Buy 16-55mm f/2.8 or primes lenses with X-H1?

None of the lenses you mention has stabilisation, so any of them would make a good match with the X-H1.  You say you don't do much wide-angle work, but the 16 - 55 might change your mind.

Kenneth Almquist wrote:

I currently use a Nikon D7200, but with the price of the X-H1 dropping to $999 I've decided to try out a mirrorless system. My initial thought was to buy the 35mm f/2 lens, with the intention of buying the 50mm f/2 lens if I liked the camera. (I don't do much shooting at wide angles.) However, if I buy it with the camera, I can get the 16-55mm f/2.8 lens for $699 (rather than the regular price of $1199). Any thoughts on which way I should go?

The 16-55 is an excellent lens, many say it's too large and heavy but that's on the XT bodies, they also don't get stabilization.  On the X-H1 it is better balanced, I never found it 'too heavy' - but then I've used much heavier lenses on FF in the past.

I have sold mine on though, as I do tend to prefer primes.  I bought the 16mm f/1.4 and it is a oy to use, I find it much more of a fun lens than the zoom for my style of photography - close ups, still life, textures etc ... that is one area the zoom didn't thrill me about.  I always wished it could focus in closer with better magnification.   What is great about it though is that it is sharp at 2.8 and all focal lengths, it is very versatile and would cover you for most general scenarios.  But, for me the 16 1.4 and either a 35F2 or the 50F2 works out better.

I got the camera and the 16-55mm lens. It's bigger than the Nikon D7200, but doesn't weight much more. The only thing I overlooked was that the camera doesn't come with a USB cable, so I should have added one to the order.

The IBIS seems to work well. Below is the same scene shot with both the X-H1 and the D7200.

Nighttime shot using X-H1 and 16-55m f/2.8 lens

Same scene shot with Nikon D7200 and Tamron 45mm f/1.8 lens.

The Tamron lens used with the Nikon has a wider aperture than the Fuji, but the X-H1 is able to stabilize the longer exposure.

According to Bill Claff's site, the D7200 has a PDR of about 7 at the ISO 1600 setting, whereas the X-H1 has the same PDR of about 7 at the ISO 2500 setting.  So I really should have used ISO 2500 rather than ISO 2000 on the Fuji to get equivalent settings.

Get the 16-55 asap before this price change, it's one of the best lens you can get in fuji world. Unless you need brighter 1.4 lenses like the 16 and 23mm f1. 4 that are also superb

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Kenneth Almquist wrote:

I got the camera and the 16-55mm lens. It's bigger than the Nikon D7200, but doesn't weight much more. The only thing I overlooked was that the camera doesn't come with a USB cable, so I should have added one to the order.

The IBIS seems to work well. Below is the same scene shot with both the X-H1 and the D7200.

Nighttime shot using X-H1 and 16-55m f/2.8 lens

Same scene shot with Nikon D7200 and Tamron 45mm f/1.8 lens.

The Tamron lens used with the Nikon has a wider aperture than the Fuji, but the X-H1 is able to stabilize the longer exposure.

According to Bill Claff's site, the D7200 has a PDR of about 7 at the ISO 1600 setting, whereas the X-H1 has the same PDR of about 7 at the ISO 2500 setting. So I really should have used ISO 2500 rather than ISO 2000 on the Fuji to get equivalent settings.

The D7200 is actually slightly larger, they both weight about the same.  I wouldn't worry about any kind of equivalence, just go by what the camera tells you.  They are both APSC so the ISO is the same for both, Fuji just handle it different to Nikon

Kenneth Almquist wrote:

I got the camera and the 16-55mm lens. It's bigger than the Nikon D7200, but doesn't weight much more. The only thing I overlooked was that the camera doesn't come with a USB cable, so I should have added one to the order.

The IBIS seems to work well. Below is the same scene shot with both the X-H1 and the D7200.

Nighttime shot using X-H1 and 16-55m f/2.8 lens

Same scene shot with Nikon D7200 and Tamron 45mm f/1.8 lens.

The Tamron lens used with the Nikon has a wider aperture than the Fuji, but the X-H1 is able to stabilize the longer exposure.

According to Bill Claff's site, the D7200 has a PDR of about 7 at the ISO 1600 setting, whereas the X-H1 has the same PDR of about 7 at the ISO 2500 setting. So I really should have used ISO 2500 rather than ISO 2000 on the Fuji to get equivalent settings.

I say fooee to equivalence.  Shoot each camera to get the best out of each, and then decide which you like best.

One has an aperture advantage, one has IBIS, one has face recognition, one has...

Cagey75 wrote:

The D7200 is actually slightly larger, they both weight about the same. I wouldn't worry about any kind of equivalence, just go by what the camera tells you. They are both APSC so the ISO is the same for both, Fuji just handle it different to Nikon

I bought the kit with the grip, so I was comparing the D7200 without a grip to the X-H1 with a grip. I should have made that clear.

Fuji ISO values are SES (Standard Output Sensitivity) values, whereas Nikon ISO values are REI (Recommended Exposure Index) values, so they aren't directly comparable. But if you are using the camera's metering system for exposure, then the only reason you care about ISO is noise. For that, you add 2/3 of a stop to the D7200 ISO number: for example a picture taken at ISO 1250 on the X-H1 will have about the same amount of noise as a picture taken at ISO 800 on the D7200. (This only works if the X-H1 ISO number is 800 or higher.)

Thanks to everybody who replied.  I marked one reply as the answer since that seems to be how the system works, but I appreciate all of the contributions.