#image quality

The XF 16-55mm F/2.8 - Born to be ... a Brick!

I did it. Finally. A couple months ago I bought the “Brick” (again). “Brick”? That’s the short name for Fuji’s Pro F/2.8 24-85mm full frame equivalent zoom. Fuji calls it the XF16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR. Now why would having a zoom be such a big deal? Coz I’m a prime guy. Don’t like zooms. Then I went out and got one regardless … And it has taught me what a “Love/Hate Relationship” is. Please read on to find out more!

City park contre-jour, taken with X-H1 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R WR @16mm, F/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

Look at the above contre-jour picture taken in our city park during the early morning! I tell ya, images taken with this lens are tack sharp. Always! So, full disclosure here: I had it already back in 2017, on my X-T2 (my main camera at that time). But then sold it (despite loving its image quality), coz I found that it was not suited to low light photography in the golden hours at the beginning and end of the day having a max. aperture of “only” F/2.8. That’s 2 (two whole!) stops below my F/1.4 primes, without any OIS (optical image stabilisation) to compensate the loss of light. That’s why it’s a Brick! Or have you ever seen a Brick with image stabilisation? No? Well, I ain’t either. So, it’s a Brick. Now why would I buy a “Brick” again?

For sure y’all have heard of the “definition of insanity”: Doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result, but expecting a different one. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein (also to Ben Franklin and Mark Twain …). But it was neither from those nor from Einstein, coz that quote would contradict the laws of thermal dynamics & chaos theory. Those teach us that it is actually highly unlikely that you get the same result when doing something the same way over & over … Go try shuffling a deck of cards in the same way several times and see how often you can get the same card to come out on top. See? It ain’t gonna happen, not if you’re not a halfway good magician … ;-) Actually this “definition of insanity” first appeared in 1981 in a document published by Narcotics Anonymous: A guide book to help narcotics overcome their addiction by persuading its members that it’s a futile exercise to continue using narcotic drugs and expecting to be able to stop on their own

So, maybe I ain’t “insane” after all - I got a real reason for buying “The Brick” again! Coz of what’s meanwhile changed: Fuji gave us the X-H1, first time sporting IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation). So, on the X-H1 the “Brick” is stripped of its main reason for being a Brick: With the X-H1’s IBIS I can now use the Brick in a “Brick-less” environment (twilight, IBIS+F/2.8 @1/8-1/15 sec, comparable to no IBIS+F/1.4@ 1/30-1/60 sec). So, the X-H1 has given the Brick the chance to taste life as if it wouldn’t have been a Brick! Below another image I liked because of the subtle gradations from pure white to deep black:

White & black cars, seen with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 on X-H1 @55mm, F/8, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, -1 EV

Ok back to topic now. What are the pro’s & con’s of the XF 16-55mm F/2.8 and why do I have a “Love/Hate Relationship” with this lens?

Here the Pro’s (the “Love” relationship):

  • Fantastic image quality, comparable to Fuji’s F/2 primes already from max. aperture F/2.8 onwards. Only at its longest focal length you can find some very slight edge softness (no issue)!

  • Max. F/2.8 aperture over the whole zoom range & aperture values marked on aperture ring

  • Versatility: The 16 - 55mm range (substantial wide angle to portrait telephoto) is perfect for all-round photography, esp. when you don’t wanna change lenses (wedding, travel, dust, rain, …)

  • Flexibility: Y’all can switch from overview to detailed images at the turn of the zoom ring!

  • Excellent, extremely robust build (mainly metal, only front tube of high quality plastic): No play, no wobble. Rings have just the right resistance. Zoom doesn’t extend with lens pointing down

  • Build quality: Well centred, no dust / smears on inner lens surfaces (as some Fuji lenses have)

  • Completely weather & dust resistant (special seals to prevent sucking dust in when zooming)

  • Good close focus of 0.4m (0.16x magnification): You can take a frame filling image of your hand!

This is the kind of image I love this lens for: No need to change lenses when documenting festivities (weddings, anniversaries, parties, …) & superior, prime-like image quality from F/2.8 onwards:

Anniversary “selfie”, captured on X-T2 with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 @23mm, F/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 1600, flash -0.3 EV

The above image of me & my pretty wife at our anniversary was taken using the zoom’s moderate wide-angle setting of 23mm by hand-holding the camera with Brick and flash in “selfie” mode - quite a stunt to hold that rig steady at arm’s length weighing nearly 2kg (4.4 lbs) ! ;-)

And now the Con’s (the “Hate” relationship):

  • Even if the X-H1 takes care of image stabilization it’s still a Brick, as in big and heavy: Strap that Brick onto your X-H1 and you’re holding nearly 1.4kg (that’s 3lbs!) in hand! All the time …

  • This lens has no image stabilisation! Means it is less useful on non stabilised bodies (X-Pro2/3, XT-3, …), limiting how far you can venture into the golden twilight hours w/o a tripod. That’s why it was born to be a Brick! w/o image stabilisation the max. aperture of F/2.8 is just not enough …

  • It has a seriously intimidating effect on people (with a 77mm filterø it’s in full frame territory!). Try pull this thing out and point it at someone - people dive for cover and the person you wanted to take an intimate portrait of best case gives you a somewhat irritated smile & feels sorry for you!

  • I’ve a tendency to use this zoom mostly at its focal length extremes (i.e. at 16 and 55mm), less in between. This negates its flexibility a bit as I could just as well run around with 2 cameras with the XF 16mm/1.4 and YF 56mm/1.2 bolted on them!

  • I got the feeling that images taken with this multi-element zoom (17 elements in 12 groups!) somehow come out a bit “flat” (lacking the 3D pop that my primes exhibit). Just a feeling …

Edit 2020/7/20:

On the last item above, regarding tendency of multi-element zooms to maybe generate a bit “flat” image rendering … I really dunno, but if I look at below image taken with my XF 23mm F/2 in very similar circumstances as the first image of this post, I do kinda get the feeling it has more “3D pop”. Maybe I’m just imagining stuff … So, y’all please decide & let me know your comments! Take a look:

City park contre-jour, X-Pro2 with XF 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/40 sec, ISO 400 - amazing “3D-pop”!

As you can see I’ve got quite an ambiguous relationship with this lens … In fact I don’t really use it that often, despite it’s fantastic image quality! It mostly only gets used when I absolutely need the flexibility of a zoom and/or need to work in dusty / wet environments, where changing lenses would freak me out (remember? I’d risk getting PTSD if any dust’d get onto my sensor!). The main issue I got with this lens is it’s (full frame-esque) size & weight. Holding those 1.4kg (3lbs) continuously in one hand gets annoying rather soon. If I compare this to taking along my 2 camera / 2 lens kit (2 X-Pro2’s with 23 & 50mm F/2’s attached in my compact Think Tank Hubba Hubba Hiney), I get a much more balanced kit for only 200g extra and only around 15% larger bag size. In this setup I have one camera in hand, that weighs only around half (!) of my X-H1 + Brick combo: It’s just way easier to hold only 800g in your hand over longer periods of time! Meanwhile the other camera/lens is in the bag nicely distributing the weight

Anyway, see below image I did with the 16-55 zoom. Especially architecture photography works well with zooms as you have to adjust the angle of view all the time & need in-between settings to match the image to the frame:

Town house, on X-H1 with XF 16-55 F/2.8 @17mm, F/5.6, 1/550 sec, ISO 400

Well, that’s about it with my short review of Fuji’s XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR lens: It’s undeniably THE best mid range zoom I’ve ever had (and I’ve seen ‘em all), at a very fair price of just over a grand. IF you can live with its weight & size handicap, that is. Ideally you’d combine it with an image stabilised body (X-H1 or X-T4) to enable low light hands free photography, despite the F/2.8 max. aperture

Please head over to Philip Sutton: He’s an avid user of this lens & you can learn a lot from his beautiful people photography! Actually he triggered me to buy the 16-55 again, thanks Philip!

As always, if you have any questions or would like to leave me some comments (constructive critique is always welcomed ;-)) please do so in the comments section below or send me a message via my “about” page. I will answer every one, I promise!

Wish y’all a good week & hope you stay safe & healthy,

best regards

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

All You Need is LoVe ... for the X100V!

“V”, as in X100V and by the way it’s the 3rd letter in the word “LoVe”! Now it ain’t my intention to try explain what love is here, so let’s just head over to Merriam Webster (dictionary). They got a fitting definition I’d like to share with y’all: Love is … “a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties”. Another? Ok, so in this case it ain’t a person, but it’s the X100V! Please check out my user review, tips & recommended settings below after nearly 4 weeks of extensive use:

Twin lamps’ shadows, captured on Fuji X100F with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/350 sec, 160 ISO

See the picture above? Somehow I never seem to find that kind of images (or should I say the image found me? ;-) when using my exchangeable lens cameras (X-Pro2, X-H1, GFX 50R, etc.) … Maybe it’s the increased creativity spawned by the X100V’s limitation to one lens only or its smallness & unobtrusiveness? Whatever. Look at the image below, another example. OK, I do concede this kinda images don’t qualify as artistic masterpieces by any measure, but they do elicit a strong emotion in me, which most of my other, documentary style photography don’t. It’s somehow got something to do with how the X100 series cameras influence my approach to photography: These little cameras make you want to try out new things. Their fixed focal length animates you to experiment with light & shadows, perspective & point of view, rather than fussing around with focal lengths. You start to intensely feel the world around you, rather than just taking pictures of it. The whole experience is similar to the impressionist painting style: Impressionists like Claude Monet, or Pierre-Auguste Renoir are known for their flurried brushstrokes, they paint the scene as if they had only glanced at it for a moment. It’s just a quick, spontaneous “impression”. That spontaneity is also the core attribute that justifies the X100 series’ value for me! Below another surreal motif which captured my fancy. It’s defined by the stark contrast of the puddle’s inky blackness vs. the bright white pillars - looks like the black puddle is “leaking” from those pillars:

Pillar puddle, seen by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/80 sec, 200 ISO, -1 EV

Fuji’s original X100 launched in Feb 2011. It went on to become a game changer in the world of photography, mainly due to its promise of “A compact take-everywhere-with-you camera with pro-level image quality output”. Despite its undeniable (retro) charm it did however have several quirks and bugs, many of which were subsequently solved by numerous firmware updates. Since then Fuji has also launched several camera upgrades, all of which have since accompanied me for parts of my photographic life, building the aforementioned “kinship” & “personal ties” in my opening “Love” statement: After the initial X100 came the X100S = “second”, X100T = “third”, X100F = “fourth” and now, after 9 years Fuji’s fifth iteration called X100V is here (the Roman numeral “V” indicating the “fifth”)

Below night image benefitted from using the X100V’s tilting rear LCD screen. I could unobtrusively frame the image properly and wait for the right moment before firing the shutter:

Nightly bistro rendezvous, observed by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 II @F/2.8, 1/40 sec, 6400 ISO

The X100V is the one, which in my opinion finally fulfils the original X100 model’s promise, due to following 5 major upgrades:

  1. Weather Resistance (provided the lens is protected by a good UV filter attached to the AR-X100 adaptor ring): Finally this gives me the peace of mind to really always have the camera with me & take photos in all conditions (hey, usually that’s when you find the best images!)

  2. Articulating LCD Screen: Finally the LCD screen can be tilted. In combination with the X100V’s fast autofocus this allows me to discreetly & unobtrusively snap quick pictures from the hip while remaining in full control of image composition & lighting (no more guesswork). The slightly lower point of view also results in a more pleasing perspective in people shots. Raise the camera to your eye? People notice immediately & gone is the spontaneity!

  3. Significantly Improved version II Lens: Honestly I was never unhappy with the X100 series’ original 23mm F/2 lens: But it’s definitively no match for the improved 23mm F/2 version II on the X100V! At max. aperture it’s already sharp over the full frame! And there’s no more close focus softness nor weird lens flare patterns around bright highlights

  4. More Intuitive ISO Dial (and user interface in general): This may be a small change technically but it completely transforms the usability, as you can now leave the ISO ring in the lifted (unlocked) position & fluidly change ISO w/o needing to take the camera from your eye!

  5. Beautifully Designed & High Quality Sleek Housing: Ok, so this one don’t really influence your images but the latest iteration of this camera feels so solid & looks so beautiful, especially the silver version - you just can’t put it down anymore & constantly need to take photos … ;-)

There’s one more upgrade which is the slightly higher resolution BSI (Back Side Illuminated) X-Trans IV sensor with 26MP and 160 base ISO vs. the previous 24MP X-Trans III sensor with 200 base ISO. However I can’t really see a big difference here so for me this one don’t really qualify as a substantial upgrade … The new sensor even demonstrates slightly higher noise levels at higher ISO’s, but you really need to look very closely to see the difference, see below example taken at 1600 ISO - still perfectly OK if you ask me:

Grey vase found by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/2.8, 1/40 sec, 1600 ISO

Unfortunately there are also 2 “downgrades” compared to the X100F which I’m not so happy about:

1. NO infinity target indicator box in the OVF (Optical ViewFinder) when using “Corrected AF Frame”:

Screenshot 2020-03-22 at 14.57.00.png

This means you lose any indication of where your AF target box will be at distances larger than your current focal position, making AF focussing using the OVF less predictable: No way of knowing to where the AF target box will jump when refocussing from near to far. If you’re at a point A on a map and you don’t know how far away point B is, how’re you supposed to know when you’ve passed 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3 of the distance toward point B? On the X100F the always visible near & far target boxes make it more easier to judge!

2. Missing D-Pad: This is partly mitigated by the ability to use gesture swipes on the rear LCD touch panel

To be fair the X100V’s EVF has a higher resolution compared to the X100F (3.69 mln dots vs. 2.36 mln dots) & it offers a more smooth viewing experience than the EVF on the X100F. Below image was composed by using the EVF (I needed the precise limit of the frame on the right side to exclude a building crane from intruding into the image & I didn’t want to have to crop afterwards … ;-)

Early morning sun on town house façade, Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/680, 320 ISO

OK, so I can live with those lesser downsides. Not to forget there are still 2 big benefits inherent to the X100 series compared to other mirrorless cameras: A super quiet leaf shutter allowing flash sync up to 1/4000 sec shutter speed and a built in (4 stop) ND filter

In overall I gotta say that the above mentioned improvements make the X100V the most significant upgrade of the whole X100 series ever (from my point of view). The X100V finally fulfils the brave promise of Fuji’s original X100: A compact, always with you everywhere camera delivering pro-level image quality. So, how about some images of brick walls to demonstrate that “pro-level image quality”? Sorry, I ain’t a brick wall photographer really. Y’all just gonna have to believe me on that one … the X100V’s new version II lens is phenomenal. Totally rad. Simply awesome! Don’t trust me? No problem, there’s like a million of brick wall photography specialists roaming the net - just head over to them & pixel peep to your heart’s content!

There are some reports on the web about the camera heating up and the manual focus ring making grating noises. While I’ve not experienced the former I did have to exchange my first camera to get one without the grating noise of the manual focus ring …

Summing up I can without any reservations highly recommend the X100V and rate it with ***** (five stars) … It’s ideal for all kinds of documentary & street photography and for social, family and wedding photography I’m sure y’all will have a wonderful & fruitful experience with the X100V. FYI for me the X100V is a “her” coz I got an emotional connection to her & absolutely love shooting with her (her name’s “Irene”, crazy huh? ;-)

So, before I close this post I’d like to share my preferred personal Fn (function) button allocation with youse (don’t worry, it’s totally for free, kinda like a “bonus”)

These Fn button settings give me a seamless adjustment experience while using the camera, minimising the interference on the image taking process (please excuse the less than perfect image quality of the X100V’s LCD screen off my iPhone, but it’s good enough to see the settings I think):

X100V Fn Allocation 1.jpg
X100V Fn Allocation 2.jpg

  • Fn1 ………… Shutter Type

  • Fn2 ….…….. Face / Eye Detection Setting On/Off

  • T-Fn1 ……… Photometry

  • T-Fn2 …….. ISO Auto Setting

  • T-Fn3 …….. AF Mode

  • T-Fn4 …….. Natural Live View On/Off

  • AELAFL …. AE Lock Only On/Off

  • R-Dial ……. Focus Check (press to Zoom in)

  • Selector … ND Filter (pull to the right & hold for 3 sec to activate)

  • Q …………… Quick Menu

If you have any questions and/or any comments / suggestions please leave me a note in the comments section below or on my “about” page (your email will not be disclosed), I’ll answer every one of your messages!

Many thanks for visiting & reading and hope you enjoyed it! Please take care & stay healthy,

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Format Battle: Fuji APS-C vs. Medium Format

First off I wish all of you a very happy & successful new year! My start into the new year was characterised by going “Full Fuji”: I traded in all my full frame kit (Nikon D850 / Z7) to get a Fuji medium format camera with a couple lenses. This means that next to my APS-C format gear (X-Pro2 / X-H1) for journalistic & documentary work I now also have a larger than full frame camera (GFX 50R) for more thoughtful, higher image quality photography. Really? How much more do you need than the already impressive image quality Fuji’s APS-C sensors provide? And be aware, the larger sensor also introduces several challenges & some disadvantages, to coin a phrase: “It’s one small step in format, but one giant leap in adapting your photography” (compared to full frame). Please read on to find out more!

Vertical shadows play on the wall, X-Pro2 with XF 23mm F/1.4R @F/5.6, 1/2700 sec, 400 ISO

Stepping up from an APS-C X-Pro2 with the XF 27mm F/2.8 R to a medium format GFX 50R with the GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR (both rangefinder style mirrorless cameras with their most compact “pancake” lens mounted) is quite a “leap” actually … It will increase your kit size by approx. 15%, the weight by approx. 85% and nearly double your cost (and the lenses will cost approx. 3x of what you’re used to with APS-C … 😅). Woah! To add insult to injury y’all should be aware that to get a similar depth of field on medium format compared to APS-C you’ll need to stop your lens down by nearly 2 (two!) stops more. So a F/5.6 on your X-Pro2 will need a dim F/11 on your GFX. OK, you can partly compensate this by allowing a 1 stop higher ISO (w/o seeing any negative effects), but still. Low light photography w/o tripod becomes a bit of a challenge. The next thing you gonna notice is the different aspect ratio. The above image was taken on my X-Pro2 on 3.2 aspect ratio (quite a “long” format 😉), with the veritable XF 23mm F/1.4 R attached. Based on the relation between length of sensor diagonal and focal length I’d need a 45mm lens on my GFX 50R to achieve the same (diagonal) field of view as with the XF 23mm on my X-Pro2 (both corresponding to a 35mm full frame equivalent field of view)

Now, Fuji is so kind to offer us a GF 45mm F/2.8 R WR which would perfectly fit the bill, but that one’ll set you back by another approx. 1800$ … So on account of that eye-watering price I unfortunately don’t (yet) have such a lens (Jeez, with those kinda prices you don’t just “go out and buy a lens” … 🙃). So, I tried it with my compact GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR instead (corresponds to a 40mm full frame equivalent field of view), see the resulting image below:

The same shadow play, on the GFX 50R with the GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR @F/11, 1/340 sec, ISO 200

Interesting, even Fuji was telling me the correct medium format lens to compare to the XF 23 would’ve been the GF 45mm, the width of the images appear to be very similar: Compared to the X-Pro2’s APS-C sensor with its quite “long” 😉 3:2 aspect ratio, the GFX 50R’s medium format sensor has a more balanced “shorter” 4:3 aspect ratio. But if you frame to the same width and crop (shorten) the APS-C image to the same aspect ratio as the medium format sensor you get nearly an identical image, see the direct comparison below (OK, the position of the shadow on the right side is shifted between the 2 images, but that’s due to the change in the sun’s position - I took the second image a few minutes later):

X-Pro2 image, now cropped to 4:3 aspect ratio

GFX 50R image, same as above

So how did this all play out? We wrote the year 2016, fall 2016. @Photokina Fujifilm effectively turned the world of photography upside down by launching a larger than full frame “medium format” mirrorless camera system at a significantly lower price point (-30%!), compared to any other medium format competitor. They boldly just overstepped full frame and went straight to medium format, coming from their APS-C format X-series range. Of course I was intrigued! But at that time an 8 grand entry ticket into the medium format game was still too high for me, so instead I went full frame in April 2018 (Nikon D850, see here, here and several posts thereafter …). The definitive advantage of full frame vs. APS-C is the narrower depth of field at comparable aperture, combined with the in general higher max. aperture and less high ISO noise. But in the end I had to concede that the increase in image quality (which in some cases was even not really evident, see here) was too much offset by the significant higher size & weight compared to Fuji’s APS-C offerings. Last but not least I so much prefer Fuji's user interface to the Nikon setup!

So at the end of 2018, when Fuji announced a ‘rangefinder-esque’ version of their medium format sensor camera in form of the GFX 50R at an even lower price point (around 6 grand with the standard lens), I knew I had to get my sweaty hands on one! Weighing less and more compact than my D850 / Z7 and FTZ adapter with comparable lenses at only an approx. 10% higher price? I was sold: The GFX’s medium format files demonstrate an amazing depth, tonality & 3D pop; it has traditional dial based ergonomics (like all Fuji’s); the viewfinder is on the left of the body (rangefinder style) and it has a tilting touch screen allowing discrete photography with the camera at waist level like I did with my Hasselblad C/M long times ago … Hey, what more do you want?

Before continuing the comparison between Fuji’s APS-C and medium format I should clarify that in reality Fuji’s “medium format” is actually a cropped medium format, you could say like a “macro” four thirds ;-) see the comparison of the sensor sizes below:

Sensor size comparison, courtesy of photographylife.com

Moving from APS-C to Fuji’s medium format obviously brings a massive nearly 4x increase of sensor size, whereas you only get an increase of 1.67x vs. full frame. So you could expect that image quality-wize full frame and cropped medium format are roughly comparable and both visibly better than APS-C. But when analysing my test shots I was surprised to discover that there is actually a visible improvement from full frame (Nikon D850 with AF-S 35mm F/1.4) to Fuji medium format (GFX 50R with GF 50mm F3.5)! Check out the crops below:

Crop from APS-C test shot, with X-H1 and XF 23mm F/1.4 @F/2, 1/850 sec, ISO 200

Crop from Full Frame test shot, with Nikon D850 and AF-S 35mm F/1.4 @F/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO 64

Crop from Fuji medium format test shot, with GFX 50R and GF 50mm F/3.5 @F/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 320

Coming back to my original question as to how much additional value this (cropped) medium format brings vs. full frame I think there is no clear cut answer. It depends as always on your priorities & preferences! On the plus side you get fantastic files off Fuji’s medium format sensor (btw the sensor has a Bayer layout, so no demosaicing issues in Lightroom). They sport amazing detail and clarity, with beautiful dynamic range and tonality. Vs. full frame DSLR’s you get the benefit of a hi-quality EVF (electronic viewfinder), and not needing to bother with AF micro adjustment, all at a visible higher image quality level while in a comparable size package vs. full frame (and all that at a very reasonable price!). The compactness of the Fuji GFX 50R, especially if coupled with the smaller lenses (like the aforementioned GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR) even allows you to do some street photography (provided you have the time to get the focus right) …

On the down side, If you do chose to go the medium format route (vs. full frame) you need to accept that you will not get the creamy bokeh full frame sensors with large aperture lenses are capable of. Fuji’s medium format lenses, while delivering amazing image quality all just don’t have very large max. apertures. These modest max. apertures mean you already lose approx. 1-2 stops vs. full frame lenses of comparable focal lengths. To this you’ll need to add nearly another stop (vs. full frame) to achieve a comparable depth of field. So be aware you are looking at 2-3 stops less light gathering capability! However, due to the better high ISO performance of the medium format sensor (see also interesting comparison here) you can recover around 1-2 stops by dialling in a higher ISO value. Another challenge is depth of field. When using medium format you have to select your focal plane very carefully as the sharpness fall-off from sharp to unsharp zones is much more pronounced than the smaller formats (no worries with APS-C btw!). Also note that focus speed is quite a bit slower than you were used to on full frame …

With this 1st post of the new year I hope I could give you some food for thought and help y’all in your personal decision process! Please leave me a message in the comments section below or on my ‘about’ page if you have any questions or there’s anything I could help to clarify for you. Many thanks joining the discussion and for visiting! And once more all the best for your photographic new year!

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!