FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO640)
I just returned from another two weeks business trip to South East Asia. It was the first time with my new Fuji 1.4/23. I don’t know how I was able to live without this lens. You think I’m over-exaggerating. No – I’m not.
This time I traveled to Bangkok, Hanoi, HCMC, Jakarta, Bandung and KL but the best photo opportunity I had on the very first day. I arrived in Bangkok at about 8am. I went to the hotel, took a shower and went straight to Wat Pho, a gigantic golden statue of a lying Buddha located next to the Grand Palace. I have been there before on my very first trip to Bangkok. It is a truly impressive sight. The gold is not golden paint – it is real. The whole Buddha is covered with beat gold.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO3200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1600)
When I arrived I was shocked by the high number of visitors close to the Grand Palace. Because of all the tour buses the roads were blocked. My driver recommended that I should walk the last couple of 100 meters. So I jumped out to get there. I already changed my mind to visit the Grand Palace. I simply wasn’t in the mood for thousands of tourists but I had to see Wat Pho again.
Of course I started to shoot with my favorite lens from Fuji the truly outstanding Fuji XF2.8/14. The place is very tight. The building is hardly bigger than the Buddha statue and there are lots of visitors. Because of the enormous height you need to tilt the camera in order to get the whole statue into the frame. Not the best conditions to make good images. And despite all the gold the place is rather dark on a cloudy day. I’m wondering how all this smartphones and tablets handle this rather tricky situation.
Sometimes you need to be patient or lucky or both. I wanted a visitor to look up to the big Buddha to give an idea about its scale but the tourists are too busy to put coins in the jars at the back of the Buddha. Nobody was looking up. I was close to give up when I saw a monk coming next to me and staring up to the statue. I quickly framed the picture and pushed the button. Of course that’s much better than a tourist. The fact that the monk is obviously a foreigner only adds to it. I was wondering what his story is but I didn’t want to disturb him in his prayers.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
I was already shooting for I while till I realized that I have a new lens in my bag that should work perfectly here. The Fuji XF 1.4/23. A lens that gives the 35mm view I used to love so much when I shot with my Fuji X100. It’s long enough to let you focus on details but wide enough to allow for context. But the 1.4/23 is also fast enough to beautifully blur busy backgrounds and the Bokeh (the quality of the out of focus parts) is excellent.
It is amazing what this lens can do. The Fuji 18-55 is a great lens and its quality is impressive for a kit zoom but shot at 23mm it can not be compared to the 1.4/23. The prime is on a different planet! And much more important: It is 2.5 stops faster. So it can’t be compared to the 18-55 zoom shot at 23mm but how does it compare to the lens of the Fuji X100 cameras. Instead of buying this rather pricey lens you can also get a X100T or S or just the X100 second hand to have a second camera. So how do they compare?
I still own the original X100 and in a very unscientific way by just comparing the shots I got with the 1.4/23 on my vacation in the USA and now on my business trip in SEA I would say that the 1.4/23 is better. The lens is sharper wide open and Bokeh is more creamy when shot at the same aperture.
I would not recommend the X100/S/T as a second body anyway. Don’t get me wrong. It is a perfect camera to compliment a Fuji X system camera (especially for its very special shooting experience) but I would not use it as a spare body on a longer trip. When the main camera becomes defective I would be stuck with the “35mm” lens that’s built in the X100/S/T and the other lenses would become useless for the rest of the trip. Because of that fact I rather take the 23mm plus a second system camera body on a long vacation.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
The build quality is excellent too. The lens feels much better and expensive than my Fuji XF2.8/14. Not just the aperture ring which hasn’t the loose feel of the one on the 14mm lens. It is much better now but I would still prefer it would be a tad stiffer. But that’s nitpicking.
So everything’s just perfect. Not exactly. Unfortunately the lens comes with the ugliest lens hood ever. No doubt it is an effective design but it is so ugly that I refuse to use it in all but bright sunlight. I haven’t found a replacement yet and I’m not cool enough to file off the stupidly long ends of the hood. I might do so if I can’t find a third party hood that fits. Fuji should offer the nice hoods they make for the 18mm and 35mm lens.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
I have to admit that I don’t like the idea that the new released lenses from Fuji are much bigger and heavier than the lenses that Fuji introduced together with the X Pro-1 when the started their system. It was what attracted my to this system in the first place: A small and light camera with small and light lenses.
I wasn’t excited when I hold the 1.4/23 in my hands for the first time. The lens seemed too big and too heavy for my taste and its lens hood didn’t help either to sell it to me but the reason I bought it was the images I have seen posted on the internet. This lens can produce an amazing look. I owned the Canon 1.4/35L and loved it. I shot it at f2 or f2.8 most of the time because at f1.4 DOF was too shallow but on a crop sensor f1.4 makes perfect sense. This lens can create a look that comes very, very close to what you can do with full frame cameras and in case of the Sony RX1 it does practically the same because the RX1 lens is “only” f2.0. Compared to the current offering for Sony’s A7 cameras the results are even better because the Zeiss lens is only f2.8! This is also better than my Canon 6D can do with the 24-70 II.
Take a look at the picture above. It’s shot at f1.4 and it shows what I was trying to say. The statue is beautifully separated from the background. The background remains recognizable but it’s not too busy to distract from the subject. The same picture shot with the kit zoom would look completely different.
Or in short: The Fuji XF 1.4/23 can give amazing results. It can give a very special look. I was complaining about the weight and size but I think Fuji was right to make the 23mm an f1.4 lens. It is such an amazing lens.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2.8, 1/105 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec, ISO200)