Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R Lens Review: Still Golden

The Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R lens has been around for a decade now and remains one of Fujifilm’s legendary lenses. This is an extremely versatile lens, one of my favourites and now it’s time to put my thoughts down in writing. Welcome to my Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R lens review.

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The Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R lens is practically a decade old. Ten years is a very long time in the world of photography but it’s safe to say that this lens has aged extremely well; remaining one of the most legendary lenses offered by Fujifilm. As I said in the title, this lens is still golden and still comes with excellent praise even in 2024. Even with a ‘Mark II’ version out there!

I have loved this lens over the last few years and hopefully my thoughts (and photos) will help others out there consider adding the Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R to their own lens collection.

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FUJIFILM 23MM F/1.4 R LENS REVIEW

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MY EXPERIENCE

I switched from Nikon to Fujifilm way back in 2016 and my first lens was the lovely Fujifilm 23mm f/2 which became my primary lens for my travels through Australia and South East Asia. I subsequently sold that lens for the Fujifilm X100F which delivered the same impact but in one easy to carry package. As I will explain, the 23mm focal length (35mm full-frame) is one that I love for documentary-style photography; whether that be for travel, family or weddings.

In December 2021, I purchased the Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R lens to take things up a notch with my wedding photography. I’d already shot a few weddings with the Fujifilm 16mm f/1.4 as my wide-angle, Fujifilm 23mm f/2 for natural light shots and Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2 for, well, those stunning portraits and close-ups. Realistically, I wanted to get back to using just the 23mm focal length but needed a faster aperture to help with low-light wedding venues and so I found a used lens for a good price and haven’t looked back since.

Since those two weddings back in December 2021, I have only shot a few weddings since as I have never found the time to go all-in with it alongside my full-time career. However, I found this lens fit well into my style of photography, soon surpassing my use of the Fujifilm X100F. I love shooting wide-open (when the time is right) and there’s just something about this lens, perhaps the colour rendition and the bokeh, that makes me love what it produces at f/1.4 and beyond.

I’ve taken this lens on day trips with the family, holidays and press trips and have taken plenty of shots of food and drink! It’s also taken so many photos of my little Evelyn though don’t expect to see too many shots on here. It’s even just about wide enough to allow me to take my classic ‘hand hold’ photos.

FOCAL LENGTH

The 23mm focal length on Fujifilm’s crop sensor cameras is equivalent to the classic 35mm full-frame focal length that has been popular for so many years. Nearly every ‘point and shoot’ style film camera utilised this focal length; one that captures just enough of the scene without being too wide or too tight. The goldilocks of all focal lengths; it’s literally just right. At the moment, I love the 35mm focal length (50mm full frame – my Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 is a dream lens) but that doesn’t do too well at capturing everything all at once throughout the day. It’s often too tight to incorporate more of the environment. I find that the 23mm focal length allows me to do exactly that so that it paints more of the story behind a shot; a perfect documentary-style focal length.

F/1.4 & IMAGE QUALITY

One thing I never really got away with on the Fujifilm 23mm f/2 or the Fujifilm X100F was their softness when shooting wide open and the slightly limiting factor of f/2 when shooting in low light. Combined together, when the light dropped, I’d find the photos to be far too soft as you’re forced to use f/2. However, when shooting wide open at f/1.4 with this lens, I’m pleased to say that the images are more than sharp enough and have an extremely beautiful out of focus area.

I try not to shoot everything at f/1.4 for obvious reasons but when the time comes I really love shooting wide open. Ordinarily however for family or travel shots, I’d be shooting at anything from f/2 to f/4 and, again, everything that comes out of this lens looks lovely.

FLAWS

Ok, so this is a ten year old lens, it would be silly of me not to draw attention to the fact that it does of course have a few flaws. In terms of autofocus, it’s obviously not the fastest. Not unusable by any stretch of the imagination, certainly not in bright light, but when you’re trying to track a bride in continuous focus down the aisle in a dark venue well you can imagine it’s not the best.

Another odd quirk of this lens is that, every now and again, it will have a strange focus breathing issue where it simply forgets it is a camera lens and cannot focus though not for want of trying. It’ll go back and forth, forth and back before suddenly saying YEP I’VE GOT IT when it most definitely does not have it. The focus indicator will be green and no matter how many times you try to re-focus, I found nothing short of switching the camera off will snap it out of its madness.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

In terms of alternative options, as opposed to this old lens, you’re pretty much looking at either the ‘Mark II’ Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R WR lens, the Fujifilm 23mm f/2 lens or one of the X100 series cameras which conveniently incorporates a 23mm f/2 lens into a tiny but awesome point and shoot kind of package.

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If the ‘Mark II’ lens is anything like the Fujifilm 18mm f/1.4 then you’re going to be on to a winner for sure. It does away with the clutch mechanism that I use sparingly on the old version (for switching to manual focus) and brings super fast autofocus with the linear motor, weather resistance and a slightly different shape to it (more long and thin…). I’ve written in detail about the Fujifilm 23mm f/2 lens and the Fujifilm X100F before so you’ll know how much I love those. You could even go for a third-party lens (such as the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4) which are often significantly cheaper than their Fujifilm counter-parts though, I’ve always steered away from them for some reason and stuck to what I know.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Personally, I love the older lens and you can pick it up pretty cheaply on the used market but if autofocus speed is crucial and you need f/1.4, then the ‘Mark II’ lens is for you. If you’re after a small, light lens for travel photography then I’d definitely look at the f/2 version or adding one of the excellent X100 series cameras to your collection – the Fujifilm X100V came with an upgraded version of its f/2 lens meaning that it is incredibly sharp even when shooting wide open. The brand new Fujifilm X100VI continues the perfection introduced by this line of cameras.

For now however I’m more than happy with the Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 R lens and I’m looking forward to incorporating it a little more into my photography over the coming months.

SAMPLE PHOTOS FROM THE FUJIFILM 23MM F/1.4 R

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