Last Day On The Beach

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (55mm, f/9, 1/850 sec, ISO200)

The last day on the beach always feels sad. Simply because I know that it will take some time until I will stand on a beach again.

I’m from Austria. It’s a beautiful place and we got almost everything except a sea. If I want to walk on a beach I have to go to Croatia or Italy and then of course it’s just the Adriatic sea which can’t compare to the Pacific ocean.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (200mm, f/8, 1/1700 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (134.5mm, f/8, 1/1100 sec, ISO200)

Sometimes the last day on the beach is also one of the last days on our vacation. And if that would’t be hard enough already sometimes there is this breathtaking sunset. A sunset at the sea so beautiful that you would be fine if this would be your last day.

But luckily of course it is not. You go on that plane and back home. Back to your work, back to your place, back to those gloomy winter days.

At least there was no beautiful sunset. There was no sun at all that day. Just that soft, milky haze. It still was beautiful. Like every time I’m at the sea. I can’t remember a single beach walk that I didn’t love and that includes walks on beaches in Scotland, Ireland or British Columbia in fog and rain.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (200mm, f/9, 1/950 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (200mm, f/9, 1/900 sec, ISO200)

On that walk I took nothing but my X Pro-2 plus the 55-200. And that is all you need for such an occasion. Of course a little more compression wouldn’t hurt but at that time I had no longer lens. But even today I would think twice before I take my 100-400 instead. An extremely capable lens that gives very fine results but it is also a monster. I guess I would only bring it with me if I would be after some pictures of birds or surfers.

What I would like Fuji to make is a high quality 50-300 or if that’s not possible at least a 70-300. It could be slow f4-f5.6 to ensure that it remains compact. Something like the Tamron 70-300 VC or the Canon 70-300 L, something around or ideally below 1kg.

Currently I consider to replace the XF 55-200 with the XF 50-140/2.8 because I miss the high quality f2.8 tele lens. I owned many of them during the years and they always were my favourite lenses. I had the old 80-200 Nikon later replaced by the 70-200/2.8 VR. When I switched to Canon it was the 70-200/4 IS first and later the outstanding 70-200/2.8 II IS.

I understand that the 50/140/2.8 will act only as a 70-200/4 but I have no problem with that. When I used to shoot Nikon it was APS-C sensors too. The only difference was that the lens acted like a 70-300/4. And that’s a huge difference. Of course I can always add the 1.4x converter from Fuji but than I end up with an f5.6 lens.

This long rambling explains why I still have the 55-200 today. It also shows that we are never happy no matter how complete the lens line of our camera maker already is.

We are never happy except when we all on a beach.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (148.5mm, f/9, 1/950 sec, ISO200)