Fuji X-E1 and Nikon V2 go on a trip

I just got back from a week's vacation in Bangkok, Thailand, with a short trip to Seoul, Korea. This is the first long trip for both the X-E1 and the V2. In an attempt to keep the kit light, I brought less equipment than when I went to Bali. 

For the Fuji, I had the 18-55mm f/2.8. For the V2, I had the 10-30mm PD, 30-110 VR, and the 35mm f/1.8 ED with the FT1. All the lenses got some use, with the 30-110mm having the least shots and the 18-55mm the most. 

The two bodies and lenses did a good job. There were a few times that I would have preferred a wider lens (too many reclining Buddah statues), or something faster. I thought about renting the Fuji 16mm f.1.4, but in my head, the $100 that would have cost is better spent towards buying the actual lens.

So I'm now looking at the 2k plus photos from the trip. I had to change SD cards once (a 32GB) on the Fuji, and never on the V2 (the advantage of smaller RAW files). Batteries of course were swapped frequently, at least once a day on the body that showed the most use. 

A few notes:

1. The 35mm ED shows a lot of chromatic aberration. There is no profile for this lens in the V2's firmware, so the JPEGs show no correction. A bit of a pain when you want to post photos during the trip and don't have ACR on your laptop.

2. The X-E1's AF can be a bit slow for stealth shots. The V2 never missed a beat.

3. Multi-metering on the Fuji gets confused by backlighting. Spot or average fixes that.

Even more German

This time around it's a Contax Zeiss 50mm f/1.8, complete with T* coating. It came with a Contax 137Q body whose leatherette has seen better days.

Initial impressions weren't that good. The lens does produce sharp photos, but they're not as bitingly sharp as the Zeiss Ultron. Contrast was also lower than I would expect from a Zeiss lens. Shining an LED flashlight through the lens illuminated the culprit: haze inside the lens. I disassembled the 50mm, and discovered the fogging is between the fourth and fifth elements that are glued together (is this the "balsamic separation" that I see on some eBay listings)? Not much I can do at this point except live with it.

It's still a good lens though. OOF isn't as nervous as the Ultron. The colors have a certain richness to them that's not present with other lenses. Flare is still an issue, but not too bad. I'm sure I'd be more impressed with a clean, haze-free copy.

A good Chinese lens? Yes, a good Chinese lens

More than halfway into 2016, so let's start it with a good post. By accident, I read a post about the Zonlai 25mm f/1.8 lens being available in the Fuji X-mount. It's a Chinese designed and made lens. In photos it looked small, sample images were pretty good, and the price was reasonable. Off to eBay, where I made an offer that was immediately accepted by the seller. You know the price you named was too high when that happens.

The lens arrived in a week or so. First impression is that it really is tiny, just what I want for my X-E1. The aperture ring is in the front, leading to many fumbles as muscle memory made me reach for it when attempting to focus. It's a clickless ring, which I hate as it prevents setting aperture without looking at the ring. The focus ring is to the back, and it's on the tight side. Cosmetics look good, and the lens mounted without any problems.

Image quality matched what I'd seen on the web: sharp in the center wide open, with the edges being on the iffy side until about f/5.6. OOF can be a bit nervous when your subject is several feet away. Light fall off in the corners is an issue, but can be corrected easily in post. You can also leave it in to give your images that old lens look. I am amazed at how close the lens can focus. It's definitely a plus given the wide aperture of the lens. OOF is smooth when your subject is up close.

Flare is an issue. This lens produces even weirder flare than the Zeiss Ultron. A lens hood will solve this problem, but will make the lens bigger; there's no such thing as a free lunch when you're dealing with cheap lenses. I will probably go in that direction though as this lens likes to be used wide open, and the X-E1 will overexpose in daylight at f/1.8 (anyone selling an X-E2 or X-T1 cheap?).

I splurged for a Taab focus tab ring to help with that tight focus ring. Sadly, the Taab covers the focus scale. I need to grab a label machine and make a distance scale.

So far I've been happy with the lens. I'm still struggling with manual focus and have missed quite a few shots. But when everything lines up right, the Zonlai 25mm can give some pretty impressive shots. Some have a touch of that 3D look.

On to the samples.

More images can be found here and here.

Year end musings

As 2015 draws to a close, it's time for a short review of my state of the photo nation.

1. I'm down to three camera systems: Nikon FX, Nikon CX, and Fuji X. M43 has gone away, and hasn't been missed.
2. The D3 is now on its eighth year, and still going strong. The batteries are due for a replacement though, as they are at the end of life per the indicator, and don't hold as much of a charge.
3. The D5200 gets the occasional use when I need the extra resolution. I'm still not as impressed with the high ISO IQ though.
4. The V1 is gone, replaced by the V2. I haven't had much time to use this camera, and plan to save it mostly for surfing and video. There is already a flaw in the plan though as the Sigma 500mm won't work with the FT1. I don't know if this is a problem with the V2 or with the FT1 as  I upgraded the firmware on the latter. The firmware upgrade allowed the FT1 to do continuous AF with the V2, but it seems at a cost. I'm waiting for a response from Sigma to find out if there is a fix. If not, I'm stuck with the 70-200mm + TC-14E for surfing (756mm 35mm-equivalent). Still not a bad combination, but not quite the 1350mm 35mm-equivalent I'd get with the Sigma.
5. The V2 also has some weird restrictions when shooting at 15fps. There's an aperture limitation (no greater than f/5.6) in this mode. Nikon wants me to call them to discuss this, but I haven't had the opportunity over the hectic holidays.
6. The V2 IQ is a bit grittier than the V1. Looks like I need to work on my sharpening settings.
7. The Fuji X-E1 has been a great walkaround camera over the last five months. Yes, the AF is dog slow, but I've been mostly using it with adapted lenses, so that hasn't been an issue. The IQ from the camera has been very good though, and it's a good balance between the IQ of FX and the portability of CX. Nikon, where is your mirrorless DX body?

So overall things are looking good for 2016. No new hardware is in the cards, for now at least.

From the V1 to the V2

Earlier this year I was looking at getting a used Nikon V2. As much as I enjoy using the V1 for surfing photos, the damned image review that can't be turned off has cost me quite a few shots. I've been waiting for Nikon to make that oh so small change to the firmware, but that's been a waste of time.

In the meanwhile, I got distracted by the Fujifilm X-E1. The IQ is so much better than the V1, although AF speed can't compare. Despite that drawback, the X-E1 has replaced the V1 as my small, carry anywhere body.

So where does that leave the V1? Well, it was going to remain my surfing camera (which means selling the 10mm, 18.5mm and SB-N5), but then I found a V2 body with the 10-30mm PD lens going for a decent price (thanks again, Craigslist).

A few observations:

1. The V2 body is smaller and lighter. It's not that much smaller than the V1, but being thin with that big grip gives the impression that it's much smaller. Being lighter also helps, but that is at the expense of battery life.

2. The PD lens is very convenient. Turn on the camera and the lens opens and extends, no need to remove a lens cap and then push a button to extend the lens. Hopefully the mechanism doesn't break down.

3. The grip makes it easy to hold the camera, but it gets uncomfortable after several minutes. The corners are not as rounded as on a Nikon DSLR body, which is probably one reason my fingers start hurting after using the V2.

4. There are some surprising missing features compared to the V1, such as no battery status (really, Nikon?), no interval timer, and no option to independently turn the AF confirmation and shutter sounds on or off.

5. Auto ISO is still not correctly implemented with a minimum shutter speed setting as on Nikon's DSLR bodies. I thought the algorithm was favoring lower shutter speeds in aperture priority, but a quick test with the V1 shows similar exposures.
6. There's no way to manually select between the electronic and mechanical shutters (aside from picking silent mode). With the V1, I tend to shoot using the electronic shutter, even at slower speeds.
7. I found out my FT-1 was one firmware upgrade behind when I was unable to focus continuously at 15fps. I did a rough test using the same lens on both the V1 and V2, and the V1 feels like it's focusing faster (or refocusing more often) than the V2. 

Not having image review is a relief though. I'm looking forward to the next trip to Hawaii so I can test the V2.

The V1 is off to another Nikon fan. It will get some good use and will still be loved, but by a new owner.