Advice for XF lens range 16mm-18mm

Hi Everyone!

I mostly shoot streets and people. I had before xf16mm f1.4, xf35mm f1.4 and xf56mm f1.2 lenses. I made kind a perfect trio for me. I dont like much using zoom lenses because they get me lazy (of course for nature, zoom lenses are very suitable to use such as 55-200mm).

Because of shooting streets and people, i didnt use much xf16mm f1.4, so i sold it and bought 90mm f2. It is a really great lens and i loved it!

These days i m interested in landscape photography again, long exposures, maybe some astrophotography too (not much if we compare with first two causes). And i m thinking of using a lens which has range around 16-18mm.

For me, sharpness is very important. Thats why i m using prime lenses. I have done some research and get confused which lens could be best me for this purpose.

Let me tell you my opinions first about some lenses and if you could tell me your opinion for them or adding another one, i will be very pleased.

xf 18mm f2:  i thought about this lens at first but there are many complains about it, even if some people should think that fujifilm should produce kind of version 2 of it.

xf 18-55mm: as i said before, i m not a zoom lens guy but if you told me that this lens is the best sharpest at this range, i could get it for this purpose.

xf 10-24mm f4: i dont have much opinion about this lens, but i m sure that i will not be interested in shooting wider than 16mm (maybe 14mm). but if you may say that this is the best sharpest, i will consider buying it.

xf 14mm f2.8: many people said that this lens is incredibly sharp. Wider than i wanted to use, but i could get it too. On the other hand, its price is really close to xf16mm f1.4, so i dont know

xf 16mm f2.8: i thought buying this lens before, but when i watched and read reviews about it, people told that its not sharp lens. Good lens for landscape, especially for travel because of being only 155gr. but as i said before, i dont wanna use a lens that will have a problem about sharpness.

xf16mm f1.4: i left this lens last one but i m almost sure that you will advice me to buy this lens I had it before, not much used it, so really i cant tell anything about it. ı could only tell that it is quite heavy when you compare with others and i m not sure using wide aperture if i ll capture landscape with it. of course maybe some day i would want to use it on streets or for portrait and it is great for astrophotography. This lens seems to be great but for travel, for landscape it is necessary or not, i dont know. xf16mm f2.8 is better for travel option but people told that it is not sharp lens as f1.4 or xf14mm f2.8

Your advices are very precious for me. Thanks for your comment!

IMO, the sharpest 16mm options for landscapes are both zooms, both heavy and both expensive too - the 16-55 and 8-16. Both are presently heavily discounted at the moment. The little 16 f/2.8 is quite good stopped down a bit.

nemendes wrote:

Hi Everyone!

xf 16mm f2.8: i thought buying this lens before, but when i watched and read reviews about it, people told that its not sharp lens. Good lens for landscape, especially for travel because of being only 155gr. but as i said before, i dont wanna use a lens that will have a problem about sharpness.

Your advices are very precious for me. Thanks for your comment!

I own the 16mm f 2.8 which is ultra sharp in the center Below from lenstip

tested with 24mpx sensor

and f 1.4 tested with 16mpx sensor so lpm numbers are not comprable directly

Taking into account the sensor the F 2 behave the same than f 1.4 and is even sharper in the center

The center at f 2.8 is very decent. So all in all in terms of shrpness the small one is very close to the big one. It is in no way alens with a subpar sharpness

For astro photo try to contact MOD Jerry

Othetwise for me the small 16mm f2.8 is really very good given size weight price

Snappy AF, silent WR superb built

Yes not perfect but lenTip is avery serious site and that meets my observations

I had the 16 2.8 and it was VERY sharp. However, I found it a bit too wide for my style of street photography... even an 18mm would be pushing it for me. I prefer 35/40/50...

baobob wrote:

nemendes wrote:

Hi Everyone!

xf 16mm f2.8: i thought buying this lens before, but when i watched and read reviews about it, people told that its not sharp lens. Good lens for landscape, especially for travel because of being only 155gr. but as i said before, i dont wanna use a lens that will have a problem about sharpness.

Your advices are very precious for me. Thanks for your comment!

I own the 16mm f 2.8 which is ultra sharp in the center Below from lenstip

tested with 24mpx sensor

and f 1.4 tested with 16mpx sensor so lpm numbers are not comprable directly

Taking into account the sensor the F 2 behave the same than f 1.4 and is even sharper in the center

The center at f 2.8 is very decent. So all in all in terms of shrpness the small one is very close to the big one. It is in no way alens with a subpar sharpness

I'm not sure about lenstip's tests https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63573100