We Love Lenses

My photographer friend Robert was in town this weekend, and we did the photographer thing, including a photo shoot Robert did for some of his fellow church friends.

Robert and I share a slightly out-of-balance love for lenses. Lenses are beautiful and interesting. Lenses tease our imaginations. We desire lenses, all lenses, even lenses we don’t really think we will use.

Robert made this image of me yesterday at Ada's Wintersmith Park. I am holding his Nikon D300 with a well-used 50mm f/1.8 on it. On my left shoulder is one of my Nikon D300S cameras with the excellent 35mm f/1.8 lens, and my right should has my Nikon D3 slung with no lens, as a camera in reserve.
Robert made this image of me yesterday at Ada’s Wintersmith Park. I am holding his Nikon D300 with a well-used 50mm f/1.8 on it. On my left shoulder is one of my Nikon D300S cameras with the excellent 35mm f/1.8 lens, and my right should has my Nikon D3 slung with no lens, as a camera in reserve.

Add this to the fact that I currently have a photography student who has designs on owning the entire line of current Fujifilm lenses, and the fact that Robert brought essentially all of his lenses when he visited, and that today I received a delivery of a very cool lens I bought on eBay, and the result is a kind of lens mania.

This is the front view of the Fujifilm X-T10 with my new used 18mm f/2.0. First glance use of this lens is all positive.
This is the front view of the Fujifilm X-T10 with my new used 18mm f/2.0. First glance use of this lens is all positive.

The lens I bought is one of the oldest Fujifilm lenses, an 18mm f/2.0. I was interested in it for several reasons: it is very small and lightweight, it wasn’t very expensive, it’s a nice wide angle without being ultrawide, and, lastly, because I was very inspired by the work my young friend Mackenzee has been doing with her Fuji X100V, which is equipped with a 23mm f/2.0 lens.

The 18mm f/2.0 is a ten-year-old design, which is why it was so inexpensive. It includes an odd-looking square tunnel hood, which works fine for me.
The 18mm f/2.0 is a ten-year-old design, which is why it was so inexpensive. It includes an odd-looking square tunnel hood, which works fine for me.

I’ve only had this 18mm for a couple of hours, but it’s appears to be the lens I expected it to be. On my Fuji X-T10, it makes a very small package that is as light as it is inconspicuous. Focus is quick but a bit chattery, and the few frames I put through it look great.

At least one internet review of this lens says it is only for the Fuji X-Pro1 and X-E1, but that is not the case. It appears to work fine on my X-T10.

Here is a "test frame," which barely counts as a photograph since I believe in shooting with a lens in the real world to get a feel for its strengths and weaknesses, but you can see it has nice sharpness and selective focus. This was shot at f/2.0, which I expect will be the most common aperture I use with this lens.
Here is a “test frame,” which barely counts as a photograph since I believe in shooting with a lens in the real world to get a feel for its strengths and weaknesses, but you can see it has nice sharpness and selective focus. This was shot at f/2.0, which I expect will be the most common aperture I use with this lens.

I expect I’ll make it part of my travel kit, not my news kit, since I tend to be pretty rough when shooting news. But watch this space for many more efforts to come with this combination!

This side view emphasizes how compact the 18mm on the Fuji X-T10 is. Build is sturdy like all of Fuji's mirrorless lenses.
This side view emphasizes how compact the 18mm on the Fuji X-T10 is. Build is sturdy like all of Fuji’s mirrorless lenses.

1 Comment

  1. Here’s a question that I doubt either of us know and or would be willing to publicly state. How many lenses do you own?

Comments are closed.