by Dylan Goldby
The release of Fujifilm’s X-H2 and X-T5 bodies brought the highest resolution APS-C sensor cameras to date into the hands of Fujifilm users. With that increased resolution came questions about signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range and lens resolution. Unsurprisingly, many people were confused as to what the differences would be with a much higher resolution sensor and, also unsurprisingly, fear-mongering was abundant.
One thing I noticed quite frequently online was the confusion around whether lenses that were not on Fujifilm’s recommended list would be worth their salt on the new sensor. Confused users were asking, “Do I need to upgrade my old lenses?” and “Are my current lenses compatible?”. As someone who has watched this exact situation before with the release of the Nikon D800, I want to bring some clarity to the confusion and state simply “no” and “yes”. There is no need to go out and spend thousands of dollars to replace lenses that are not on the recommended list. Also, the existing lenses are perfectly compatible. But, there must be a reason why certain lenses made it onto the recommended list and others didn’t, right? Absolutely. That’s what we’ll talk about in this article.
Before we jump into that, though, I want to preface this article by saying that we’re not going to be shooting test charts or using computer analysis to see the minute differences between lenses. This will be a simple discussion from the point of view of a photographer who uses these lenses to pay the rent and enjoy a day out photographing the world (me). I don’t pixel peep unless I’m writing a review or looking at lenses for an article like this one. This is as much an experiment for me as it is a journey to write this article. I’ve been using several of the lenses not on the ‘recommended’ list without worrying about them since the X-T5 was released.
You will find the remaining part of this article in FUJILOVE MAGAZINE.
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