Fuji To Fuji 14mm or not to Fuji 14mm (with appropriate apologies!)

[lrusr]

Good evening Rico,
As background to my question I currently own the Fuji XE-1, 35 1.4, and 18-55 /55-200mm zoom lenses,
as well as a Panasonic LX-7...

My specific question though concerns the Fuji 14mm Lens:
I recently sold my original copy of the Fuji 14 (I decided I wanted the forthcoming Fuji 10-24 more)
to finance the purchase of the XE-2!

My wife and I will be spending some time in and around Paris (38th Anniversary trip)
over the holidays and I'm wondering if I made a mistake selling off the 14mm?
As the Fuji 10-24 will likely not be available until next year (I was hoping for an announcement this week
but that didn't happen) I'm wondering if I would be better off cancelling the XE-2 order and getting another copy
of the 14mm (perhaps used)? I captured some nice images in SF in August with the 14:

Facebook

and my thinking is that -this lens would serve me equally well in Paris!

Your thoughts?
Thanks,
Jerry in Sacramento

(I am currently reading your XE-1/X-Pro [Kindle Version] and thank you for that!)

 

[juangrande]

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush! ( apologies also )

 

[Armanius]

I just ordered a 14. But my biggest struggle was trying to determine if I should go with the Zeiss 12 over the Fuji 14, because I want to get all of Trevi Fountain without tourists in it.

Congrats on 38 years!!

 

[Ray Sachs]

I used to spend a lot of time shooting with an ultra wide (Olympus 9-18 - NOT as wide as the 10-24) and really liked it. But I got the 14 last winter and took both it and the 9-18 to Italy for the month of July. To my surprise, I found myself using the 14 for pretty much all of my wide angle shooting. I pulled the 9-18 out once but it quickly went back into the bag. The 21mm equivalent gets a LOT in the frame but stops short of that crazy UWA look that seems so obvious with ultra-wide shots. I used it in a lot of narrow little walkways in Positano and other spots along the Amalfi Coast and it was plenty wide. And with the f2.8 aperture, it'll shoot in situations where the slower ultra-wide might not. I was planning to add the 10-24 someday and still may, but I'm not sure, because the 14 handled so much of my shooting so well. If you really want the extra width, the Zeiss 12mm might be a really good tradeoff - I've thought about that too... It gets at the same width of the 9-18 I used to use (more when you take the 3:2 aspect ratio into account) and still shoots at f2.8. And the price is within about $100 of the 14mm until the end of January.

-Ray

 

[Peter Chin]

If you plan on doing a lot of close quarter events or large interiors in low light handheld, yes you might do better with the 14 but for your Paris trip (Happy Anniversary) another alternative with a different look might be that Samyang 8 and use software to defish if needed. You'll just need to manually focus.

 

[entropic remnants]

IMO if you've got the money get the 14mm. The nice manual focus clutch and outstanding optical ability -- even a very good close focus for an ultrawide -- are excellent.

For my work do I miss the Panasonic's 14mm EQUIVALENT FOV? You bet. But even if I get a wider ultrawide I'll probably hang on to this as its quality complements nicely the high acuity of the X-Trans sensor.

With my job folding up, I may NEED to keep the 14mm anyway, lol. But the advantages of autofocus over say a Samyang/Rokinon are nice to have in fast changing situations. Also, I am not a fan of de-fishing a fisheye unless you only do small prints or internet work. The stretching and compression that happens leaves you with quite different real resolution in the corners and edges particularly.

 

[jloden]

Personally, I feel naked without some kind of wide angle lens for travel

I bought the 14mm and used it for a Canada trip and I liked the clutch focus ring (useful for landscapes) and the fact that it can share a hood and filters with the 18-55. However, unlike Ray I didn't feel like 21mm was wide enough for me; I really like UWA, in the 14-16mm FF equivalent range.

The 10-24mm is supposedly coming in December time frame, so to tide me over I've picked up the Zeiss 12mm which I was able to get used for a good price. Still not as wide as I'd like but it's closer, and I'm pretty sure I can get my money back out of it when the 10-24 does become available. I'll keep one of the wide angle primes for the extra stop of light and sell the other to fund the 10-24.

Two thoughts to leave you with:

1) If you buy used, there's a high probability you can get your money back out of the 14mm later
2) The X-E2, like all camera bodies, will only get cheaper if you wait. Patience isn't one of my strong suits so I usually pay an "early adopter tax" with cameras. If you can wait it out a bit longer you can skip that and wait for the first used or discounted models to hit the market

 

[lrusr]

Thanks to all who responded...
Since we are leaving for Paris on the 19th of December and I have to have a wide angle, another copy of the 14mm will arrive on the 9th so I'll have about 10 days to practice!

Anyone care to offer settings for night/lowlight settings to maximize Jpg/Raw images- I will be taking a lightweight tripod...
Jerry in Sacramento