Fujifilm lens | FUJI X WEEKLY

Asahi SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4 + Fujifilm X-T30

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Asahi Pentax Macro Takumar 50mm f4 Fujifilm XT30

I recently purchased an Asahi SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4 lens from Fuji X Weekly reader Tony Reidsma. I love Takumar lenses! Generally speaking, they are super sharp and have great character. There’s something special about them. They are often quite affordable, so you can add a bunch of Takumar lenses to your collection without going broke.

Asahi was the original name of Pentax. Up until the mid-1970’s when they switched from M42 screw-mount to K-Mount, Pentax used the Asahi brand name for their lenses. Asahi called their lenses Takumar in honor of the founder’s brother, Takuma Kajiwara, who was a famous photographer and painter. Asahi Takumar lenses require an M42 to Fuji X adapter, which can be found for cheap, to attach them to your Fujifilm camera.

The Asahi SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4 is, no surprise, a macro lens. It has a 1:2 magnification ratio, which is not as close up as some macro lenses. An earlier version of the lens (without SMC) does, in fact, have a 1:1 magnification ratio. This SMC Macro-Takumar has a similar close-focus capability as the Fujinon 60mm f/2.4 Macro, which is good-but-not-great.

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What I love about the Asahi SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4 lens is that it’s very crisp. There’s some corner softness at f/4, but the lens is edge-to-edge super sharp at f/5.6 through f/11 (diffraction begins after f/11). I haven’t noticed much distortion, vignetting or chromatic aberrations. This lens has excellent contrast and controls flare very well. Bokeh is pretty nice, too. The lens is made of metal and feels very solid. It was a quality lens when it was new, and all of these decades later it is still a quality lens.

The Macro-Takumar is an all-manual lens. You’ll have to manually set the aperture and manually focus. The aperture ring on my lens is a little stiff, but otherwise works as it should. The focus ring is super smooth and accurate. Because it’s a macro lens, it takes a little effort to get from the close end to infinity, and the lens will actually focus just past infinity, which isn’t entirely unusual.

On the Fujifilm X-T30, because of the APS-C crop factor, the 50mm focal length is equivalent to 75mm. Essentially the Asahi SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4 is a mid-telephoto prime that’s very sharp but with a maximum aperture of only f/4, which isn’t especially fast. It doubles as a macro lens, and it’s quite good at that, just as long as you’re not trying to get really close, as the magnification ratio isn’t particularly impressive. There are certainly shortcomings with this lens, but it has the “it factor” when it comes to image quality, producing especially lovely pictures. If you find this lens for a good price, be sure to buy it, because it’s worth having around. The technical specs of this Macro-Takumar lens won’t knock your socks off, but the images that it produces very well could.

Micro Christmas Lights – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Christmas Berries – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Amanda’s Eyes – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Citrus Ladder (N Scale Model) – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Country Barn (N Scale Model) – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Highway Sunset – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Sierra Snow – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Old Truck & Old House (N Scale Model) – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Two Horses Monochrome (N Scale Model) – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Speedy Super Chief (N Scale Model) – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Macro-Takumar 50mm f/4

Lens Review: Fujinon XC 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Fujifilm Fujinon 50-230mm Lens Review Blog

Fujifilm’s Fujinon Super EBC XC 50mm-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II lens is a budget telephoto zoom option for X series cameras. It has 13 elements in 10 groups with seven rounded blades and a maximum aperture of f/22. This lens accepts 58mm filters. Because of the APS-C crop factor, it has a full-frame focal-length equivalence of 75-345mm. The only Fujifilm lens that has a longer focal length is the Fujinon 100-400mm, which retails for about four times as much.

The Fujinon 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II is mostly made of plastic. It doesn’t feel especially sturdy, like it would probably break if it took a big fall, but it’s super lightweight at about .8 pounds. This lens is fairly small, at between 4.4″ and 7″ depending on the focal length. For how telephoto this lens is, it’s impressive how light and small they were able to make it!

There’s no aperture ring, which is expected since it’s an XC series lens, but a bummer because the aperture ring is something that I appreciate about Fujinon lenses. There’s no doubt that this is a cheap lens when you look at the body. Manual focus is electronic and pretty good overall. Auto-focus, which is very quiet, isn’t especially quick, but it’s also not super slow. I would say that it’s sufficiently snappy for most purposes, and probably too slow for quickly moving subjects.

The lens has a maximum aperture of f/4.5 at 50mm and f/6.7 at 230mm, and variously in-between at other focal lengths. That’s not especially large, which means this isn’t a good lens for working in dim light or trying to achieve shallow depths of field. The close focus distance isn’t bad, though, so if you use the largest aperture at the closest focus distance you can get a nice out-of-focus background. When you do, bokeh is decent enough, but not particularly great.

The Fujinon 50-230mm lens is equipped with optical image stabilization, which Fujifilm claims will give you four stops extra. The math calculation I learned many years ago for achieving sharp hand-held pictures is the shutter speed should not go any slower than the focal length. That means, using good technique, you would expect to get a sharp hand-held image at 50mm with a shutter speed of 1/60, and at 230mm you should not go slower than 1/250. While Fujifilm says you get four stops extra because of the image stabilization, the reality is that you don’t, and even three stops might be pushing it. I would avoid going slower than 1/30 at 50mm and 1/125 at 230mm, although you may be able to get a little slower than that if you hold the camera really steady. The optical image stabilization is a nice addition, though, especially considering that the maximum aperture of this lens isn’t especially large.

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There’s pretty much no distortion on the Fujinon 50-230mm lens. There’s a tiny amount of vignetting when wide open, especially at the further focal lengths, but that goes away as you stop down. I haven’t noticed any chromatic aberrations. Lens flare is well controlled. There’s very little negative to say about the optics.

This lens is surprisingly sharp for how cheap it is. It’s not as sharp as a typical Fujinon prime lens, and that’s to be expected, but it is more crisp than I thought it would be, especially considering that it’s a budget series lens. It’s better than many budget zooms I have used from other brands. While it comes across as cheap on the outside, the glass on this lens is clearly Fujinon, and it delivers the image quality that you’ve come to expect from that brand name. Sharpness is a highlight of this lens!

The Fujinon 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II lens is lightweight and sharp and optically sound. With an MSRP of $400, it’s cheap, and some corners were cut to make it cheap, but none of that relates to image quality, which is excellent. It’s easy to recommend this lens. If you are a sports or wildlife photographer, you might find some aspects of it to be frustrating, such as focus speed and maximum aperture, and you should consider the 50-140mm or 100-400mm instead. Otherwise, this is an excellent addition to your Fujifilm X glass collection.

You can buy the Fujinon Super EBC XC 50mm-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II lens here:
B&H Amazon

These are affiliate links, which, when you purchase something using them, I get a small kickback. It doesn’t cost you anything, yet it helps to financially support this website. I would never ask you to purchase something that you don’t want, but if you found this article helpful and are planning to buy this lens, using my links to do so helps me tremendously. Thank you for your support!

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using the Fujinon 50mm-230mm lens:

Clouds Around Timpanogos – Heber City, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Brush Strokes Over The Great Salt Lake – Antelope Is. SP, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Pollution – Antelope Is. SP, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Snow Cap – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Full Moon Over Cold Ridge – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Cold Bicyclist – Antelope Is. SP, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Garage Door – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Frosted Hill – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Peeking Peak – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Autumn & Winter – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 50-230mm

Lens Review: Fujinon XF 23mm f/2 R WR

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Fujifilm blog Fujinon 23mm f/2 Lens

The Fujinon Super EBC XF 23mm f/2 R WR is a wide-angle prime lens for Fujifilm X cameras. Because of the APS-C crop factor, it has a full-frame equivalent focal length of about 35mm, which makes it an excellent all-purpose walk-around lens. How good is it? Should you buy it? I hope that this review will help to answer those questions.

The Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens has 10 elements in six groups, with nine rounded blades. The maximum aperture is f/2 and the minimum aperture is f/16, with intermediate stops at 1/3 increments. It’s mostly made of metal. The lens is about 2.3″ long and weighs about 0.4 pounds, which means it’s small and lightweight. It accepts 43mm filters and comes with a plastic hood. This lens is weather sealed, which is great if your camera is also weather sealed.

Auto-focus with this lens is super quick and nearly silent. It’s one of Fujifilm’s best auto-focus lenses, in my opinion. Manual focus is via an electronic system, and the focus ring is pretty good and smooth overall. The minimum focus distance is about nine inches.

The Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens is quite sharp (although not quite as sharp as the 35mm f/2). There’s some noticeable softness when wide open and focused close to the end of the lens, but otherwise it’s corner-to-corner crisp across the frame. Diffraction sets in at f/11 but doesn’t really become noticeable until f/16. Peak sharpness is around f/5.6. There’s a tiny amount of vignetting at f/2 that quickly goes away as you stop down, as well as some chromatic aberrations. There’s a moderate amount of pincushion distortion, which only matters if you shoot brick walls. Bokeh is creamy and quite nice. Lens flare is well controlled, and this lens can create good sunstars at small apertures. Image quality produced by the Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens is overall very good.

Fujifilm blog Fujinon 23mm f/2 Lens

The Fujifilm X100F has a built-in 23mm f/2 lens, and you might think that it’s the same lens as this one, but it’s not, although image quality is quite similar between the two. I think, if you were to study test charts, the Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens would seem slightly superior to the lens on the X100F, but in practical use there’s just something magical about the lens on the X100F that makes it preferable in my opinion. If you can’t afford an X100F, attaching a Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens to your camera will give you the next best thing, and it’s almost like having an X100F.

Fujifilm also makes a 23mm f/1.4 lens, which I’ve never had the pleasure to own, but I’ve talked to some people who have used both lenses to get their opinions. The advantage of the f/1.4 version is the larger maximum aperture and marginally better image quality, while the advantage of the f/2 version is size, weight, quickness and price. Unless you just need the larger aperture, I would recommend this lens instead of the f/1.4 version, although you can’t go wrong with either.

The Fujinon Super EBC XF 23mm f/2 R WR lens retails for $450, making it one of the lesser expensive prime lenses for Fujifilm X cameras. If you can find it on sale, it’s an even better bargain! If you are looking for a quality walk-around lens, or a cheap alternative to buying an X100F, I’d recommend the Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens, as it has a lot of pros and very few cons.

My affiliate links for the Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens are here: B&H Amazon. If you make a purchase using my links I will be compensated a small amount for it.

Example photos captured using the Fujinon Super EBC XF 23mm f/2 R WR lens attached to a Fujifilm X-Pro2:

Starry Nites – Park City, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

National Drink – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro3 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Bike Flag – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Empty Carts – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Radius Lines – Park City, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Slow – Park City, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Button For Walking – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Historic Beer – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 23mm f/2

Stair Vines – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Yellow Pots – Park City, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Yellow Door – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Yellow Circle Armor – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Monochrome Bench – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

Famous Monster – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & Fujinon 23mm f/2

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Lens Review: Rokinon 12mm f/2 NCS CS

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Fujifilm X-E1 Rokinon 12mm f/2 Photography Blog

The Rokinon 12mm f/2 NCS CS is a fairly inexpensive ultra-wide-angle lens for crop-sensor cameras, such as Fujifilm X. This same exact lens is also sold under the Samyang brand name. Is it any good? Is it worth buying? Is it for you? Those are questions that I hope to answer in this Rokinon 12mm lens review.

This Rokinon lens has a focal length of 12mm, which is a full-frame equivalent of 18mm when attached to your Fujifilm camera due to the APS-C crop factor. It has a maximum aperture of f/2, which is good, and a minimum aperture of f/22. There are 12 elements in 10 groups, with six curved blades. The lens is made mostly of plastic, but it still feels plenty sturdy. The Rokinon 12mm lens is quite small and lightweight, and overall well designed.

Fujifilm X-T20 Rokinon 12mm f/2 Lens Photography Blog

Rokinon 12mm f/2 Lens

This is a manual lens. You will have to manually focus it and manually control the aperture. The focus ring is slightly stiff but smooth. It does focus just past infinity, which can be annoying. The aperture ring clicks at the different f-stops and is overall pretty swell, as far as aperture rings go. If you are not used to using manual lenses, it will likely take some practice to feel comfortable using this lens.

The Rokinon 12mm is pretty sharp. It definitely fits in well with Fujinon glass. There is some corner softness when wide open, but it’s corner-to-corner sharp by f/4. The center is crisp at all apertures, and seems to reach peak sharpness around f/5.6. Diffraction begins around f/11, but isn’t really noticeable until f/16, and even then it’s not terrible, although I would avoid f/22. While not perfect, this lens is surprisingly sharp considering that it’s a relatively cheap third-party option.

Fujifilm Rokinon 12mm Lens

This lens produces some barrel distortion, but that’s not surprising since this is such a wide-angle lens, and it’s not as much as you might think. If you photograph a brick wall or straight lines you will notice it, otherwise it won’t affect your pictures. Honestly, I expected it to be much worse than it is.

There is pronounced vignetting at f/2 on the Rokinon 12mm, but it becomes less obvious as you stop down. It’s pretty minor by f/5.6, but I don’t think that it ever completely goes away. Chromatic aberrations can be found in the corners when wide open, but largely go away by f/4. Coma is well controlled, but slightly noticeable at f/2. The lens controls flare fairly well–not necessarily great but far from terrible. Sunstars are mediocre, as is bokeh, although you don’t buy a 12mm lens for the background blur. With a minimum focus distance of about eight inches, you can achieve some background blur when wide-open, but most likely you won’t be using the lens like that.

Fujifilm Rokinon 12mm f/2 Lens

What I love about the 12mm focal length is that it is very dramatic. You can really make some interesting pictures with it, but at the same time it can be quite demanding. You have to stick the lens right into the scene, sometimes uncomfortably so. I love the challenge of using this lens, as it can be a lot of fun. It’s especially great for landscapes, street photography and astrophotography. I have used it for both still photography and video. If you want a lens that will help you create striking pictures, this is one to strongly consider, but know it’s not necessarily easy to use.

The Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens is a great ultra-wide-angle option for your Fujifilm X camera. It’s very easy to recommend. Although this lens does have some minor flaws, it’s pretty great overall, and it’s easy to overlook the shortcomings when you consider the price. It has an MSRP of $400, but can often be found for less than that, and sometimes for less than $300. While the 12mm focal length isn’t for everyone, and some people might be intimated by a manual lens, I do think this is one that most Fujifilm X shooters should consider having in their camera bag.

Fujifilm Rokinon 12mm f/2 Lens

Rokinon 12mm f/2 Lens Fujifilm

My affiliate links for this Rokinon 12mm lens are here: B&H Amazon. If you make a purchase using my links I will be compensated a small amount for it.

Sample photographs, captured using a Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens with a Fujifilm X-E1 and a Fujifilm X-T30:

Barn by the Tetons – Grand Teton NP, WY – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Tree of Broken Glass – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Self – Bonneville Salt Flats, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Tulip Blossom Monochrome – Lehi, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Bike Jump – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Hustle & Bustle – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Storm Trooper – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Cat Crossing – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Lighthouse Lounge – Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Urban Flowers – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Little Blooms, Big Blooms – Lehi, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Vibrant Nature – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Tree Stars – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Schwabacher Landing Beaver Dam – Grand Teton NP, WY – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Hiding Rainbow – Coalville, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Stars & Salt – Bonneville Salt Flats, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Sidewalk Tricycle – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Evening Bike – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Nick – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

Inside The Savage Bus – Delle, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Rokinon 12mm f/2

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Lens Review: Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Fujifilm Fujinon 90mm f/2 Lens Review

The Fujinon Super EBC XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR is an excellent lens! Perhaps that statement is too upfront, since I’m starting this review with the conclusion, but it’s true. I hope that you’ll keep reading, as I will discuss many aspects of this lens, including some technical specs and aesthetic qualities, and suggest who it might be for. Is the Fujinon 90mm f/2 a lens that Fujifilm photographers should have in their bag? Is it worth the MSRP of $950? I will attempt to answer those question in this review.

Fujifilm gives their lenses long names, and the Fujinon Super EBC XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR is no exception. Every part of the name means something. Fujinon is the brand name of Fujifilm lenses. The “Super EBC” part indicates that this lens has been multi-coated using Fujifilm’s “Super Electron-Beam Coating” method, which sounds a lot more interesting than it actually is. All modern lenses, and even many older lenses, have had the glass coated with something to prevent lens flare and ghosting. The “XF” in the name means that the lens is designed for Fujifilm’s APS-C X-Mount cameras. It has a 90mm focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2. The “R” indicates that the lens has an aperture ring. “LM” stands for Linear Motor, which is the auto-focus system found inside this lens. The “WR” means it’s weather resistant, which is quite useful if your camera is weather sealed. Not in the name (but nevertheless printed on the lens) is another important specification: this lens uses 62mm filters. Despite the long name, most people would call this lens simply the Fujinon 90mm f/2.

The focal length of this lens is 90mm, but, when attached to an APS-C camera, due to the crop factor, it has a focal length equivalency of 135mm, which makes it a medium-to-long telephoto lens. In the olden days, the 135mm lens was perhaps the second or third or fourth prime lens that you’d add to your glass collection. It was a pretty standard focal length that many photographers regularly used, but it seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years. I think that wide-angle lenses have become more popular overall, and, outside of wildlife, sports, and portrait photography, telephoto lenses have become less popular.

Fujifilm Fujinon 90mm f/2 Lens Review

Since this lens is 135mm-equivalent, it should come as no surprise that the Fujinon 90mm f/2 is fairly large and hefty. Without the long hood that came with the lens, the length is just over four inches, and with the hood the lens is about six-and-a-half inches long. It’s about three inches across the barrel. This lens weighs almost 1.2 pounds, which means that it’s not lightweight, and not really comfortable to have hanging around your neck for long periods of time. The lens is mostly made of metal, which makes it feel solidly built and durable, and it also explains the heft.

The minimum focus distance of this lens is two feet, which means that it’s not a macro lens. Because it is telephoto, the 90mm f/2 is actually pretty good for close focusing, as objects two feet away will look large in the frame. It’s about as close to being macro as you can get without actually being a macro lens, which is great!

There are 11 elements in eight groups on the Fujinon 90mm f/2 lens. It has seven rounded blades, which means it’s not great for sun-stars, but is great for bokeh. The maximum aperture is f/2 and the minimum aperture is f/16, with 1/3 intermediate stops in-between the full stops. There is no built-in image stabilization, which is perhaps one of the few negative things that I can say about this lens. You will either need to use a tripod or increase the shutter speed to prevent blurry images.

Fujifilm Fujinon 90mm f/2 Lens

Auto-focus on the Fujinon 90mm f/2 lens is very quick, thanks to the Linear Motor auto-focus system. It locks focus almost instantaneously. When the camera is off, if you shake the lens you can hear and feel the auto-focus system clunking around. When the camera powers on, you can hear and feel it stiffen into place, ready to work. Overall the lens is quite quiet; nearly silent, in fact. Quick and quiet are how I would describe auto-focus on this lens, which is what you hope for. Manual focus works via an electronic system. The large focus ring is smooth and accurate and overall a joy to use.

The Fujinon 90mm f/2 is a very sharp lens, one of the sharpest in the Fujifilm lineup, which is really saying a lot, as Fujinon lenses are renown for their quality glass. It is corner-to-corner tack-sharp at f/2, and continues to be so until f/11 when diffraction begins to appear, but even at f/16 the lens is still pretty sharp. This lens will allow you to maximize the image quality of your Fujifilm X camera.

There are no chromatic aberrations, distortion, coma, or vignetting that I can find, even when wide open. It might be that the camera is automatically correcting it, or it might be that the lens is just that good, or more likely a combination of the two. Also, lens flare and ghosting are very well controlled. This lens seems to be without technical fault.

Great Salt Lake Evening – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Bokeh, which is the quantification of the quality of the out-of-focus area within an image, is significantly overrated, but even those who are bokeh snobs will appreciate this lens. The creaminess of the bokeh produced by the 90mm f/2 is something you’ll absolutely love, especially when the lens is wide-open, but, thanks to the pretty good close-focus capabilities, also at smaller apertures. This is one of the best bokeh lenses in the Fujifilm lineup.

If you are a portrait photographer, this lens is one of your top options, if not the top option, for optimal image quality. If there are faults, it could possibly be too sharp for portraits, and perhaps the focal length might force you to stand further away than you’d like. It’s also an excellent option for sports and wildlife photography, although it might not be telephoto enough, depending on exactly what you are capturing. I personally love this lens for still-life and landscape photography. Really, you can use it in any genre, but you might have to rethink your technique or style to make it work, especially if you are used to using wide-angle and standard primes, and don’t have much experience with telephoto lenses.

To conclude, the Fujinon Super EBC XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR is a nearly perfect lens from a technical standpoint. It delivers stunningly beautiful pictures that are super sharp. There are a lot of pros and very few cons. It’s very easy to recommend this lens, as it’s one of my absolute favorites, and I use it often. Some of my favorite pictures were captured with it. If you are considering purchasing this lens, I wouldn’t hesitate to do so, as you won’t be disappointed by the image quality that it produces. In my opinion, the Fujinon 90mm f/2 lens is definitely worth owning, even though it retails for $950, which is not exactly inexpensive, as it is just superb! This is one of the absolute best prime lenses for Fujifilm X cameras.

Onaqui Wild Horses – Dugway, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

You can buy the Fujinon 90mm f/2 here: B&H Amazon

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this lens on a Fujifilm X-T20 and Fujifilm X-T30:

Wearing Grandpa’s Hat – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Colorpack II – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Jar of Coffee Beans – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Morning Egg Bowl – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Peak Through The Thin Clouds – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Holiday Decor – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Greasework – Evanston, WY – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Refine – North Salt Lake, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

BNSF In Snow – Thistle, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

Processed with RNI Films. Preset 'Fuji Superia 200'

Overcoming Adversity – Snow Canyon SP, UT – Fujifilm X-T20 & Fujinon 90mm f/2

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Budget Fujifilm Kit Recommendation

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

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Back in June I wrote a post explaining how one could buy an elaborate kit, complete with multiple bodies and lenses, for $3,000 or less, the exact price depending on the body and lens combinations. The deals that made it possible have since expired, so I thought I would suggest a budget kit based on what’s on sale now. This one won’t be as grand as the previous, but if you are trying to assemble an “ultimate kit” on a low-budget, this might help you achieve that.

The first thing that I’d start with is a Fujifilm X-T20 bundled with the excellent 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens, which will set you back $1,000. This is a great mid-level body to build the rest of the kit around, and bundling the lens saves some cash. For a second camera body, I would buy an X-E3, which right now is $600. This would give you two quality camera bodies and a good zoom, and you would have spent only $1,600. Assuming that we’re staying within the same $3,000 budget, you now have $1,400 to spend on lenses.

If you visit my Fujifilm Gear page, you can see the different lens options and what they’re currently going for on Amazon. There’s a lot of potential combinations that would fit within the budget, and what would work best for you will depend on your photography needs. That being said, I will lay out a few ideas for how to spend that $1,400. You could buy the 10-24mm f/4 or the 16mm f/1.4 or the 56mm f/1.2 for $1,000, and the 35mm f/2 or the 50mm-230mm f/4.5-6.7 for $400. You could buy the 14mm f/2.8 or the 23mm f/1.4 or the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 for $900, and the 23mm f/2 or the 27mm f/2.8 or the 50mm f/2 for $450. Or, if you want the most lenses, maybe choose your favorite three from the $400-$450 options listed above. I really like the 90mm f/2, which costs $950, and the 35mm f/2, which are two lenses that I use regularly, but you could choose any one of the $400-$450 lenses to pair with the 90mm. There are a lot of potential combinations!

For $3,000 or less, you could have two solid camera bodies, and three or possibly four quality lenses. That’s really quite amazing! While these current deals aren’t nearly as blockbuster as the ones in June were, there’s still a lot of value available for your money. You could still assemble an very solid Fujifilm kit for a reasonable price.

Fujifilm Gear

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

There’s a new page that I created on Fuji X Weekly called Fujifilm Gear. The intention of this new page is to make it more convenient to find camera and lens reviews, recommendations, and links to buy. Up until this point it has been difficult to find that information because you had to dig for it. The articles were on this blog, but you might have been unaware of their existence, or missed them when they were new, or didn’t know how to locate them. Now it’s all in one easy-to-find place, which should improve the Fuji X Weekly experience, at least a little.

I hope to expand the page, adding more articles as I write them. As best as I can I will keep the links accurate so that you can see what gear is on sale, which will hopefully make bargain hunting a tad easier for you. I’m hoping that this will be a good resource, and it will be a page that you’ll return to often.

To get to Fujifilm Gear, simply click on the three bars (the “hamburger menu”) at the top-left of this page. Once there, I recommend bookmarking the page so that you can easily find it whenever you might want to access it. You can also follow Fuji X Weekly, if you haven’t already done so. When you are at the top of this page, click “follow” on the bottom-right. Oh, and don’t forget to look me up on Instragram: @fujixweekly.

Lens Review: Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

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When I purchased my Fujifilm X-T30, I took advantage of a bundle deal that was being offered, and added the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR prime lens to the camera for an additional $100. What an incredible bargain! This lens normally sells for $400. I didn’t do any research on the 35mm f/2 lens prior to the purchase–I just knew that I wanted it because of the focal length and price–so what arrived in the mail was a surprise. When I opened the box and saw the lens for the first time, I was disappointed by how ugly it was. I know that one shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, so I didn’t hesitate to attach it to the camera and put it to the test.

The Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens is a “standard” prime lens on Fujifilm X cameras, giving a full-frame equivalent focal length of about 52mm. It’s neither wide-angle nor telephoto, but sees roughly the same as the human eye, which is why it’s known as the standard lens. This focal length is very common, and is often the first prime lens that one purchases. I’ve used standard prime lenses off and on for twenty years now, although this is my first Fujinon lens with this focal length.

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Something that I’ve heard said many times over the last five or so years is that the 50mm focal length (or, in the case of this lens, the 50mm equivalent focal length) is the most boring of all focal lengths. There are people who will never purchase this lens because they believe that it’s not possible to create interesting photographs with it. I completely disagree with that sentiment! It’s only boring if you create boring pictures with it. If you think this focal length is boring, that should motivate you all the more to use it and prove the statement wrong. Many of the greatest photographs ever created were captured using a standard prime lens. The only limitation to creating interesting pictures is the photographer, and not the camera or lens.

I’m not going to talk a whole lot about the technical aspects of the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens, as that information is already plentiful on the internet. I want to spend most of my time discussing my experiences using this lens to create pictures. Is it a good lens in real world use? Is this lens worthwhile to own?

The first thing that I noticed is just how sharp this lens is. The quality of the glass is obvious. It’s corner-to-corner tack sharp, even at f/2. There’s a barely noticeable amount of vignetting wide-open, but that quickly goes away as you stop down. Bokeh (which is an overrated aspect of lens quality) is creamy and otherwise excellent. This is a nearly flawless lens from an image-quality point of view. The 35mm f/2 is a great example of why Fujinon lenses are renown.

Note how the bottom of the picture seems to curve up when in reality it is a straight line.

I did say “nearly flawless” in the last paragraph, and if there is one complaint, it’s some obvious pincushion distortion. Don’t expect straight lines to be perfectly straight. This would be most noticeable when shooting a brick wall. It’s not uncommon for lenses to have some barrel or pincushion distortion, so I wouldn’t get too worked up over this, but it’s good to know what to expect.

How this lens handles lens flare might be seen as positive or negative, depending on if you like flare in your pictures. It’s definitely prone to flare, but it has a lovely quality to it if you like that sort of thing. If you don’t like flare, I recommend getting an aftermarket hood to help prevent it.

You might really love or hate all that lens flare.

The minimum focus distance is about 14 inches, which isn’t great or terrible. You can’t do any macro photography, but this isn’t a macro lens, either. Auto-focus is fast, quiet and accurate. It’s also a good lens for manual focus with a smooth focus ring. The 35mm f/2 is fairly small and lightweight, and so it’s good for walk-around and travel photography. It seems to be well built and durable. It’s weather sealed, which is great if you have a weather sealed camera to attach it to. The Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR is a quality lens, and not much negative can be said about it.

While this isn’t the best looking lens ever made, once you get past that, it is high quality glass, and one of the best prime lenses that I’ve ever used. It’s not perfect, but it is very, very good. If you are looking for a quality prime lens to add to your camera bag, this is one you shouldn’t overlook. In real world use it excels and it is indeed worthwhile to own. You can purchase the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens by clicking here, which helps to support this website.

Example photographs, captured using the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens attached to a Fujifilm X-T30: