Fujifilm’s 23mm f2 R WR is a popular choice for many Fujifilm photographers looking to have a small, compact, and weather sealed 35mm field of view (equivalent) lens with fast and quiet autofocus. Many of these photographers are also likely portrait photographers, who have, as a community, really embraced the 35mm field of view for a variety of looks. When shooting at the widest aperture of f/2, it’s possible to see some slight drop-off in light at the corners of the image. This is particularly noticeable when shooting a white wall, but is unlikely to be overly noticeable for normal subjects. By f/2.8, the effect is lessened, and has gone completely by f/4. Distortion is kept to the absolute minimum in both raw and jpeg files. It’s tough to test for vignetting with Fujinon lenses since the RAW files and jpegs are processed with a built in lens profile that removes it. I’ve read that you can remove these profiles with editors like Iridient Developer. As a photographer that is already using Lightroom and Capture One, I’m going to pass on a third piece of software and just live with the built in corrections. Autofocus Chromatic aberration doesn’t seem to be an issue for the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2 R WR lens, with it being extremely difficult to find any examples of purple fringing occurring in any of the test shots. Light Fall-Off and Distortion Focal length is a spec that photographers use to judge a lens. The focal length determines how “zoomed in” the image will appear, with a shorter focal length providing a wider field of view and a longer focal length providing a narrower field of view. The Fujifilm xf 23mm f2 has a focal length of 23mm, which falls into the wide-angle category.

One of the big reasons to shoot with a 35mm FoV is to include more of the environment in the shot with your subject. This helps you paint a better picture of the person in their surroundings – a hallmark trait of environmental portraiture and lifestyle portraiture. So if you are more used to shooting with say a 50mm or 85mm field of view then you will need to keep a much closer eye on what is in the room around your subject than you normally would. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimise the problem, hence they usually cost more. As you can see, the XF 23mm f2 and XF 23mm f1.4 have delivered 18 and 14 spikes respectively as expected from their nine and seven aperture blades. But in the crop above it’s clear how much better-defined the spikes are from the XF 23mm f1.4. This is most likely down to the actual shape of the blades themselves. You can use this lens for travel photography, event photography, wedding photography, street photography, environmental portraiture, photography in tight spaces, group shots, product photography, food photography, landscapes, and documentary photography with ease. The 35mm focal length gives a natural field of view that really mimics what we see with our own eyes, so images are very pleasant to view. Thanks to the fast aperture of this lens, you can create some bokeh when you get nice and close to your subject, and you will be able to shoot in low light situations easily as well. When evaluating the sharpness of the Fuji XF 23mm f/2 I have to separate things by focus distance. The minimum focus distance for this lens is listed at 8.66″ (22 cm), but the 23mm f/2 is hardly usable at that distance when shooting wide open. For the images below, I set the 23mm f/2 10 inches away from a topo map. Shooting wide open at f/2, the Fuji XF 23mm f/2 is soft and hazy at the center of the frame. Things get a little better at f/2.8, and really sharpen up by f/4.0. By f/5.6 the center is crisp and very sharp.

Sharing is Caring

I tried the F2 lens on Saturday and even though its lighter, which means in theory I should be able to handhold and shooter at slower shutter speeds to reduce the higher ISO impact. It didn't work like that. As ever, this post is not a full blown review. I'm not a photographer who produces technically perfect work; I'm a photographer that shoots candidly and I see "the moment" as far more important than "the technically perfect pictures". The results generally though are exceptional, and optically, albeit it perhaps with some software assistance, we have here a superb lens. It also has an attractive rendition, an abstract concept maybe, but the “look” that images have that show the “character” of a lens. This is something less tangible that cannot be measured, but more an aesthetic comment. A few people have reported that this lens is soft when shooting wide open at close focus distances (2 feet or less). But just about every lens in the world is sharper when stopped down than it is wide open so I wouldn’t really worry about this.

It also has a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.13x. The aspherical elements are positioned, so the image plane is flat, providing edge-to-edge sharpness. It’s important to note that while the lens is smaller than most, and weighs very little, thanks to its length, it may be top-heavy on some cameras. This depends on the camera you’re using it with, though. I use my Fuji 23mm with my old Fuji X-T2 and the new Fujifilm X-T4 and find that this lens body combo is the perfect match. The Fuji 23mm f2 is designated as WR for Weather Resistant. And when combined with an X-Pro2 or X-T2 you’ve got a weather resistant system that I wouldn’t hesitate to use under any weather condition. Now, I wouldn’t submerge my camera under water but it’s nice to know I don’t need to run for cover at the first sign of rain. Shallow depth-of-field effects are accentuated at close range so for my next test I shot beer bottles (at Brighton’s Bison Beer shop), close to the minimum focusing distance of the older XF 23mm f1.4; I then roughly matched the subject size with the newer XF 23mm f2 and again shot with both lenses at their maximum apertures.

So far, besides the 23mm F2 lens, I also own the 55-200mm lens. I bought this lens because I wanted to have the flexibility in upcoming vacation trips and also for some street photos, even though I don’t like the compression of a street photo with a zoom lens too much. But without this lens, my most favorite shot of 2020 wouldn’t have been possible or I had to crop the image crazily. MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth. The 23mm f2, much like the other lenses in the series, is built to be weather and dust-resistant. So it can withstand being in light rain or strong winds. It can also shoot in temperatures of up to -10°C, making it the perfect accessory on any winter trip. If you’re happy to sacrifice subject sharpness, the newer XF 23mm f2 can at least focus closer than its older sibling: 22cm versus 28cm. Here’s how they look with the same subject, but this time focused as close as each lens allows.