Some fun with the Fuji XE-2

[rogerg]

Hi all,

I've been having a rare break out in the wheatbelt this weekend, doing some astrophotography and being fairly casual about it. I've been using my Canon 6D and Fuji XE-2, and have to say the Fuji XE-2 seems to have been handling the higher temperatures better than the Canon. Much less noise even with noise reduction set to minimum.

This is a single frame from the Fuji XE-2, processed in lightroom.

Enjoy :)

Roger.

[Camelopardalis]

Nice shot Roger, good to see some output from other Fuji users! Which lens and settings did you use?

I bought a X-E1 recently and have been experimenting with it when I can get out, and it seems to pick up stronger pinks and even purples in nebulae quite readily where my Canon 1100D doesn't.

[rogerg]

I only have one lens for our Fuji and it's the 27mm F/2.8 pancake. Nice little lens and certainly doesn't lack any sharpness. Edge quality is near perfect, especially compared to my less than perfect Canon lenses. I still do struggle with the Fuji though, especially it's ergonomics :( Hoping to eventually get used to it :)

I agree that the Fuji picks up the colours better. I don't recall if it's a difference of no lowpass filter or not. I've forgotten the differences between the chips (except that there are many differences): :lol:

[Camelopardalis]

Oh great, I have the 27mm too :) although I seem to get seagulls out towards the corners :sadeyes: but the combo is nice and sharp. I struggle with my intervalometer more than the camera itself, while the 2.5mm socket is supposed to be Canon compatible, mine chooses to misbehave and take shots seemingly at random!

I'd bet the 6D makes for a more interesting comparison than my 1100D :D but I've been pleased and intrigued with what I've seen so far.

[rogerg]

Interesting to hear your experience with the intervalometer. I don't have one for our Fuji yet so was just doing 30s exposures with 2s delay and have now been looking at what intervalometer I should buy for it. Word on the street is that the canon should be compatible :shrug:

[Camelopardalis]

Yeah it was one of the appeals, as I already had a Canon compatible one, but the frustrating thing is I've had it work perfectly one night, and last weekend I couldn't get it to play ball at all...just random shot taking :help: maybe it's an issue with my camera, but it works perfectly otherwise.

I've ordered an RR-80 compatible one which uses the USB-like port, and I'll see how it goes with that. I believe it's RR-90 for the X-E2, as the port is different from the X-E1.

[gaa_ian]

That's a great shot for a single frame Roger !
I certainly don't get that much nebulosity in a single frame with my 700D

[rogerg]

Thanks Ian, I agree - great for a single shot, especially a 25c warm night! The only other time I tried the Fuji for astro I wasn't so impressed, but I'm thinking twice about it for warm nights when the Canon is not performing.

[rogerg]

Wow, I’m impressed:

It seems I don’t even need to buy a intervalometer as Fuji has just released a new firmware update for the Fuji XE-2 which provides interval timing via the menu! I am really impressed that such additional functionality is added through firmware.

Not only that, but they’ve added another feature which has been my biggest beef with the Fuji since buying it – full time manual focus! That is something I sorely missed from my Canon.

Disclaimer: Yet to download and try the firmware, I will do that tonight :thumbsup:

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Roger...yeah they seem to be releasing regular updates, I wish they would port the display off feature from the X-T1, on the X-E1 you've got to have either the back screen or the electronic viewfinder on...even the latter is bright enough to cast a shadow when you're dark adapted :sadeyes:

The firmware update is pretty easy, as I sure you'll find :)

Btw, mine has manual focus by flicking the switch on the front (next to the lens) to M.

[traveller]

Welcome to the fuji club Roger :)
Thanks for the alert for the new firmware. I will see if it will work with my XE-1. The colour reproduction on the fuji is simply stunning, plus they make a great walkabout camera to boot.
Bo

[rogerg]

New firmware installed and nice new features :thumbsup: Shame the interval timing doesn't allow for an exposure time > 30" :( So will still need to get a cable.

Full time manual focus is a godsend but will take some getting used to the EVF with respect to this.



I haven't found the screen staying on is a problem for my purposes. Battery life still seems excellent.

Yes, I have the manual switch but that's different to full time manual focus (as Canon calls it) where the lens is in auto focus, so you half press to auto-focus but then you can turn the lens to tweak the focus without switching focus mode (ie, always has manual focusing available even if in auto focus mode). Subtle but critical difference for how I shoot :)



I do really like the Fuji camera, or at least want to like it, but it's taking a long time for me to get used to it enough to not take half an hour for every shot getting the settings right :lol: ergonomics and menus are just so different to Canon I still find it fiddly. I'm slowly getting more used to it. :)

[dannat]

fuji has better sensor than canon [who seems to be slightly behind fuji nikon/sony]
only problem with fuji is finding software other than adobe to handle the x-trans well

[Camelopardalis]

The only issue with raw processing is that the solution supplied by Fuji is weak (at least from a user experience point of view), and the Adobe camera raw requires a recent update for decent processing. Besides that, there are other excellent software such as Capture One and Iridient that do a good job on daytime shots. Then there are the recent versions of dcraw which provides three-pass X-Trans processing, which is what I've been using for my experiments.

So the software is out there...it's just more niche compared to Canon raw conversion, and involves a little leg work.

[rogerg]

Sorry to cause a bump of this again for non-photo reason but .... can any Fuij users recommend a seller of t-rings compatible for the X-E2? Thanks!

[dannat]

roger try CNC (http://www.telescopeadapters.com/) parts
ive bought most of their adapters at one point -always been a great fit

[Camelopardalis]

I paid $15 for one on the bay, searched for t mount fujifilm x-e1

Took a few weeks to get here but seems to work well enough, and has the length to work with 55mm back focus.

[davewaldo]

Great pic roger! I've got the same camera. What process do you use for focusing on stars?

Dave.

[rogerg]

Dave I just use manual focus with the focus peak highlight. I'm yet to really decide which assist option is best (none, focus peak highlight or the others which escape my mind right now). All my shorts were sharp but there were some which must have been slightly off focus as corner distortion appeared in some.

[davewaldo]

Thanks mate I'll give it a try :-)