Test of the Fujinon XF 23mm f2.8 R WR on the Fujifilm X-PRO 3
During a Fujifilm Event at the fabulous X-DEN showroom in Düsseldorf, I got the opportunity to test the NEW Fujinon XF 23mm f2.8 R WR lens during a Photo Walk.
The NEW Fujinon XF 23mm f2.8 R WR will be soon sold only as a kit lens to the also NEW Fujifilm X-E5 camera. Fujifilm announced, that at the end of this year the NEW pancake lens will be also separately available.
I am deep into travel and street photography and I hate it to carry around a dedicated photo bag. I choose for a trip one lens and love to carry my camera, secured by a robust wrist strap, always with me in my hands. That way I am fast and ready to miss no image opportunity.
The Fujinon XF 23mm f2.8 R WR is a perfect lens for this use case. Compact, lightweight, fast autofocus and with the focal length of 23mm (FF 35mm) which we call a wide-angle lens but not that wide that taking images of people will create weird proportions by distortions. It is a focal length that works well for architecture, people, landscape and all kinds of urban photography. In the street photography 23mm will give a little bit more room to the scene. The interaction between people can be photographed easily. Link to the Technical Specs
I used that lens on a photo walk in the center of Düsseldorf, named the “Alt Stadt”. I tried to take pictures of all kinds of objects, textures and people to be able to see any distortions or resolution issues. I have also chosen to take pictures at the maximum opening of f2.8 to be able to judge the quality of the bokeh this lens can produce. To see the difference, I sometimes took the same image also with aperture f8 where the maximum performance in relation to sharpness and contrast of this lens should be reached. Please have a close look to the images and judge yourself.
All in all, my findings are: This lens is well build, the autofocus is fast and to the point and very silent. The aperture ring well damped with 1/3 click steps and easy to set into automatic mode. Even without lens hood the lens does not pick up much straylight and the images are even wide open at f2.8 sharp till into the corners. The lens resolution is from f4 to f8 at its peak and outstanding for such a small lens. Also, color rendering and contrast supports my very positive impression. It’s a compact but very modern lens. For the use case travel and street photography the XF 23mm f2.8 R WR is even dust and weather sealed. A perfect always on lens. I hope Fujifilm will not wait too long to sell it as a separate item without the bundle, I will be first in queue to buy one.
