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Lens selection for x cameras... Suggestions

Started Mar 28, 2016 | Discussions thread
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BarnacleBillMag New Member • Posts: 2
Lens selection for x cameras... Suggestions

Hello everyone,

I'd be very grateful for some advice.

Background : I publish and edit a digital magazine which covers the boat building and alternative sailing sector.  Adventure sailing,  expedition sailing. Now I'm looking to change our camera stock,  budget isn't unlimited but value for money and good future proofing are imperative.

This camera (s)  will be primarily for me to use and will be used in a variety of settings primarily outdoors in a splash risk environment.

My photography history is I'm in my mid 40s, grew up using film and in those days used Contax and Zeiss kit. When digital came out I bought a Nikon DSLR which killed a lot of the magic for me.  I eventually replaced it with a Leica Digilux 2 which I used until 18 months ago before selling. It gave me back the magic and despite being fixed lens and a primitive digital spec (2gb max memory card)  was a cracking bit of kit.

I suspect that the zeiss,  leica background means that I'm seriously enthusiastic about lens and optics but I'm also very aware that,  design being in a job where photography is a very large element,  I find the tactile very important if I'm going to actually take photos when need to.

I'm a huge fan of rangefinder cameras and own a Zorki 3 and a Fed 4 both of which I love using and have a nice selection of leica clone lenses

I've settled on ideally the X Pro 2 for a body,  realistically my requirements mean I need rugged and weatherproof. If I could find a flexible alternative to the Leica X-U that would be ideal.

the toss up came down to either an Olympus Em1,  a Fuji XT1 or a X Pro 2. Now the Oly makes financial sense,  lots around, proven track record etc. But I'm not getting the love. Possibly because being a fan of dials rather than menus the Fujis are far closer to my Leica and contax type history. The XT1 probably makes good fiscal sense but I had a go of an X100 yesterday which belongs to a friend and loved the flexibility of the hybrid viewfinder and the feel of the camera on the hand,  he had to prise it out my fingers after an hour. As I pointed out,  I'm a big rangefinder fan so all this is leaning towards the Xpro 2 despite the price tag involved.

Budget,  well the XP2 body retails at about £1350 in the UK.  Bear in mind I also need to budget for a new GoPro with the related clobber (about £450) this realistically leaves me with budget for two lenses for the X.

I'm a Fuji lens virgin so which of the weatherproof x lenses would you suggest?  I'll need a 35mm type  and probably a pancake as well for size and a fast zoom lens of some sort for more of the distance and action shots. The extreme stuff will be done on the GoPro

Quality of lens is very important to me, it's vital to have a lens that I genuinely love using.

So given all that what would you suggest for my XP2 set up?

1/primary lens (35mm?)

2/zoom

3/nice to have.. Pancake

4/ perhaps a wide

If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them. Also will need a leather land case and a waterproof sea one (I'll us a floating strap) on the water this kit is stored in floating sealed indestructible plastic cases for storage.

cheers

Richard

Fujifilm FinePix X100 Fujifilm XF 35mm F2 R WR Fujifilm X-T1 Olympus E-M1
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