Good Bye Fuji, Welcome Sony

Updated on Oct 2nd 2020

For some months I hesitated to post this, but now I'm comfortable doing this.

I was (and still at some point) a big enthusiast of the Fuji X-Trans cameras and I had many of them, six to be exact (two 2/3" compacts and four APS-C mirrorlesses). They are extremely well built with always excellent optics, no matter if aimed to the amateur or to the professional. Fuji has a long tradition of making one of the finest glass on this planet and they really rule at this point.

I also had a quite reasonable set of lenses and I never found a less than excellent one from Fuji, even the "low grade" XC lineup has very sharp lenses (more on this later).

Fuji also has my deep respect for continuing to update their cameras firmware on a regular basis, with more features and bug corrections.

I'll not discuss the fuji equipment quality because it's nothing to discuss. It's great! Even the compacts with 2/3" sized sensors have very high image quality, mostly because of the extremely good lenses.

To be honest it's hard to beat Fuji's lenses if we're talking about price/performance ratio. 

But some things always bored me, especially the X-Trans raw files post-processing. Don't get me wrong, I more than know how to do and I have years of experience with this. The fact is that the programs that deliver the best results in terms of sharpness and colors are, in one word, slow to death on my computers. I'm talking about Silkypix Pro 8 and 9 and Iridient Developer.  And yes, I know about Luminar and Capture One. Luminar is just OK with X-Trans and C1 does a decent job but by no way on Earth I would pay what they ask for it and their subscription-based model is against my principles. I can live with the Express version but working just in catalog mode is very annoying to me, but it's free.

Raw Therapee is a very powerful option, but I don't like the idea of having several different raw processing programs. It's the perfect recipe to lose the focus on what matters, and oh boy, I know what I'm talking about, I have paid licenses of half a dozen programs plus the free ones.

But the software was not the point on my decision. At least not the main.

The second and really important aspect was about some really cool full-frame, manual and autofocus lenses I have. Being APS-C sized camera, I was not able to harness the full potential of those full-frame lenses with the Fujis, especially for some excellent ultra-wide lenses I have from Minolta (manual MD mount), Zeiss and Pentax. What would be the point of using a Zeiss 18mm Distagon "like" a 36mm mid-wide-angle lens in an APS sized system camera ?

So my quest for a decent and not outrageously expensive full-frame sensor camera begun. I considered the usual Canon, maybe a 6D Mk2, but some years ago I had a 5D and boy, it's heavy... The fact that MD mount lenses have a too short flange distance to be used with the EOS system made me think about the Sony A7-II.

But why the A7-II and not the A7R-II or even the A7-II S? Simple: the cost. I got an A7-II plus lens, pouch and a 32 GB SD card kit from B&H for a VERY attractive price and the A7-II has everything I need: Lightweight, full-frame, in-body IBIS, decent focus peaking system, AND able to use short-distance registration distance lenses. Bingo!

To be honest, the 24MP sensor of the A7-II is more than enough to my personal type of use, files are smaller and the post-processing is faster. I have absolutely no need for higher resolutions. Even 16MP would be great. I'm not on the professional market, my needs are mainly for travel.

But to pay for it I had to sell most of my Fuji gear but I decided to keep the X-T1 body and three lenses:

XF 27mm pancake: Why? Compact, cheap, light and sharp. It's hard to beat it for the price. I had both the XF23 F2 WR and the XF35 F2 WR and I decided to sell them even those two lenses being better in IQ than the XF27mm. Portability was more important and 27mm is just between 23mm and 35mm focal length.

XC 16-50 "kit" zoom: Why? It's VERY light and although all plastic, it has a very good optical quality. This lens is THE definition of plastic fantastic! I decided to sell my XF 18-55 F2.8-3.5 R and keep the XC 16-50. The IQ from both lenses are almost the same, if not equal, and the extra 2mm on the wide side makes me happier than the slightly wider aperture.

XC 50-230 "kit" long zoom: For the same reasons. This lens is no slouch.

The X-T1 (still today in 2020) along with those three lenses is still a very decent travel kit if you don't want to invest a lot of money.

But the 24-70 FE lens that came with the Sony A7-II kit was a lemon. The borders are, in one word, horrible, period. It's probably the worst kit lens I had in hands, even worse than the Canon EF-S 18-55 !

Now I'm using some very good Canon EF lenses on the A7-II with a Commlite EF-NEX adapter, along with some stunning old glass I have like the MD Rokkor 17mm F4 rectilinear ultra-wide angle.

Even better, I can post-process the Sony raw files happily in almost any program with perfect results with a fraction of the headache.

There are some REALLY awesome old manual focus lenses that certainly worth a try on the A7-II. I'll talk about this later. 

Update:

Finally, I was able to buy the Sigma MC-11 EF-Nex adapter. It's working perfectly with my Canon EF lenses. Precise, sharp and fast focus.

Tested with Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM, EF 40mm F2.8 STM, EF 24-85mm USM and EF 24-105mm STM.

Here is my lens list for the A7-II:

- Sigma MC-11 EF to Sony adapter
- Canon EF 40mm f2.8 STM
- Canon EF 24-105mm STM
- Canon EF 24-85mm USM
- Minolta MD Rokkor 17mm F4 (with MD to Sony adapter)
- Minolta MD Rokkor 135mm F2.8
- Pentax SMC 50mm F4 Macro
- Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Macro (Adaptall-2)

Update on Oct 2nd 2020:

I just bought a Sony-A to Sony-E mount adapter and I'm very happy to be able to use my old Minolta AF lenses with the A7. Everything works well, including the autofocus.

It's very nice to have my excellent AF Minolta 50mm F1.7 and the AF Minolta 28mm F2.8 back again. These lenses can be found for a very low price on e-bay but they are no slouch.

I even considered about buying a new Fuji XT3 but instead of it I ended up ordering a Sony A7 Mk III body. This camera is a monster, but not exactly cheap.

Again, the best thing about the Sony A7 series is that there are plenty of really good lenses that works perfectly with this camera series:

- Canon EF, with the Sigma MC-11 adapter. LOTS of good stuff

- Minolta A and Sony A, using a Sony adapter with motor

- Lots of full frame excellent manual focus lenses around, for all tastes and pockets.

I didn't try the new EOS R system from Canon, but it also has the possibility of using EF lenses by using an adapter. Looks promising.