p.1 #1 · Selling off my some of m-mount voigts for the Voigtlanders for Fuji
Specifically - the 21/4 Skopar and 35/2.5 Skopar for the 18/2.8 Skopar and 27/2 Ultron. Also getting rid of the XF27/2.8 (version 1)
I think I will keep using the M-Hexanon 50/2 as it has a specialness, although I am tempted by the 50/1.2 Nokton.
Thinking of using for travel when I will be walking around all day and want a super compact kit with a bit of character rather than just "super sharp". I have the XF18/1.4, XF33/1.4 and XF56/1.2 R to use when not walking around Rome or Athens all day. Maybe if the wife stays in early morning of Blue Hour in the evening - the XF's will come out to play.
Plan on treating the pancakes a bit like street with F8 and zone (unless specifically shooting something close, but most of the time 3-5' to Infinity should be fine.
Thoughts? Am I crazy to go old school with MF? I have taken a couple photo trips with the older voigts and they did ok IQ-wise. I liked the small size. I hated that I had no EXIF information and had to remember to set the lens every time I changed lenses.
p.1 #2 · Selling off my some of m-mount voigts for the Voigtlanders for Fuji
I have both the 18 and 27. I'm sometimes crazy enough to use them on outings with my 2 year old and I've had enough practice to get a fair number of keepers. On photo outings by myself I take my time and find the manual focusing process enjoyable. I prefer the chipped made-for-Fuji lenses since it makes it a lot easier to focus wide(ish) open and then stop down without having to count clicks or look at the lens.
p.1 #3 · Selling off my some of m-mount voigts for the Voigtlanders for Fuji
pechance wrote:
Thoughts? Am I crazy to go old school with MF? I have taken a couple photo trips with the older voigts and they did ok IQ-wise. I liked the small size. I hated that I had no EXIF information and had to remember to set the lens every time I changed lenses.
Thanks.
I hesitate to psychoanalyze publicly, so I won't try to answer the "and I crazy...?" question. ;-)
Yers ago, when we had little choice, I used cameras and lenses that were MF only. I can still become a bit nostalgic when I see and hold them.
But I'd never go back to them for street and travel photography when excellent modern AF lenses (that also MF just fine) are available from Fujifilm and others.
While it seems that some people feel good about using the MF lenses, I haven't seen any evidence that their photography is generically better than that from people using more modern lenses.
Fujifilm has a bunch of excellent, small prime lenses that cover most of the size and focal length needs...
p.1 #4 · Selling off my some of m-mount voigts for the Voigtlanders for Fuji
My only thoughts are that I adore my X-E5 travel and EDC kit with a couple of my X-mount Voigts; 23/1.2, 27/2, 35/1.2 and 50/1.2. I sometimes combine with the XF 18/2 or Sigma 9-18/2.8. And yes, having them all be native to the mount makes a difference to me, streamlining the experience.
After all these years with (mostly) Fujifilm and Sony systems, I feel like I've finally arrived, with a kit that does it all for me. Like you, I save my bigger lenses for more focused outings.
p.1 #5 · Selling off my some of m-mount voigts for the Voigtlanders for Fuji
My most used lenses are Vogt X-mount manual lenses. Not only manual focus, but totally manual aperture. There is no automatic stop-down mechanism so if you want to focus your f/1.2 lens at f/2 and shoot at f/8, you have to spin the aperture ring to make that happen.
Manual focus - I've had enough random auto focus misses with Fuji that I find my manual focus hit rate to be as good. At least for static subjects. For moving stuff, AF becomes harder to beat with the more things move the more AF wins. Nothing new there.
I like small lenses with good contrast and unsmooth bokeh. The super smooth "sigma smear" bokeh bores me. I prefer the higher contrast I see with some swirling, some outlining, some soap bubbling. I like the older Fuji lenses and the Voigtlander X lenses because they allow some of these imperfections to leak through to the final image.
I have also observed on several occasions where the simper primes (Voigt & Zeiss Touit) produce nicer looking people shots than Fuji zooms and even Fuji primes. In one A/B comparison between the Fuji 23mm f/1.4 and the Voigtlander 23 f/1.2, the Voigt rendered my model's face as "thinner". She noticed it immediately when looking at the images side by side. "Why is my face so fat in that one?". Controlled lighting, same composition, different look. And the Fuji zoomes I've tried are even worse. Flat rendering.
I dunno, I'm sort of a hack at all this, but I've formed my preferences based on my own usage and testing. And have had a blast along the way!
