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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: 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

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 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

For more reviews and recommendations, please visit my Gear page!

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Full Fujifilm Kit For Under $3,000

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

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Yesterday I mentioned that, with the current deals being offered, you could get a two-camera kit with several lenses for under $3,000. I thought I’d break down what that might look like, as it could be helpful to some of you out there. I know that people are constantly changing systems, and perhaps somebody is considering Fujifilm and wondering where to start. Or maybe someone has an older Fujifilm camera and wants to update and expand their gear. Whatever the reason, the idea of having a full Fujifilm kit for under $3,000 is fascinating.

What makes this all possible is that the X-T2 and X-T20 are heavily discounted, since the new generation X-T3 and X-T30 have replaced them. The new cameras are indeed better, but not by huge margins, and that shouldn’t diminish the fact that the X-T2 and X-T20 are excellent bodies. The X-T2 and X-T20 should still be considered great options for those in the camera market.

To begin with, I would purchase both the X-T2 and X-T20. The X-T2 is weather-sealed and slightly more feature rich, while the X-T20 is smaller and lighter and better for travel. I imagine that they’d both get plenty of use. Different tools for different jobs that deliver identical image quality. I would purchase the X-T2 body for $800 and I would purchase the X-T20 combined with the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 for $900. At this point you have two bodies and a decent zoom lens for only $1,700.

Lenses are a bit trickier because it all depends on your style and genre. Different photographers have different needs. For example, if you do astrophotography, you might want the 16mm f/1.4, but if you do portrait photography you might appreciate the 56mm f/1.2 more. I personally love the 90mm f/2. The first two lenses are $900 while the last one is $850. However, there are great alternatives that are more budget friendly. For example, you could get the 16mm f/2.8 for $400 and the 50mm f/2 for $350, which altogether is $750, and it’s not all that much different than having the 16mm f/1.4 and 56mm f/1.2. So you could buy one expensive lens or two cheaper alternatives, whatever you think would serve your photography best. I would recommend the 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 for $400. If you went with the two-lens alternative, you could afford to get the 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 for $500 instead of the cheaper zoom. If you don’t need a telephoto zoom, I’d recommend selecting one of the cheaper primes instead, such as the 16mm f/2.8 for $400, 23mm f/2 for $400, the 27mm f/2.8 for $400, the 35mm f/2 for $350, the 50mm f/2 for $350, or the 60mm f/2.4 for $400, whichever one best fits your needs.

If you chose one of the $900 lenses plus the $400 telephoto zoom, you’ve now spent $3,000. If you chose the $850 lens plus the telephoto zoom, you’re now $50 under budget. If you selected the two-lens alternative from the previous paragraph and the telephoto zoom (or one of the $400 primes), you’re now $150 under budget, or $50 under budget if you upgraded to the nicer zoom. If you selected the two-lens alternative plus the 35mm f/2 instead of the telephoto zoom, you’re now $200 under budget. You could also select one of the $850-$900 primes plus one of the $350-400 primes, which would put you between $2,900 and $3,000, depending on what you chose. For somewhere between $2,800 and $3,000 (depending on your combination), you have two camera bodies, a pretty good zoom, plus perhaps two primes, or one prime and another zoom, or two primes and another zoom, or three primes, just depending on what you selected. Whatever the combination is, that’s a pretty darn good kit for the money.

Current Fujifilm Deals

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

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Right now is a great time if you’re in the market for a new Fujifilm camera. The X-T2 is an amazing bargain at only $800 for the body. The X-T20 is an amazing bargain at only $600 for the body. It’s extraordinarily impressive that you can buy those cameras for so little! There are some good deals on lenses, too, so you could assemble a nice kit for surprisingly little money. Heck, for less than $3,000, you could have a quality primary body, an excellent backup body, and a solid assortment of great glass. Or you could get into medium format for only $5,000.

Fujifilm X Cameras:

Fujifilm X-T2 (Body Only) $800
Fujifilm X-T2 with 18-55mm lens $1,100
Fujifilm X-T3 (Body Only) $1,400
Fujifilm X-T3 w/18-55mm lens $1,700
Fujifilm X-T20 (Body Only) $600
Fujifilm X-T20 w/16-50mm lens $700
Fujifilm X-T20 w/18-55mm lens $900
Fujifilm X-T30 (Body Only) $900
Fujifilm X-E3 (Body Only) $700
Fujifilm X-T100 w/15-45mm lens $530
Fujifilm X-Pro2 (Body Only) $1,500
Fujifilm X-H1 (Body Only) w/power grip $1,300
Fujifilm X100F $1,200
Fujifilm XF10 $450

Fujifilm X Lenses:

Fujinon 8-16mm f/2.8 $1,900
Fujinon 10-24mm f/4 $900
Fujifilm 14mm f/2.8 $650
Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 $900
Fujinon 16-55mm f/2.8 $1,100
Fujinon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 $800
Fujinon 23mm f/1.4 $650
Fujinon 23mm f/2 $400
Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 $400
Fujinon 50mm f/2 $345
Fujinon 50-140mm f/2.8 $1,500
Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 $900
Fujinon 60mm f/2.4 $400
Fujinon 80mm f/2.8 $950
Fujinon 90mm f/2 $850
Fujinon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 $1,700

Fujifilm GFX Cameras:

Fujifilm GFX 50R (Body Only) $4,000
Fujifilm GFX 50R w/63mm lens $5,000
Fujifilm GFX 50R w/32-64mm lens $5,800
Fujifilm GFX 50S (Body Only) $5,500
Fujifilm GFX100 (Body Only) $10,000

Fujifilm GFX Lenses:

Fujinon GFX 23mm f/4 $2,100
Fujinon GFX 32-64mm f/4 $1,800
Fujinon GFX 63mm f/2.8 $1,000
Fujinon GFX 100-200mm f/5.6 $1,500
Fujinon GFX 250mm f/4 $2,800

As always, nobody pays me to write the articles that you find on Fuji X Weekly, so using my Amazon affiliate links is the only way to financially support this website. I would never ask you to buy something that you didn’t want, but if you were already planning to purchase something, it’s greatly appreciated if you did so using my links. It definitely helps! I want to give a special thank you to those who have done this already.

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: