FiddleMaker wrote:
flowers, honey bees on flowers, antique watch faces, old jewelry, purfling corners of my violins, parts of my violins during construction, lots of other stupid things that probably don't require a macro lens.
OK, so I do a lot of plants and flowers -- wife is a botanist and lives to garden. Next concern is how convenient do you want the capability to be. One of Fuji's dedicated macro lenses will continue to deliver the camera's auto functions: auto focus and auto exposure. So conceivably you could get away with some hand-held shots. The problem with that is when you move into that close focus range depth of field even at f/stops like f/8 and f/11 is measured in millimeters. Taking those photos hand-held is hit and miss. I would suggest as many as 6 to 10 attempts and you might get one. While taking the photo if your body sways (it does) so much as 10 millimeters between the camera locking focus (on what part of the subject?) and you're tripping the shutter then you get a miss -- try again. For that reason I rarely try such photos hand-held and I get out the tripod.
Fuji cameras have great focus peaking function and will let you focus precisely doing close focus work -- tripod required. Once on a tripod those auto functions are far less important.
So how do you see yourself using this lens? Are you expecting to be able to hand-hold the photos and rely on the camera's auto-focus? If so then you need to invest in one of the Fuji lenses. No need to read further.
However if you're willing to commit to the tripod then you have more options. One simple option and very inexpensive is to get a set of extension tubes and use your existing lenses. The extensions tubes allow closer focus and will likely disable auto-focus. One other problem is that your other lenses weren't designed to work in close and forcing them can wind up costing you in image quality -- soft corners for example.
The tripod also permits you to use a non-Fuji macro lens which could be substantially less expensive yet still produce excellent results. You end up with an adapter between the camera and lens and you have to manual focus. The camera can still auto-expose in A priority.
This is what I do. I go both ways in terms of cost: using a less expensive option than the Fuji lenses as well as using a much more expensive option. My favorite camera for close-up work is my Fuji X-T2 but I use my other cameras as well including FF and my macro lenses work for both formats.
One of the options that I use is very inexpensive. I learned many decades ago that darkroom enlarger lenses make excellent macro lenses and when I used to use bellows style film cameras I just mounted an enlarging lens to the camera for any close-up work.
I took that info with me into the digital world and when I wanted to do close-up work with a digital camera I did the same thing. Mirrorless cameras like the Fuji make it very simple. I did have the advantage of a drawer full of enlarging lenses that I kept after I shut down the darkroom. So years ago with my first Fuji camera I simply adapted my 60mm Rodagon to work on my Fuji X-E2. Fuji makes a 60mm macro lens and it may be as good as my 60mm Rodagon but I doubt it. That cost me less than $50.00 for the adapter. Good enlarging lenses are available out there for a song and it would be easy to set up something like I did for under $100.00.
For my FF cameras I have some very expensive macro lenses and I've likewise adapted them to use on my Fuji so I probably use my Leitz 90mm most but the adapted enlarging lens comes in a close second. That's about focal length more than anything. The longer focal length gives you more working room as you're farther from the subject. Overall I prefer the more working room but not always. So I keep multiple options.
These photos I know were taken with the X-T2 and 60mm enlarging lens:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-594864-1.htmlHere's some with the 90mm -- first with the Fuji (anemones) and second with FF.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-669052-1.htmlhttps://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-652289-1.htmlBelow is a full-res close-up taken with the enlarging lens adapted to my Fuji X-E2 give you an idea of what's possible.