Fuji X Macro [Part 5]: Native 1:1 Macro Lens for Fuji (Zeiss)

June 13, 2019 | kstphotographynet@gmail.com

It has been 2 and a half years since my last post about Fuji X macro photography. My last post was part 4 of the series titled “Fujifilm Extension Tube MCEX-11 & MCEX-16“. A lot has happened since then. During this time, I migrated back from Malaysia to the UK and it took a while to settle down. Life was so busy I hardly had time do to photography, let alone writing a blog post. Now that everything is settled down and I am starting to devote more time to this blog.

A lot has also happened in the photography world since then. In 2016, the Zeiss 50mm macro was the only Fuji X mount lens which offers 1:1 magnification. Now we have the fantastic 80mm macro and also some 3rd party options.

With that said, the Zeiss 50mm macro remains one of the best Fuji X mount lenses. It is small and lightweight and the image quality is exceptional. If you don’t need OIS and the reach of the 80mm, the Zeiss is the best option for you. Unlike the 60mm, it is internal focusing and also focuses faster. I used it for months, sold it before I moved to the UK and the bought it back again this year. I really missed it when I didn’t have it.

Here are some photos taken with the lens.

Non macro photos:

Macro photos:

Now that Fuji is a well developed and popular system, there is probably no need for me to write about other 1:1 macro lenses as these would have been well covered by other photographers, bloggers, and YouTubers.

Thanks for following this series and I hope you learned something useful.

Please check out the other posts in my Fuji X Macro series:

Part 1: x100s + Raynox-250
Part 2: Fujinon 60mm f2.4 with or without Raynox-250
Part 3: Adapted Macro Lens
Part 4: Fujifilm Extension Tube MCEX-11 & MCEX-16
Part 5: Native 1:1 Macro Lens for Fuji (Zeiss)

Fuji X Macro [Part 4]: Fujifilm Extension Tube MCEX-11 & MCEX-16

Image | November 25, 2016 | kstphotographynet@gmail.com

When Fuji X system first came into existence, there is very little 3rd party support. With the XF 60mm macro lens only goes to 1:2 magnification and without any 3rd party macro lenses for the X-mount and good usable extension tubes (from Fuji or 3rd parties), the only ways to get to 1:1 magnification is by using close up filters like the Raynox or adapting lenses. I remember reading horror stories of people using poorly made extension tubes which damages their lens mounts and lenses.

So when Fujifilm announced their extension tubes MCEX-11 and MCEX-12 in 2014, it was indeed a fantastic news for Fuji X macro shooters. I owned both of these extension tubes and they are very well built and fit nicely to the the lens mount and the lenses.

You can achieve different magnification depending on which lens you use. Generally speaking extension tubes have greater effect on shorter lenses. Fujifilm has published a guidance chart as seen below. What fujifilm didn’t include in the chart is the effect of combination of both the MCEX-11 and MCEX-16 extension tubes. I often use both of them together to achieve greater than 1:1 magnification.

These extension tubes cost around $100 each. You can get cheaper 3rd party ones but my advice is to stick to Fuji ones. $100 sound like a lot for extension tubes but you get the best quality and it is much cheaper than a macro lens.

Here are some example photos.

XF35/2 with Extension Tubes:

XF56/1.2 with Extension Tubes:

Please check out the other posts in my Fuji X Macro series:

Part 1: x100s + Raynox-250
Part 2: Fujinon 60mm f2.4 with or without Raynox-250
Part 3: Adapted Macro Lens
Part 4: Fujifilm Extension Tube MCEX-11 & MCEX-16
Part 5: Native 1:1 Macro Lens for Fuji (Zeiss)

Fuji X Macro [Part 3] : Adapted Macro Lenses

Image | September 2, 2016 | kstphotographynet@gmail.com

Due to the limited availability of native 1:1 macro lenses, many photographers started using adapted macro lenses. Using an adapter, many old and classic as well as modern lenses can be used on Fuji camera. The excellent manual assist features on Fuji camera make manual focusing adapted lenses very simple and straight forward, even for people like me who have never used manual focusing before.

Lens Adapters

There are many options out there and I won’t go into all the different types of adapters and many people have covered this topic extensively. This blog has good information about lens adapters and how they work. For the purpose of macro photography, the easiest option is to get a Nikon to Fuji adapter as there are a wide ranges of Nikon mount macro lenses available both from Nikon themselves and from 3rd parties like Tamron and Sigma. You need to know there are two types of Nikon to Fuji adapters, the Nikon G to FX and Nikon F to FX.

Nikon F to FX adaptor is almost like an extension tube except that it is of fixed length and has a Nikon mount at the front end. There is no electronics built in. This can be used with any Nikon mount lenses (after 1977) which have an aperture ring. You can’t use it with newer Nikon G lenses or 3rd party lenses without aperture ring as there is no way you can control the aperture.

That is where the Nikon G to FX adapter comes in. It has a built in aperture ring with a mechanical lever which changes the aperture on the lens itself. This can be used on all Nikon F and G mount lenses and all Nikon mount 3rd party lenses, including those with and without aperture ring.

*Tamron 90mm with Nikon G to FX Adapter*

Camera Settings 1:

When you use adapted lenses, make sure you set your Fuji camera to “shoot without lens”. If you do not choose this option, the camera will think no lens is attached as there is no electronic contact and the shutter will not fire. It is under Shooting Menu 3 as shown.

You can also tell the camera what focal length you are using so it will include it in your EXIF data.

Camera Settings 2:

With adapted lenses, as there is no electronic contact between the lens and the camera, you don’t get automatic aperture. Automatic aperture means the camera keeps the lens aperture wide open while composing and focusing and only closes it down to the desired aperture at the time of exposure. Without automatic aperture, the aperture will be stopped down to whatever you set during composing and focusing, which means your viewfinder will be darker. With EVF, the brightness of the viewfinder is boosted but it can get very grainy if you shoot in low light with flash. Make sure you set your camera’s Screen Set Up to Preview Exp/WB in Manual Mode OFF.

A few other points to note about adapting lenses:

There is no autofocus.
If your lens has image stabilisation, it won’t work.
There will be no aperture info in EXIF file.

Here are some of my photos taken using Tamron 90mm with Nikon G to FX adapter.

Please check out the other posts in my Fuji X Macro series:

Fuji X Macro [Part 2] : Fujinon XF 60mm f2.4 with or without Raynox-250

Image | August 24, 2016 | kstphotographynet@gmail.com

Fujinon XF60mm f/2.4 is the first and only native macro lens until Zeiss produced the 2.8/50 M. Its color rendition and sharpness rank among the best of all Fujinon lenses. However, due to the fact that its maximum magnification is only 1:2 (0.5), it has serious limitation if you want to use it to do a lot of macro work. Its slow focusing also put people off from using it as a general short telephoto lens. It is also dwarfed by the XF56mm for people who want to do serious portrait work.

Having said that, its small size is a huge advantage and if you add a close up filter like the Raynox 250, you can get more than 1:1 magnification. If you are interested in how to calculate the magnification with close up filter, here is the formula:

Magnification of close up lens = Primary lens focal length/Focal length of close up lens

Focal Length of the Raynox.250 is 125 mm. So the Raynox 250’s magnification on the 60mm lens is 0.48(60/125)

Total Magnification = (1+max mag of primary lens) x (1+mag of close up lens) – 1

So for the 60mm macro lens:

Max magnification = (1+0.5)(1+60/125)-1 = (1.5)(1.48)-1 = 1.22

Here are some example of photos taken with the XF60mm.

Wild Flowers Macro — X-E1, XF60mm, 1/250, f/8, Flash

X-E1, XF60mm, 1/125, f/5.6, ISO800, no Flash — Birmingham Botanical Garden Winter 2014

Please check out the other posts in my Fuji X Macro series:

KST Photography

My World Through Lenses

macrophotography

Fuji X Macro [Part 5]: Native 1:1 Macro Lens for Fuji (Zeiss)

Fuji X Macro [Part 4]: Fujifilm Extension Tube MCEX-11 & MCEX-16