This is a view of downtown Frankfurt, Germany also known locally as "Mainhatten". The detail in this image at full size is incredible but I think you can get a feel for it at this resolution. The lens was made for this system and the image quality from this combination certainly confirms it. I've heard and seem some great images from the FE 55 f1.8 but retail price is a little over €900 here in Europe right now, so I think I'll pass on that one and wait for a price drop or a good bargain comes along.

I just couldn't resist it. Although I actually bought the A7r for my manual lenses I was rather disappointed by the wide angle lenses on it. I have a few 35mm lenses in various mounts but really non of them perform well on the A7r. There was nothing to do but purchase the FE 35 f2.8 ZA lens since it's actually made for the camera and the dreaded purple cast wouldn't show it's ugly head. All I can say is this lens performs extremely well on the A7r and the amount of detail the sensor gives is truly remarkable. I'm also a fan of the zebra stripes available for proper exposure purposes and I've finally figured this out. For my tastes, I adjust the exposure so that the zebra stripes are just visible and the whites will not be overexposed. I didn't think it possible to get this much dynamic range out of a sensor, but it is, in my mind, the best sensor on the market today. If you're sitting on the fence trying to determine if this lens is worth it, buy it, it's worth every penny.

One of the best things about the X-T1 is it's EVF. It truly is a joy to use. Now that it's olso got the peaking function and the split screen for manual focus lenses, I can use the Zeiss and Leica lenses on this camera with ease. A camera can influence which lenses one uses and I personally find using the 55-200 on the X-T1 easier than using it on the X-E1 or X-E2. Maybe it has to do with how well it balances and also the grip on the X-T1 is better than on the other two cameras (although I have the extra grip on the X-E1 and X-E2).

Converted in LR v5.4 using a Gradient Mask. You shaould try this method because it's very simple and gives good results.

Bokeh looks good but then again, there was plenty of background separation in here. Nevertheless, I like what I see. Colours are also good, sharpness is there so what's not to like about the system. I think the X system will become my main goto system soon. I'm still looking at what lenses are available and also what Fujifilm have planned for the next couple of years. But from what I can see there is nothing missing at present. Some of you might be looking for a lens over 300mm but you won't find one for the X system at present. Me, I don't need anything over 300mm.

I'll be showing some more images from this combination over the next few days, so please bear with me. Some of you may find these images to be somewhat mundane but it's how I see the world and what actually attracts my eye. Maybe that's why I'm not a professional photographer but one who just enjoys it for what it is. I do it for my personal pleasure only and hopefully I can look back at these images in a few years and look through what I've documented. Isn't that what all photographers do?

Fujifilm really make excellent lenses and you can't say that most of them are expensive. This 55-200 f3.5-4.8 lens is just wonderful. It's not all that large or really heavy and carrying around all day isn't a problem, or it shouldn't be. Compare it to the Canon ar Nikon 70-200 lenses it's a lightweight. Mine is sharp at all focal lengths and all apertures although I do tend to stop it down a notch or two but that's more from habit than necessity. If you're looking for a tele lens for the X system, don't look further than this lens, it really is very good indeed.

I was thinking about buying the 23 f1.4 for my Fujifilm system but then again I have the X100S which takes fantastic images and covers the same focal length except the lens is f2 rather than f1.4. I decided to get the 27mm instead because I needed something small with a little more focal length to it. It certainly isn't expensive (another plus) and it's very small and light. You can (almost) put the X-E2 with the 27mm mounted in your pocket. Very nice combination.

It's not the sharpest lens in my arsenal but the images sharpen up nicely and monochrome conversion is still great (not that the lens would have any effect on this). It gives you a rather strange 35mm equivalent focal length of 41mm which some people find it's not one or the other. Not wide enough or not long enough. I personally feel better with the 40mm FL than the 35mm FL. But that's just me because I see things rather longish. I much prefer using a longer FL lens than a wide one.

All in all, a very good investment to my X system and a lens I'll be using quite a bit.

I've now tested this lens on the X-E1, X-E2 and the X-T1 and it performs well of all of them but I prefer using it on the X-E2 or the X-T1. I think it performs a little better on those two cameras. That's not to say its useless on the X-E1, quite the contrary but I've now decided to keep the 18-55 kit lens on the X-E1 and use the other two bodies for the rest of my Fujinon lenses.

The images really let you make a lot of adjustments to them before they fall apart which is something I can't say about the mFT images. I really have to be careful about exposure (i.e. ETTR) because noise will raise it's ugly head at the slightest hint of underexposure. I really like converting the Fuji files to monochrome too, much easier than the mFT files.

My wife and I decided to take an early break and flew down to Spain for a week. This is the first real outing I've had with the E-M1 and I decided to take a wide angle lens with me this time. Weather was great at 28°C, the food was great and I got a chance for some photography (at my pace). One conclusion I came to after about the second day using this lens was that my lens wasn't wide enough. I really have to get something wider because the 9-18 is an 18-36 in 35mm terms. There is of course the Panasonic 7-14 but do I really need another mFT lens. Actually no, and I was thinking about an APS-C lens for my Fuji system, namely the 10-24 f4.

The reason for this is two fold.

1. I don't have anything wider at present than the 18-55 kit lens for this system.

2. In 35mm terms it's a 15mm lens at the wide end, it's a constant f4 and has OIS incorporated.

Both the Panasonic 7-14 and the Fuji 10-24 are about the same price but the Fuji is slightly larger I believe. Only time will tell which one I'll go for but I think it will be the Fuji.