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 with 10 years of experience shooting events and portraits. 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.