Subscribe! There’s a button around here somewhere 👇👈☝️👉
MUSIC
Morning Mandolin by Chris Haugen
TEXT
Hi everyone. Welcome back to one of my little lens reviews. I guess in a way all of my videos are sort of weird sideways reviews – but in this one I’ll make an extra effort to say a few useful things and let you know what I like about it.
Mine are not the most technical reviews – but hopefully these examples will be of interest to you.
And I’ll start with perhaps the least technical praise for the 18mm – I love it because it’s one of the smallest, slimmest Fuji lenses. It makes it perfect for street, travel, and really anytime you want your camera and lens combination to be as small as possible.
As with several Fuji lenses, I bought this many years ago and then sold it, after being a little unhappy with the autofocus speed. It has been many years since then, but I can still recall the sense of frustration as the lens hunted for focus. It wasn’t as bad as say the 35mm f1.4 back in the old days, but particularly when the light wasn’t great – it wasn’t great.
These early, frustrated experiences were while using the lens with some of the first X Series bodies – in particular the XT1.
I was using the XT1 in 2014 and I’ve enjoyed looking back on these photos from an engagement shoot in Venice in Italy from that year. Otherwise most of these photos are much more recent with my Fujifilm X-T3. My how things have changed in those six years. As I write this we’re on the eve of the X-T4 being released and the newer cameras have given this and other older lenses a new lease of life.
So, here’s one question you might ask – if you’re still thinking about the focus speed. Even with my XT3, can I tell it’s any slower than say the newer 23mm or 16mm WR lenses? To that my conclusive answer would have to be – possibly, but not really.
It’s just like being asked to judge the first few places in a 100m sprint race. From my personal experience they are all pretty darn fast now and I personally don’t need anything quicker or better in any way.
Having used the 18 almost every day for the past two months, I can happily say I have absolutely zero complaints. It was a joy to use and I love the look of the pictures it helped me take.
A quick word about the focal length itself. For anyone who has followed my photography on this channel you might know that for a long time my favourite everyday focal length has been the classic 35 on full frame and 23mm on my Fujis. I shoot with a 35 on my Nikon at weddings, I’ve taken various X100 cameras and their fixed 23s to a dozen countries around the world. But in the past six months or so I’ve started to appreciate a slightly wider focal length. I added the wide angle converter to my X100F, I fell in love with the Fujifilm Klasse W film camera and am now becoming rather attached to this 18mm f2 lens.
I would add that it wouldn’t really be my first choice for portraits – as you can see most of these are just everyday street scenes. If you want a wide-ish Fuji lens for portraits I’d guide you towards the 23mm f1.4 which is beautiful, but a fair bit bigger.
Also, this 18 doesn’t have the weather resistance of some of the newer lenses in the Fuji lineup. But I will give you a tip to avoid getting your lens damaged by rain – the secret is in these blue skies. Try not to go to rainy places – why would people even do that?
Thank you very much for watching. Please consider subscribing – here’s a button for that around here somewhere. See you soon!
AloJapan.com