Jumping into the Fuji System. What to look for and where to go?

mbjerggaard wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I'm currently in the midst of considering changing system from a Nikon D40 on which i basically only use the 35mm 1.8 lens. Shooting a range of different styles but mostly landscape, architecture and urban.

if you're wanting to stick with a prime the 35mm 1.4 is an older lens, sharp, nice bokeh, slower and noisy AF. The newer 35mm f2 is weather resistant and faster AF, but from most accounts renders differently than the 35 1.4. For your stated subjects though I have to recommend the 10-24mm. So much versatility along with OIS. Maybe something to consider?

At first i was considering going for the Nikon D7500 (£835 body) as that would be the most logical progression and i would be able to use the same lenses (my brother also shoots Nikon). But after peeking into the world of mirrorless I was quite captivated of the small maneuverable builds and yea there is just something about them?

Even though I'm a fan of Fuji, it's rumoured that Nikon will soon have a mirrorless system, although it's unknown at this time which mount they will use, what level of user they will be targeting, etc. If you're not in a hurry to switch you may want to wait and see what Nikon comes up with. Or, go with a small Fuji kit for now but keep your Nikon glass in case the Fuji gear isn't the right fit for you. But yes, there is indeed just something about the mirrorless cams, especially the Fuji's

The Fuji lineup looks great, which is obviously why I'm here. I'm primarily looking at the X-T20 and the X-E3 and I'm not quite sure which route to go, especially the lenses confuse me as the available kits with different lenses have all kinds of different price points and on top of that I'm not from the US so the prices seems slightly different in that regard as well. So i tried to get an overview of it all an made this quick table in excel which you can see here:

In addition to considering getting one of the kit lenses i was also considering getting just the body and then buy a specific lens on the side. Something equivalent to the Nikkor 35mm 1.8 for example. So i made a list of the most common(?) lenses and their price points as well, at least from what i know.

its always cheaper to get the lens kitted with the body, and most of the lenses have good user reviews. The XF lenses have more metal/solid build and most have an aperture ring. The XF OIS zooms have a dedicated OIS switch on the lens, allowing fast on/off. The XC lenses are more plastic and have no aperture ring or OIS switch (activated through camera menu), but optically they perform very well. The 50-230mm gets excellent reviews from the majority of users.

For the record, Fuji has just released an XC-level 15-45mm power zoom lens, kitted with the X-A5, but also available separately in black. Not much in the way of reviews yet, but we all hope it lives up to the standards of previous XC zooms.

So this turned into a slightly longer than anticipated paragraph but in essence, i would love some feedback on both the actual body and which lens to pair with it, in terms of quality but also value for money (hence why i posted the prices). Any suggestions are more than welcome.

I use the X-T20 most of the time with a Meike grip, and again I have to recommend the fantastic 10-24mm for landscape and architecture. It's a bigger lens and not exactly discrete, so it's not really a "street" lens.

Thank you very much for your time and i appreciate the feedback!

Suggested kits:

X-T1/X-T20/X-E3 + 35mm f2 (great, affordable WR kit with X-T1) + 10-24mm + 50-230mm. The body choice will depend on preferred ergonomics and if quality video is important (if it is, exclude the X-T1). Good luck!