Fuji 23 1.4 WR as ‘35-50mm’ zoom

Andrewcn wrote:

I’m thinking of buying the 23 1.4 WR to cover the focal lengths 35, 40 and 50mm. I would make to of the sports finder mode and the1.4 digital crop.

Are there any downsides to this? I only print up to A3 and so the loss of resolution shouldn’t matter.

90% of what I shoot is in this focal range and it seems a good, lightweight, one lens coption.

Comments please.

Actually there is not a lot of difference between a  35 mm and a 50 mm lenses. They are close.   They are almost too close to carry both.  As far as FOV when not at "infinity" they are only a few steps. That is why many fixed lens cameras, e.g., the F100V,  use a 35 mm lens - it is a good compromise for a fixed lens camera.  I personally find the 35 a somewhat boring focal length and only have one for when I am limited in movement, my 50 is too long and my 28 is too short.

Some people love the 35 and consider it the Goldilocks focal length.  If you primarily shoot in the 35 to 50 range then your approach would work just fine.  It allow you to simplify your "messing with the camera" and allow you to focus more on your subject and the story you want to tell.  If you have freedom of movement - a few steps either direction will serve you well.  I seriously doubt that will many will notice any slight difference in perspective and in reality perspective is as much a matter of distance to the subject as focal length.

It does not cost anything to find out and if you fine you would like to add a different lens later then you can do so.  Leica has a digital crop mode for its Q2/Q2M.  With their 47 MP sensor that is plenty of resolution to crop - especially in the monochrome camera.  The Jpegs respect the crop and the metering respects the crop - I don't know about Fuji.  I don't know which Fuji camera you are using. However, the 26 MP sensor is more than enough to support this approach.  The 40 MP is overkill for it in terms of pure resolution, but the 40 has some other advantages for this approach.

Try it and see how it works.