Should I get the 23mm f2?

[TheJeff]

I have the X-T10 since August, I absolutly love this camera after years of D90, it came with XC 16-50 and 50-230, sold the later as I have no use for it.

The xc 16-50 is very good but feel a prime lens like the new 23mm f2 could give me more fun, IQ and will push me to advance my photography skills.

By IQ I am not only talking sharpness but also contrast,microcontrast,tonality,colors...

What do you think? should I get one or keep my money ?

[Warwick]

Mine has been glued to my X-Pro2 since I bought it. It's small, it's light and it's great for people pictures. I use it for almost everything, except where I have a 'specialist' need

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tikcus]

Why do you want that focal length?

What pictures do you want to take?

 

When I look at a photograph, I don't look at the IQ

 

I look at the meaning, the emotion, what's been captured and why

 

Pretty pictures are nice (and most cameras and lenses can capture them) , but the reason for taking the picture is more important for me, what it says about the place, what's happening and the photographer

Edited December 10, 2016 by Tikcus

[TheJeff]

Why do you want that focal length?

What pictures do you want to take?

 

When I look at a photograph, I don't look at the IQ

 

I look at the meaning, the emotion, what's been captured and why

 

Pretty pictures are nice (and most cameras and lenses can capture them) , but the reason for taking the picture is more important for me, what it says about the place, what's happening and the photographer

 

Well it's a focal I can easily adapt to as my majority of photos are between 16 and 27mm, also at 450$ it suits my tiny budget.

For landscapes (80%) ,street/urban (10%) and environmental portraits (10%)

[johant]

Well it's a focal I can easily adapt to as my majority of photos are between 16 and 27mm, also at 450$ it suits my tiny budget.

For landscapes (80%) ,street/urban (10%) and environmental portraits (10%)

Between 16mm and 27mm is a large stretch ... put your lens on 23mm for a full week, and decide then. Or better, also put it on e.g. 18mm and 27mm for a week.

[TheJeff]

Between 16mm and 27mm is a large stretch ... put your lens on 23mm for a full week, and decide then. Or better, also put it on e.g. 18mm and 27mm for a week.

 

Did that already and it's good focal for me, in a very few situations I would miss the 16mm of the 16-50 but I can always stitch

[Nick05]

For me, I find that the prime lenses force to me to be more creative. If i have a zoom lens, I may stand in one spot and adjust the zoom to compose the image. Using a prime forces me to move my feet, bend down, stand on a rock, whatever is needed to get the desired composition. I have the 23mm F/2 and it is a nice lens. I prefer the 35mm, only because the focal length works better for me more often. Going on what you said in your post, it doesn't sound like you are someone who is just out to collect photographic gear. If you have the zoom kit lens, I think adding the 23mm F/2 would be a good idea. The F/2 aperture should help with creativity and lowlight shooting. The colors, sharpness, and contrast would be better. The money saving advice I'd offer is that if you live in an area that participates in the Fujifilm sales, it may be in the next one at a discounted price going on what I've seen with the 35mm F/2.

[Warwick]

A couple of shots taken with the 23mm f2 in the few weeks since I bought it. It's a nice lens for capturing daily life

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited December 10, 2016 by Warwick

[TheJeff]

For me, I find that the prime lenses force to me to be more creative. If i have a zoom lens, I may stand in one spot and adjust the zoom to compose the image. Using a prime forces me to move my feet, bend down, stand on a rock, whatever is needed to get the desired composition. I have the 23mm F/2 and it is a nice lens. I prefer the 35mm, only because the focal length works better for me more often. Going on what you said in your post, it doesn't sound like you are someone who is just out to collect photographic gear. If you have the zoom kit lens, I think adding the 23mm F/2 would be a good idea. The F/2 aperture should help with creativity and lowlight shooting. The colors, sharpness, and contrast would be better. The money saving advice I'd offer is that if you live in an area that participates in the Fujifilm sales, it may be in the next one at a discounted price going on what I've seen with the 35mm F/2.

 

They did 10% on black Friday but they didn't have the 23mm f2 yet, the 23mm f1.4 was at 585$ still too expensive for 1 stop gain, some people say it has more microcontrast than the f2 making photos more lively, don't know if it's true.

I think they won't do promotions before February even Summer (it's a dead season for photography here)

 

A couple of shots taken with the 23mm f2 in the few weeks since I bought it. It's a nice lens for capturing daily life

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Nice shots, whatever I do with the 16-50 I can't get this level of B&W magic

What about landscapes? You think it's a good lens for that?

[Warwick]

I don't do much landscape photography but I don't see why the 23mm wouldn't be fine for that. It's not as wide as, say, a Samyang 12mm, which people really rate for landscape, but the slight constraint will force you to be creative - look for strong foreground subjects for your landscape maybe.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TheJeff]

Downloaded raw from a youtube video taken with the 23mm f2 and I must say the IQ is excellent!

The reviewer said the bottle bokeh test gave better results with his nikon but I think he developed both raw from both lenses under Lightroom which is known to be soft with all Fuji X Rafs.

I opened his bottle test photo taken at f2 with Capture One and used my usual sharpness and clarity levels (that I use with 16-50) and I have found the result very detailed.

Now that I want this lens for Christmas there is a shortage in my country Lebanon, and no idea if they will have before Christmas

[nladha]

So torn between this lens and 18 to 55

[Warwick]

I'd go for the 23. It makes your camera much smaller, which means you're more likely to take it with you to more places without feeling conspicuous, which means more pictures

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited December 16, 2016 by Warwick

[Phil]

So torn between this lens and 18 to 55

 

 

What other lenses do you have? Those two are very different; personally, I'd take the 23mm hands down.

[mdm]

What do you think? should I get one or keep my money ?

 

Please get 23f2 and save money on dinner. You'll feel better, move with ease and have great shots.

[nladha]

What other lenses do you have? Those two are very different; personally, I'd take the 23mm hands down.

I don't have any other lens just a body and dying to shoot

[MirrorMirror]

I wouldn't get the 23, I'd buy a X100T for that. Get the f1.4 35mm and have done.

[Warwick]

Buying a 35mm lens and an X100T would be expensive (around £1300 for the lens plus the camera, versus around £370 for the 23mm f2). If you're keeping just one body for now, the 35mm 1.4 is a beautiful lens - but personally I find the 23mm more versatile for more purposes if I'm going out with just one lens.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited December 17, 2016 by Warwick

[johant]

I don't have any other lens just a body and dying to shoot

Then either the 23mm or 27mm would be an excellent starter lens, IMHO.

[Warwick]

Yes - I forgot about the 27

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RogerB]

I have the X-T10 since August, I absolutly love this camera after years of D90, it came with XC 16-50 and 50-230, sold the later as I have no use for it.

The xc 16-50 is very good but feel a prime lens like the new 23mm f2 could give me more fun, IQ and will push me to advance my photography skills.

By IQ I am not only talking sharpness but also contrast,microcontrast,tonality,colors...

What do you think? should I get one or keep my money ?

 

Not always does one size fit all. It sounds like you've done your focal length research. I have both the 23mm f/1.4 and 23mm f/2 on a XP2. Since you have the X-T10, a smaller footprint camera, I'd support the 23mm f/2. However from your last statement about contrast, microcontrast, tonality, etc. in my experience the 23mm f/1.4 is slightly better. I use my 23mm f/1.4 primarily for landscape stitching and family environmental portraits as I also like the manual focus clutch. There are a few more software corrections on the 23mm f/2 that can mess in a small way with the stitching, however on my XPro2, this is really the best for street and single frame pictures like family/friends/environment - the XP2 does really weigh this for me (small size and small shade, ease of carry).

 

Because of the budget, already small camera, I'd still go with the 23mm f/2. We're really splitting hairs on the software corrections and they don't matter in a single frame (IMO for largely people pictures). You can get this lens sooner because of cost. It will always be a valuable lens. Any experience you gain with this lens is going to make you a better photographer and make the next choice much easier. I really like this lens, I'm strongly biased by the way it fits an XP2, I'm guessing your experience with the smaller XT10 will be much the same.

 

Best Regards,

Roger

[Murray Foote]

I have one on order even though the 23mm f1.4 has a reputation for somewhat better image quality. It all depends what you want from the lens.  I'm after one because it's small, light and weather protected.  I have it in mind for a long walk of many days in extreme weather conditions and it may be a replacement for my X100S when I don't want to have too many cameras with me.

 

In terms of using just the 23mm focal length, you may be interested in my trip in 2011 to New York where I just had an original X100.  (If you go through page by page there's one page not from New York and not with the X100).

[drushka]

I just got back from a vacation and want to share my experience. I can confirm that 23mm is a great focal length for both casual shooting and landscape. I carried my 18-55 and a 12mm and ended up using 23mm most of the time, not missing a thing.

 

It was very sunny so quite often I found myself shooting at fast shutter speeds. Frequently, I would shoot against the light or a reflection in some way, having to either blow out a part of my image or use a fill flash. For this purpose, I had a flash transmitter bolted on to my camera and a flash at my hip to pull out at a moment's notice.

 

I would encourage you to take a hard look at the X100 series (I have the X100T for WiFi and editing with Snapseed on the go) because it enables you to shoot at wider apertures with lower flash power (1/32 for direct fill flash, 1/8 for bounce in midday), saving battery while on the go.

 

In comparison, shooting flash against an already darkening sunset sky with my X-T10, I had to set the flash to full power because to reach the flash sync speed of 1/250 I had to stop down to F8 or F11.

 

Below a sample landscape shot and a fill flash shot from my X100T. Both are very lightly edited, basically SOOC for time and demonstration purposes, please do not take these as examples of my work.
The portrait would be a black outline without the flash, I bounced this one at F2, 1/1000s, 1/8 power on a YN560IV.

 

PS: Since you mentioned price, have a look at the X100S, it's 16MP Xtrans like the X-T10 (unlike the original X100, which is 12MP and Bayer) you should be able to find it used for around $450 to $500, and you don't have to swap lenses because you get the body for free!   

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Edited December 26, 2016 by drushka

[Mik]

I bought one about a month ago ( 23mm f2) and it lives on my X-E2.

 

What's extra nice about it is really fast focus too.

 

Love this lens 

[Warwick]

Some more with the 23mm f2

Taken in natural light: bright sun behind me, grey rainclouds ahead

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited May 1, 2017 by Warwick