Fight sports: One of the fastest growing sports categories in the world, and for good reason!
As a martial artist who's trained a wide variety of different disciplines, I have a tremendous level of respect for the men and women who devote so much of themselves to competing. The hours upon hours of intense training in and out of the gym, the dietary restrictions, and of course, the mental preparation required to step into the ring or cage and engage in an often brutal and satisfying few rounds of high level martial arts expertise are things reserved for a select part of the world's population. Then there's the recovery that comes after the fight...

But enough of the philosophical banter.

As a massive advocate for the capabilities of the FujiFilm XT-1 and its always improving FREE firmware upgrades, the testing of the XF16-55 R LM WR was an itch that was in well need of a scratch. Any extra funds that I can allocate for gear typically go on new prime lenses, because, like Optimus, I am a Prime guy (get it?!).
For this project I hit up the ever awesome Leigh Diprose at FujiFilm Oz and he sent me the XF16-55 for a few weeks along with an X100T for some other projects. I now very much understand why folks have raved about this lens, it is a beast! It's fast, sharp as a tack, and very responsive!

In order to give this lens a fair run for its money I sought to shoot a Muay Thai Fight Night alongside a great friend and amazing photographer, William Luu of W.L Fight Photography. Absolutely massive thanks and appreciation goes to him for helping make this happen and welcoming me into his domain.

For starters I went into the backstage preparation areas to see how the fighters for Warriors Way were looking. The light in there was pretty awful to say the least but the XF16-55 managed to handle itself well, and the XT-1's high ISO capabilities did the shots justice too. The constant F2.8 aperture is brilliant and the lens did not hunt around trying to gain focus using Zone Focusing mode.

Shooting fight nights isn't typically a comfortable affair. I'll take 12 hours at a wedding any day (because I love it!) rather than being stuck on my knees in a space smaller than 1m2. Regardless, I was hooked up with a good fixed position for the night at ringside that yielded some pretty awesome results and a few close calls with fighters almost falling out of the ring.

For most of ring bound action I set my XT-1 up in the following manner:

• shutter 1/500
• aperture F2.8
• ISO auto
• JPEG only normal - edited later to my liking in Light Room
• CL burst mode
• Continuous Focusing in Zone Focusing mode

Normally I shoot RAW or RAW and JPEG small for weddings, because I don't typically shoot using high burst rates. However, given the nature of fight photography I wanted the camera to be as responsive as possible and with the EVF and consistent lighting, I knew I could guarantee my exposure would be on point for the show.

For most shots outside of ring, such as fighter walk-ins, I switched the camera to the following:

• shutter 1/125
• aperture F2.8
• ISO auto
• single shot

Switching between the two modes was an easy process made so by the very well laid out controls and visuals on the XT-1. As you can imagine, the light of stage wasn't always great and it was made even more difficult by visual obstructions like the ring. Again, the XT-1 and XF16-55 hit the mark almost every time in the 3000+ shots that I took throughout the night.

I am a big fan and user of the tilt-screen on the XT-1, and not having it on the new X-Pro2 has been a big reason why I I'll be waiting for the XT-2. Then again, the XT-1 is a formidable camera that is serving all my needs more than adequately so an upgrade may not be necessary unless desire takes over. Back to the tilt-screen.

In the case of this show I found it incredibly useful when keeping myself and the fighters safe because I could keep the angle of the camera where I wanted it under the ropes and easily pull back as fighters came near. It was also very useful for some of the low-angle shots of the fighters in their corners during rounds.

I used one single Sandisk 16gb extreme card for this show since i was shooting in JPEG. For most of the show I shot in CL (Continuous Low) so I could get manageable 3-5 shot bursts, and on occasion for some of the bigger fights I used CH (Continuous High), which you can see some sequenced examples of lower down. Panning and zooming in during bursts in these modes worked brilliantly and I experienced little to no misses and only on 1 occasion did it focus beyond the fighters to the other side of the ring. Honestly, I didn't expect it to respond this good! I can only imagine how much better it'll be with the fast EVF refresh time on the XT-2.

As for battery usage for the ~3700 photos I took, I used just over 2!
I'd imagine that shooting JPEG is much easier for the camera and card to transfer, meaning less processing power is required and thus, greater conservation of battery power. Very impressive!

What can I say that hasn't already been said about this combo?
I had such a great time shooting with it and my expectations were met and then surpassed. I am certainly no pro fight photographer like William Luu, but if I was thrown into the world of fight photography professionally, I would have no qualms shooting with this combination. Alas, my passions in photography lay elsewhere and Will does an outstanding job, living and breathing the fight photography scene down here in Melbourne.

If you've considered this lens for applications like this or otherwise, you'll be hard pressed to find fault with it. It's got a good bit of heft behind it so you could certainly balance it better with a battery pack on your camera body, but it's certainly not uncomfortable. I will soon be writing a follow up post to this where I shot the majority of a rather special wedding using this as my first ever zoom.

Stay tuned!

-Mathieu

You may have seen my earlier post about my First Day Impressions of the Fujifilm XF90,
 which details my Fuji fan-boi experience with the new kid on the block. One month on and a fair few more shooting experiences later, this lens has done nothing but impress and inspire me. At my favoured full-frame equivalent focal length of ~137mm, the XF90 fits me like a glove and allowed me to move completely away from my Canon system, which had always been a go to when I needed the sharp and speedy 135mm F2 L.

This past month with the XF90 saw me checking out temperate rain-forest waterfalls in Victoria's east, shooting in stunning Western Australian sunsets with my dear friend Dan at Matsu Photography, exploring the historical sites of federation era Australia, and shooting for Ormsby Guitars and the Melbourne Guitar Makers Festival. On each and every varied occasion the XF90 never missed a beat and I have been left pondering how FujiFilm will outdo themselves next in their world of supreme, high quality consumer photography lenses.

There's something really frustrating about the XF90 - it leaves many of its brethren feeling somewhat inferior (emphasis on 'somewhat').

What Fuji have managed to achieve with this lens and its new quad-motor system is a lens that is incredibly responsive, accurate, and works extremely well in tough lighting conditions, such as low light and heavy back-lighting. I couldn't believe how well it focused on my mate Dan (below) during sunset, or at night as I often put it through its paces targeting objects near and far. As much as I love the XF56 1.2, after using the XF90 it feels somewhat slow and outdated and simply doesn't perform anyway near as well. Also, the XF90's bokeh trumps it by a long shot. Sorry, I know that F1.2 is still a hell of a feature and I'll continue to use mine, but the bokeh it produces simply isn't as smooth and rich.

Something sports and action photographers are going to love about the XF90 is how well it plays with continuous focusing mode, zone focusing and bursts, even at F2. It's smooth, accurate and damned responsive! Overall, a consistently high focus hit rate on par with what I was used to when using my Canon 7D/6D and the 135mm F2.

Did I mention that the XF90 is sharp?

Take a look at the 3 pictures above. I'm not normally a 'here's a 1:1 crop guy' but in this case I had to provide a quick screen grab at that ratio from my LR module (post grain added). I'll just leave you with those snaps to ponder.

If you're considering this lens be aware of how beneficial it is to have a ridiculously close minimum focusing distance on a lens of this focal length. I have loved utilizing the 60cm min. focusing distance so often and cannot wait to try it on some detailed wedding ring shots soon. If you like getting out and shooting a bit of wildlife like me, it's also particularly useful for some more intimate nature shots or flower snaps that provide a beautiful level of compression at this focal length.

I'll keep my conclusion simple. If you're a Fuji X-series user, buy this lens.
If you're on the fence about coming on board to the Fuji-side, get this lens and an XT-1 or XT-10 and be prepared to be blown away.

Fuji, you're gonna cost me marriage. By all means of financial responsibility I should not have bought this lens on a whim, I simply never do that. That was the immediate impact and impression the new Fujinon XF90 left on me and it only got better as the day wore on. 

For some time now I have been bloody excited about Fuji releasing a roughly 135mm F2 equivalent lens. It was the first lens I bought for my Canon system a few years back when I started off and it has been a staple lens in my kit. Even when it was stolen from my house whilst I was home, I still had it replaced. I have always found the XF56 to be a satisfying and impressive lens since getting onto the XT-1  but as a focal length, it never quite fit like the old pair of undies that is the 135mm F2. Thank the good science-folk at Fuji, they have created a lens that surpasses the Canon equivalent and I am as happy as a pig in it's own filth with the new XF90.

(all photos are JPEGs in classic chrome with minor tweaks)

Something that immediately jumps out at you when grasping the XF90 is the build quality. All my XF lenses are certainly well built, but somehow the XF90 and the XF16 seem to be a step up from the previous builds. The aperture ring is just perfect! A wonderful balance of ease of movement and firmness. It just clicks into place confidently across the range.
I was concerned that the XF90 would be too large a lens to match with the XT-1 but it was thankfully not the case. It's actually a bit short and slight more rotund than the XC50-230, which I'm quite used to so it was very familiar territory with the XF90 going onto my XT-1.

So what about that new quad-motor thingy? Well i'll be damned, this thing focuses quickly and accurately and provides the high performance that I was used when using my Canon 135mm F2 L. Admittedly I had my doubts but Fuji have completely destroyed them. Something else that also really surprised me was manual focusing. HOLY SMOKES! This is definitely the best and most 'authentic' and easy to manually focus Fuji lens I have ever used. It's so responsive and easy to finely focus, which is particularly useful when taking advantage of how close the minimum focusing distance is on this lens of 60cm! Yes! 60cm! Where the Canon 135mm only focuses to a minimum of 90cm, this guy comes along and enables you to use the focal range in whole new ways. I couldn't believe how close I could get to the flowers I shot (below) and how damn good the images came up at F2. It ain't macro but jeez, you could certainly get away with some pretty intimate shots.

BOKEH! Oh glorious Bokeh! Just take a look. It's simply the best I've ever seen Fuji produce for the XF range and the focus fall off on the xF90 will have the full frame purists shaking in their boots. Just take a look for yourself.

Fuji have created an absolute winner of a lens here. 'Nuff said.

Cheers to DigiDirect Melbourne as always for them deals!

Before I get started, if you're here for photographic proof of what I have written below, I don't have it quite yet. Well, I do, but unfortunately I cannot share the pictures I have been taking so you're just going to have to trust me until I get usable proof in my next post. I merely want to get numerous other XT-1 users excited for the new update to Firmware 4.0.

As I write this I'm a few hours out from getting on a plane headed for Ireland to shoot a pretty massive wedding between a fine Australian lad and a lovely Irish las. In preparation for the big day I have assembled a very nice and flexible kit for my wife and I to shoot with - she loves the Canon stuff and I'm a big Fuji convert.
After selling my X100s I was quite adamant about getting my hands on the XT-10 after seeing how much smaller it is than the XT-1 and in some aspects, smaller than the X100 series, thus making it 'pocketable' and discrete. I opted to pick up the XF27 as well and honestly, I am a much happier camper with this setup than with the X100s. A significant reason for that though, is the interchangeable lens ability of the XT-10 and the absolutely impressive new Firmware 4.0. The AF system of Fuji's X-series has been reinvented with this update and I have been achieving results that were simply unattainable with the old firmware. Kids running wild shot in continuous zone focus mode on the XF56 at F1.2? Yep. That happened this week for me.

If you're keen to read up about all the specifics involved in the new update, take a look at this link.
Since picking up the XT-10 a day after its release here in Australia, I have been testing it each day on a whole bunch of active school kids, which unfortunately means I can't share the actual proof of what I'm writing just yet. Onto the camera.

The XT-10 feels solid in the hand but could certainly benefit from a grip of some sort. One of the features I have really enjoyed (aside from the new AF system) is the face and eye recognition. This function is absolutely brilliant when paired with the XF56 at F1.2. It's snappy and every time I've shot with it it's made the mark. It will certainly be interesting to see how it holds up at the wedding next week.

Let's get to the really good stuff - Continuous and Zone focusing.
Good God! Or should I say 'Good Fuji!'?
The new focusing system is amazing! Is it perfect? No. Is it on par or better than many of the big guns? YES!
Imagine this. 4 young kids running around a play ground, chasing each other and me snapping in Continuous Zone focusing mode in High Burst with the XF56 at F1.2, focusing on 1 kid. Guess how many photos out of 5 hit the mark? 4! The 5th didn't make the mark because one of the kids came straight towards me at lightning pace and the shallow depth of field of 1.2 meant that the top the kid's head was in focus and not their face. Regardless, the camera tracked beautifully and I achieved something I'd never experienced before with the X-series cameras. Stopped down to F5.6, I spent some time on the sidelines shooting a basketball game. 30 something shots later, not a single miss! The XF16 also tracked exceptionally well and handled objects that were moving laterally and towards the camera exceptionally.
At this point I'd say it tracks better than my trusty Canon 7D and it is definitely better than my long standing (pre-Fuji) favourite, the 6D.

My apologies that I don't have the proof you're all probably looking for of my very large claims. You're just going to have to trust me. I will be posting photos via my usual Facebook and Instagram feeds over the coming weeks whilst in Ireland, hopefully providing insight into how well the XT-10 and XT-1 focus in low light situations with the new firmware. 

Cheers!

Mathieu