Fujifilm Fujinon XF23mm F1.4 R Lens

Product Information

Since the Sigma lens is designed to be used with a profile, all of the images and results I’m showing you have Distortion Compensation set to Auto in the Sony menu, where it corrects for some mild barrelling. Taking a closer look at their subject details shows the 23 1.4 on the left is tremendously crisp and contrasty, versus a softer result from the 23 f2 on the right. Viewed in isolation, the 23 f2 on the right isn’t bad, it’s just that the newer 23 1.4 on the left is noticeably crisper. PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. Here’s the Sigma 23 focused as close as I could to the ruler, where it’s reproducing a subject measuring around 138mm across the frame. I’ll keep the Sigma image at the top and compare it against the Sony at the bottom from its closer minimum focusing distance of 16cm where it’s reproducing 92mm across the frame. But now let’s compare it to the Sigma 23 in full-frame mode, and while some of the imaging circle remains visible as expected, it’s far less extreme than the Sony. Now to be fair, neither lens is designed to be used like this, but you can still see how the Sigma not only has a larger imaging circle, but one that remains respectably sharp well beyond the APSC frame size.

Thanks to the IF mechanism the front of the lens does not rotate on focus, which is very good news for anyone looking to use the lens in conjunction with a polariser or graduated neutral density filter. It’s great to have options! The Viltrox AF 23mm f/1.4 is a superb value that performs extremely well mechanically and in creating wonderful images.

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. Close the 1.4 model to f2 to match the aperture of the compact lens and it improves a little further still, although there’s little to be gained in the middle of the frame of the new lens by stopping it further to f2.8. That said, the compact f2 lens on the right has improved a little closed one stop to f2.8, but still falls behind the premium model on the left. The Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR lens has an internal focusing (IF) system that uses a linear motor, which results in fast, accurate, and virtually silent auto-focusing on the X-S10 camera that we tested it with. In our view, their efforts have been successful for a moderate wide-angle prime lens - see the examples below to judge for yourself Sharpness The slightly softer 23mm 1.4 mkI however lends to slightly more flattering portraits though in my opinion.

And yet this is not a small lens, and you might start to think that if you’re going to be working with prime lenses this size, you might just as well step up to a full frame system. Fujifilm’s appeal lies in its combination of size and performance. Performance on its own may not be enough. How we test lenses For comparison let’s put the latest lens on the left, and the compact 35 f2 on the right, both at their maximum apertures. Note I also tested the original 23 f1.4 on the same day side-by-side, but it delivered a poor result with the aperture wide-open in this test, so I suspect it may be a bad copy. That said, don’t underestimate how much sharper a new lens can be compared to an older one, and that’s clear here with the latest 23 1.4 being visibly crisper in the middle than the 23 f2, even opened to f1.4. As has become common, there’s a correction profile that’s applied automatically to Jpeg and raw files, but you can turn it off for the raw files when you’re processing them in software such as Adobe Camera Raw. Removing the profiles for the XF 23mm f1.4 R LM WR reveals that there’s slight barrel distortion, but if you allow the profile to do its job, straight lines look straight. The focus ring on the 23mm F1.4 does at least have a nice feel as the components in the manual focusing ring assembly have been specially engineered to respond with more precision, especially when the focusing ring is moved slightly. The lens uses an internal focusing system for high speed autofocus. The focusing lens group consists of three cemented lens elements and one aspheric lens element to keep weight down while the built-in high-torque DC coreless motor delivers ultra-fast AF performance.

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The 23 becomes Sigma’s fourth DC DN prime lens designed for APSC sensors, joining the existing 16, 30 and 56mm models, all sporting bright f1.4 apertures. Placed side-by-side you’ll see all four share a family resemblance, with similar design and controls. Just like with the XF18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and the XF33mm f/1.4R LM WR, it’s quite nice that Fujifilm built this lens around a very fast and silent linear motor. Usually this type of motor is used in the way bigger lenses within the Fujifilm X series where the amount of glass that needs to be pushed to attain focus is way bigger. One thing to note, the XF 23mm F1.4 seems to have one of the fastest diffraction drop-offs of any Fuji prime. Between f/8 and f/11 the lens loses more sharpness than I find acceptable. Typically I’m comfortable shooting through the f/11 on Fuji lenses, but I would need a really good reason to go beyond f/8 when shooting RAFs. With JPEGs, Fuji sharpens images up in camera uncannily well. So well in fact you might think about adjusting the sharpening setting down, lest you end up with halos around high contrast areas. Distortion In many cases, the f2 varieties are approximately half the price of their “faster friends”, and the 23mm lens is no exception. If you choose to buy the Fujifilm 23mm f1.4, you can expect to spend approximately twice as much.

Second, there is a fair bit of vignetting noticeable in mid-tone corner areas. Again, this was noticeable in the rear screen preview. I generally add a bit of vignetting to most photos, so this was not too much of an issue in my experience, and in the situations where it was, I framed a little wide, so I could crop out the vignette-affected area in Lightroom. While focus breathing helps the Sigma achieve similar magnification to the Sony from the same distance though, the Sony lens can focus much closer.Autofocus is fast, and it's also perfectly accurate, especially at f/1.4. It's nearly instantaneous on my Fuji X-T1. All lens elements are treated with Fujifilm’s multilayer HT-EBC (High Transmittance Electron Beam Coating) which delivers enhanced durability and ensures an even spread of light across the sensor.

Pronounced when shooting wide open in RAFs, but largely corrected in JPEGs, and negligible stopped down a couple times. Flare Holding it in your hand feels like cradling a baby dragon egg — it’s small but dense. You can tell this lens is made like a tiny tank, completely from metal and ready to withstand getting banged up a little bit. Body Versus X-T2 vs. X-Pro2 X-T2 vs. X-T1 X-Pro2 vs. X-T1 X-Pro2 vs. X-Pro1 X-T10 vs. X-T1 vs. X-E2(S) X-T1 vs. X-E2 vs. X-Pro1 X100T vs. X100S vs. X100 X-E2 vs. X-E1 X30 vs. X20 Interchangeable Lens Body Spec Comparison Fixed Lens Body Spec Comparison Fuji has essentially two ranges of prime lenses: the fast primes (f1.4 lenses) and the more budget-friendly, yet weather resistant, f2 varieties. This is one of the most significant upgrades. The Fujifilm 23mm f1.4 R WR LM is noticeably faster to focus than the original. Street photographers and candid shooters will enjoy this combined with the face detection feature. Granted, Fujifilm’s face detection is possibly the worst of the bunch compared to Sony and Canon. I see candid shooters wanting to use this lens the most, and they’ll still be happy due to how beautiful the image quality from Fujifilm can be.The Fuji XF 23mm f/1.4 ASPH is optically just about perfect, excelling at sharpness, falloff and distortion, as well as mechanical quality. Light falloff is completely invisible, even at f/1.4, as shot on the X-T1 which is probably correcting it automatically. With the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/1.4, there is some light fall-off in the corners, requiring you to stop down by at least 3 f-stops to completely prevent it. Distortion