Fuji Showcase XC 50-230 Samples

It may be the best value in the Fuji lineup. To me the only reason to go for the 55-200 instead of the 50-230 is if you regularly use your lenses to ward off assaults and wild animals or if you really need that last bit of wider aperture. But given that neither of these are exactly fast lenses and are both basically good light lenses, the aperture was always a non-issue for me. So you get more range, significantly lighter weight, slightly smaller, roughly equivalent optics, and waaaaaaay less expensive. I tried both when I was shooting Fuji and picking the 50-230 over it's bigger brother was about the easiest decision I ever had to make.

-Ray
 
My sincere apologies, my memory isn't what it was (and this was a month ago) I was shooting with my X-PRO1 NOT the X-T1; which makes it even more impressive, from an AF point of view. These were all single AF, with drive also set to single, btw.
 
Bill, as fantastic as this lens is, I think the 55-200 might be the better choice for LeMans. It'll allow you to maintain higher shutters speeds at lower ISOs, which you may want while shooting moving cars. I write only because you actually have the 55-200. If you didn't then I'm sure the 50-230 would work fine.
 
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i'd love to see the difference between 200 and 230.......really it's almost nothing..... because I had a 55-200 at the same time I had the 18-135....... and to me the difference between 135 and 200 was too small for me to keep them both. So I need to wait for the 100-400 (and I need to start saving up my $$$, too).
 
Biro said:
Bill, as fantastic as this lens is, I think the 55-200 might be the better choice for LeMans. It'll allow you to maintain higher shutters speeds at lower ISOs, which you may want while shooting loving cars. I write only because you you a tually have the 55-200. If you didn't then I'm sure the 50-230 would work fine.
Click to expand...

Having slept on it you are of course right. The light weight of the 50-230 will mean it goes in the bag when I head off on hols to southern Italy later in the year but Le Mans demands larger apertures and faster shutter speeds, particularly as night falls.

My bag will contain the 55-200, 18-135, 35, X-T1 with grip and X-M1 with the 27mm welded on, for paddock candids and as backup. The whole lot fits in a small backpack. I'll also take my Ricoh GR in a belt pouch, and a monopod. Oh, and lots of batteries!!
 
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Luke said:
i'd love to see the difference between 200 and 230.......really it's almost nothing..... because I had a 55-200 at the same time I had the 18-135....... and to me the difference between 135 and 200 was too small for me to keep them both. So I need to wait for the 100-400 (and I need to start saving up my $$$, too).
Click to expand...

Luke, I hear you. I do find it makes a difference at airshows and the like, where every mm is needed to fill the frame. I too am waiting for the 100-400 - a great focal length for my purposes and on paper at least a good companion to the 18-135. My piggy bank is currently full awaiting the 90 - I'm really sorry that I couldn't get hold of one before this weekend. Once that's out I start selling and saving for that 100-400...
 
I have the 2 XC lenses and I think they are pretty darned fine for the price. The 16-50 came with my X-M1, which was my 'dip the toe' into Fuji X, and I bought the longer lens later for a very reasonable price. Here's a bright sun shot for you, I was shooting up into the tree from a short distance, it's about a 60% crop on the X-M1. Some shadow tweaking to bring out the details.

bird devils kitchen DSCF3324.jpg
 
I also picked this lens up cheapy cheapy for $180 AUD new. I hesitated on the 55-200, not so much on price alone, more because I don't tend to use long lenses much at all, so I couldn't see personal value in it. Now that I've used the 50-230 on my X-Pro1, and knowing when I'd be more inclined to use it, I'm more than happy with the XC. It's really very nice, even for a lens that cost twice as much. My biggest gripe is only with the plastic mount. I don't even mind that it's a bit slower than ideal.

55-2301.jpg


55-2302.jpg


19383002999_40dde3d300_b.jpg

Wild Brumbies by Darren Nightingale, on Flickr
 
Being new to Fuji X....thought I'd share some from the 50-230 OIS II, on an X-A2 body. Stunning lens. I am nowhere near as good as you guys on here, but thought I'd share.
Sheep2.jpg
Duck BW.jpg
 
Took the 50-230 to the cemetery yesterday, and saw turkeys as usual. I forget, not using it all that often, that the slower apertures mean I have a narrower range of settings to get what I want. Between ISO creeping up and shutter speeds creeping down, there IS always a sweet spot in decent light, but I have to really pay attention to it. I'm remembering that in Africa, a lot of the good shots with it (crisp, and exposed correctly) I had to really dial things in That Day and Time for the light I had, and not just set things blindly.
Work with its limitations, and it delivers really nicely. These are ok.

25633497793_715d7d15e9_b.jpg
KBRX3827 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Happy strangers
25633494623_c21eb15a39_b.jpg
KBRX3867 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Happy wife
25963266640_b4e005d817_b.jpg
KBRX3875 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

25633492393_6ee25191e9_b.jpg
KBRX3890 by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
I went back to Boston this past weekend for the last time in the forseeable future, mostly to run the Family Ride portion of a fundraising bike ride for the non-profit the Mrs was a board member of. We run that ride every year (someone else handles the longer normal ride). We were packing a fair bit of stuff on the way home, I knew, so I kept the kit LIGHT. I brought only the XT1, the XF 23 f1.4, and the XC 50-230. We borrowed a cargo bike with a big bucket up front, my wife pedaled, and I rode in it facing backward the whole 4 miles, shooting alongside and behind... our usual rabbit-in-the-hat trick to pull to get shots you don't often see.

This combo atually works very, very well for travel, if you need something at f1.4 sometimes and long reach in good light at other times. I even had 1/3 of the Domke F5B empty for keys and such. The 23 did what it always does, no surprises there. The 50-230 proved to be an incredibly good focal range for outdoor events, man. 50 is wide enough to actually get some people into a shot, or to pull in some background. And of course 230 is great for isolating someone across the party, or for picking off people on bikes farther away.

So here are some of the event shots I got with the XC 50-230...

29560112201_4d6e91e1f3_b.jpg
KBRX9212 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

29560112001_fffa134a7d_b.jpg
KBRX9232 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

29350844640_6b139b098d_c.jpg
KBRX9246 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

29560111651_5faa5db357_b.jpg
KBRX9251 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Seriously... she's not that far away, and yet 50 was FINE. This shot made me love the XC a little more.
29560111171_773fd9804f_b.jpg
KBRX9331 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

29530761552_a89cc75bbd_b.jpg
KBRX9423 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

My wife, and the girl everyone mistakes for her. Hell, I've almost put my arm around her a few times over the years, having only seen her out of the corner of my eye. Always caught it in time, thank god.
29350840390_2a4899a921_c.jpg
KBRX9543 by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
I was just cruising the internet looking for one of these today. I didn't find any for "a steal", but am seriously thinking about getting an X-A2 2 lens kit to have a second body....or to just flip the X-A2 and 16-50 so I can have the longer zoom for around $100
 
About the cheapest I'm seeing new examples of this lens going for is $169 on eBay. Some of those are from U.S. sellers and others are from sellers in Asia. All would be grey-market items and are no doubt the Gen One version. So maybe Luke's flip plan would work best. Unless and until he decides he likes the X-A2, of course. For some reason, I haven't let my X-A1 go yet.
 

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