As my blog isn’t a review site this will probably be one of my last blog posts on the Fuji X10 just as a piece of equipment. In future I will post blogs that mostly contain photo’s taken with the Fuji X10, etc.
Just received the Lens Hood/Adaptor for the X10. Very nice and very small and light. Very well engineered but also very costly for what it is. It also has what I consider to be a small but major flaw.
One of the main reasons why I bought this was to enable a UV filter to protect the front element of the lens. This is because I hate the metal lens cap and also prefer the camera to be ready to shoot straight from my bag. The fact that it also makes the already cool camera look even cooler is totally beside the point.
While it is true that you can fit a 52mm filter unfortunately the adaptor itself has a series of cut-outs. These cut-outs are there so you can still see a little into the right corner of the viewfinder without the hood completely obscuring it. Unfortunately these cut-outs are placed After the placement of the filter, i.e. filter is placed between adaptor and hood, and still allow dust, rain, etc. to land on the front element. It does help to stop the worst ingresses and also helps stop accidental fingerprints, etc. from smudging the front element but you are still going to have to take the hood/adaptor off and clean the fronts lens from time to time.
Some people are reporting that you can fit a 40mm filter straight to the front of the X10 lens so that might be a better long-term solution. When I have got hold of one, not the easiest size to buy, I will report if this gives vignetting issues when used with the hood.