XF23mm F1.4 Ultimate Lens for Indoor/Night Photography
Fujinon 23mm F1.4
Fujifilm make some really awesome lens. The Fujinon XF23mm F1.4 is a great little lens which is perfect for Indoor and Night Photography.
In this unconventional review, I won’t be talking about chromatic aberrations, sharpness at the edges, focus speed etc. My review comes from the heart and how I feel when I shoot with this lens or when I edit the photos it produces.
Focal Length
The focal length of 23mm (which is 35mm in 35mm equivalent) is not really classified wide. But it is wide enough that you can use it in most indoor situations without having to break through a wall or hang outside a window to get everything in the frame.
Boasting a F1.4 aperture the amount of light it captures is truly amazing!!
The focusing ring is a pull-push type ring which engages Auto-Focus or Manual Focus. It doesn’t have a separate switch for AF and MF. In most cases, Auto-Focus works like a charm.
Low Light
Whenever I know I’m going to be indoors in low light situations I pretty much stick the XF23mm F1.4 lens on my X-T1 and then crank up the ISO to 1600 (or higher) and I know I’m going to get tack sharp images.
High ISO will allow you to shoot at faster shutter speed and therefore you can shoot without a tripod and still get stable & sharp images.
One of the key characteristics of the X-Trans sensor is the low light noise at HIGH ISOs…there isn’t any.
Clockwise from top left: ISO 1000, ISO 2500, ISO 1600
All Shot with XF23mmF1.4
Sharpness
The lens is designed to be shot at F1.4. Your pictures will turn out tack SHARP. That’s all I am going to say about this!!
Bokeh
It also produces soft BOKEH which creates pleasing images and perfect round disks if you have out of focus lights in the background.
Size
The lens is small and light, weighing only 300g. I sometimes put it in the pocket of my jacket so I don’t have to carry the camera bag.
The size is very practical I’d even through this in my wife’s bag when I know I might use it.
No Image Stabilisation
The lack of Image Stabilisation is really not an issue when shooting with this lens.
As you would shoot at F1.4 or wider end of the aperture, so you can generally get a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second or higher. If you feel that shutter speed is dropping you can always crank up the ISO on the X-Series camera.
Shot on XF 23mm F2.8, 1/170 second
Conclusion
The Fujinon XF23mm F1.4 is a beautiful lens that is great for indoors as well as outdoors, it is wide enough for lots of situations. The fact that there is no image stabilisation doesn’t really affect the lens because of its wide aperture. I find myself often just shooting purely with this one lens.
I often find myself just attaching this lens to my X-T1 and shooting purely with this one lens.
If you are considering using this lens that I am sure you won’t be disappointed with the quality and build of this lens. It is turly a beautiful lens that will be loved by all who own it.
