image courtesy: sulantoblog

X-photographer Matti Sulanto is running one of the most popular camera sites in Finland. Right now he is testing the pre-production 55-200 mm and has some sample photos on his site (only in small size, because full size is not permitted yet). The site is in Finnish, but everybody can understand the photos with technical data.

Read his posts and see the samples in this post here (translated version) and this post here (translated version)

These are his first impressions, he sent me via email:
– bit bigger than I expected, but still relatively compact and not heavy
– very fast autofocus
– impressive OIS
– image quality seems very good indeed
– I like the lens already, even though the pre-production version is not the same quality as the final production version will be.

Preoder the 55-200: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / AmazonUK / DigitalRev / PictureLine (USA) / PCHstore Brussel

The lens should be available (at least in Europe) in the beginning of June.

image courtesy: luminous landscape

1) Luminous landscape tested the [shoplink 11808]X100S (specs&price)[/shoplink]. The reviewer says among the others that although the AF is still not as fast as the [shoplink 11210]OM-D E-M5[/shoplink], it’s fast enough for “pretty much any application this camera will be put to“. The really great thing is that the AF sees in the dark: “Walking the streets of NYC at night, I was able to focus readily on passersby, in conditions that would have been a real challenge with the best rangefinder.  You will run out hand-steadying ability four or five stops before you run out of AF.  This is truly impressive. […] It’s a DSLR  killer for a lot of serious shooters (like Zack Arias whose review is linked here)“.

“A truly modern camera focuses quickly, accurately, often with little light, and at the spot in the frame where the photographer wants it to. The X100S does that. Case closed. […] The best thing that could happen on the next-gen Fuji is a serious simplification of controls. AND, spending another $25 a camera on buttons.  Nice buttons. Expensive, metal-feeling buttons.  That  small step would take the Fuji to a real “premium” level. […] It’s a real photographers’ camera.”

Check out this nice review here.

2) laroquephoto has the opportunity to test the XF 55-200. As it’s still a pre-production model, Fuji doesn’t allow anyone to post full size sample images (there are still improvements that will be made).

“The contrast, sharpness and highlight rendition is right up there with the 35mm f/1.4. My initial feeling is that it even surpasses it. The OIS feels like a Steady-Cam; Manual focussing follows in the footsteps of the 14mm and 18–55mm and keeps me eating my own words about fly by wire. And when mounted on my X-Pro1 the entire kit feels like it’s at least half the weight of my old [shoplink 11786]Nikon 70–200 2.8[/shoplink] on its own.”

Read it all and see the sample pics here.

Preoder the 55-200: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / DigitalRev / PCHstore Brussel
Check the pre-orders in your country: [shopcountry 10575]

image courtesy: laroquephoto