Comparison between Fuji and Sony budget telephotos

Hi,

On my quest to get a "good enough" budget telephoto, i concluded that my initial thoughs were correct: there isn't an all rounder budget telephoto lens in any mirrorless system.

I have tried Panasonic 45-150 on a GX80, a Fuji 50-230 II on an X-T20, and a Sony 55-210 on a a6000. All were / are my cameras so i was / am used to work with them. I only consider cameras up to €800, which are the ones i can buy.

I had the Fuji for the longest period, arround 6 months, the Panasonic for 2 months, and the sony since last week.

The Panasonic 45-150 is good but lacks a camera capable of tracking (in this price range)

Sony 55-210 can track quickly on the a6000, is bit better between 150mm to 210mm than i expected (at least my copy), but lacks the image quality of the Fuji.

The Fuji 50-230 II has the best image quality, but lacks the focus capacity of the Sony.

The Panasonic can be had used for arround €130 to €150, while the Sony and the Fuji be bought used for close to €175 (same price as new on grey market, where i bought both).

To consider a step up in both Sony and Fuji, i would have to spend arround €900 on the sony 70-200 f4, or €500 on the Fuji 55-200 (used prices). While the sony would focus faster than the Fuji, its much bigger and heavier as its a FF lens.

As i only use telephoto lens for action / sports, and since i will keep the Sony a6000 for my wife (there is no Fuji equivalent in used market that can shoot Full HD video as well, maybe the X-T100 in 1 year will be priced at €400 in used market), i think the Sony 55-210 will stay with me for some time.

I however believe that as both are old lens (fuji released a version II but only with better OIS and coatings i think), they should be getting updated versions ASAP. My opinion of course.

Let me know your thoughs, do you agree with the above?

Cheers!

Really, the little guy is a wonder. Run off my old E1 usually and aside from some AF hunting, it's everything you'd expect from a high end zoom. It could be the AF issue would not be prevalent on a newer, more advanced body. Worth a peek.

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Rmcp20 wrote:

Hi,

On my quest to get a "good enough" budget telephoto, i concluded that my initial thoughs were correct: there isn't an all rounder budget telephoto lens in any mirrorless system.

I have tried Panasonic 45-150 on a GX80, a Fuji 50-230 II on an X-T20, and a Sony 55-210 on a a6000. All were / are my cameras so i was / am used to work with them. I only consider cameras up to €800, which are the ones i can buy.

I had the Fuji for the longest period, arround 6 months, the Panasonic for 2 months, and the sony since last week.

The Panasonic 45-150 is good but lacks a camera capable of tracking (in this price range)

Sony 55-210 can track quickly on the a6000, is bit better between 150mm to 210mm than i expected (at least my copy), but lacks the image quality of the Fuji.

The Fuji 50-230 II has the best image quality, but lacks the focus capacity of the Sony.

The Panasonic can be had used for arround €130 to €150, while the Sony and the Fuji be bought used for close to €175 (same price as new on grey market, where i bought both).

To consider a step up in both Sony and Fuji, i would have to spend arround €900 on the sony 70-200 f4, or €500 on the Fuji 55-200 (used prices). While the sony would focus faster than the Fuji, its much bigger and heavier as its a FF lens.

As i only use telephoto lens for action / sports, and since i will keep the Sony a6000 for my wife (there is no Fuji equivalent in used market that can shoot Full HD video as well, maybe the X-T100 in 1 year will be priced at €400 in used market), i think the Sony 55-210 will stay with me for some time.

I however believe that as both are old lens (fuji released a version II but only with better OIS and coatings i think), they should be getting updated versions ASAP. My opinion of course.

Let me know your thoughs, do you agree with the above?

Cheers!

No experience with Sony or the Fuji 50-230 but I do have considerable experience with the Fuji 55-200 and it's an excellent lens optically. As for the AF I have shot some bike races but for wildlife and BiF I use the 100-400 as 200 ~230mm is a bit too short.

I don't think it's reasonable to expect either lens to be updated soon.

Bob

The 55-200 was also released a long time ago. I know the image quality is outstanding, on par with the canon 70-200 f4L which i used in the past and was very good. Its the AF that raises concerns. The canon is extremely fast, so for me its worth the €400 used.

The Fuji, its €500 but until i can test one i have to consider it over my budget, at least for a "blind date" style purchase.

Do you have the bike pictures online?

I had two copies of the Sony 55-210 and used them with the A6000 and Nex7.   Neither one of them were what I would call sharp compared to the 50-230.   I have an XT-1 and 50-230 and I expected it to be comparable but it is much better than the copies of the Sony that i had as far as sharpness.

But AF is much slower on the XT-1 compared to the A6000 but that's pretty well known to be the case.    I'm going to a bike ride in Indy this weekend with intentions to shoot a few action shots.  I think this will really tell about how well the AF works.

I've had Pentax, Sony and Nikon budget Zooms (55-200,70-300) and I think the 50-230 is sharper than any of them.   Just slower in speed and focus.

Rmcp20 wrote:

The 55-200 was also released a long time ago. I know the image quality is outstanding, on par with the canon 70-200 f4L which i used in the past and was very good. Its the AF that raises concerns. The canon is extremely fast, so for me its worth the €400 used.

The Fuji, its €500 but until i can test one i have to consider it over my budget, at least for a "blind date" style purchase.

Do you have the bike pictures online?

Here are a few that were taken with the X-T1. Mind that the AF on the X-T1 was not in the same league as the X-T2 or X-T20 and these are significant crops out of the 16 MP image. This was also when I was very new to Fuji and I was just trying to figure out the X-T1 and this was my first attempt at AF tracking as I'd shot with Canon for 40 years.

Rmcp20 wrote:

The 55-200 was also released a long time ago. I know the image quality is outstanding, on par with the canon 70-200 f4L which i used in the past and was very good. Its the AF that raises concerns. The canon is extremely fast, so for me its worth the €400 used.

The Fuji, its €500 but until i can test one i have to consider it over my budget, at least for a "blind date" style purchase.

Do you have the bike pictures online?

The Fuji 55-200mm has always been a fast focusing lens and still is even though later lenses have more powerful motors. Certainly it has never let me down.

Vic