev Dmitry)

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photo of Dettifoss – the most powerful waterfall in Europe

guest post by Kamenev Dmitry

I’m a lucky owner of [shoplink 21553]X-T1[/shoplink] from Russia and several days ago I’d been traveling in Iceland with friends. It is a country where every photographer (even the worst one with an old mobile phone camera) can feel like a superprofi.

Only two years ago I owned [shoplink 16850]5Dmk2[/shoplink] with EF 24-70/2.8 and a full kit of accessories for wedding photography – it was my little hobby (I’m far from profi). But suddenly I’d got a lack of free time for my hobby and decided to sell everything, because my DSLR was gathering dust on the shelf due to its size and weight.. But I couldn’t stop taking photos and bought [shoplink 15293 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink], which I think is really a great camera. I’ve owned X100 for 2 years and everything was good but I felt a great lack of lens change ability… So when I heard rumors about X-T1 I already knew what I would buy next.

And here it is Iceland! Real challenge for new Fuji… with only [shoplink 12889]XF35/1.4[/shoplink]. I was ready to chew my hands off because several weeks ago I’ve sold my [shoplink 12887]XF18-55 lens[/shoplink]. No, XF35 is an excellent lens but it’s about crime to go to Iceland without wide and zoom lenses. It was my first and the most serious mistake. Next time I hope I’ll have XF 16-55 f/2.8.

But 35mm is better than no lenses and such fix is very strict lens and makes you think very carefully before you make a shot.

The second mistake – I took only one battery. I charged it every night but its 250-300 frames capacity was extremely insufficient for me during the all day. So it made me think twice before making a shot. Next time I’ll take at least 2 batteries.

And the final mistake – memory card. I thought that 32GB card would be enough for me. No, it would not! I had to delete several photos to shoot some more. So it made me think thrice before shooting.

And now I can say that it was challenge not only for my camera but for me. As for X-T1 – now I like it much more: its weather sealed body helped me to shoot near waterfalls and during heavy rain; its lightweight allowed me to climb over hills and mountains and so on.

As a result of my trip here are some of my most favorite shots. By the way, some of them were taken out of the car while moving!

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PUSH THE “READ MORE” BUTTON TO SEE MORE IMAGES

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** CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article **

“Does anyone else have experience with the Aquapack 451 or other underwater solutions with a Fuji X camera?”

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IMAGE: Fuji X-M1, Fuji 14mm f/2.8, and the Aquapac 451 in the local river of my neighborhood here in Nuuk, Greenland after a couple of days of heavy rain. 1/1250sec, f/7.1, ISO 800.

shared at the FR-facebook photostream (feel free to keep up sharing and voting the images)

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FR-reader Mads Pihl asked for an advice (via FR-facebook), and I hope the X-shooter community here on Fujirumors can help. Here is his question:

I got the Aquapac after hearing about Czech photographer Paul Schlemmer’s experience with this cheap underwater soft “house” [admin: read the article here)], and I picked up a cheap X-M1 as it seems a lot easier to get into the aquapac than the X-E2 and X-T1.

The goal is to put it to more serious use on a field assignment in North Greenland this summer, but for now I am just playing around in the water around my house.

Does anyone else have experience with this or other underwater solutions with a Fuji X camera?

Cheers,

Mads
Northbound Photo (website – 500px)

Aquapack 451

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