After much waiting we finally get a new Fujicron lens! Warm welcome to the 16mm f2.8, a nice wide-angle addition (24mm equivalent) to the lineup.
For some time there were rumors of an updated 18mm f/2 lens, but it looks like Fuji have put that on hold. Sorry 28mm fans.
Is the 16mm f2.8 really a Fujicron if it’s f2.8 instead of f2? It’s weather sealed, has silent and fast autofocus, is compact, tapers to avoid the OVF of an X-Pro series, and it’s got a funky lens hood. So I say yes 🙂
There’s always a trade-off between aperture size and compactness of the lens; an f2 version would have been nice but likely would have pushed the size and weight too close to the 16mm f1.4 lens.
Fuji 16mm f1.4 vs 16m f2.8
Should you get the f1.4 version or the f2.8 ‘Fujicron’ version? It depends on your priorities.
The f1.4 lens has the larger aperture, so if you want the blurriest background possible there’s only one option. The optical quality of the 1.4 is also better, with the newer f2.8 lens needing (automatic) software correction because of it’s smaller design. Both are perfectly adequate lenses of course, Fuji is not known for poor lens design.
Both focus on very close subjects, and have silent, speedy autofocus. Both are weather sealed when used with a weather sealed camera.
The Fujicron lens is smaller, and weighs less than half of the f1.4 (155g vs 375g). It’s price point is also less than half of the f1.4, at an MSRP of $399 vs $999. Note that Fuji does occasionally hold sales where the f1.4 can drop to as low as $749.
Money is the biggest factor for me, and probably other fujicron fans. That extra $600 could get you a nice vacation to take more photos. But if you need the absolute highest in image quality, the f1.4 is a beautiful lens.
The f1.4 used to be my go-to wide angle for travel, but I’ll be happy to use the much lighter (and cheaper) f2.8 version.
Fujifilm XF16mm f2.8 Review Roundup
There’s not too many reviews of the 16mm Fujicron yet, let’s hope more roll out as the lens is released (let me know if I missed one). I’ll add mine when my lens gets in!
If it’s anything like the other Fujicrons, we’ll be more than happy with it’s performance to price ratio.
- Matt Day – First Look (YouTube)
- The Phoblographer – First Impressions: Fujifilm XF 16mm f2.8
- Jonas Rask – Compact Impact – The Fujinon XF16mm f2.8 review
- Fujilove – Review: XF16mm f/2.8