In my real world testing I had no way of verifying this claim and besides, most photographers take these kinds of blanket statements with a huge pinch of salt, but certainly I found the autofocusing of this lens to be noticeably faster when compared to other lenses in the Fuji line up. delivers a shallower depth-of-field and smoother rendering, and while it won't focus as close, it remains sharper at all distances and apertures.

If you use the supplied the lens hood, it’s kept to a minimum, but in some situations it’s unavoidable - whether this is a problem is likely to be down to the individual, some like the effects lens flare creates. The lens is just not pretty 😛 However, the weather resistance is a neat feature but only then useful if paired with a weather-resistant body. The general shape of the lens is something one needs to get used to but in my eyes, it is not as worse as some people claim! This is something you will notice a great deal if you want to create subject separation because you’re going to have to get really close to your subject. This isn’t often a major issue for street photographers, though, and sometimes could be more noticeable.Like all of Fujifilm’s prime lenses to date, the XF 23mm f2 does not offer optical stabilisation, so since none of the bodies at the time of writing offered built-in stabilisation either, you’ll need to be aware of minimum shutter speeds to avoid camera-shake; videographers wanting to iron-out any wobbles will need to use third party stabilising rigs. No matter what you shoot, no matter what light you shoot in, you will get incredible performance from these lenses. After the break, we will take a quick look at the similarities and the differences between the two lenses so that you can make a better decision about which one is right for you.

If you plan on doing portraiture and only a bit of street photography, for instance, we would recommend the 35mm f2 over the 23mm f2. Happily I found this lens produced beautiful images, which remained incredibly sharp with wonderful bokeh, throughout the aperture range. Street photography has been my passion for almost one and a half years now, and the Fuji X-T3 with the 23mm F2 lens helped me a lot on this journey. To be honest: sometimes, at the end of a day, I don’t have a single shot that I really really like, but on other days I come home with two or more.

Image quality is very pleasing indeed, with very good sharpness and contrast, along with minimal color fringing and distortion. Judging bokeh is quite subjective however, so we have included some samples for you to decide for yourself. In the future I look forward to an entire Fujifilm ‘Fujicron’ (or Leica Summicron lens philosophy) line up to choose from.

His work has taken him across six continents, documenting beautifully unscripted moments of everyday life all over the world.This Fuji 23mm review is aimed at helping you better understand the lens and where it outshines other lenses.