Martin P Wilson Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 My two experiences with Fuji support in the UK are both good. One was when I sent my 55-200 back as I was concerned that the AF was not as it should be, that was on a prepaid label. It was turned round inside a week from leaving me. The second time was when I dropped my XT-1 (just a check I suspect) and 18-135mm (write-off) down a flight of stairs. It was an insurance job and once the payment was authorised they were back within days - with a replacement lens (despite being newly launched it was only 2/3 price of new lens). Perhaps slightly slow getting them into the system and assessed though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I admit to having had good service in the past with prepaid packaging and quick turnaround with "in warranty" returns. This last one was outside of warranty (my fault for not sending it sooner when I new about the problem), so sent at my cost and had to agree repair cost of £205.46 before they would carry out the work. Suggested lens faulty from start requested shared cost of repair. No reply. Lens returned from repair. tested out and found to be worse than before it was sent. Emails requesting action ignored by Tech dept. Hard copy letter to MD at Bedford. No reply, but seemed to have an effect as they sent prepaid packaging for return of lens for inspection. Person later phoned me and left a message about offering replacement lens. This I accepted by email on condition of full refund of repair costs be made. This person said they would respond quickly to email. No reply. One week later package arrives from Fuji. Original lens returned with note saying it had been repaired. Still no offer of refund for repair of what was essentially a bad example from the start. Fuji effectively admitted this when they offered a new replacement lens. Grrrrr! Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 I've not had a chance to take this lens away from home, but I have done some around home. Portraits at 50mm, still shows some detail in the background, yet the subject clearly stands out while background is defocused. At tele, all the way to 140, the background is very defocused. Nice bokeh. Outdoors, I shot a house about 100 yards away, and the rendering was very sharp. Directly across the street, about 40 yards, detail in the shingles were crisp as everything else. I can't see any problems rendering landscapes although the house down the street wasn't quite a landscape. The best thing is the OIS. I'm not the steadiest at hand-holding at low shutter speeds, and for these trial shots I didn't try to do any extra care at all with technique. That said, I got a few usable at 1/30 racked to 140mm. Very sharp at 1/60. I'm not a technophobe, so you can tell me how many stops that represents. With better technique, I believe I could get sharp at 1/30, but maybe not every single shot. This is very subjective depending on the photographer, of course. Everything I shot today was hand held. Focus is quick. The lens did hunt a couple of times for a second or two, but once I rememered fuji runs on contrast detection, that didn't happen again. You just need an edge. Focus is accurate. At 140, I only shot at 2.8, so I yet need to try stopping down. Depth of field seemed fairly shallow at 2.8. I got an ear sharp and eyebrow area out of focus a little with subject turned 3/4 away from me. I'm not the best person to evaluate technical aspects of anything. I only know how I shoot and what I need in a practical sense. This lens is a keeper. As I said before, this lens is big and heavy, but only by Fuji standards. Not by nikon-canon. I shot with it for a long time with no pain, aching, or fatigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thank you for the preliminary overview Betty. Are you going to marry it up with the 16-55 f2.8? Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 I have not been interested in that lens, Allan. I realize most Fuji shooters are drooling over it, but not me. I'm more interested in the proposed 120mm macro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 YEAH! Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Well Betty, you inspired me to take a look at this lens. I was considering the 16-55 as well but I've lived without a standard zoom for about a year. Also, when reviewing images I favour wide (i.e. my 10-24), tend to stick around 10-19mm and wide for me is 23mm. I normally have a T1 with the 10-24 and the other with the 55-200 on it. With the 55-200 I mainly use 60-150mm. So, I opted for 50-140.... The plan was not just to improve IQ, I really needed a good weather proof solution to isolate interesting shots when out in the mountains in dodgy weather (this is still light compared to a 100-400 on a 5dmkii :-) ) The test shots in normal/good light were simply breathtakingly sharp....I think I nearly wet myself. It was prime quality!?! So, as I'm sat in a dark room processing shots, decided to take a couple of shots at 1/10th sec at 50mm. Still sharp?!? Okay I thought, I'll break ya this time sunny jim, 140mm at 1/10th....... Still sharp even at 6400!?! In CP1 you can turn the Details slider right down (under noise reduction) and add sufficient NR and still retain excellent sharpness to be still very useable when downsizing. I'm going to see how low I can go before this starts to blur..... it's crazy! Noise becomes a problem before you have a problem keeping it steady/sharp. I'm going to have a good bit play with this lens tomorrow when I have time.... thanks again! Edit.....Forgot to say, all shots were at f/2.8 as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Wow, Duncan! If your testimony doesn't sell this lens, I don't know what would. So glad the lens and you are a match made in heaven. Obviously you have a steady hand. But then, my test was pretty much firing from the hip to see What sharpness without using anything but normal handling gave me. I expect I can get slower speed if I use better technique. I haven't picked up the camera in a week. All of a sudden it seems health issues are popping up with me, hubby, and extended family members. I'm hosting family from Wichita now so they can be near a hospital. My son-in-law's mother has brain tumors and was transported to my city. I get an arteriogram in less than two weeks. Oh, joy. May be a while before I can get back to shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Wow, Duncan! If your testimony doesn't sell this lens, I don't know what would. So glad the lens and you are a match made in heaven. Obviously you have a steady hand. But then, my test was pretty much firing from the hip to see What sharpness without using anything but normal handling gave me. I expect I can get slower speed if I use better technique. I haven't picked up the camera in a week. All of a sudden it seems health issues are popping up with me, hubby, and extended family members. I'm hosting family from Wichita now so they can be near a hospital. My son-in-law's mother has brain tumors and was transported to my city. I get an arteriogram in less than two weeks. Oh, joy. May be a while before I can get back to shooting. A reminder that there are more important things in life.... our health and those close to us is far more important than a few shots!! I hope good news is just round the corner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 After a little more testing I was able to get a steady sharp shot at 1/3 sec @140mm f/2.8. That took a bit of effort but with a steady hand at 1/4sec I was able to routinely get sharp shots. By the time you hit 1/8th it became quite easy to achieve. This may seem a extreme lengths but what it means is in a dimly lit room you can take a 50-140mm shot with an ISO between 250 and 400. This makes a massive difference in processing. Of course, subject matter has to be stationary unless you want to show action blur of people moving amongst the scene, which could be good as well. This could turn out some very interesting night scene shots! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Duncan you make this lens sound very interesting but I am still sceptical of Fuji zooms from my experiences to date. I have the 10-24 which, although now good since sending it back for adjustment for excesive OOF at edges, is still not up to expectation from others praise but usable with caution. Also the 18-135 again was returned for adjustment and has to be treated with caution. The sharpest zoom is now my 55-200, but it should be after the problems Fuji caused with adjusting it for excessive OOF again. In fact I rather like this lens for closeups now. Still not sure which lens I would dump in favour of the 50-140. Of course I could go with the 16-55 and 50-140 then wait for a longer lens to appear. Decisions, decisions! Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Duncan you make this lens sound very interesting but I am still sceptical of Fuji zooms from my experiences to date. I have the 10-24 which, although now good since sending it back for adjustment for excesive OOF at edges, is still not up to expectation from others praise but usable with caution. Also the 18-135 again was returned for adjustment and has to be treated with caution. The sharpest zoom is now my 55-200, but it should be after the problems Fuji caused with adjusting it for excessive OOF again. In fact I rather like this lens for closeups now. Still not sure which lens I would dump in favour of the 50-140. Of course I could go with the 16-55 and 50-140 then wait for a longer lens to appear. Decisions, decisions! Allan If I was in the same boat as you I'd also be cautious..... You had a raw deal with the service recently etc so you have a good right to be careful. If it helps, I posted some examples on the Fuji forum here. I may keep a hold of the 55-200 for a little while longer until I've been on a few walking / hiking trips etc but it is likely to go... it really isn't close to the same IQ and IS flexibility. That link has examples down to 1/3sec through to 1/8 sec as well as an outside shot with 100% crop etc. Jessops have a good returns policy and is worth looking at. Receive lens, test it.... likey keepy, not likey send back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Duncan, You have almost persuaded me to buy the 50-140 but still dithering considering my past problems with Fuji and the other zooms I bought in the range being "bad copies". I am loathe to go through the rigmarole of returning lenses for adjustment again and then finding they are worse than when I sent them. Hay-Ho. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 Duncan you make this lens sound very interesting but I am still sceptical of Fuji zooms from my experiences to date. I have the 10-24 which, although now good since sending it back for adjustment for excesive OOF at edges, is still not up to expectation from others praise but usable with caution. Also the 18-135 again was returned for adjustment and has to be treated with caution. The sharpest zoom is now my 55-200, but it should be after the problems Fuji caused with adjusting it for excessive OOF again. In fact I rather like this lens for closeups now. Still not sure which lens I would dump in favour of the 50-140. Of course I could go with the 16-55 and 50-140 then wait for a longer lens to appear. Decisions, decisions! Allan If I was in the same boat as you I'd also be cautious..... You had a raw deal with the service recently etc so you have a good right to be careful. If it helps, I posted some examples on the Fuji forum here. I may keep a hold of the 55-200 for a little while longer until I've been on a few walking / hiking trips etc but it is likely to go... it really isn't close to the same IQ and IS flexibility. That link has examples down to 1/3sec through to 1/8 sec as well as an outside shot with 100% crop etc. Jessops have a good returns policy and is worth looking at. Receive lens, test it.... likey keepy, not likey send back The edge sharpness on the candle Is superb. You are the master at steadiness, that's for sure! I doubt I could do that, but I think I can do better than I did. Over on this side of the pond, we have a country singer named Toby Keith. He has a song with the lyrics, I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was." That's me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Park Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 This is a lens which I’m interested in. I’ve recently acquired a s/h Fuji X-E1 body to pop in the rucsack while skiing and climbing rather than lugging my Nikon kit up thousands of feet. Then purchased a new Samyang 12mm f/2 manual lens for it and had great results on my first major trip, shots now online (mostly not at Alamy). Impressive and lightweight camera/lens combination for the mountains - just require a telephoto to go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 This is a lens which I’m interested in. I’ve recently acquired a s/h Fuji X-E1 body to pop in the rucsack while skiing and climbing rather than lugging my Nikon kit up thousands of feet. Then purchased a new Samyang 12mm f/2 manual lens for it and had great results on my first major trip, shots now online (mostly not at Alamy). Impressive and lightweight camera/lens combination for the mountains - just require a telephoto to go with it. If you are going to be using a telephoto mostly in good light where you don't especially need the 2.8, don't discount the 18-135. When I go about the city shooting stock, this is my workhorse. Plenty sharp enough, any CA ,which is minimal, is easily taken care of in LR. Much smaller/lighter than the 50-140, but not as sexy. But less expensive. I'll probably use the latter indoors and for portraits indoors and out more, but the 18-135 will still be my general outdoor lens of choice for stock. It balances better, and I do need and use the wider end, wider than the 50-140 allows, a lot. Zoom in, zoom out. If you can get your hands on both, try them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpole Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I have sent my 55-200mm back when I 1st got it as i could hear motor turning , but they said it was working fine . Also sent my 18mm in for repair after scratching rear glass £180 for repair but I am sure they sent a new lens with same serial number. 10-24mm 18mm 35mm and 55-200mm lens I am happy with all of them on my x pro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I would like to hear the results too please. Well Fuji are still playing silly b-----s. They promised a new 55-200. I said on condition of full refund for abortive repair for what was obviously a faulty lens from the start. They returned the original lens with note saying it hard been repaired but no refund. Tested lens today and find it is sharp corner to corner at all focal lengths so will be keeping it. Still mad at Fuji's inactions, lack of communications, and saying they will do something then go ahead and do something different. They seem to have a policy of no refunds and in one phone message they stated "We can not - Will not refund purchase price." Like to see them try that throughout the courts. Seems that they will not admit to faulty lens and refund repair costs as well. Bad customer relations from Fuji. And my local supplier agrees saying they are having similar problems with Fuji too. All this is via their Bedford UK centre. Allan HOORAH! Major update. Today I received a full refund of £205.46 into my bank account from Fuji that I paid for the repair to the disputed 55-200mm lens. I did mention earlier that I received that lens back from repair. At least I assumed it was the same lens as it had the same serial number as the one I sent back. Now it may appear that it could have been a new lens but with the same serial number as the original. This from Southpoles post above. However if it is the same lens as I returned fuji did a great job on it the second attempt at repairing it as it is now the best zoom lens for IQ that I own. The others being the 10-24 and the 18-135. Fuji have now redeemed themselves somewhat in my eyes but it could have been handled with better communications from their end. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Allan, that is wonderful. So glad the knots got fixed. Now, get out there and shoot lots of good stuff with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I would like to hear the results too please. Well Fuji are still playing silly b-----s. They promised a new 55-200. I said on condition of full refund for abortive repair for what was obviously a faulty lens from the start. They returned the original lens with note saying it hard been repaired but no refund. Tested lens today and find it is sharp corner to corner at all focal lengths so will be keeping it. Still mad at Fuji's inactions, lack of communications, and saying they will do something then go ahead and do something different. They seem to have a policy of no refunds and in one phone message they stated "We can not - Will not refund purchase price." Like to see them try that throughout the courts. Seems that they will not admit to faulty lens and refund repair costs as well. Bad customer relations from Fuji. And my local supplier agrees saying they are having similar problems with Fuji too. All this is via their Bedford UK centre. Allan HOORAH! Major update. Today I received a full refund of £205.46 into my bank account from Fuji that I paid for the repair to the disputed 55-200mm lens. I did mention earlier that I received that lens back from repair. At least I assumed it was the same lens as it had the same serial number as the one I sent back. Now it may appear that it could have been a new lens but with the same serial number as the original. This from Southpoles post above. However if it is the same lens as I returned fuji did a great job on it the second attempt at repairing it as it is now the best zoom lens for IQ that I own. The others being the 10-24 and the 18-135. Fuji have now redeemed themselves somewhat in my eyes but it could have been handled with better communications from their end. Allan Result and half with that Allan...... you could put it towards a 50-140mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Weather rockin' and rollin' in Oklahoma, again. Not at my house, yet. I have had a lot of family stuff going on, lots of bad news, so I've had a hard time getting out with my 50-140. Family that had been staying the past 9 days left today, and after many loads of towels and sheets I washed, I found an hour to go to Will Rogers Park this afternoon. Azaleas are in bloom, and people were everywhere. It's hard to be sneaky with this lens, but I managed. much easier with the 18-135, which is considerably smaller. OMG, I'm in love with this lens. I worked out both extreme ends and could see no distortion. Amazingly sharp. No hunting, period, although it was a bright day. Even though this is Fuji's largest released lens, I walked around carrying the setup in my arthritic hands for an hour with no pain whatsoever, considering I have pain flipping the top on the mustard squeeze bottle. Not a feat I can accomplish with my D800 and 24-70. So I get more reach, images that are sharper. How can that be? Beating 36mp full frame? Is it the spectacular stablization the 50-140 has? (And mirrorless) Whatever, I'm liking it. Only problem is cutting yourself on the sharpness of it. Betty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Sorry to hear of your family problems and hope all will be well soon. Good to hear you are liking this lens Betty. Sounds like a must have. I'm still dithering though as I am now back in clink due to possible SoLD image from my 55- 200. The image is one of five from this lens taken at 55mm f11 1/500th at 200 ISO OIS on. I had another like it earlier and dumped it but thought this one was sharp, apparently not. The images that are failing are of wooded areas with blossom on the trees. Seems like the lens/sensor combo does not like this type of image. I look forward to further reports on your new lens. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Sorry to hear of your family problems and hope all will be well soon. Good to hear you are liking this lens Betty. Sounds like a must have. I'm still dithering though as I am now back in clink due to possible SoLD image from my 55- 200. The image is one of five from this lens taken at 55mm f11 1/500th at 200 ISO OIS on. I had another like it earlier and dumped it but thought this one was sharp, apparently not. The images that are failing are of wooded areas with blossom on the trees. Seems like the lens/sensor combo does not like this type of image. I look forward to further reports on your new lens. Allan Allan, I doubt my new upload will pass. In spite of pouring over every inch ad nauseum. May see you there if I don't get a pass by weds or Thursday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 When you click on my images here in the forum, the first eleven images were shot with the 50-140. Sharp edge to edge. There are others scattered through. The rest of the images on the first few pages of the storefronts are shot with the 18-135. Very happy with both lenses. I particularly loved the way the 50-140 handled the little girl and dad sitting on the park bench. Great separation and clarity. Ya gotta get this lens!!! When doing the storefronts, the 18-135 allows me a very nice zoom range. I shoot these from my car window, and I am confined to the paths through the parking lots, necessitating a wide angle view since I am usually no more than 20 feet from the store. The 50 widest on the other lens doesn't allow this. edited to add more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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