X-E2 + 23mm f2

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action?  Thanks in advance!

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action? Thanks in advance!

My first Fuji was an xe2 with the xf 35 f2.  They worked great together.   Can’t see why it would not work.

Thanks for the vids!  I tried watching one of them, but they are only in Chinese, I think.  But I understand what you might have been suggesting.

rla1022 wrote:

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action? Thanks in advance!

My first Fuji was an xe2 with the xf 35 f2. They worked great together. Can’t see why it would not work.

I have tried some street with my x-e2 and 35mm 1.4, but could never get moving people in focus.  Thanks for the feedback!

If possible could you post a street photo or two with this combo?

TangoMan wrote:

misterodd wrote:

rla1022 wrote:

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action? Thanks in advance!

My first Fuji was an xe2 with the xf 35 f2. They worked great together. Can’t see why it would not work.

I have tried some street with my x-e2 and 35mm 1.4, but could never get moving people in focus. Thanks for the feedback!

If possible could you post a street photo or two with this combo?

The camera will not focus on moving people. If you want to shoot fast action or from the hip, you have to use manual focus: prefocus at a known distance and shoot when your subject is at the correct distance.

For example, focus on a street sign, and when you see people walk by the sign, you can shoot. Or you focus at 2m-6ft, and when you think people are at that distance from you, you can click and the shot will have the correct focus.

With some practice, in good light, with f8 or f11, it works quite okay., Photographer have done it for decades.

Tangoman, thanks for the detailed suggestion!  Actually, I have considered doing this, but have been too lazy to set it up.  It doesn't take long, does it?  Also, I'm more of the type that doesn't want to be in one place for more than a few minutes at a time.  I like running and gunning, if you will.  That said I really think I need to try this out in the near future.

Do you know if the 23 f2 is a big improvement over the 35 f1.4 for quick street action?

TangoMan wrote:

misterodd wrote:

rla1022 wrote:

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action? Thanks in advance!

My first Fuji was an xe2 with the xf 35 f2. They worked great together. Can’t see why it would not work.

I have tried some street with my x-e2 and 35mm 1.4, but could never get moving people in focus. Thanks for the feedback!

If possible could you post a street photo or two with this combo?

The camera will not focus on moving people. If you want to shoot fast action or from the hip, you have to use manual focus: prefocus at a known distance and shoot when your subject is at the correct distance.

For example, focus on a street sign, and when you see people walk by the sign, you can shoot. Or you focus at 2m-6ft, and when you think people are at that distance from you, you can click and the shot will have the correct focus.

With some practice, in good light, with f8 or f11, it works quite okay., Photographer have done it for decades.

I was thinking the same thing, sorta.  Considering light of the moment, subject's direction of movement and distance in relation to camera, specific field execution habit, and so on - there's a few different types of street movements that come to mind.

Nice summary.

TangoMan wrote:

misterodd wrote:

TangoMan wrote:

misterodd wrote:

rla1022 wrote:

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action? Thanks in advance!

My first Fuji was an xe2 with the xf 35 f2. They worked great together. Can’t see why it would not work.

I have tried some street with my x-e2 and 35mm 1.4, but could never get moving people in focus. Thanks for the feedback!

If possible could you post a street photo or two with this combo?

The camera will not focus on moving people. If you want to shoot fast action or from the hip, you have to use manual focus: prefocus at a known distance and shoot when your subject is at the correct distance.

For example, focus on a street sign, and when you see people walk by the sign, you can shoot. Or you focus at 2m-6ft, and when you think people are at that distance from you, you can click and the shot will have the correct focus.

With some practice, in good light, with f8 or f11, it works quite okay., Photographer have done it for decades.

Tangoman, thanks for the detailed suggestion! Actually, I have considered doing this, but have been too lazy to set it up. It doesn't take long, does it? Also, I'm more of the type that doesn't want to be in one place for more than a few minutes at a time. I like running and gunning, if you will. That said I really think I need to try this out in the near future.

Do you know if the 23 f2 is a big improvement over the 35 f1.4 for quick street action?

Happy to help

The 23 is more forgiving than the 35 because the depth of field is deeper and the angle of view wider.

As for focusing, I suggest you autofocus on a stationary object and keep in your spatial memory where it was in relation to you. Then engage manual focus and you are good to run and gun. It's really very fast, especially using the back-button focus (because no need to change the focusing mode) but you need practice to evaluate the distance of your subject and know when they are in focus, without looking at the camera. Re-calibrate your visual memory often by redoing the focus-memorize distance thing once in a while.

I should add that you will have a LOT more sharp pictures with a static position and a visual clue (a line on the sidewalk, a fire hydrant, etc) to help you know when people are in focus. Evaluating peoples distance while walking requires a lot of practice.

Thanks for the simple, but detailed instructions!  Really appreciate the effort you made to help out a stranger.  I will have to try this in the near future.  But before that I have to take my xe2 out of the box first.  Haven't shot with it since early 2020, I think, maybe even 2019.

One more thing, the focusing system of the older 35 f1.2 and newer 23 f2 are different, aren' they?  If so this would be one reason why the 23 is faster, right?

Does anyone have any street action photos they could share?

Short answer to your question: the X-E2 is a great camera. It has been used for street photography by some very fine photographers. Here is what one of them had to say about it--

https://www.theinspiredeye.net/fujifilm/fuji-xe2-street-photography/

My suggestion: take the camera + the 23mm lens (a great lens for street shooting) - and start going out onto the streets and taking pictures. You will learn the camera's strengths and weakness - and, equally importantly, you will probably discover things about not only your photography but yourself.

And remember: every photographer, and every one of us, has a different way of doing things...and of seeing things. Figuring out 'your way' can be challenging - but it should also, hopefully, be fun.

Thanks a lot for the link and advice!  Hopefully after watching this vid and others, as well as getting a few more tips, suggestions, recommendations, I'll be one step closer to buying this wonderful lens.

forest dream wrote:

misterodd wrote:

Does anyone have any street action photos they could share?

Although it spoken it Cantonese, below video has lot good street photo (B&W).

P.s. good photo didn't limit by language.

Thanks for the vid, again!  But I was hoping to see some fast street photos with the xe2 and 23 f2.

FujiShooterCY wrote:

TangoMan wrote:

As for focusing, I suggest you autofocus on a stationary object and keep in your spatial memory where it was in relation to you. [Then engage manual focus and you are good to run and gun]

With my X-E3 I use the setting for "AF in manual mode" with the back button (AF-L) so when in manual, I press the button and get initial focus caught immediately, then correct if needed.

Doesn't X-E2 have the same ability?

Yes, the X-E2 has back button focus with its AF-L button as well, regardless if in AF-M or AF-S mode. TangoMan do reference back button focus as well.

But the shooting technique TangoMan describes - if I understand them correctly - is what some call "pre-focusing", although one could also say it's a variant of zone focusing.

Rather than achieving focus at the time of capture, the idea is to determine a focus distance first, and then working around that. Either by waiting for a subject to move into the in-focus area, or by moving yourself so that the distance between you and your subject is in the preselected focus range. In either case, at the time of capture, no focus adjustment should be necessary.

To give an example: You notice a certain street corner and visualise the composition. You want a person, dog, cat etc to be in a specific location of the frame to bring the composition together. Frame your composition and pre-focus to the location where you anticipate the subject to appear eventually. Then you can lower your camera and start waiting. When the subject (hopefully) appears, you raise the camera to your eye, confirm your composition and capture your image without a need to wait for AF confirmation.

Doesn't surprise me that some like to say street photography is more like fishing rather than hunting.

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action?

Yes.

Was only disappointed when I upgraded to the faster XE3.

In comparison the same camera with the 27mm f2.8 is a tad too slow for some things. But you only notice it with runners, cyclists or other traffic.

Blood N Guts Murphy wrote:

misterodd wrote:

For those of you who have some experience with this combo, is this pair fast enough for street action?

Yes.

Was only disappointed when I upgraded to the faster XE3.

In comparison the same camera with the 27mm f2.8 is a tad too slow for some things. But you only notice it with runners, cyclists or other traffic.

Thanks for the reply.

So if I understood you correctly, the 23mm f2 is faster or better with an xe2 than an xe3.  If this is true, I wonder why that is.

I have only tried street photography with the 35 f1.4 on my xe2 and the autofocus is way too slow to capture moving subjects that are coming towards me.  I know that this is a tall order for many other camera/lens combos as well.