Lenses

In these days because of the Covid pandemic and the restrictions in movement you may find yourself unable, or unwilling, to venture out and take new images. Now is a good time to gather your previous years of images and look for images that you may not have worked on before or need to be redone.

Too this end I have rediscoved images that I had forgotten about or just wanted to have another go at processing them differently. I have many 100’s of thousands of images that I feel deserved to be looked over again and now have the time to do it because of Covid.

When I scour my images I try to find images that I may have overlooked in my initial high grading and use them as a basis for tracking other images down. I have about 7TB of images stored and there are many that have never been really looked at (or printed).

In this diminutive bag I can carry all I need for a days street shooting. Two bodies, three lenses and four spare batteries.

Fujifilm XE2 + 18mm f2 Fujicron sometimes replaced with my X Pro 1 or 2
Fujifilm XE1 + Fujicron 35mm f2
Fujicron 14mm f2.8

The essence of this kit is its lightweight but the capability to produce HQ images. It is also much less obvious and attracts less attention from those who may be in the shot. The APS-C sensor in the X-E1 helps this relatively small camera shoot serious DSLR-quality photographs. Even at ISOs as high as 6400, the photographs are usable. The colours are accurate, and I was initially surprised at how little noise there is in the frame relative to how high the sensitivity is. The X-E1 is in essence a slimmed-down X-Pro1, with the large, complex and expensive hybrid finder replaced by a purely electronic viewfinder. Not any old EVF though – it uses a 2.36M dot OLED unit, out-speccing the X-Pro1’s 1.44M dot LCD finder. The X-E2 is superficially very similar to the X-E1, with the same basic body design and control layout; at a quick glance, it’s almost impossible to tell them apart. It keeps the same top-plate layout, including analogue shutter speed and exposure compensation dials, and has the same 2.36M dot OLED electronic viewfinder. The rear of the camera is still covered in buttons in much the same places as the X-E1, but their functions have been rearranged. The X-E2 sports the same X-Trans CMOS II sensor as we first saw in the X100S, which includes on-chip phase detection elements for autofocus, and in concert with the EXR Processor II promises much-improved autofocus speed. It also gains Fujifilm’s rather basic but easy-to-use Wi-Fi system for sharing images. There’s also a much nicer rear screen: a 3″, 1.04M dot 3:2 aspect ratio unit, and a whole host of further tweaks and improvements. The net result is a camera that retains all the best bits of its predecessor, but has also been improved in many respects. The X-E2 – not revolutionary, but distinctly evolved. Two nice cameras to use.

Fujifilm X-E2 Specifications

Sensor: 16.3 MP (1.5x crop factor), 4.8µ pixel size, same as on X-E1
Sensor Size: 23.6 x 15.6mm
Resolution: 4896 x 3264
Native ISO Sensitivity: 200-6,400
Boost Low ISO Sensitivity: 100
Boost High ISO Sensitivity: 12,800-25,600
Sensor Cleaning System: Yes
Lens mount: FUJIFILM X mount
Weather Sealing/Protection: No
Body Build: Magnesium Alloy, Top and Front covers
Shutter: Up to 1/4000 and 30-sec exposure
Shutter Control: Focal Plane Shutter
Storage: 1x SD slot (SD/SDHC/SDXC compatible)
Viewfinder Type: 2,360,000-dot OLED color viewfinder
Speed: 6 FPS
Exposure Meter: TTL 256-zones metering
Built-in Flash: Yes
Autofocus: Yes
Manual Focus: Yes
LCD Screen: 3.0 inch, 1,040,000 dots, TFT color LCD monitor
Movie Modes: Full 1080p HD @ 60p, 30p
Movie Recording Limit: 14 minutes in 1080p, 27 minutes in 720p
Movie Output: MOV (H.264)
GPS: No
WiFi: Yes
Battery Type: NP-W126
Battery Life: 350 shots
USB Standard: 2.0
Weight: 300g (excluding battery and accessories)

Fujifilm X-E1 Specifications

Sensor: 16.3 MP (1.5x crop factor), 4.8µ pixel size, same as on X-Pro1
Sensor Size: 23.6 x 15.6mm
Resolution: 4896 x 3264
Native ISO Sensitivity: 200-6,400
Boost Low ISO Sensitivity: 100
Boost High ISO Sensitivity: 12,800-25,600
Sensor Cleaning System: Yes
Lens mount: FUJIFILM X mount
Weather Sealing/Protection: No
Body Build: Magnesium Alloy, Top and Front covers
Shutter: Up to 1/4000 and 30-sec exposure
Shutter Control: Focal Plane Shutter
Storage: 1x SD slot (SD/SDHC/SDXC compatible)
Viewfinder Type: 2,360,000-dot OLED color viewfinder
Speed: 6 FPS
Exposure Meter: TTL 256-zones metering
Built-in Flash: Yes
Autofocus: Yes
Manual Focus: Yes
LCD Screen: 2.8 inch, approx. 460,000-dot, TFT colour LCD monitor
Movie Modes: Full 1080p HD @ 24 fps max
Movie Recording Limit: 29 minutes
Movie Output: MOV (H.264)
GPS: No
Battery Type: NP-W126
Battery Life: 350 shots
USB Standard: 2.0
Weight: 300g (excluding battery and accessories)

Batteries are important (extra) as both these little beast can be power-hungry. Battery life is rated at 350 shots according to Fujifilm / CIPA test results, an improvement over the X-Pro1. The XE2 sports the same battery life around 350 per full battery. With a couple of spare batteries more than enough for me. Both cameras use the same batteries which is a plus.

**Fuji XE2 battery and memory card compartment**. **Same on the XE1**

My favourite lens, foe street shots, on the XE2 is the XF Fujicron 18mm f2, a vastly underrated lens but capable of excellent results for me with this camera. The XE2 is my primary camera, with the XE1 acting as a very good reserve. Both are very capable but the focus is a little snappier of the XE2 but not by much after upgrading the firmware.

The Fujifilm Fujicron XF 18mm F2 R has some marks in its favour. It’s quite small and light, covers a classic wide field of view, gathers a heck of a lot of light, and focuses close enough for most shots you want to capture with a 27mm equivalent lens.