First try with the XF 60mm - Impressions

Hi! I have mentioned in a number of threads that I recently got the XF 60mm (quite cheaply too!). My initial reaction was very mixed. The moment it arrived, I tried it indoors, in my living room which isn't that well lit, and I so that front element hunting so much and felt like I just threw away 250$. But I persevered. I have since tried shooting the Original Marathon in Athens and then my first try at some macro/product photography at my mother's shop.

Here are a few sample images (forgive the poor quality since I've never really shot neither moving subjects nor products before) followed by my impressions. All but for the 1:1 are SOOC Jpegs.

Runner for the 10k race

Third place in the Full Marathon

Corn and Chestnut Seller

The missus in her natural environment - a bookstore

My first proper try at Macro with a 10mm and a 16mm tube for almost 1:1 magnification

Same Ring but without the tubes.

Old men.

So. First of all, obviously I did not have the proper tech to shoot the rings. I used the bundled X-T2 flash and put a piece of paper on its front. I put a remote release trigger to avoid camera shake and placed the camera on a tripod. I had no optimal lighting or anything.

Now to impressions:

This lens felt huge. I then realised that the lens is far from huge, and in reality not that much bigger than the f2 lineup. What makes it appear huge is that damned lenshood. When reversed and stored, it increases the size of the lens by a lot. Solution: after reading a lot of older threads here, I'm not going to be using it anymore and I've purchased a 35mm f1.4 hood that should be in my hands by Christmastime.

The lens is great. It is not slow at all, nor is it that noisy. As long as I'm not using AF to move from a subject in the background to one close to me, it focusses quickly.

I am very pleased with it. It takes nice portraits, seems to be quite sharp and it renders colours in a pleasing way.

In the end, I feel that the XF 60mm is probably a better partner to my 35mm f2 than the 50mm f2 would be. The design and size of the f2 lineup is really attractive, but the 60mm is not that much bigger, and it looks quite sleep with the 35mm lens hood on it. It's quick enough, takes great portraits, can get in quite close (the more I use those tubes, the more I see that 1:1 is not really necessary with few specific exceptions) and could work as a nice enough walk-around lens should one wish to go tele.

For the price of 250$ which is what I got it for (good as new, with its box and everything) I cannot see why so many people are dead set against this gem of a lens. It may be that AF has gotten much faster on the X-T2 compared to older bodies or firmware versions, but as is now, it's great.

For those of you who like me are not dedicated macro shooters but like the idea of going close once in a while: do not be deterred by the 0.5:1 magnification. It's REALLY close. You really don't need more and should you, just get the tubes. I got the Meike ones for 20$ and they work just fine and look sturdy enough.

P.S. any sort of criticism or suggestions on the above pictures is welcome.

Glad to see you are enjoying one of the better Fuji lenses (and that says a lot). IMO it is at least as good as the 50mm f2 with a little extra pulling power and that ability to close focus/macro. The 50mm f2 focuses a little more quickly but I find that with the 60mm f2.4 - as long as you keep the shutter half pressed it will keep trying to refocus  - so just mash it. A bargain lens for sure and it's what I use when the working distance is too close for my 90mm f2 - that's how high I rate it.

Another way of avoiding that stupid hood is to get a cheap 39mm UV/skylight filter and push out the glass. Fit it to the lens then fit a step ring 39mm-58mm-ish and fit a metal hood of 58mm (or whatever size). I got a hood that lets me fit a cap to the hood. See pic.

Mostly I use the compact 35mm lens hood but it doesn't reach enough to cover the macro mode where the above setup does.

Vic

For me the 60mm is ajewel That said its AF is rather slow it is not at all designed for fast action

OTOH in your posts I see quite a lot of worms in the background This appears in Fuji file when some strong sharpening is done without selection of the zone you want to sharpen

In LR and PS there are simple ways to condcut sharpening similar to high pass sharpening avoiding the background to be "wormy"

Bob

baobob wrote:

For me the 60mm is ajewel That said its AF is rather slow it is not at all designed for fast action

OTOH in your posts I see quite a lot of worms in the background This appears in Fuji file when some strong sharpening is done without selection of the zone you want to sharpen

In LR and PS there are simple ways to condcut sharpening similar to high pass sharpening avoiding the background to be "wormy"

Bob

Mhm. I these are straight out of camera. Is that normal? I wonder if I have mistakenly changed some setting to add sharpening in camera. Shall have to check as soon as I get home.

The wormy aspect appears only at 2.8 in the background and it should not This lens delivers silky smooth bokehs

Minimise the sharpening on the camera to at least zero and better -1 or 2 Selective sharpening later on is easy to do in post prod (type of high pass sharpening, avoiding to sharpen backgrounds)

Here are the "worms"

Best

Bob

You got a great lens, that’s  $600 or $250. What a great score! 👍🏻

The 60mm is a sweetheart. You've figured out its major quirk already ( the long rack movement between its telephoto/portrait range and its close focus range) and are learning to work around it, and you have taken steps to ditch the horrible giant hood and replace it with the square hood. (I use an Optech Hood Hat instead of a lens cap when I go out with a lens with this hood.)

You're well on your way to a pretty wide variety of high quality photographic experiences at a bargain price. Have fun-- this lens is very good company.

baobob wrote:

The wormy aspect appears only at 2.8 in the background and it should not This lens delivers silky smooth bokehs

Minimise the sharpening on the camera to at least zero and better -1 or 2 Selective sharpening later on is easy to do in post prod (type of high pass sharpening, avoiding to sharpen backgrounds)

Here are the "worms"

Best

Bob

Thanks Bob, you saved me. Turns out that when I saved some settings from this blog to play with, I forgot to revert the sharpnening to -4 as I normally do for everything.

https://fujixweekly.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/fujifilm-x100f-film-simulation-settings/

I have fixed it now so hopefully try #2 is going to save me from the worms.

yardcoyote wrote:

The 60mm is a sweetheart. You've figured out its major quirk already ( the long rack movement between its telephoto/portrait range and its close focus range) and are learning to work around it, and you have taken steps to ditch the horrible giant hood and replace it with the square hood. (I use an Optech Hood Hat instead of a lens cap when I go out with a lens with this hood.)

You're well on your way to a pretty wide variety of high quality photographic experiences at a bargain price. Have fun-- this lens is very good company.

Thanks! Yes. It was mainly thanks to old threads by the folks here at DPR that I was spared weeks or months of misery. Now I just have to wait for my friend to come back from the US for Christmastime and I'll have my 35mm f1.4 hood too!

That should take care of it.

LeicaC wrote:

I like your old men photo!

Thanks LeicaC! I do too. It feels like they blur the line between portrait and product photography. Here's a couple more that you may appreciate.

The Crone

Just lost a backgammon match

Old Many and Dog

For the price of 250$ which is what I got it for (good as new, with its box and everything) I cannot see why so many people are dead set against this gem of a lens. It may be that AF has gotten much faster on the X-T2 compared to older bodies or firmware versions, but as is now, it's great.

I have the 18, 27 and 60. All are very good lenses but they get panned on the internet.

Have a look here for shooting moving subjects with the XT-2:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4340839

Les Lammers wrote:

For the price of 250$ which is what I got it for (good as new, with its box and everything) I cannot see why so many people are dead set against this gem of a lens. It may be that AF has gotten much faster on the X-T2 compared to older bodies or firmware versions, but as is now, it's great.

I have the 18, 27 and 60. All are very good lenses but they get panned on the internet.

Usually by people who dismissed them without trying them Les.

I was going to try a (4th) 18mm f2 but because I shoot it blind from the hip, many of the subjects are close enough to the edge of frame to distort so I'm sticking with the 14mm for street - at least until the 16mm f2.8 comes to market. Everything else about the 18mm f2 is perfect. I never had one slow to focus or noisy which just shows how some actually get the lenses they never tried mixed up when the comment.

Vic

My 2 fav Fuji lenses are the 35/1.4 and the 60, tho the 50-230 zoom is also up there. I originally used the 35/1.4 as my all rounder but now I use the 60 for my walk around in the parks or woods during the day. The 35 I keep for low light and night shooting.  I also have the X70 and XF10 which are day time carry arounds also, but if I need quality and sharpness, I use the 60 with my XT10. The 60 I use for casual portraits and close ups of flowers and critters. Also it is great for medium range scenic shots and sunsets.

KKJohn wrote:

My 2 fav Fuji lenses are the 35/1.4 and the 60, tho the 50-230 zoom is also up there. I originally used the 35/1.4 as my all rounder but now I use the 60 for my walk around in the parks or woods during the day. The 35 I keep for low light and night shooting. I also have the X70 and XF10 which are day time carry arounds also, but if I need quality and sharpness, I use the 60 with my XT10. The 60 I use for casual portraits and close ups of flowers and critters. Also it is great for medium range scenic shots and sunsets.

I got the 35mm f2, though lately, with so many threads comparing it to the 1.4, I am second guessing my choices. I took the 60 with me to my grandmother's 96th and took some really nice portraits. It gets just close enough to work in relatively cramped spaces as well. I could take nice shots of everyone but the people in my immediate right and left of the table.

Hi all. It's been a while since I started this thread and since then, I've been using the 60mm more and more. It is by far my most used lens and I've really been enjoying it. Tomorrow I should be getting the 35mm f1.4 hood as well, to complete the package. Very excited.

Here are some more shots I've taken in the past few days. I had thought that 60mm was too long to do much other than portraits and closeups but boy oh boy it's quite versatile.

At the risk of being told you'd be be ashamed of yourselves if you took such pictures, I would also appreciate some C&C

What all these pictures show is, just how versatile this lens is. It was one of the first I bought as one of my original 3 when I got the XP1. I never settled with the 18mm and sold it (and 2 other copies) but the 35mm f1.4 and this little beauty stay with me.

Many might think it's too long a focal length for general use but it is actually ideal.

Vic

The 60 mm is one of my older Fuji lenses and it punches above it's weight. Great sharpness and bokeh if you want it. Yes it can hunt and is slower in the AF area but the rewards far outweigh the drawbacks. Also, since the front glass is inset pretty far, I never use the supplied hood which is made well but huge in comparison to the lens. I either go without protection or use a lens cap. You can also use the same hood that goes on the 35 mm 1.4 which works well too. The bayonet mount is identical on both models.

That last pic is great.  The background is nicely blurred.

May I ask where you got your lens for $250?  I'm assuming that's a price for a used one.

Around here, used ones are rare and the prices are high (about double what you paid).