This is an in-depth review of the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 prime lens, also known as “Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R” that was released initially together with the Fuji X-Pro1 on September 21, 2011. Fuji specifically wanted to target professionals and enthusiasts with its X line, so it first introduced a professional-level mirrorless camera, the X-Pro1, along with three prime lenses: Fuji XF 18mm f/2, Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 and Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 Macro. And hence, being part of the Fuji X mirrorless interchangeable lens system launch, the Fuji 35mm f/1.4 played a big role in the success of the product line.
Thanks to its compact size, a fast aperture of f/1.4 and a versatile focal length, the Fuji 35mm f/1.4 undoubtedly became the most popular of the three lenses. I have had the pleasure of shooting with this lens a number of times by now. First, I used it for a few months at launch, then when I re-evaluated the Fuji X Pro1 after about a year and lastly, after I made the decision to make Fuji X my mirrorless system of choice. Today, I am a proud owner of this lens – it pretty much stays glued to my Fuji X-E1, making it a very powerful combo for my everyday photography needs. In this review, I will provide a thorough analysis of the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 lens, along with image samples and comparisons to the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 lens.
1) Lens Specifications
Main Features:
- Using a glass-molded aspheric lens at the 5th element minimizes spherical aberration.
- Achieving beautiful bokeh in out-of-focus areas as well as excellent in-focus reproduction to create a natural sense of depth according to the aperture setting and the subject.
- The 35mm (135 equivalent: 53mm) lens has a standard focal length with the angle of view similar to that of the human eye.
- With the bright maximum aperture, the lens is ideal for snapshots.
Technical Specifications:
- Mount Type: Fujifilm X
- Focal Length (35mm format equivalent): 35mm (53mm)
- Lens construction (elements/groups): 8/6
- Angle of view: 44.2°
- Number of diaphragm blades: 7 (rounded diaphragm opening)
- Maximum aperture: f/1.4
- Minimum aperture: f/16
- Focus range (normal): 0.8m – ∞
- Focus range (macro): 28cm – 2.0m
- Max magnification: 0.17x
- Weight (approx): 187g
- Dia. x length (approx): 65.0mm x 50.4mm (distance from camera lens mount flange)
- Filter size: 52mm
Detailed specifications for the lens, along with MTF charts and other useful data can be found in our lens database.
2) Lens Handling and Build
The build quality of Fuji lenses is excellent and the 35mm f/1.4 is no exception. Unlike some of the plastic lenses we see on modern DSLR lenses today, the lens has an all-metal barrel, a metal mount and even a metal hood. Thanks to its compact construction, small size and half the amount of glass when compared to full-frame lenses (the lens is only designed for APS-C sensors), all that metal does not add that much to its weight. At just 187 grams, it is pretty comparable to the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G. It balances pretty well with every Fuji X series camera.
The Fuji 35mm f/1.4 has two rings on the lens barrel – a focusing ring on the front of the barrel, and an aperture ring close to the mount of the lens. Since the Fuji X system uses a fly-by-wire system, which means that the focus ring is not mechanically tied to any of the lens elements, but rather controlled electronically, there is no focus scale on the lens and the ring will rotate in either direction without any hard stops or extra resistance. If you choose to manually focus with the 35mm f/1.4, a focus scale is provided inside the viewfinder or on the rear LCD of Fuji cameras. The aperture ring goes from f/1.4 to f/16 and then the last mark is “A” (marked in red), which is “Auto” mode. The good news is, you can actually go in 1/3 steps between apertures and the clicks are pretty smooth. The bad news is, the aperture ring sometimes feels too smooth / loose – some more tension as on some other Fuji lenses would have been nicer. Looks like the tension problem is pretty common for this lens – all three of the units that I used had this issue. Still, it feels better than handling the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8, which has an even more loose aperture ring.
The metal lens hood protrudes quite a bit and is shaped as a square to preserve space. While it might sound like a good idea, there are a couple of problems with this design. First, it makes it impossible to keep a lens cap on the front of the lens. Fuji addressed that issue by providing a second rubber cap that attaches on the hood itself. However, the rubber cap comes off too easily and it does not securely sit on the hood. Out of the three lenses that I’ve used, I lost two of those rubber caps! I really wish Fuji designed the hood like a traditional one, so that it could be attached normally, or reversed to preserve space. Not a big deal, but certainly worth mentioning when handling and transporting the lens.
3) Autofocus Performance and Accuracy
Fuji had a number of different problems with autofocus performance when it first launched the Fuji X system. One of the big annoyances was the audible “chatter” during AF operation, which was pretty loud on the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4. While Fuji did a great job at going back and fixing most of those AF issues, the chatter issue on this lens was never fully addressed. Yes, new firmware certainly did reduce it, but it is still there. The reason for the chatter is the loud aperture that stops down for metering purposes. That’s what creates the “chatter” noise. Fuji took care of this problem on recent lenses (which are pretty much dead silent), but the 35mm f/1.4 was never updated. Hopefully Fuji will address this in a future iteration of the lens.
The autofocus speed of the lens is very good. The camera locks on to a subject quickly, thanks to the fast electronic focus motor used on the Fuji X lenses. As for autofocus accuracy, that obviously largely depends on the AF system of the camera. As I have pointed out before, I was not impressed by Fuji’s autofocus system initially. However, thanks to Fuji’s continuous efforts and new firmware updates, the AF system is now excellent and very accurate – something that I cannot quite say about all other mirrorless systems. One thing that I noticed while testing Fuji lenses using Imatest software, is that they all locked on to the target very well, rarely needing any manual adjustments. I tried to use both autofocus and manual focus, and I had a hard time coming up with better sharpness and Imatest numbers when focusing manually. In comparison, Sony cameras and lenses were more difficult to work with – I often had to rely on manual focus to get the best sharpness, since AF would have very slight accuracy problems that pretty much invalidated test results.
4) Lens sharpness, contrast and color rendition
As I reveal below, the sharpness of the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 lens is excellent. Since all high-end Fuji mirrorless cameras utilize the X-Trans sensor that has no anti-aliasing filter, you get the maximum performance out of all lenses attached to the Fuji X mount. Compared to many other prime lenses that often need to be stopped down to yield sharp images, the lens is pretty sharp right at f/1.4, so you can use it wide open for your photography needs and only stop down to increase depth of field. The corners are a little weaker, but improve a bit when stopped down. Contrast is excellent and color rendition is superb. Color is definitely one of the strengths of the Fuji system and the X-Trans sensor is not solely responsible for the beautiful colors you get from these cameras – Fuji’s proprietary image processing pipeline is what makes the magic.
5) Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 MTF Performance
Fuji clearly applies some funky optical corrections to its JPEG images. While it certainly helps push sharpness in the center all apertures, it strangely results in decreased mid-frame and corner performance between f/1.4 and f/2.0. In addition, Adobe software automatically applies optical corrections to Fuji’s RAW files, making it impossible to see what corrections do to images. Since I measure MTF performance using Imatest and DCRaw, the below results reflect lens performance without any corrections, so you can see what the real optical capabilities of a lens are.
It is extremely important to point out that cross-brand comparisons with Imatest data should never be done. Meaning, you should not compare data from a Nikon lens to a Fuji lens. That’s because Imatest analyzes the lens + camera combination to quantify lens performance. This means that such variables as sensor resolution, image processing pipeline and low-pass filter could have a serious impact on the produced data. For example, the Nikon D810 can yield fairly large numbers in Imatest, thanks to its 36 MP sensor and lack of a low-pass filter. If I were to mount the exact same lens on the D750 (which has a 24 MP sensor and a low-pass filter) Imatest numbers would be noticeably smaller. That’s why I never change cameras when testing Nikon lenses and always stick to my D810, which is my standard for evaluating lens performance on the Nikon system. Similarly for the Fuji system, I decided to standardize on the Fuji X-T1, which I will be using for all lens tests going forward. I recognize that Fuji might release a higher resolution camera in the future, but my tests will still have to be done with the same X-T1 to stay consistent.
Let’s take a look at the lens performance measured by Imatest:
The center performance is impressive even wide open at f/1.4 and it shines at f/4, which is its sweet spot. The mid-frame performance is also very good, falling a tad behind from the center. Corner performance is not as good as the center and the mid-frame (but that’s expected from a fast prime) – it starts out a little weak at f/1.4, but improves as you stop down, reaching the best performance at the f/5.6 mark.
In summary, there is not much to complain about this lens sharpness-wise. When shooting JPEG, it seems like there is practically no difference between f/1.4 and and f/5.6 in the center (which is remarkable), thanks to the smart lens corrections applied by Fuji. Corners are a little weaker at large apertures, but that’s about it. When shooting RAW, results will vary depending on what RAW converter you use. Based on my tests, I would say that Photo Ninja is probably the next best thing to JPEG images.
6) Bokeh
The quality of bokeh from the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 can vary depending on how bright the light sources and reflections are. I found bokeh to be very smooth and beautiful when the source of light is large and not as bright. However, if the source of light or the reflection is very bright, the lens tends to produce onion-shaped bokeh that can be distracting to look at. Take a look at the below image:
As you can see, the “layered” highlights are clearly visible in the middle portion of the frame where the highlights are fairly strong. However, if you look at the left side of the image where the highlights are not as strong, the onion shape is much less pronounced. I would not be too concerned with this, since you would not encounter such strong highlights very often in everyday photography. Plus, I would not expect a standard lens to create flawless bokeh – that’s more in the court of specialized portrait lenses.
A bokeh comparison between the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 and the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 can be found in the Lens Comparisons section of this review.
7) Vignetting
As for vignetting, the lens shows a little darkening in the corners wide open, but it is not too pronounced. Imatest measured approximately 1 EV on average in the extreme corners and if you stop down to f/2, it is reduced significantly. By f/2.8, all traces of vignetting are practically gone, as illustrated below:
If you are bothered by what you see wide open, you can take care of vignetting easily using post-processing software like Lightroom or Photoshop.
Here is the worst case scenario illustrated at f/1.4:
8) Ghosting and Flare
Thanks to Fuji’s proprietary Super EBC lens coating, the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 seems to handle ghosting and flare pretty well, especially at large apertures. There is a little bit of rainbow flare visible when shooting straight into the sun at large apertures, but it is not bad. However, when including bright sources of light in the frame at smaller apertures past f/8, you might witness something called a “red dot flare“, which can be very distracting to look at:
This happens as a result of internal reflections and short flange distance, and it is something that can be commonly seen on pretty much every mirrorless camera. So if you see that in your images, keep this in mind and try to use larger apertures to avoid the problem.
9) Distortion
Distortion is surprisingly low, whether you shoot JPEG or RAW. Imatest measured just 0.16% barrel distortion on JPEG images and 0.18% on RAW images. Looks like there is very little correction of distortion taking place.
10) Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration levels are very low, as shown below:
Let’s move on to lens comparisons and see how the lens stacks up against the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8.
11) Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 vs Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 MTF Comparison
The new Zeiss Touit is an expensive piece of optic at $900 retail, which is $300 more expensive than what the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 normally sells for. It is two thirds of a stop slower, but has a nice metal finish typical of Zeiss lenses, a 9-blade diaphragm (vs 7-blade on the Fuji) and Zeiss anti-reflective coating.
At the same time, it has a pretty loud focus motor, relatively slow autofocus speed and the same aperture clicking issue as the Fuji 35mm f/1.4. Let’s take a look at how the lens performed in comparison to the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4:
There is a clear difference in the center performance between the two lenses, with Fuji 35mm f/1.4 leading the game up until f/2.8. There are also differences in mid-frame performance – the Fuji showed better numbers throughout the range. Lastly, the corner situation is repeated again here – the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 simply cannot keep up with the Fuji 35mm f/1.4, especially when stopped down to f/4 and smaller.
12) Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 vs Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 Bokeh Comparison
Let’s see how the two lenses stack up against each other in bokeh. Take a look at the below comparison:
It is hard to decide which one looks better, since there are pros and cons to each. The Fuji shows an onion-ring pattern in the highlights, while the Zeiss does not have the same problem. However, the Fuji does not have very well-defined borders, while the Zeiss does (and they are pretty thick).
13) Comparison Summary
The Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 does not seem to be worth what Zeiss is asking for. I expected to see better overall results when compared to the Fuji, but as you can see, that’s certainly not the case. The Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 seems to have a good overall performance and very little field curvature issues, while the same cannot be said about the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8. In addition to being a slower and worse lens sharpness-wise and having other issues highlighted earlier, the Zeiss Touit also suffers from much more pronounced barrel distortion, measuring 1.61% and has twice more chromatic aberration. In short, the Zeiss Touit fails to deliver in comparison, especially with its higher price tag.
14) Summary
The Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 R is a very impressive lens in Fuji’s current X-mount lenses. Being the first to launch with the X-Pro1, it does have a couple of annoyances like aperture chatter, loose aperture ring and an awkward, easy to lose rubber lens cap. However, it makes up for those flaws optically, being a fast f/1.4 lens with excellent sharpness, as demonstrated in the earlier sections of this review. Thanks to Fuji’s smart lens corrections capabilities, the lens performance is boosted to incredible levels, where the sharpness at f/1.4 is about the same as when stopped down to f/5.6 in the center. So if you shoot in JPEG format, or shoot in RAW and use post-processing software like Lightroom (which automatically applies lens corrections to all Fuji RAW files), you will be amazed by the results from this lens.
The 35mm focal length is ideal for APS-C sensors, because it provides an equivalent angle of view as a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera. Such “standard” or “normal” focal length is suitable for many genres of photography such as street, travel, event and nature. And having a fast f/1.4 aperture, it is also suitable for low-light photography and even astrophotography. As such, I would recommend the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 to be among the first lenses to be considered, if you are planning to purchase a Fuji X-series camera. Along with the 18-55mm kit lens, the 35mm f/1.4 was the first lens that I purchased with my Fuji X-E1 earlier this year. Being an “everyday” lens, it often stays glued to my X-E1. And in situations where I need to go wider or longer, I know that I can rely on the 18-55mm, which is also a nice lens to start with.
Overall, I really like the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 lens. Its small size, fast f/1.4 aperture, excellent build quality, relatively low price and above all, impressive optics, make it a fine choice for any of the Fuji’s X-series cameras.
15) Where to Buy
B&H is currently selling the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 lens for $599, but you can get it $150 cheaper if you buy it together with the Fuji X-E1 camera body. $450 is a killer price for such a nice lens!
16) More image samples
All Images Copyright © Nasim Mansurov, All Rights Reserved. Copying or reproduction is not permitted without written permission from the author.
Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4
- Optical Performance
- Features
- Bokeh Quality
- Build Quality
- Focus Speed and Accuracy
- Handling
- Value
- Size and Weight
Photography Life Overall Rating
Great review again :) I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels the aperture ring on this lens a bit too loose. It’s not loose enough to feel cheap but it’s not as firm as I would’ve liked. No issue though
I too am hoping for the AF chatter to be fixed via firmware – I wonder if it’s possible – they still haven’t got around to it. AF speed is surprisingly good!
Oh and very nice sample images!
Great details review Nasim, I was those first group to buy the Fuji X Pro1 with the 35mm f1.4, and that is why Fuji Canada has sent me a gift, a shutter remote cable with a letter of appreciation, If you are those group of users, the chatter sound was terrible. After the first up-date, this sound should be gone with my X Pro1 unless I am using continue focus mode. I did compare this lens with other lenses, it is one of the best I have, as you say, all the way from f1.4 to …………
I am still waiting for your antique lenses review.
Best regards.
Wow, great stuff! Fuji is certainly doing the right thing right now. They just need to fix the demosaicing issue in ACR and hopefully work out continuous AF and they will be on the top of most others on the market.
The antique stuff is coming soon – just need to finish testing what I have in my hands and it includes the Nikon 55mm f/1.4G.
Heshan, the AF chatter cannot be fixed via firmware – that’s just a loud aperture making all that noise. That’s why I hope Fuji addresses the issue in the future iterations of the lens.
For my X Pro1, I have no such issue of the chatter sound, I have the 18mm f2, no such issue too, except if I use my friend’s 60mm lens, then, I can hear the noise, because he did not up the lens. Did you up-date to the latest, both body and lenses. My other friends have the XE1, they all have no complaint too.
Chris, yes – all lenses and cameras were on the latest firmware when I was testing them.
It may be worth using the X-E2 for the tests. The sensor is slightly different from a quality point of view (I have both E1 and E2) but the AF is superior in E2. It would definitely help in evaluating the AF performance of the Fuji lenses. I’d say all of Fuji’s cameras will be hybrid PDAF/CDAF from this point forward. Note that it will require updating the lens firmware, too.
The LMO unit clearly is doing some great magic. I haven’t stressed things at diffraction point to see if that makes much impact (for E2) but it is nice to see a company work to solve lens issues in camera.
Neil, I didn’t know that the sensors were different – I know the X-E2 has integrated phase detection sensors, but other than that, I don’t think the sensor resolution or the pipeline have changed. I will certainly check out the AF capabilities of the X-E2. I have one now and I am testing it for the upcoming X-E2 review.
From what I can tell the sensors are the same but the imaging pipeline has improved a bit. With the better processor they seem to have improved high ISO some and shadows a little. But that could also be the 14 bit raw, too.
Neil, I will do a comparison between the X-E1 and X-E2 to see if there are any changes in noise performance. I don’t think there will be much difference to be honest…
Hello Nasim,
How about 58mm review?
By the way, it is great review as usual.
Thank you….
Jason, to be honest, I was waiting for the Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 to arrive first, which it will sometime next week. I currently have 58mm f/1.4G, 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S, 58mm f/1.4 Voigtlander and a couple of other 50-55mm primes. It will be an extensive test! Just missing the damn NOCT. I asked a few of our readers on Facebook, but nobody seems to have that lens.
I saw a video review by Jared Polin on the Noct Nikkor 58mm f1.2 recently, interesting.
http://froknowsphoto.com/nikon58-vs-58-noct/
I must say, I’ve been a X-Pro1 first wave user, and am using lens since the beginning. It has ever since then been a permanent, reliable partner, contrary to the XF60mm which is a terrible concept (though optically delivering excellent results). I like the 14mm & 23mm the best, they are also clearly a new generation of lenses, better finished, more solid quality, best IQ. My experience is that Apple Aperture is still performing the best with the X-trans, I never liked Lightroom and the X-trans implementation that I followed in the sideline had too much artifacts. Quite some people also refer to Iridient, i performed some comparisons, if any better, it’s only very marginally, at this level, it boils down to just perception. I also tried DCRAW, it couldn’t convince me, also way to many artifacts including color problems. For me that has been the biggest issue with the X-trans, the RAW support – even pushing me so far, I was prepared to leave the system in favor of better implemented systems.
Nasim,
Thank you an in-depth review! As always, your reviews are fantastic.
I am wondering about getting the newer 23mm f/1.4 lens. Have you used that lens and if so what is your experience with it? I often take pictures indoors and when I travel I need a little bit more width so I am thinking about the 23mm FYI. That lens is expensive so I want to make sure that I am investing it wisely. BTW I am looking at X-E2. Thanks again for the review. The images are mind blowing!
Vipul, I am shooting with that lens right now in Santa Fe and I love it. Very sharp, beautiful colors and a great focal length for everyday photography. My biggest complaint is the loud autofocus motor – I wish Fuji used silent AF like on some of the newest lenses like 16-50mm. Other than that, it is a superb lens.
Nasim,
Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate your knowledge sharing. I tried the lens with X-E2 yesterday and noticed the same behavior! I didn’t like the constant moving of the barrel but again that’s just me who doesn’t like moving parts. 23 f/1.4 was better in that regard but then again it’s expensive. I am impressed with the kit lens, however. Never thought it would impress me and the IQ was superb! Just wished it had a constant f/2.8. I know I am getting greedy here! One thing with X-E2 was that I had pretty much all the controls I needed right there! Also the built-in flash to take portrait photos made me say WOW half a dozen times. It was that good and nothing got washed out. I have sold all my Nikon gear and looking forward to get into Fujifilm mirrorless world. Once again, thank you for the wonderful service you provide. When I place my order, I would certainly be using your link for the referral so you guys get credit for the work you do.
Hello Nasim,
It’s always a pleasure to read your articles. In fact, this review was so good that I’m going to buy a 35mm f1.4 today :-)
Since you guys are also Fuji-X users, let me “share” this problem. Is it possible to calibrate an ipad and use something like snapseed to edit the amazing SOOC-JPEGs? Or should I convert RAW files in Ninja, ACR or Lightroom to achieve the best results? I would really like to find a simple workflow…
Thanks in advance and best regards
ZP
ZP, I would stay away from editing photos on an iPad if you want to produce serious work :) Those apps are mostly for quick edits, not meant for professional use. Personally, I prefer using Lightroom for processing my photos (to keep my workflow consistent), although Lightroom/ACR still have issues with Fuji’s RAW files. If I have one or two images that I want to print or seriously edit, then I might use Photo Ninja for the conversion and further editing in Lightroom. I would still always shoot RAW, as SOOC JPEG does not give me all the flexibility for editing as RAW does.
Great review :)
Just one error – the last mark “A” is not an “Aperture Priority” mode, in fact it’s anything but that and means “Auto” :)
Deng, thanks for letting me know! You are right, so I fixed the error :)
Hi Nasim,
Are you using adobe standard color profile with all your camera’s or are you using those specific lightroom profiles for nikon? For Fuji there is no other then adobe standard, but what do you do with nikon?
Greetings
Hi Nasim,
Can you give me any idea when your test review of the Fuji XT camera and lenses will be available?
I want to buy into this system but would much prefer to read your honest and invaluable review first.
Regards
Michael
Dear Nasim,
Can you give me any idea when your review of the Fuji XT and its lenses will be available.
I want to buy into this system but would prefer to read your honest and informative report first
Regards
Michael
Michael, it will be posted tomorrow evening hopefully. Monday at the latest!
Hi Nasim,
Thats fabulous service, thanks a lot.
Looking forward to what I hope will be a positive review.
I am looking at this system for when I don’t wish to carry a heavy case of Nikon gear.
Regards
Michael
Michael, just to let you know, I am still working on the review. My weekend was ruined by work I had to do at home and I am having a hard time catching up! So please be patient for a day or two until I finish it :)
Hi Nasim,
Any ideas how long it will be before we see a review of the Fuji lenses, there’s a vast range since the 35mm one you reviewed some time ago.
Of particular interesr are the 14mm, 23mm, 56mm and the new pair of zooms
Regards
Michael
Hello Nasim,
In your review you stated that Lightroom automatically applies optical corrections to Fuji RAW files. Did Adobe collaborate with Fuji to develop these corrections and are the Lightroom corrections as effective as those applied by the Fuji LMO to their Jpegs, regarding lens sharpness etc.?
Many thanks. There is such a wealth of information here at Photography Life.
Robert
Hi Nasim!
I recently purchased Fuji XT-1 with Fujinon 23mm f1.4 lens. So far, so great….With one exception: the lens is noisy & appears “running” or “hunting” constantly! I’ve read some of the comments above & it does appear that it is a noisy lens, but I’m also wondering if the constant “hunting” is normal as well for this particular lens. Thanks in advance for your help!
Anna
Hi. The constant hunting means you have it in continuous mode. Good luck!
Hi Nasim, In my case, i turn the Pre-AF off, the continuous hunting stop, the noise is there when you focus but just once.
Hi there,
Thanks for the review. I have this lens, plus quite a few of the others. One lens I love the IQ of is the 56mm F1.2. However, as a photographer who loves to whip a camera up to my eye to catch a certain expression or fleeting glance of a person, I am quite frustrated. I use the X-T1 in manual focus mode, and use the AF-L button to focus and the manual focus ring to fine-tune as necessary. Ruling out AF, I had hoped the response time to snap a shot would be fast. However, while it is almost instant when wide open at F1.2, as one progressively uses smaller apertures, I am finding there is some slight delay, which seems to be more than 0.5 sec at F16, before the shutter is actually fired. If I listen to the lens, by half pressing, I can actually hear the sound of the aperture blades closing down, and yes, it does appear the duration of the sound increases from nothing wide-open, to about 0.5 secs at F16. Visually, whilst the aperture blades are being stepped down, the LCD/VF image freezes. This also occurs with my X-E1, so is not camera-dependent.
So, I am wondering if anyone else has this issue described above.
One can test this further: –
1. Set camera to MF, shutter speed to manual 1/60th, ISO to 800, lens cap on.
2. Test 1 at F1.2: quickly fully press and release the shutter relaese button as fast as possible over and over for 15 seconds – I get about 30 presses.
3. Test 2 at F16: quickly fully press and release the shutter relaese button as fast as possible over and over for 15 seconds – I get about 15 presses.
The only change is the aperture size.
Can anyone else confirm the same?
Many thanks,
Cass.
Hi Nasim,
If I already own a 23mm 1.4, will getting a 35mm a little redundant? I like the 56mm too, but it just doesn’t seem to be a “everyday” kind of lens. I’m thinking of shooting with 23mm for indoor and environmental portraiture, while 35mm for tighter shots for better subject separations on the street and documentary photography. Do you think 23+35 will work for my kind of genre? Thanks.
MTF is dissapointing. Corners never really get sharp. I’m not complaining, but I’m just saying that even wide open the center sharpness isn’t exactly excellent. Color accuracy is more important anyway. What I am saying is IMO it doesn’t matter the format you use. 1.4’s almost always take a hit in overall performance over F2’s throughout their range. There are exceptions, but they are either big or expensive…or both. I don’t see this lens as an exception to that rule. The new 25mm 1.2 Olympus even takes a slight hit at 1.2 and that’s with 19 elements- but it does perform quite well. Still, i think it’s best to steer away from the big boy lenses and stick with F2’s no matter the format.
Hi Nasim,
Your review is very helpful. I am a newbie in photography and I owned Fuji XT-20. Currently looking for a new lens and interested in Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4. My only concern is, this lens was released in 2011. Is it still compatible to the current technology? Or should I wait for the next lens release which I don’t know when.
Looking for your reply.
Thank you.