Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR First Impression

Until recently I’ve hesitated on purchasing Fuji glass, here are my honest thoughts.

I’d like to start with an extremely brief introduction, I’m Anthony, a Virginia based photographer who primarily focuses on street photography and taking photos of my cat. Great, now that’s out of the way - I’d like to get into this lens. Straight away, I’m very impressed with the quality of images that I’m receiving. Having solely relied on third party lenses for my Fuji XM-5 I quite frankly didn’t know what I was missing.

Found a restaurant conveniently located about 45 seconds from my parking space. I just liked the colors here.

The 1.4 aperture really gives me a lot of flexibility in lower light conditions. I was lucky enough to have a fairly overcast day and push it a bit in the evening.

My previous lens (Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8) was fine in most conditions, but I noticed it was difficult to work with in low light settings.

It’s also lightning fast. I’m not sure if other photographers notice this when switching to a Fuji lens, but this one just feels quick to focus. On top of that, the build quality feels premium — it has a nice, substantial weight to it. I get that some people prefer smaller, more compact lenses, which makes sense, but this doesn’t feel bulky at all. That little bit of heft actually reinforces the feeling that it’s a high-quality, “premium” lens.

Bottom line: I’m really enjoying this lens. Was it worth the money? For me, yes. Are there other high-quality lenses that cost less? Absolutely. But I’m planning to keep this one on my camera for a while and will share updates if anything changes. If you can swing the price, I’d say go for it.