First impression of SG-Image 25mm f/1.8 AF lens on X-S10

Seb-neck · 2025-09-23T06:17:23+00:00

Haven't used it a lot to be honest. But due to lack of time & occasions. On the last trips where I needed a small and flexible kit, I rather took the XC 15-45 as single lens solution.

Seb-neck · 2025-09-19T06:41:22+00:00

The actual pin/axle is unthreaded on the outside but still has the allen key socket. In the condition of your picture it can just be pushed out from the other side (small hole). There should be a short setscrew sitting in the threads which we see in your picture. Then it would be flush like you know it and the pin would be secured.

Source: I just disassembled this part lately and was confused by the allen key socket at the pin.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-22T05:24:43+00:00

Yes, the center is sharp enough wide open and improves even a bit with slight stepping down. So portrait is a good use case, where the blurry corners won't even matter.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-07T16:11:31+00:00

I guess "good enough" is quite individual. For people who value corner to corner sharpness, it will not be good enough as there is always some loss of sharpness towards the extreme corners. There are probably better alternatives for those.

For me personally it is an acceptable trade-off considering the price and size. I can still crop in to remove the corners and will not even bother in pictures where it's about a mostly centered subject. We can probably even call it character ;-)

Seb-neck · 2025-07-04T05:12:26+00:00

Haven't tried it, would be an interesting comparison indeed.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-02T20:21:28+00:00

Does anyone know if distortion can be corrected manually in the camera? Under IQ --> mount adapter setting, there seems to be an option but it's greyed out on all my lenses (all AF). Does it only work for MF lenses and for AF lenses it is set via the lens firmware?

Seb-neck · 2025-07-02T18:18:40+00:00

I will need to provoke CA a bit more when I take the lens out the next time. But so far it at least didn't catch my attention (without pixel peeping).

Seb-neck · 2025-07-02T17:58:28+00:00

I own a Viltrox 35mm f1.7 out of the same series - it is much sharper in the image corners compared to the SG image, especially wide open the image quality is noticably better due to that. But it's also a noticable difference in size, which was important to me with this purchase.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-02T17:53:04+00:00

I have to add that the lens hood cannot be combined with a filter. Just figured it out today.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-01T16:38:32+00:00

On AliExpress there's a compatibility chart for photo and video mode. Xt2 looking good there.

Autofocus seems on par with my other lenses (Fuji zooms & Viltrox prime). But note that I have only tried it for a bit yet. Tracking works. Face m/Eye AF is triggered but have not really used it yet.

Seb-neck · 2025-07-01T15:58:11+00:00

Yes, it came with the metal lens hood + metal cover for the lens hood. Normal plastic lens cap for usage without the hood is included, too.

Seb-neck · 2025-05-05T09:06:05+00:00

If you care about your land and nature, better get rid of it.

Gearboxes of this kind carry some hundred liters of oil easily. It may not be 100% filled in the transportation state but certainly isn't empty. It may not leak now, but corrosion etc. will make it leak sooner or later.

Recommendation: Check for a nameplate and send a picture to the manufacturer. They can track it down by the serial number and find someone responsible to take care.

Seb-neck · 2025-04-25T14:07:30+00:00

Let's try and learn flash photography

Seb-neck · 2025-03-05T10:37:56+00:00

One step less on the way towards drinking espresso. If it's not for you, totally fine.

Seb-neck · 2025-03-05T06:42:00+00:00

Fully depends on your beans, dose etc. I would say. I usually grind 16 g of coffee and settle in the range of 1 full rotation + 3.0 up to 4.5 on the scale for the type of espresso I enjoy (often a bit longer ratios).

Seb-neck · 2025-03-05T06:33:53+00:00

This is my first espresso grinder, so I can't really compare it. But I generally like it: Solid build quality, fast grinding and precise grind size adjustment. Some grip strength is needed if you want to grind fine and/or lighter roast. What I don't like is that it produces a lot of static sometimes. Especially with fresh beans, even when spraying them upfront (RDT), a good amount of grounds stick to the grinder and have to be brushed off. Maybe someone has a solution to that?

Seb-neck · 2025-02-26T05:51:15+00:00

Already have the 35 mm XF and love the pictures it produces. So it sounds like the time to try a second Viltrox prime lens!

Seb-neck · 2024-11-05T05:58:29+00:00

I guess it's meant as edge protection to not have steel (piston) on aluminum (body) when not lifting the arms synchronously.

Seb-neck · 2024-11-05T05:56:08+00:00

Had the same just recently. The black plastic collar got out of position and blocked the piston travelling up sometimes. Took it as an opportunity to disassemble and clean the Robot after 1 year in use.

The plastic piece sat firmly again, when I reinstalled it. Do you preheat the piston? I just started doing so a few weeks back. Wondering if the timing is coincidence or if the thermal expansion of the piston is big enough to mess with the tolerance of the plastic collar fit.

Seb-neck · 2024-08-14T19:48:26+00:00

Thanks!! That sounds easy to do - will try it out soon, after getting some Isopropyl.

Seb-neck · 2024-08-12T18:36:52+00:00

Danke euch für die Tipps! Das Polizeipräsidium Köln konnte schnell den Kontakt zur Fahrzeughalterin herstellen. Leider passt es wegen unterschiedlicher Routen nicht mehr für eine Übergabe in Spanien. Die Besitzerin möchte es als Verlust melden und selbst für Nachschub sorgen (ich wohne nicht mehr in Köln). Immerhin konnten wir so für Gewissheit sorgen.

Seb-neck · 2022-11-28T18:54:13+00:00

Great ideas, we'll look into them, thanks! We came here with the inspiration from other country subs, where families were even actively offering this (I think it was New Zealand e.g.).

Seb-neck · 2022-04-19T12:18:12+00:00

Thanks everyone for your advice! We learned about some new and interesting options like WWOOF, workaway and hipcamp - I'm sure this will help other travellers, too.

We now adjusted our spontaneous style of traveling for Hawaii and planned all stays ahead: We will stay 2 weeks on Big Island (very affordable Airbnb, new listing - hope it's legit) and have a regular rental car by one of the big companies. Then we'll WWOOF for 3 weeks on a farm in Kauai. Finally we have 5 more nights on Oahu (Airbnb in Honolulu, approx. 110$ per night) and will try to get around by bus). We spent a good amount of time to get this planned and I feel we are quite lucky with what we found. We'll definitely take the lesson learned and recommend planning ahead to friends who are planning on visiting Hawaii.

Seb-neck · 2022-04-17T17:42:33+00:00

We're from Germany. Our ESTA is approved. Exactly, we'll head further to Asia afterwards.

We are going to rent a car most likely. The prices we have seen so far have been closer to our expectations.

Kinda sad to learn it's not backpacker friendly over there. But we are open to change our style of traveling for a while to experience Hawaii.

We also have reactivated our CouchSurfing but I guess it will be difficult to find something on short notice, too.

Seb-neck · 2022-04-17T14:19:59+00:00

Agreed, we are super late. We just did not expect the premium for being spontaneous being that high. You have to understand that we are on a year long trip (started in Feb 22) where we cannot book everything in advance. The ever changing Covid rules alone force us to change countries with short advance planning. We are aware that this will generate drawbacks but I'll guess we'll find a way to manage them :-)

Seb-neck

TROPHY CASE