In summary
Like its faster sibling, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens covers a ‘normal’ perspective, with an angle of view equivalent to a 53mm in 35mm format. This makes it suitable for portraits, still life and street photography.
The fast f/2 maximum aperture can be used for creating images with a shallow depth-of-field and working in low-light conditions. This lens is also compact enough to be suitable for travel photography.
Compact and very affordable, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR is an excellent choice for street photography (as shown in our sample images) and also versatile enough to be used as the sole lens for travellers.
Full review
Announced roughly a year ago and released late in 2015, the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens is the second 35mm prime lens for Fujifilm’s popular X-series, rangefinder-style cameras. We reviewed the original lens, the XF 35mm f/1.4 R, back in March 2012. The new lens provides the advantages of weatherproof sealing and is smaller and lighter into the bargain. It’s also cheaper than its faster sibling.
Side view of the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens in black, without lens hood or lens cap. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The two colour options for the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The new lens is available in black or silver (shown above), whereas the f/1.4 lens only comes in black. Its optical design of the new lens is also more complex, with nine elements in six groups, including two aspherical elements. The positions of these elements are shown in the optical diagram below.
The optical diagram of the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens, with the aspherical elements shown in light blue. (Source: Fujifilm.)
Both Fujinon 35mm lenses cover the same 44.2-degree angle of view and both have minimum apertures of f/16. The table below outlines the differences between them.
|
|
XF 35mm f/2 R WR |
XF 35mm f/1.4 R |
|
Lens Construction |
9 elements 6 groups with 2 aspherical elements |
8 elements in 6 groups with 1 aspherical element |
|
Lens coating |
Nano-GI Anti-Reflective |
Super EBC |
|
Aperture blades |
9 rounded |
7 rounded |
|
Focus drive |
Stepping motor |
DC coreless micro motor |
|
Internal focusing |
Yes |
No |
|
Minimum focus |
35 cm |
28 cm |
|
Maximum magnification |
0.135x |
0.17x |
|
Filter size |
43 mm |
52 mm |
|
External diameter |
60 mm |
65 mm |
|
Length |
49.5 mm |
54.9 mm |
|
Weight (lens only) |
170 grams |
187 grams |
|
Lens hood (supplied) |
Plastic |
Metal |
|
Typical selling price (AU$) |
$548 |
$640 |
Who’s it for?
Like its faster sibling, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens covers a ‘normal’ perspective, with an angle of view equivalent to a 53mm in 35mm format. This makes it suitable for portraits, still life and street photography. The fast f/2 maximum aperture can be used for creating images with a shallow depth-of-field and working in low-light conditions. This lens is also compact enough to be suitable for travel photography.
Build and Ergonomics
Like other lenses in Fujifilm’s portfolio, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens is very well built, with a robust aluminium-alloy barrel. Finished in black, it blends well with the X-Pro2 camera body supplied for this review.
Weatherproof sealing rings have been added in areas that might allow the intrusion of dust or moisture, including around the front element, inside all moving adjustment rings and at the interface between the lens and the camera body. The illustration below shows where they are located.
This diagram shows the location of the weatherproof seals in the lens. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The front element is flatter than the equivalent in the f/1.4 lens and quite a lot smaller. It’s slightly recessed, allowing for a 43 mm diameter filter thread. The supplied pinch-type lens cap clips into the filter thread, as does the supplied, rather shallow plastic lens hood.
If you want to attach a filter, you must remove the hood, screw in the filter and then re-fit the hood. Fortunately, the lens cap can be fitted when the hood is in place. An optional metal lens hood (LH-XF35-2) is available. It attaches via a bayonet mount on the exterior of the filter thread.
The focusing ring is roughly 10 mm wide and located about 8 mm back from the front of the lens. It is made from polycarbonate with fine ridging on the rear 8 mm to provide a non-slip grip.
There’s no distance or depth-of-field scale and no infrared index. Behind the focusing ring is an aperture ring, which is also roughly 10 mm wide. It spans the aperture range from f/2 to f/16, with markings at one-stop intervals and click-stops between them at 1/3-stop intervals. There’s also an A position for automatic aperture selection.
A further 10 mm back is the metal mounting plate, which is surrounded by a rubber flange that keeps out dust and moisture. Ten gold contacts inside the mount enable electronic signals to pass between the camera and the lens.
Focusing
The focusing ring has no mechanical connection with the lens elements so it rotates freely when no power is supplied from the camera. With power, turning focusing ring moves the elements electronically, via a ‘ fly-by-wire’ system that (typically) offers little tactile feedback.
Autofocusing is controlled by a stepping motor that is housed within the lens. All focusing is internal, which means the front element does not rotate, making it easy to use angle-critical filters like polarisers and graduates.
We found the review lens focused both quickly and accurately on the X-Pro2 camera, moving between close focus and infinity in less than a second. However, the closest focusing distance of 35cm was unsuitable for photographing small subjects since the maximum magnification is only 0.135x.
Performance
It’s difficult to compare the performance of the XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens with the XF 35mm f/1.4 R because the resolution of the X-Pro2 camera we used for testing the newer lens is quite a bit higher than the X-Pro1 camera we used for the f/1.4 lens. Nevertheless, both lenses can be seen as good performers across a wide range of aperture settings.
Centre resolution in our Imatest testing exceeded expectations between f/2.0 and f/7.1, with f/8 just falling short, probably as a result of diffraction. Edge and corner sharpness were also very good, with a slight loss of sharpness detectable at f/2. Stopping down to f/3.2 virtually eliminated it.
The impact of diffraction could only be seen at f/11 but overall sharpness remained uniformly high until f/16, where slight softening could be seen. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.
Lateral chromatic aberration was similar to the f/1.4 lens and remained in the lower end of the ‘negligible’ band all the way from f/2 to f/8. It was still within the ‘negligible’ band at f/11 and f/16 and we saw no evidence of coloured fringing in any of our test shots. In the graph below, which shows the results of our Imatest tests, the red line marks the boundary between negligible and low CA.
Because the X-Pro2 provides in-camera corrections for vignetting and distortion we assessed these factors be looking at ARW.RAW files. Since Adobe Camera Raw, our preferred converter, carries over the in-camera corrections, we converted the test shots into TIFF format with RawTherapee. We found the lens showed very slight pincushion distortion, although not enough to trouble most potential users. Very slight vignetting was detected at the widest aperture but disappeared by f/2.8.
Autofocusing was fast and accurate, even in very low light levels. The camera/lens combination locked onto subjects quickly for our long exposure tests after dark and never hunted for focus, regardless of the ISO setting or exposure time selected.
Although the minimum focusing distance of 35 cm makes this lens ill suited to close-up shooting, it can be used for close-up shots of large enough subjects. The f/2 maximum aperture combines with the nine-bladed iris diaphragm to produce smooth and attractive bokeh.
Conclusion
Owners of Fujfilm’s X-mount cameras faced with the choice between the faster f/1.4 lens and the cheaper (and newer) f/2 will likely be pondering their choices. Since both lenses are good performers, the following factors should help you to decide:
1. The XF 35mm f/2 R WR is weatherproof, while the XF 35mm f/1.4 R is not.
2. The XF 35mm f/1.4 R can focus slightly closer than the XF 35mm f/2 R WR.
3. The XF 35mm f/2 R WR is sharper at its widest apertures.
4. The XF 35mm f/1.4 R ships with a metal lens hood while the XF 35mm f/2 R WR’s hood is plastic.
5. The XF 35mm f/2 R WR is smaller and lighter than the XF 35mm f/1.4 R, although the differences between them are slight.
Compact and very affordable, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR is an excellent choice for street photography (as shown in our sample images) and also versatile enough to be used as the sole lens for travellers. A quick check on Australian online photo specialists’ websites show it can be had for between AU$530 and $550, which means it’s not worth shopping off-shore once currency conversion and shipping costs are accounted for.
SPECS
Picture angle: 44.2 degrees
Minimum aperture: f/16
Lens construction: 9 elements in 6 groups (including 2 aspherical lens element)
Lens mounts: Fujifilm XF
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)
Focus drive: Stepping motor driven internal focusing
Stabilisation: No
Minimum focus: 35 cm
Maximum magnification: 0.135x
Filter size: 43 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 60 x 45.9 mm
Weight: 170 grams
Standard Accessories: Lens front and end caps, lens hood, wrapping cloth
TESTS
(based on JPEG files from the Fujifilm X-Pro2)
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/2.
Rectilinear distortion.
Close-up; ISO 200, 1/8000 second at f/2.
Close-up; ISO 200, 1/2500 second at f/2.8.
Moderate backlighting; ISO 400, 1/1900 second at f/5.6.
ISO 200, 1/2500 second at f/4.
Crop from the above image showing corner sharpness.
ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/8.
Crop from the above image showing detail resolution.
ISO 200, 1/1000 second at f/5.
ISO 320, 1/1000 second at f/5.6.
ISO 200, 1/500 second at f/4.5.
ISO 200, 1/250 second at f/6.4.
ISO 400, 1/5400 second at f/4.
ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/7.1.
ISO 400, 1/320 second at f/4.
ISO 400, 1/280 second at f/4.
Additional image samples can be found with our review of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 camera.
Rating
RRP: AU$599; US$400
- Build: 8.8
- Handling: 8.6
- Image quality: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.6