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Shaun Reeder | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> 2nd Fuji: XF 55-200 tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

2nd Fuji: XF 55-200

I haven't quite got the hang of Fujifilm's sharpening algorithms...I seem to find different things work at different output sizes.
There seems to be a wee bit of light fall-off in the far right; as yet I've not managed to eliminate it.
However....
This is a criminally sharp lens with a wonderful drawing style. From f4 to f11 the XF 55-200 resolves and draws better, and distorts less(even without lens optimisation) than did my Canon f4L(IS) 70-200 on full-frame. Were it not so, I would say.
The Fuji XF lenses(on the XT-1 at least), outperform my Canons.
At f5.6 and f8, my XF 14mm and 35mm primes both outshine my Canon 50/1.4 considerably.
The XF 14mm at f5.6 and the 55-200 at f8 do equal my 21mm Zeiss Distagon in terms of rendering lines and detail.

I really can't be bothered to exemplify what I've just said.

For architecture, landscapes and even for those poncing around pretending they're "street" photographers in Mosul with their overpriced retro-canvas bags, but are actually just Taking A Gap Year From Yoo-nee...get an XT-1.
For serious snappers and hounds who have to earn a crust, the customisability and reliability of its features and AF respectively would also suggest getting an XT-1. Portraiture with either primes or the excellent XF zooms, restores the spring in the step one thought one had lost.
For wedding photographers, it doesn't matter what you get, someone's mate will always undercut you by doing the gig for a bag of chips on his i-phone and leering at you before he goes home to beat his wife and pet the Staffy.
For grizzled pros who like to fell a charging wildebeest with their equipment, sweating like Ernest Hemingway and who don't mind saving for an extra spine..stick with your canon L.
For sports snappers, just keep your Nikon.
For those who don't actually take photos but who whine on forums pretending they do, you may as well get your Olympus micro-whatever: no-one else cares.
Don't get the XC zoom if you're half serious: there's a perfectly good reason it's going free every time you sneeze and the word "Fuji" comes out: it's jank.
Bear in mind I've written(most of) the above purely for comic effect: if it offends you I'll remove it.
Shauny, August 2014

PS: At my monny,PB seems to have softened my shots by in its uploading/recompression.
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