Critique Welcomed Playing With the New Lenses

[Keith Hollister]

I was weak and ordered the Fuji XF16 and XF90 while the sales were still on. Picked them up from UPS this morning and went directly to one of my favorite locations to give them a whirl - X-T1, tripod, ISO200

Wicker Chairs by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

This Way Out by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

Courtyard Gate by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

Angel by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

Aztec Detail by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

And of course the gratuitous "hey look, no DOF" shot wide open on the 90/2

Planters by Keith Hollister, on Flickr

 

[John Allen]

Some pretty amazing image quality from both of those lenses. That first shot looks a bit like an HDR shot. None of the other shots seem to have that look, except maybe the shot from the outside of the gate. Is that from some in-camera processing or did you get that effect in PP?

 

[Keith Hollister]

All of these are raw files processed in LR, Nik and/or On1 Effects. The first image got one of the glow filters in On1 applied (don't recall which one off the top of my head) and the tonal range stretched a bit. That probably contributes to the slightly "tone mapped" look. I did that intentionally , BTW

The 16 and 90 are Fuji's latest primes (aside form the little 35/2 they just did), and have the reputation (justifiably) of being the two best primes in the already outstanding Fujinon lens lineup. While these images (like all my stuff) have been processed, the SOOC raw files are pretty impressive looking too.

The 90 was a experiment since I don't normally shot that focal length, but I love it already. The only flaw in the 16/1.4 is coma wide open at the edges, which unfortunately rules it out as an astro lens. It is otherwise highly corrected optically so you don't loose the corners due to digital correction.

 

[John Allen]

Thanks for the explanation. None of the shots look as wide as I'd expect from a true 16mm so I'm guessing the 16mm and 90mm are the actual focal lengths and they are 24 and 135 FF equivalent.

 

[Keith Hollister]

Absolutely - the Fuji's are APS-C, so the usual 1.5X crop factor applies.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Great shots, Ken. I like them all. It's hard to beat Fuji colours.

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

Great series, I may run out of money this way, but.....

 

[Milan Vjestica]

Keith, you are tempting me far too much. How can I afford a new 20mm for my Nikon if you tempt me to spend money on Fuji glass?

Great image quality and sharpness.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

That is a very decent 24mm equivalent lens Keith. I have personally never come across an 85mm plus focal length lens that was not very good and and this 90 I have seen many samples a while ago goes is again superb. There is something I find very attractive about tele lenses, the rendering they provide is very hard to achieve on shorter focal lengths an also like the foreshortening that goes with a longer focal length, which can work so well for certain landscapes.

Excellent set of image Keith.

 

[Paul Lange]

I changed from Nikon to Fuji and not looked back either. Nice set, the 3rd in particular for me.

 

[Keith Hollister]

Thanks, all.

I don't miss the D800's and the huge glass at all either, Paul.

I didn't need either lens (already had the XF14, 23, 56, 60, 18-55 & 55-200) but they were on sale (it works for my wife). Guilty pleasure funded by the recent sale of some pricey Olympus lenses since I'm not using m43 except for macro and IR at this point.

 

[Pete Askew]

Nothing wrong with them! And a nice set of images too. I especially like the first and fourth.