A few weeks ago I returned my first copy of this lens. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just too big. I had only one X-T1 body at the time and lugging this thing around and swapping it with the 56 all the time was a real drag. At the time my system consisted of..
X-T1, plus 56mm 1.2, 10-24mm
Nikon D750, plus 50mm 1.8 and Sigma 105 macro
Fuji X100s
It was a pretty good system but the D750 is still quite large and I just couldn’t fit the big Fuji zoom in the bag easily. So it went back, even though I missed being able to shoot my son’s football matches, and I missed its super sharp images. Then the job that I’d bought the D750 for finished and I realised something. I was no longer using it. It only ever got used for work purposes, not for fun. I appreciated its power, speed and video capabilities, but I didn’t enjoy using it. I also wasn’t using the macro lens as much as I thought I would, I just didn’t get the time. So the D750 and Nikon gear is now sold, goodbye D750, you did a great job but I no longer need you. I decided to get a second hand X-T1 body and have another go with the 50-140. I figured for the weddings I’m about to do it would come in really useful, especially for the processional. I also have a bunch of football tournaments over the summer where this thing will get heavy usage. That started this weekend, where the lens did a fantastic job and I got some of my best football images yet ( soccer for any Americans reading this ). Here are some shots from the football.
About 2 days after I got my second copy of this lens, Fuji announced the firmware update coming to the X-T1. That will make this lens even more useful, so I’m pretty happy I gave it a second go. Here are some candids from the weekend and a couple of flower shots that illustrate the bokeh ( acceptable IMO ) and sharpness ( incredible ).
These are all straight conversions..no sharpening other than the default you get when creating jpegs. Someone on one of the forums said they noticed about 1mm of play where the lens meets the camera, I get this on my lens as well but it doesn’t seem to affect the lens in any way so I’m not bothered ( I’ve tested it in the rain and it was fine ). I’ve also used the lens in the studio a bit and that is the other area I see myself using it a lot, as the 70-200 focal length is pretty important to me for studio work, especially things like full length fashion shots. Here is a quick portrait from a tuition session I was running, its not perfect ( I don’t take many shots when I teach, I prefer to let the students do that ), but it hopefully gives a glimpse of how awesome this thing is in the studio.
