The New Zoom

For the last few months, I have been stricter on my Thursdays. That's the only day when I have no clinics, and I have decided to devote the day for 'me' time. Yes, there were the occasional lunch meetings, or even worse, the ones which started at 5pm, but I would try to keep those to the minimum. I also tried to keep distractions to the minimum on those days and would stay away from the hospital as much as I could.

I was lucky last Thursday, when I was able to have lunch with Anita as well as took a new zoom I got last weekend for a bit of a spin.

It was a Fujinon on the X-T1 and I have been waiting for this lens for a good part of a year. The original announcement was made at the beginning of 2014 about a new pro-level standard zoom for the Fuji X-series. So, I ordered one in and was contacted by my usual dealer last week. It was the Fujinon XF 16-55mm 1:2.8. And it was a monster.

A much bigger lens than I thought, which was a surprise as it didn't carry an image stabilising motor on it. Using it on the X-T1 took some getting use to, and I had high hopes for the output.

It focused amazingly fast and accurately, and the results out opened was pretty sharp. But I had a problem. Since the beginning of the year, my main system had been the Sony A7 mark with Leica lenses. They were primes of course, and once you used the Leicas, nothing else came near them in terms of sharpness.

Although I understood the quality and the convenience of autofocus, the X-T1 with the new zoom was not the most mobile of setup. It was like carrying my EOS 7D with the 17-55 f2.8 zoom all over again. Although I must be honest, that the results from the Fujinon in terms of colour rendition and sharpness were much better.

I may take the combo for another spin this weekend, but my initial impression was somewhat flat. I was expecting a bit more. Maybe the Leica lens were poison! I am willing to give it another go though, and hopefully find a bit more joy. I will be posting more on the Fuji and Sony comparisons later ....