why is the XF 14 so expensive? (in comparison)

[Old Salt]

The XF 14mm f/2.8 is generally considered a very fine ultra wide angle. It was also the fifth lens in the Fujifilm X-mount at the time of it’s announcement in September 2012. No compact, reasonably priced WR primes with quiet AF to compete with. The 14mm was arguably the most advanced lens in X-mount at the time of it’s launch.

A good wide angle is hard to make, a great one even harder. The 14mm is even quite compact and light... and has great performance! It will never sell in great numbers, it is too specialized, but great for architecture and landscape photography. Possibly for other purposes as well. So there you have it, the makings of a lens with a price.

 

[Street_Photography]

There is also the poor man's 14mm. Which is just as wide, perhaps a bit wider. It has OIS and modern focusing. Plus the bonus of a zoom, which can be very useful for landscapes. Sharpness is as good as any other lenses except for the edges. It is about $200 new on Ebay or you may find one split from a kit for $120. The 15-45mm feels like a plasticky toy but if perfect edge sharpness isn't a deal breaker it is at least worth looking into. I believe 2 people have posted comparison shots with the 14mm in this forum.

 

[sharkyyy]

The best lens, best corrected from fuji.

You cant compare xf 16 and xf 14. Construction of xf14 mm is more diffocult.

 

[Giovanni_1968]

The 14 along with the 35/1.4 is almost the only reason I keep a Fuji body, actually I might even upgrade just to use these two lenses; I also use a 20/1.8 on Nikon FF and often I shoot the two side to side and the Fuji does really really well, its limit is my first gen camera sensor otherwise it's a great lens!

 

[bemeta]

IMHO it is always difficult to evaluate the 'rightfulness' of a price of a product compared to a possibly significantly different (considering market, materials, development cost...), but similar alternative product.

The bandwith of the prices for for example the Touit 12, XF 14 and XF16/1.4 vary quite a lot (with frequent cashbacks etc) overlap and switch ranking, sometimes the Touit is the cheapest, sometimes by far the most expesive, the same goes for the other two lenses.