Flaunt It

Internet is confused! Fuji recently created a new marketing page for...one of its early original X lenses, the XF 35mm ƒ/1.4 R, and it's not a teaser for an update. (Keep scrolling down at the link, it's one of those pages that can be deceiving.) They're just hyping the old lens. Photo mavens don't know what to make of it. "What? We don't get something new?"

I was not looking for an update. The old lens is expensive, loud, slow, and not full-featured. And gorgeous. One of the other 35mm's in the line,  the XF 35mm ƒ/2, is the perfect alternative for anyone who wants all the modern features (water resistant, fast silent focusing, slightly better sharpness—"slightly," only because they're both very sharp—and small and light). If you want new, get that; it's great—really all a prime should be, and plenty fast enough for almost anybody to do almost anything with. (I'd get this for it, too.) Fuji's right, the old fast lens is fine just as it is. (I wrote about it here, in a post in which I also admitted to being an idiot.) Mine is vying with my 23mm ƒ/1.4 for the title of my favorite Fuji lens. I've taken to shooting it in manual focus on my X-H1. I love it...

...Just the way it is. I do think it's kinda funny that Fuji is marketing it again, but then again why not?! It's still a great lens. It never stopped being a great lens. And photographers who love it love it. When ya got it, flaunt it.

Mike
(Thanks to DPReview)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Albert Smith: "Well Fuji can count my $599 as partial payment for production of that video...I bought the lens.

"I have vacillated for a couple of years, being satisfied with my ƒ/2 Fujicron, but the amount of testimonials and excellent photos on the web kept making me doubt that I had the only 35mm lens that I need. That video caused quite a stir on many other sites with doubters questioning the need for 'bragging' about an eight-year-old lens with 'problems' like noisy, slow focus. In those threads the people that actually owned the lens countered with, 'if you haven't used it you know not what you speak,' and plenty of unquantifiable phrases like 'special sauce' and 'magic dust' used to describe the output from the ƒ/1.4 lens.

"On one day I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube and various online portfolios (some great images made with this lens), and in a moment of weakness, I ordered the lens and it was in my hands the next day.

"On my X-Pro2, the slow-to-focus issue did not manifest. Everything that I pointed the camera at in my low light living room was quickly and accurately focused on. I put a fresh SD card in and did a self imposed 1,000 images with only this lens. I shot no test charts or brick walls, just actual photos that I would make with any normal lens. The results made me so happy that I bought it. The hybrid electrical/mechanical shutter allows me to shoot at or near full aperture in bright sun and the ability for subject isolation is terrific.

"I hope Fujifilm doesn't make any other videos like that for awhile...those things are expensive."

schralp: "Agree wholeheartedly; it’s on my camera 99% of the time. (But then again, I am a normal FOV kind of guy). My walkaround kit consists of this on my X-T2 and my X70 for occasional wide shots. That said, I shoot mostly with this lens which I have had since I got a Fuji camera. It would be camera nirvana if the two cameras took the same battery. Probably no surprise that Apple targeted these FOVs in the iPhone X. I must not be the only one who favors this combo."

Richard Tugwell: "I bought this with the Fuji X-T1 back in 2015 as my entry into the Fuji system. Use it all the time as my walkabout street lens. I guess the ƒ/2 would work just as well, and is smaller, but I've never wondered about whether I should ditch the ƒ/1.4. It's just become an old friend."

Comments

[James]

Mike, I heard Fuji started thinking about 're-promoting' the lens, just about the end of last year. It appears that an extraordinary board meeting was called to discuss a TOP article and reader comments.

[Ha! --Mike]

[Alex Mercado]

'Hey, you! You have a Fujifilm camera. You're different than them. Flaunt your cred with, "The Original".'

I feel like it's pandering to a psudo-vintage culture that seems to be bountiful in photography lately.

But, then again, that's precisely the point of marketing, isn't it?

[Adam Lanigan]

I'm constantly moving back and forth between the 23mm f1.4 and the 35mm f1.4 depending on mood or the winds or something like that.

I liken it to the analogy used by one of my favourite musicians, Mike O'Neill (fans of 90s Canadian indie music will know him from The Inbreds). He's generally adopted alternating approaches for subsequent albums, where one album will be lush and layered and the next will be minimal and raw, back and forth. His analogy was of a swimmer doing laps - doing something in one direction for a while, then pushing off and going in the opposite.

That kind of 'modal' approach has been useful over the years to keep things fresh. I was a bit more extreme with it in earlier times, pushing back and forth between a Canon dSLR and a Holga. But even this seemingly minor shift from 23mm to 35mm seems to be a healthy change occasionally, now that I've become pretty camera-monogamous.

[hugh crawford]

Perhaps they simply have a lot more in stock than they expect to sell at the rate they are selling.

[Dan Khong]

The Fujinon 35/1.4 lens (53mm equivalent) has amazing "bokeh". I thought only certain Leica optics were capable of this but the Fujinon surprises me.

It's sharpness even when wide open is incredible.

It has become my constant companion - set at a constant f1.4 - for my Fujifilm X-E3.

[Brad]

Well, I have both the Fuji 35 1.4 and the Fuji 35 2.0. My Fuji 35 2.0 just collects dust. The 35 1.4 does exactly what it is designed to do, only better than most similar lenses. The biggest complaint about the Fuji 35 1.4 is the noise, though. Really? My first auto-focus Nikkor lens was 10 times louder. (I am certain the dang thing sounded like a coffee grinder on my F4). Do not listen to the internet whine. Also, do not waste your money on the Fuji 35 2.0; buy the Fuji 35 1.4.