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Fuji Lenses

Lesson 20 from: Fujifilm X-T2 Fast Start

John Greengo

Fuji Lenses

Lesson 20 from: Fujifilm X-T2 Fast Start

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

20. Fuji Lenses

With Fujifilm, some of the camera's controls live on the lens and not the camera body. Learn how to use these controls, like the aperture and image stabilization switch, well as what Fuji lenses pair best with this mirrorless camera body, including both prime and zoom lens options. Gain an understanding of what all those lens abbreviations mean, like XC and WR.
Next Lesson: Q&A

Lesson Info

Fuji Lenses

Let's talk a little bit about lenses, they have a number of different lenses and a lot of their lenses will have this Aperture Mode switch on it. Some lenses will have an aperture that actually turns from f/11 to f/16, f/22 and then into the A setting, it really depends on the lens itself. Many of their lenses, a lot of their zoom lenses will have an Optical Image Stabilizer, which is great for handheld photography, it'll allow you to shoot under lower light, because the lens is going to compensate for your movements, and make the image coming into the sensor a little bit more steady. When you're on a tripod, it's recommended that you turn it off but it uses very little battery power, so feel free to leave that turned on for handheld shooting. Most of the lenses will have Aperture Ring, some of them will be labeled and numbered, some of them won't. Zoom lenses will have a Zoom Ring and a Focus Ring, the other lenses will just have a Focusing Ring on it. Most of the lenses will have a l...

ittle notch out in front, which is for the Hood, and each lens has its own dedicated lens hood, so you don't want to mix and match lens hoods and lenses. So be aware of that, and each lens kind of has its own unique size of filter threads, and so, there's a number of very common filter threads that are used in the industry, this lens uses a 58, if you do wanna use a UV, polarizer or other filter, just not what filter sizes your lenses need. I'm not gonna go through all the Fuji lenses but they do have some very nice lenses out there, their latest line up that has come up from them in the last year has been there compact prime lenses. Now, these are all, kind of duplicating focal lengths they've already had, but they are at the f/2 aperture, which is not the fastest in the world, but they're small, they focus very quickly and they are weather resistant lenses, and a lot of people are really liking these, especially for street photography and travel photography, just 'cause they're very minimalistic. A lot of the more serious pros like the fast lenses, the 1.4, the 1.2 apertures, so, there's more than these, these are just a few of the highlight ones. So, if you wanted to shoot with the widest opening possible or the shallowest depth of field possible, you can look at some of these. Now, a lot of these lenses, they're not weather resistant, the 90 is, but the 23 isn't, the 56 is not, the 16 is not as well in there. And if you'll notice there's a lot of letters going on, and so Fuji has a number of letters that mean different things, ED means extra-low dispersion glass, for instance. The WR means weather resistant. Most of the lenses are just XF lenses, which is an X mount for Fuji. Some of them are XC lenses, which is the Fuji X mount but they're the economy ones. So, some other lenses that I think are very good, let's look at some zoom lenses. The serious zoom lenses, the 18-55 may be the kit lens but it also may be the best kit lens ever. I've been very happy with mine, good sharpness, small, light weight, I wish it was 2.8 constant or f/4 constant, I'm not happy with a lens that has a variable aperture on it, but it does make the lens quite small so it's great for travel. The 55-200 has a variable aperture but it doesn't go down to 5.6 like most of the lenses do, which is good, it lets in a little bit more light at 200. You can stop it down, of course, to 5.6, 8-11 and so forth, so that's a pretty nice option. And their 18-135 for an all in one zoom, it's one of the best options out on the market. If you really want the best of the zoom lenses, you wanna look for the red badge. They have this red badge XF Zoom lens on their 16-55 and their 50-140, and these are kind of their pro zoom lenses with their faster 2.8 aperture. They are weather sealed, they are very tough, they are very sharp, so they are very nice lenses. There is a 10-24 that almost goes into that pro category, it's the only one they have in that category, I think it's phenomenal. It's an f/4 aperture, which is fine for most photography, and there was just a recent announcement by Fuji that they're introducing two more lenses in the future, they do a road map, so if you wanna see what they're doing, do a google search for Fuji lens roadmap, and just this morning they introduced two more lenses. They're not specific, one of them is an ultra-wide zoom, and the conjecture among the rumor sides, is that it's going to be something in the realm of an 8-16 f/2.8, and it's gonna be one of the X red badge, XF zooms, and then there's another telephoto lens that's around 200mm that could be anywhere between a 200, or, I doubt that it's gonna be a 200 f/2, it might be like a 200 2.4, but the safe money would be on a 200 2.8. And so, they do need some longer, fast prime lenses and so, that's coming out. Until we get there, for those of you who want a longer lens, another one of the red badge zoom lenses, it's not a 2.8, it is 4.5, I think that's wrong, that's supposed to be 5.6, typo in the class, it's supposed to be 4.5 to 5.6 on that, with the 100-400 for all the birders and wildlife out there, wildlife photographers out there, that's the big telephoto zoom lens. Now, you can also use a couple of Zeiss lenses, when Fuji first came out with a system, Zeiss came out with some lenses and these are auto focus, and fully compatible electronically. And they don't seem to be adding to them, so I don't know if we're expecting any more lenses, but they do have some very nice options out there. You can also use Leica lenses with the M adapter that comes from Fuji, and the advantage of using this adapter is it's got electronics in there that has a little function button on it, so that, when you stick on a 50mm versus a 28mm lens, you can press that function button, dive directly into the menu system and make some changes in the camera about the metadata being recording what lens you are using, and there are some other little characteristics that we're gonna dive into the menu system as well, but if you do wanna use the Leicas, that is probably the adapter that you want to use, because we're gonna dive into that menu section where we can adjust the characteristics of that particular lens and the way it's recording the information. We talked about firmware at the top of the class for the camera, but there's firmware for the lenses. They have firmware updates for the lenses that they put out from time to time, that improve the performance of the lens. Do a google search for Fuji firmware table and you'll see the list of all the lenses. Now, as before, to check the firmware of your lens, press and hold the display/back button, while you turn the camera on, to see which lens version you have. If you do not have the latest lens version, download the appropriate software from Fuji's official website, load that on to a completely blank formatted memory card, put the memory card in the camera and then tell the camera you wanna update the lens firmware, and it'll take a couple of minutes to go ahead and load that information onto the lens itself. And so, this chart that I'm showing you now, I'm sure it will be out of date in 6 months, so you wanna do that check yourself, and see where you camera sits

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Fuji X-T2 Recommended Settings

Ratings and Reviews

John Simpson
 

I highly recommend this class! Been shooting Nikon for 40+ years and decided to give my Nikon gear to my daughter and go the smaller and lighter Fuji X-T2 for travel. Excellent camera and this course was outstanding in helping me learn how to use the camera. I have watched a number of Nikon oriented instructional videos. This video by John Greengo is the best organized and informative presentation I have ever watched.

a Creativelive Student
 

Really appreciate John putting these Fast Start Series together. Went through part of the training waiting on my Fujifilm X-T20 to arrive, which did today. That allowed me to dive into the menu settings and get the camera ready to use. I found that we are on Firmware 3.0, so, I have some updates to get installed. The training was great and informative as always. Don't hesitate to look for his Fast Start for your particular camera, and the in-depth training on Photography Fundamentals. It is well worth your time and money to get this training, especially if you are an amateur like myself, but, thanks to John Greengo I am quickly learning to use my camera in Manual Mode, most of the time.

Monroe Nevels
 

We all learn from different methods. I, for one, learn best by watching you while teaching, and being able to work along side you, with my camera in hand, and then follow you. I highly recommend this class if you really want to know how to use your camera. Thank you John for helping me to relive my film days, and integrating into Digital. I now have my Fujo X-T2 programmed and I LOVE IT!

Student Work

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