XF 90mm f/2 Review by Jonas Rask

Reviews of the forthcoming XF 90mm f/2 → are few and far between right now. Fuji clearly hasn’t made as many pre-production units of this pro-focused lens as they did the consumer-focused X-T10. Jonas Rask has the best write-up I’ve seen to date.

... and it has a 62mm filter size just like the XF56mm f/1.2 (and the XF23mm f/1.4). By placing the 56mm and 90mm side by side it’s quite apparent that they are the same width, and and what differs is only the length of the lens.

This is a really smart move by Fujifilm. Three extraordinary, fast lenses covering a wide range of focal lengths, one set of filters. If only they were able to keep the XF 16mm f/1.4 at the same filter thread.

Compare it to an equally spec’ed full frame or even APS-C lens, the XF 90mm will still be one of the smaller options to carry around.

Jonas is right, it is one of the smaller options, but as Jonas alluded, it will depend a great deal on how you arrive at 135mm, and which of the other big guys you compare against. Here’s how things stack up against full frame Canon and Nikon lenses.

Fuji 90mm vs. DSLR 135mm, lens only

Canon actually has a really small and lightweight option at this focal length. I can’t speak to its quality, however. When it comes to Nikon, the DC-Nikkor 135mm is conspicuously absent from the US site, but is still available on nikon.ca. At f/2 on full frame, it will deliver a stop’s worth of shallower depth of field, but it will cost you in weight. Those figures do not account for body weight.

Things change when APS-C is included for either Canon or Nikon, depending on how exact we’re being with our focal lengths. 90mm is really closer to a 137mm equivalent, whereas a full frame 85mm will get to pretty close at around 129mm on Nikon’s version of APS-C (1.52x multiplier) and real close with Canon’s (1.6x mulitplier). That means you can get a lens that’s close to 135mm with an f/1.8 lens from either company for less weight than Fuji’s 90mm f/2, but what it doesn’t account for is body weight.

Fuji @ 137mm vs. APS-C DSLR kit

So going mirrorless gets you a reduction in weight, albeit a smaller one.

Finally, in an effort to be a completionist, let’s compare a Fuji X-T1 kit, with the closest we can get from Olympus, the OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8 lens.

Fuji @ 137mm vs. Olympus @ 150mm

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a 135mm equivalent in the M/43 world, Still, if you want the lightest way to 135mm and beyond, Olympus is the way to go, if you ignore the whole f/1.8 on a Micro Four Thirds thing.

I had intended this to be a quick piece pointing you to a great review, so I’ll leave you with a final word from Jonas before you checkout the rest of his review:

OH MY DEAR LORD! THE IMAGE QUALITY OF THIS LENS!

I get the feeling he likes it.

New 90, “Old” Stephani→

Bert Stephani has a nice impressions video on the XF 90mm f/2 →. My favourite part is at 0:29, but keep watching until around the 4 minute mark, where Bert takes the lens outdoors to shoot, and provides some great sample images.

The 90mm f/2 looks like it will have no trouble creating separation for your subject, and rendering busy backgrounds as creamy, blurry, bokeh backdrops. Wedding photographers are going to be all over this thing.

Inspiration: Marco Larousse

If there‘s one person I follow on Twitter who makes me feel inadequate about my street photography skills, it’s Marco Larousse, who is perhaps equally well known as “HamburgCam.” Marco’s eye, patience, and post processing, be it digital or darkroom, add up to some incredibly clever photography that routinely makes me stop and think, “Holy shit, that’s nice.”

I had the good fortune of meeting Marco in person and he’s as nice a guy in real life as he is on Twitter.

You can see lots more of Marco’s work here, read an excellent interview with Marco here, and you can follow Marco, a.k.a HamburgCam here.

UPDATE: It turns out my friends over at MirrorLessons had a similar idea. Another great interview with Marco can be found here. Crazy coincidence.

Inspiration: Verity E. Milligan

First, a Note

Testing gear is great fun, but we mustn’t forget that it’s the photographs we make that really matter. I’m guilty of this slipping my mind at times, but I managed to sneak a moment for myself this past weekend to make an image amongst the testing. With that said, I hope none of my readers mind the odd post here and there that features the photos we make with our cameras.

I’ve called this quite simply “Inspiration,” because for me, that all it is. These are the people who inspire me to grab my camera and go shoot.

Now onto the Inspiration.

I met Verity (or Vemsteroo) on Twitter sometime late last spring when her extraordinary landscapes of various Districts in England were retweeted. She was an insta-follow. Her latest set of images, this time from the Peak District, is as lovely as ever, and includes this gem, which I think is particularly genius.

“Ice Planets” by Verity E. Milligan

The entire set was captured with the X-T1 and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, showing off the lens’s versatility, but more importantly, Verity’s words about winter echo my own thoughts about the season.¹

Seasons provide us photographers with exponentially more photographic opportunities so even if it’s still cold where you are, bundle up, stick a WR lens on your X-T1 and make some images.

1. Except maybe when temperatures get down below -30˚C like they did last weekend. That’s just nonsense.↩

16mm f/1.4 and 90mm f/2 WR

Big Head Taco has written a nice piece about his time with both the President and Vice President of Fujifilm Canada. His impressions of the imaging leadership is certainly of interest¹ but this is the bit that really caught my attention.

I asked Greg why no prime WR lenses and he said they are coming soon. He mentioned the new 90mm f/2 and the 16mm f/1.4 are going to be WR lenses, but the lens roadmap doesn't mention it.

This is fantastic news. Weather sealing is the one thing I find lacking with Fujifilm lenses. I suppose the question now is, how does Fuji go about re-issuing WR versions of existing lenses? There aren’t many I wouldn’t like to see WR appended to their model names.

1. And I happen to share a lot of his opinions whole-heartedly, ↩

Underground with the X100S

Case in point for my last post, Matt Law shows what the X100S can do underground. Having a “T” on the front of his camera wouldn’t have helped him one bit.

Cool story, and some great examples of what the X100S can (still) do in crazy low light.

Excellent Reviews from Light Priority

Rory Prior’s review of Fuji’s FUJINON XF 14mm f/2.8 R is a fantastic, not only because it mentions this site at the bottom, but it includes some excellent insights. It’s a great read for anyone considering what’s still one of Fuji’s best lenses to date.

With the sheer ubiquity of 18-55mm (28-70mm) lenses, people are used so seeing images at those focal lengths. That means lenses that break out of that range immediately have the potential to create more interesting pictures. The downside for the photographer is that it can make composition and getting the right exposure more complicated. You’ve potentially got to get a lot closer to subjects to make them fill your frame, then you have distortion to worry about, especially when shooting people.

Don’t miss Rory’s comments on how much the outstanding software, Iridient Developer, can help with edge sharpness in his equally excellent 18mm f/2 review.

FUJIFILM XT-1, Back to Basics

An excellent review of the Fuji X-T1 was posted back on April by Kjetil Kvien Madsen.

While the whole review is worth a read, it was the images that go along with this line that really struck me:

Nikon D800 (With 24 f1,4) and Fujifilm XT-1 (With 23 f1,4) There is a huge difference carrying these cameras around. The bulk and weight of the D800 is quite different.

A friendly reminder from Kjetil Kvien Madsen how much smaller our X-T1’s are compared to DSLRs.

The 23mm f/1.4 pictured here is even larger than the 14mm f/2.8, which is closer in focal length to Nikon’s 24mm f/1.4. I had that lens on my D700 and I remember thinking that was a small camera package. It is not. Size and weight soon became a major sticking point for me when it came to photography, and while I can drone on and post weight charts about it, sometimes nothing can tell the story like a photo.