Fuji The 27f2.8 pancake maybe a permanent fixture on my xe1

The 27f2.8 pancake and XE1 are made for each other... It really does feel like a natural fit. While shooting with it today, I was reminded of the Olympus SP and Konica C35 both with 38f2.8 pancakes or the feel of shooting the Leica/Minolta CL w/ the 40f2.

The lens is very light and soooo small. AF speed is not as good as the 18-55 zoom but feels better than the 35f1.4. The zoom is dead quiet compared to this lens when it comes to AF motor noise but still this lens is a bit quieter than the 35f1.4. The only thing missing from this package is a lens hood like the one from the Nikon 45 pancake (the shallow inverted cone style).

At f2.8, there is already pretty good center sharpness but it is really at it's best around f5.6 when the corner sharpness is good. The 27 may not ever come off the XE1 except for putting on the 14f2.8 :D

Here is some shots from Berkeley Bowl - just some quick grab shots to show the lens, first pano crop at f2.8 wide open
_DSF1427.jpg
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Next @f5.6 no cropping
_DSF1420.jpg
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Another @f5.6 but at around 20% crop
_DSF1421.jpg
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These were all shot RAW and developed using Aperture and my save processing affect.

Cheers
Gary
 
can you show any pics of the combo?

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OK here is a quick comparison shot of the X100 next to XE1 w/27.. The X100 looks taller because of the RRS grip I have on it, but really about the same height. The 27 is a hair shorter then the 23 on the X100, but essentially close enough.. I originally thought the 23 was a hair shorter.. Putting them next to each other tells a different story. Part of reason maybe the filter adapter ring though.

_DSC3857.jpg
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Gary
 
^
i think the way we always have been able to by +/- two 1/3 stops with the xf lenses - that scrolly wheel button on the upper right side. forgot what fuji calls it. i think june firmware release added the function to control aperture for the newer xs lenses.

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hmmmm....not sure I could get used to a couple different ways of changing apertures depending on what lens I'm using.

pictures were lovely, the rendering, clarity and color are excellent. but i also am very curious about fujis lens design decisions. i dont understand making some lenses in the same line physical apertures and some not. honestly makes no sense to me, and defeats one of the main features setting the X line apart from the competition.
 
i just hope the xf roadmap doesn't come to an end. i can understand pancake-style lenses sans aperture rings for the purpose of an xs lineup, but for any other reason, i just don't get as well. the film controls were one of the points i went with this system in the first place.

(Sent from my EVO via Tapatalk)
 
pictures were lovely, the rendering, clarity and color are excellent. but i also am very curious about fujis lens design decisions. i dont understand making some lenses in the same line physical apertures and some not. honestly makes no sense to me, and defeats one of the main features setting the X line apart from the competition.

Both the lenses they have chosen to not include an aperture ring are not "premium" lenses and the pancake is very small so size and pricepoint would be a factor. You also have to consider that most photographers under the age of about 40 have grown up only changing camera settings on the camera body and would find the old style control layout on a modern camera quite odd. The new X-M1 for instance shows that Fuji realises that there is value in selling cameras that rely less on nostalgia. Now if they'd only had put a bloody touchscreen on that thing...
 
hmmmm....not sure I could get used to a couple different ways of changing apertures depending on what lens I'm using.

Haven't you ever had more than one camera/system with different controls between cameras? I like having the aperture settings on the lens all other things being equal. But currently I'm shooting with the RX1 (aperture ring), Nikon A (no aperture ring), Fuji XE1 w/14mm lens (aperture ring, but the damn thing is soooooo loose I almost wish it wasn't an aperture ring), and OMD (which doesn't have aperture rings on any of my current lenses, but I've used it with legacy glass that had 'em). I also have an LX7 (aperture ring) and a GXR-28 (no aperture ring). Changing back and forth between gear with 'em and without 'em has never been an issue. I used to have bikes with both Shimano and Campagnolo brake/shift levers, which use VERY different controls to serve the same basic functions. Folks always asked how you could deal with two such different systems. Well, I could only ride one bike at a time and it took about five seconds at the beginning of a ride to maybe consciously think about which you were on and which motion did what in the shifting process. And then you just do it that way. Same with cameras. Once I get to know a camera and its various controls (lens ring or not, but not limited to that), it might take a few seconds to reacquaint yourself with which you were shooting at the beginning of using one of them, but its not exactly difficult to keep 'em straight...

The bigger issue I ever had was with the X100 and X100s, which HAVE aperture rings, but which only control full stop adjustments. If you want to do intermediate 1/3 stops, you have to use the little adjuster rocker on the back of the camera. Having two completely different controls to handle exactly the same function but in different increments was really confusing to me and I damn near never used the rocker as a result. THAT is a pretty serious pet peeve of mine with the X100 and 100s. None of the other Fujis with aperture rings do that. Neither does the lowly LX7 or the hifalutin RX1. It just don't make sense!

-Ray
 
pictures were lovely, the rendering, clarity and color are excellent. but i also am very curious about fujis lens design decisions. i dont understand making some lenses in the same line physical apertures and some not. honestly makes no sense to me, and defeats one of the main features setting the X line apart from the competition.

According to what I have read, it looks like getting the pancake as small as possible and keeping egonimics good was the driving force. Problem is I don't remember where I read this. I personally think the other reason could have been keeping a price point.

The lens road map they are current showing has two lens lines now, the xf which was what we originally had and the new consumer brand xc line. They mentioned some fixed length tele lenses will be put on the road map in the future during the xm1 conference. I am assuming these will be for the xf line.

Gary
 
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