XF 18mm F2 R, where's the love?

We're halfway through 2017, why am I writing a review/post about a mediocre rated lens that came out in 2012? Because it's not mediocre, it's fantastic.

Like most Fuji shooters I didn't give much thought to the XF 18mm when I first got into Fuji. Most of the mainstream reviews had luke-warm to downright bad opinions about it, some even calling it Fuji's worst lens.

Thankfully I listened to a few of the quieter voices out there and gave the 18mm a shot because I loved the 28mm FL on my 6D and a7S and I wanted something similar in size to the XF 27mm that I already had, but with an aperture ring... the extra stop of light was an added bonus.

So what is it about this lens that makes it rank in my top 2 favorite lenses for my kit? Well, let's break it down...

It shares the same hood and caps as my other favorite Fuji lens; the 35mm f1.4. These two lenses weigh virtually nothing, are solidly built, have aperture rings, fast aperture, fit in a pocket with ease and use the same hood... winning on all fronts in my book. In fact, this combo is usually all I need for most shoots, I'll just have one of the lenses on the body with the hood attached and the other in my pocket with the caps attached, when I swap lenses I just swap the hood and caps too, easy.

Next is the size. The thing is pretty much a pancake. OK, so this one sort of goes hand in hand with the first point, but having such a small lens is super useful. My old X-E2 with the 18mm on it was really not much bigger than my X100T is. To me, if you're an 18mm (28mm) shooter, that setup is almost a no-brainer over the X100(x) with the WCL adapter (I say almost because I personally love the hybrid viewfinder and leaf shutter of the X100(x))

A rare shot of it without the hood, since my friend had changed the lens not me. Shows you just how pancake like it is. This shot was taken with my now sold a7S and Zeiss 55/1.8.

Now onto the image quality, the main concern people have with this lens. Plainly, I don't get the concerns. Is it my sharpest lens? No. Certainly not. Is it soft? Heck no, far from it. In fact once you stop it down to f4 it's hard to see any difference between it and the 35/1.4 in terms of sharpness. As for distortion, vignetting and coma... yeah, there's a bit of each, not nearly enough to matter in my opinion, especially with how easy each of those things are corrected in software (and FYI, I basically never adjust for distortion or coma and usually add vignetting to most shots with any lens).

One of the best things about this lens is of course the price. You can find these lenses used for around $300 all day long. I got mine from a forum member for $220 shipped! At the price it's readily available you'd be silly to not at least consider it for your wide angle/everyday needs.

Obviously this lens will never compete with the likes of the 16mm f1.4 or 23mm f1.4... but I think it holds up just fine against the newer f2 lenses, and fares much better at 18mm than any of the newer lenses 😉

I had an argument with someone a while back who was trying to convince people that the 18-55mm was all you needed and the 18mm f2 was a "pointless" lens... I own and love an 18-55mm f2.8-4, but it could never replace my 18/2. Without dragging it out into a lengthy breakdown as I had to with him; it's a stop faster, it has a marked aperture ring and it's a third of the size. Of course the 18-55mm can zoom and has OIS... horses for courses.

At the end of the day, I don't see myself parting with my 18mm anytime soon. I've never regretted having it in my bag and it's my suspicion that you wouldn't either.