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Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 Review & Sample Photos

  • June 12, 2021
  • AGriffin

The Fujinon 35mm f1.4 is one of Fujifilm’s oldest lenses for the X-Mount system. With the fast f1.4 aperture and the 50mm field of view, the lens is very versatile and it’s especially great for portrait and people photography.

While showing some age by today’s standards in terms of autofocus and technical characteristics, the lens has some of the most unique characteristics of any modern lens to date.

 

Lens Stats

Focal Length: 35mm (53mm for APS-C)
Focus System: Auto
Aperture Blade: 7R
Aperture: f1.4 – f16
Elements: 8 Elements 6 Groups
Coatings: Multi-Coated Super EBC
Weather-Sealed: No
Minimum Focus Distance: 11.02″ / 28 cm
Filter Threads: 52mm
Weight: 6.6 oz / 187 g

 

Pros: Amazing rendering, good sharpness, very rich vibrant bokeh, small and light.

Cons: Some CA, Slow AF in low light or when using CDAF in AF-C mode, not weather-sealed, noisy so not good for video, some CA, some field curvature.

 

Check Price

Fujifilm XF 35mm f1.4 – Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto

 

Fujinon 35mm f1.4 Review | Impressions

 

ISO 400, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 320, f1.4, 1/200

 

The Fuji 35mm f1.4 is a lens I’ve had for some time now and but really got around to reviewing. I did a comparison between the Fujinon 35mm f1.4 and the 35mm f2, but now since the XC 35mm f2 is on the market, I think a full review is worth the time to showcase the uniqueness of this lens because a lot of people don’t fully understand what this lens or they are afraid of the older autofocus system.

The XF 35mm f1.4 is a lens that you just have to use. You can’t look at charts, you can’t look at specs, you have to just use it, then you’ll understand.

On the technical side of things, like sharpness, distortion, CA, etc. this lens is just ok. I think most review sites would give like a B- or something. However, some of this was by design, and the lens was left less than perfect in favor of the look. . . So they say.

This is a lens designed to produce a very classic look that was in line with Fujifilm’s original ethos with the X-Pro 1. It has field curvature, it has softer corners, it has fewer elements, and has distortion. All of that in favor of the look. The classic, retro rendering. Great micro-contrast interesting focus falloff. That’s what it’s all about.

Here are some images that really test the technical performance. As you can see, there are some issues with some CA, some fringing, but the images have a very nice pop to them and they feel like they just have a ton of detail with great tonality and sharpness. That’s the look, love it or hate it, that’s what this lens is about and nobody else makes a modern AF lens like this.

 

ISO 160, f1.4, 1/2700
ISO 160, f1.4, 1/2700

 

This lens, the Fujinon 56mm f1.2, and the Fujinon 90mm are my three favorite lenses by Fujifilm and if I could have only three of their lenses, it would be these three.

 

Understanding The Autofocus | Is the Fuji 35mm f1.4 Autofocusgood Enough?

When the XF35mm f1.4 was originally designed, it didn’t need to do much. AF on the X-Pro 1 was just in its infancy, there was no Eye-AF and AF-C was unusable.

As a result, this lens has what feels like an outdated focus system. It’s not that the focus motor can’t throw the element quickly, it can, the problem is the communication with the camera is slow so tracking and shooting in AF-C will produce a delayed communication. It mostly affects CDAF autofocus from what I can tell since CDAF is what engages to make all those little quick micro-adjustments.

I personally don’t have an issue with the autofocus of this lens. Once you know it, you work with it. I still shoot AF-C on this lens, but it thrives with AF-S. So if you’re a photographer that still likes shooting AF-S, you’ll likely not have too many issues with this, if any at all.

I know there is so much emphasis today about AF tracking and AF speed and Eye AF and animal eye AF, but honestly, it’s fine. This obsession with insanely fast autofocus performance everyone has today is not really a metric that’s relevant to casual everyday photography and I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless you need the lens to do something extremely specific.

 

ISO 160, f1.6, 1/200
ISO 160, f1.6, 1/200

 

Obviously, if you’re shooting very fast action, this shouldn’t be your go-to lens, but it’s absolutely amazing for casual day-to-day photography and it’s lenses like this that really keep me in the Fujinon system.

Still, my biggest complaint about this lens, and the xF35mm f2, is they are a bit too expensive for what they are. This is sort of the dangerous line Fujifilm runs where you can get more modern performing full-frame Sony and Nikon lenses for pretty much the same price or cheaper. So you definitely don’t want to buy APS-C to save money, you’re buying it for the unique image quality you get from the small package. Keep that in mind.

 

Build Quality

 

 

Build quality is good. Fujifilm likes doing their lenses with the aluminum outer barrel which is fine. Feels good in the hand and is fun to use.

Some of their early models like mine have issues with very loose focus rings, but they’ve improved that over the years without actually doing an official refresh of the lens. It seems like they’ve made little micro improvements to the system, they even updated the lens caps so now the system feels good and complete.

The 35mm f1.4 does beg to have a lens hood. I keep the metal square hood on mine and with this lens hood, you can still use the lens cap. On the XF 18mm, you can’t fit the lens cap into the hood and you have to use the awful rubber cap that goes over the hood that you will probably lose in three days. The XF35 also comes with a rubber hood, but I wouldn’t bother with it.

 

 

It’s a two-barrel focusing system, so the front element does bounce around as it is focusing which is not really a big deal.

It is not weather-sealed and the aperture rings do click but both the aperture ring and the focus ring are by wire. 

The base of the lens is made of steel like with the XF 35mm f2.

 

 

Technical Performance

 

ISO 200, f1.4, 1/4400

 

The Fuji 35mm f1.4 does have some field curvature so the edges and corners will appear softer if you’re shooting a flat surface. I use to get excited when lenses have perfect corner sharpness, but honestly in the real world that makes no difference in most situations. As long as the corners or mid-frame hold up at f5.6 or when you focus on those spots, then the lens is great and it will totally work fine for landscape or reproductive work.

 

ISO 200, f1.4, 1/3200

 

Sharpness

How important is sharpness? 

It’s important but it’s definitely overemphasized as THE metric that defines a lens. I’ve found that if you shoot a lot at night at high ISO, or if you like to apply grain to images, it really makes no difference between have a super sharp lens or just a sharp lens.

The 35mm f1.4 is sharp. Edges and corners are a little softer until about f2.8 but for the most part, it’s a great lens to shoot wide open with or stopped down.

This is good because using Soft Filters like the K&F Black Mist, is getting more popular, so I’ve found it beneficial to have very sharp lenses that help keep the detail when shooting behind a filter like that.

 

Here is a sample from the X-T100 at f5.6. Plenty sharp.

 

35mm f1.4 | ISO 200, f5.6, 1/640

 

Center Sharpness

Center sharpness is good.

Fuji 35mm f1.4 Sharpness Chart

 

Edge Sharpness

Edge sharpness is fine and better when stopped down.

Fuji 35mm f1.4 Edge Sharpness Chart

 

Corner Sharpness

Corner sharpness is pretty good and but better when stopped down.

Fuji 35mm f1.4 Corner Sharpness Chart

 

Distortion

Distortion is mostly cleaned up with build-in profiles.

35mm f1.4 Distortion

 

Vignetting

Vignetting shows until about f2.

 

Chromatic Aberrations

Very minor CA as with most prime lenses, but there is some longitudinal CA in the out of focus foreground and background. Again you can see some more samples in those beach shots above. You can see sometimes there is red or green fringing on the bokeh.

35mm f1.4

 

Bokeh – Technical Look

Bokeh has an interesting behavior on the 35mm f1.4. Because Fujifilm allowed a fairly strong field curvature this causes some interesting character to the way the bokeh can render on close and medium distant objects.

There is a little bit of green fringing on some of the bokeh balls in some situations. There is also some pretty strong cats eye.

ISO 200, f1.4, 1/640
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/3200
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/8000
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/8500
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/18000

 

Fujinon still uses glass for the aspherical element on these older lenses and this often causes onion ringing in the bokeh. The glass has to be polished and ground down and this process naturally leaves behind some ridging. I think this is why all the big designers are moving over to polycarbonate aspherical lenses since they can be molded or pressed into shape with zero flaws. I honestly think Fujifilm could benefit from this since a lot of their lenses do have sloppy bokeh balls. It’s sort of the one flaw I see people talking about the most.

The XF 35mm f1.4 does not have bad onion ringing to it, but it does have some skin to the outer layer of the bokeh balls but as you can see from the samples above, it’s not really an issue and you’ll only see it if you’re really looking for it.

You can also see how the bokeh curves so you will get some cat’s eye effects in the corners when wide open which you can see in some of the samples above. 

 

Fujinon 35mm f1.4 @ f1.4
Fujinon 35mm f1.4 @ f2
Fujinon 35mm f1.4 @ f2.8

 

Art & Character

 

ISO 160, f1.4, 1/950

 

There is a magic that can happen with the right formulas that in my opinion are far more important than just technical specs. This lens is known to possess such magic.

That being said, some technical performance is important and a lens that performance with consistency and reliability in some professions can be more important than the art & character. So this is something that you always have to keep and mind when building out your kit.

 

ISO 1.6, 1/900
ISO 160, f1.6, 1/680

 

Color  & Bokeh Rendering

The color rendering of this lens is just awesome. It has such a great contrast and such nice clarity. The images just punch you with so much detail and tonal information and the colors and bokeh always feel so deep and rich.

 

ISO 200, f1.4, 1/15000

 

Then there is that field curvature working to an advantage. It tends to push the center background further than the edges to create this illusion of even more depth. It’s weird how it works and very unique to this lens but you can really see it in a lot of the shots. This is a look you will not get with the 35mm f2 or fancy new lenses like the Nikon Z 50mm. Even if you stop down both at f2, this lens still has some magic that other lens doesn’t have. Although the XF35mm f2 does do contrast and clarity a little better.

I say that because a lot of people say if you shoot stopped down you can just get the f2, but even then they still have different rendering. It’s not just about sharpness.

ISO 200, f1.4, 1/280

 

Micro-Contrast

This is the big thing you always get from Fujifilm primes. This is why I shoot Fujifilm. I have several Canon, Sony and Nikon lenses now and none of them perform this way. Except for a few of the Zeiss lenses for the Sony system.

But man, this is it. This is one of their best most classic rendering lenses.

 

ISO 250, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 250, f1.4, 1/200

 

Fujinon 35mm f1.4 Review | Bottom Line

 

ISO 160, f1.6, 1/1100
ISO 160, f1.6, 1/320

 

Should you still buy this lens even though it’s not perfect and doesn’t have perfect sharpness and perfect animal eye AF tracking magic?

If you really want to experience what the Fujifilm system is all about, this is the lens you have to have.

It’s not the best lens in the world technically, but it just has so much character and produces a truly unique look that will leave you completely addicted.

Autofocus can be a little clunky in low light but it’s more than fast enough for tracking simple motions as you can see from all my photos of my kids. You probably don’t want to use this lens for video shooting with on an on-camera mic since it does make some noise, nor is it really built for video shooting.

 

Fujinon 35mm f1.4 Sample Photos

 

Fujinon 35mm f1.4 Sample photos are taken with various cameras over the years. If you like the color editing you can check out the Lightroom Presets.

I try to keep my review photos a little more pedestrian, but let me know if you want to see more street or landscape work.

 

ISO 160, f5.6, 1/280
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/750
35mm f1.4 | ISO 200, f5.6, 1/640
ISO 160, f4, 1/1250
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/26000
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/125
ISO 200, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 640, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 320, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 400, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 160, f1.4, 1/550
ISO 320, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 500, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 160, f1.4, 1/200
ISO 160, f1.4, 1/30
ISO 200, f6.4, 1/900
ISO 500, f1.4, 1/80
**This website contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click them to make a purchase.
AGriffin

Professional editor, blogger and photographer from Los Angeles California.

Related Topics
  • Fujifilm X-T3
  • Fujinon 35mm f1.4
  • Lens Reviews
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