Fujifilm XF 18mm F1.4 R LM WR Review

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Scuffer wrote:

I was one of the first people to get the 18 1.4. I took it on a trip and was satisfied with the results I got but as time went on it started to seem not very sharp. I tested the lens on a tripod against my 23 1.4. The 18 1.4 was not even close in terms of sharpness. Screw heads that were really sharp on the 23 were just a blur on the 18 1.4. A couple of times while the camera (X Pro 3) indicated the image was in focus the resulting photograph was not in focus. Since it's beyond the time I could return the lens I had to ship it to Fuji for repair. The very friendly fellow I spoke with said they had not had any 18's in for repair so he knew of no issues. Bummer to hear they have no repair parts. I'm waiting for them to get the lens back to me. I'm sure they will get it sorted out. Just not sure when.

Sorry to hear you got a dud. The guy at Fuji I talked to that said that since they don’t have parts yet, they would just replace it (once they got one to replace it with). Good luck, you must have an exceptional 23 f/1.4 (don’t sell it). I’ve had three copies of the 23 and none were anywhere near as sharp as the new 18, not even in the same zip code.

There are only a handful of great Fuji primes (for my taste)-

16/1.4

35/1.4

56/1.2

90mm

All others are good (35/2) or mediocre (23/2 - lot of sample variation)

Someone else's milage might vary of course.