About Photography

Fuji X-Pro1 and Leica lenses

On my walk today I took the Fuji X-Pro1 to test with some Leica lenses, notably the 135mm Telyt f/3.4.  This lens is difficult to use on a Leica M9 because the long focal length is so small within the viewfinder window.  With the Fuji, however, you can switch to the electronic view finder.  This magnifies the image, and, although the lens is strictly manual focus, it is easy to see and adjust in such a large format.  On the APS sensor of the Fuji a 135mm lens comes out to slightly over 200mm in effective focal length.  Adding this lens and the 90mm -- with its effective 135mm focal length on the X-Pro1-- greatly extends the lens complement of the camera system.

There are several off-brand adapters available for making conversions to the X-Pro1, but the adapter actually made by Fuji, although more expensive, works best because it can relay the information from the lens to the camera and the others cannot.

Leica M9 with Leica APO-Telyt 135mm lens mounted using the Kipon adapter.  With the 1.5x multiplication factor of the X-Pro1's APS-sized sensor, this lens is equivalent to just over a 200mm focal length when mounted this way.

Kipon makes adapters for mounting various lenses onto the Fuji X-Pro1.  These adapters are readily available on eBay.  All lenses are manual focus when mounted this way, but they are easy to use with the cameras EVF finder.

You cannot see it here because of the small size of the images, but the use of the Leica lenses resulted in incredibly sharp photos.  So my initial thinking on this camera is to use it as a companion body to my Leica M9.  The Fuji accepts all the Leica lenses, has the benefit of extending the focal length range out to 200mm, and adds macro focusing with its own lenses, a feature that the Leica does not have.

In addition, the Fuji has exceptional low-light capability, much better than most cameras today.  It can easily be used at ISO 3200 and even 6400 with only moderate tweaking in post-processing to remove residual noise. Together the Leica system plus X-Pro1 make a very complete package.

All of these photos were taken in late afternoon light with the Leica 135mm Telyt lens mounted on a Fuji X-Pro1.  The Fuji Leica adapter is not available yet. I bought a third party adapter from a company called Kipon selling them on eBay.

I live close to the Empire State Building and often include it as a test for sharpness t in my camera and lens tests.  Taken from a position south of the Empire State Building this photo shows the late afternoon sun reflecting off of the building's surface.

This view was taken from the north, shooting directly into the late afternoon sun.  This blasted out all detail in the sky and left the buildings in a high-key light.

In Madison Square Park pink blossoms frame the clock of the Metropolitan Life Building in the background, as another addition to my Nature in the City photo series.