New XP1 user: lens advice - Buy 18 f2 now or wait for upcoming optics

I love my 60mm macro lens - it's on the X-Pro 1 most of the time now, and that's from a standpoint of not really enjoying using it when I first bought it and thought it was a mistake! It is a lot slower to focus than the others though, but suits my style of photography, in which I prefer to concentrate on details and close portraits.

The 18mm is great, but I'm not really a wide-angle photographer so mine doesn't get all that much use. It is very quick to focus and despite what anyone says, the IQ is excellent - we're not talking about a £1200 Nikon or Canon L priced lens, it's (less than) half that, but certainly not less than half the performance.

I wouldn't hold out much hope of seeing the 14mm before the start of next year to be honest. You might be lucky and get one by the end of the year, but I wouldn't bet on it.

The Zeiss lenses I fear are going to be very expensive in comparison to the Fuji lenses, though it might be worth considering the 12mm, that won't be out before Spring 2013 at the very earliest and more than likely Summer.

I was surprised by the feel and IQ of the 18-55mm lens. Not really up to the 18mm prime though, but then it isn't really designed to be.

Overall, I don't think you can go far wrong with the 18mm if you're someone who uses that sort of focal length a lot. IQ is great. Yes it has CA issues wide open, but many wide angle lenses do, and it only really shows up in bright background/sunlight situations, where you're not likely to be using f/2 anyway in real-world shooting. Get the 18mm, enjoy it and worry about the others when they come along!

Matt
http://www.photomadd.com