LTM Vintage Lenses and the Fujifilm X-T4

The lockdown has started to ease and although we are not out of the woods, we can head outside to meet people (socially distanced).

For Richard and me this does not mean we get to see our families yet as they are at the other end of the country. I am hoping that people who can meet up with their friends and families locally do not spoil it for the rest of us.

Last weekend and today we managed to book some tickets for National Trust properties. This has given us some reassurance about being able to get out whilst also knowing that the places we visit have limited numbers.

I do however worry that the British public does not understand the two-metre rule and think that because they have several children, prams etc, it gives them the right to take up all of the pathways and inconvenience everyone else.

Anyway…

Last weekend we visited Blickling Hall and it’s one of the first times I have put the X-T4 through its paces.

I took my Fujifilm X Series 16-80mm lens and enjoyed shooting with it (well except that I didn’t pack my gloves and it was freezing!).

Today we visited Anglesey Abbey, I took my gloves and also attached the Canon 50mm LTM (Leica Thread-Mount) lens I have.

I decided to spend the day shooting in manual mode, using focus peaking and seeing what I could get from this vintage lens.

I enjoy the large aperture of my X100V and this isn’t quite achievable with the zoom lens I have. The Canon lens opens up to 1.4 and is a large glass lens that lets in lots of light. It also creates wonderfully smooth bokeh.

I decided to try various shots today to see how the lens performed, see how the X-T4 performed with a vintage lens and try some different shots.

The weather wasn’t up to much. It was cold and cloudy all day. We did have some showers (and the rain was captured well by the LTM lens).

I have a few favourites from this day out, there are many though that didn’t make the grade. I think this has more to do with my understanding of the focus regions of the lens.

The focus peaking is great but the lens can be very tight at the larger apertures and you don’t appreciate the level of focus until you see the final image.

I shot several photos at f/1.4 – f/2.8 and although the focus peaking showed the area I was wanting in focus, the final images had narrower fields of focus in the final image which meant elements I expected to be in focus were not.

I am sure this is something I can overcome with practice.

Even though I used an old lens, it was quick to focus and the focus throw was smooth and small enough to be able to nail the focus I wanted the majority of the time.

I did try to zone focus with the lens but was less successful at this. I think this is because I have to get used to the crop factor of the lens being on an APSC camera.

Here are my favourite shots from the day: