Premium/ Fujifilm’s most HATED lenses (are two of my favourites)
There is a lot of opinions about the X-mount cameras, we have those who shoot X-Pro, those who shoot X-T and the strange folk who shoot X-H or X-S, those who like the smaller F2 WR lenses and those who like the larger 1.4 lenses, zoom shooters, prime shooters, Film Sim shooters and RAW shooters but one common opinion amongst the community is that the 18mm F2 and 60mm F2.4 Macro are THE WORST lenses for the mount. That was probably true day one when the only other lens was the glorious 35mm F1.4 but that’s like saying silver and bronze aren’t quite as good as gold. It’s a stigma and reputation that has stuck around since the beginning despite little to no reason. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee and read this before grabbing yourself a bargain.
To say either of these lenses (or in fact any lens made in the history of lenses) is perfect would be a bold faced lie on my part but with increasing improvements in the X-Mount bodies many of these lenses weaknesses have been mitigated, if not outright solved and what is left are non issues or limitations that no comparable equivalent would be immune from. I’ll solve the easiest one for you, auto focus noise. Photos don’t capture audio, fixed. For you videographers, if you are capturing onboard audio then you need a mic before you need a new lens, fixed. Autofocus speed, it’s an 18mm and 60mm, you’re not birding with these, be realistic. Stop machine gunning on AF-C and learn to anticipate. I never have a problem with the amount of “keepers” I have from each. Now, for the problems I can’t fix. The omission of a focus distance switch on the 60mm is glaring, but again let us be realistic as the seconds it takes to go from nearest to infinity are in no way realistic to how you would use a 60mm. This isn’t a sports lens, you’re not tracking a pass from defense to offence with it. The 18mm has terrible light transmission, and the degradation in low light is noticeable but it’s no worse than the fastest end of your variable aperture zooms – and those do not give the beautiful blooming highlights or bubbly bokeh that this lens does. Phew, now that’s out of the way let me tell you why these little Made in Japan gems are not only worth every penny but are highlights in the Fujinon lineup.
Fujinon XF18mm F2 R
Okay let’s tackle the 18mm first, now this was once definitively considered the worst lens but in the past couple years a few YouTubers such as GXAce and Andrei Dima have come around to it, though in my opinion neither of them push its capabilities in the videos I have seen (sorry guys but you didn’t). This is due to one simple reason, this lens is made to get close and fill the frame. Make sure to check out my article Wide – A change of perspective for a whole article showing off these exact qualities. People shoot it like an iPhone camera or point-and-shoo, and that is just not where this lens shines. Wide open, it has many similarities to a Zeiss Biogon, with masses of bokeh that verge on the edge of bubbly and great fine detail rendering. The falloff is nice and gradual and gives the images a tangible feel, very organic. It responds the way you expect a 28mm to and not an 18mm. I suspect (but can in no way prove it) that both this and the original 35mm are actually 28 and 50mm designs adapted for the shorter throw and smaller image circle of APS-C. I have used a lot of crop and full-frame lenses, and these two do not feel like their given focal lengths but their “equivalents”. The Zeiss Touit 32mm, for example, is not a 50mm as much as it tries to be, nor is that 35mm F2 WR. They behave like 35s. But we’re not talking about the 35, it’s the 18 we are talking about. It’s distinctly different to any 18mm I have used, it does not have the whirlpool effect or the optical distortion of an 18mm. Shoot this out next to the 16mm, and it feels distinctly tighter, far more of a difference than a 24mm to 28mm should. Just know that it shoots like a moderately wide lens rather than something approaching super wide territory, and the benefits of which are many.
RIGHT: Fuji X-Pro3 . Fuji XF18mmF2 . F/2.0 . 1/250″ . ISO 160
There’s another thing that I just have to mention too, the size. No autofocus lens this small has any right to perform this good.
CONTINUE READING…
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