FS7: Fujinon 18-55 mk zoom at 2999 dollars on BH ...Wow

ade4all said:
is it just the Fuji mount at that price, e mount looks like it's still full price
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Cristian Mihai said:
Yeap. I want to convert it at Sony FZ mount....
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The conversion from e mount to FZ is fairly simple with the Duclos kit, from what I’ve seen, but the X mount version has electrical contacts, so I’m not sure if it can be converted like(or converted as easily as) the dumb e mount version. Definetly worth checking into, though.
 
Wow great price. I absolutely love my 18-55 e mount.


Now if only the 50-135 would go on sale.... ha
 
Can anyone who's used the Fuji MKs comment on the optical performance? I went hunting for as much sample footage from the zooms as I could find, and in basically everything that Fuji released, there's this nasty looking decentered effect happening in the out of focus areas. It's creating ghosting in the bokeh, and is pretty awful.

I can't find any word on whether this is simply the rendering of the glass, or whether there was some kind of issue with the pre-production units they sent around to people to review.

Can anyone speak to it?
 
I don't own the Fuji MK's but did a lot of research on them as they were high on my list, in fact still are. A few ops I know who have bought them have never mentioned any decentering issues to me. In fact I considered the two MKs very seriously and was suitably impressed overall with their performance. Economics won out in my case and I went for the slower F4 Sony 18-110 that also performed very well. It's worst aspect is its bokeh but for me that was far outweighed by its sharpness, lack of flare, its contrast and its lack of CA. It also had stabilization not that that was a prime consideration. For me the worst aspect of the 18-55 is that there is a fair amount of stretch distortion at the wide end. Although in real world situations this isn't too noticeable unless you have faces on the edge of frame

In spite of that if work and finances permit I would still like to add this pair of MKs to the kit especially now that there are mount options for M4/3 and FZ.

In fact AbleCine's pretty comprehensive test on the 18-55 commented on its bokeh quite favourably. It was part of their comprehensive round up of a range of cine zooms. Check out around the 3.00 minute mark in their video review.

https://www.abelcine.com/articles/b...uides/behind-the-lens-fujinon-mk-18-55mm-zoom

Also a pretty good look at the 18-55 bokeh here. This test also shows the wide end distortion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHyvDtAgqn4

More on shading, vignetting and distortion. Overall distortion is probably the weakest point on the 18-55. As you can see from the test chart shots in this test.

https://www.cinema5d.com/fujinon-mk18-55mm-technical-review-e-mount-cine-zoom-lab/

It's bigger brother the 50-135 also stood up very well when examined by Shane Hurlbut

https://www.thehurlblog.com/zoom-lens-shootout-fujinon-vs-tokina-50-135mm-filmmaking/

Chris Young
 
Ive used an 18-55 on a music video.. semi classical music, formal shots - not flare grunge mayhem shakey cam.

In one shot we started on piano mans hands at 55 (nearly) CU and did a slider move that dollied back while zooming out and panning to reveal the whole band. You could not do this shot with a DSLR lens (or a single operator). It was impressive technically.

As far as I could see, on set, not on charts, the 18-55 was perfect in every way - parfocal contrasty and lacking in flare (we had 4 backlighting dedos just out of shot in a choir shot)

I dont think it is a 'verite/news' lens as it doesnt have the reach. But paired with the long it would replace a bag of primes in many well lit corporate situations. Or work well on remote camera (like a Movi on a jib) where a change of frame size without a change of lens is a very useful thing.

The sony 18-100 can break with an electronic fail. I like that the fujis dont rely on electrics to work.
 
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cyvideo said:
I don't own the Fuji MK's but did a lot of research on them as they were high on my list, in fact still are. A few ops I know who have bought them have never mentioned any decentering issues to me. In fact I considered the two MKs very seriously and was suitably impressed overall with their performance. Economics won out in my case and I went for the slower F4 Sony 18-110 that also performed very well. It's worst aspect is its bokeh but for me that was far outweighed by its sharpness, lack of flare, its contrast and its lack of CA. It also had stabilization not that that was a prime consideration. For me the worst aspect of the 18-55 is that there is a fair amount of stretch distortion at the wide end. Although in real world situations this isn't too noticeable unless you have faces on the edge of frame

In spite of that if work and finances permit I would still like to add this pair of MKs to the kit especially now that there are mount options for M4/3 and FZ.

In fact AbleCine's pretty comprehensive test on the 18-55 commented on its bokeh quite favourably. It was part of their comprehensive round up of a range of cine zooms. Check out around the 3.00 minute mark in their video review.

https://www.abelcine.com/articles/b...uides/behind-the-lens-fujinon-mk-18-55mm-zoom

Also a pretty good look at the 18-55 bokeh here. This test also shows the wide end distortion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHyvDtAgqn4

More on shading, vignetting and distortion. Overall distortion is probably the weakest point on the 18-55. As you can see from the test chart shots in this test.

https://www.cinema5d.com/fujinon-mk18-55mm-technical-review-e-mount-cine-zoom-lab/

It's bigger brother the 50-135 also stood up very well when examined by Shane Hurlbut

https://www.thehurlblog.com/zoom-lens-shootout-fujinon-vs-tokina-50-135mm-filmmaking/

Chris Young
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Thanks Chris, that Lens Pro to Go video shows excellent performance, and none of the decentering in the bokeh, that I've seen on other sample footage.

I wonder if it's just a sample variation issue?

I've just bought a pair of X-T3s for my stills work/b-cam/gimbal stuff. So the pair of these have a LOT of appeal if they can deliver.
 
Just goes to show that for not a lot of money in kit anyone with the will, talent and artistic ability can produce great looking images. "A Different Beyond " really shows that. A great example of what these MK lenses can achive, and all on the X-T3. Good find mcgee! Yes Grug it may well have been a sample one off variation. Always hard to judge unless you know the exact circumstances the footage was shot under. There again I have seen some strange issues in bokeh sometimes with other lenses which I've found were filter induced... who knows, sometimes it's something like that.

Chris Young
 
cyvideo said:
Just goes to show that for not a lot of money in kit anyone with the will, talent and artistic ability can produce great looking images. "A Different Beyond " really shows that.

Chris Young
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Actually it shows the opposite, what you can do with a lot of money in the kit, but I agree the images look great. :thumbsup:
 
mcgeedigital said:
Matt Libatique shot this whole thing on the X-T3 and the Fuji zooms:

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It looks great. But with that amount of production value, you could have shot that on any mirroless or DSLRs really. Even the old hacked GH2. I think today it all boils down to how easy a camera is to get the results. All the low to mid range cameras are pretty on pair in image.
 
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