Fujifilm XF 27mm f2.8 WR Review: Affordable Street Pancake Lens in 2023

Intro

A few years ago, I had the Xf 27mm, F2.8 Mark, mounted on the XT30, and was thrilled! However, after a few months of use, two things struck me as limitations: the lack of an aperture ring and, for my help, the lack of WR.

Very quickly, to compensate for these limitations without sacrificing the compactness, which is so important to me, I switched to the X100V.

For various reasons, I was one of the rare people who was not fully satisfied with my acquisition (handling, lack of responsiveness, lack of versatility … etc.), it was at the beginning of 2021, and a new announcement would change everything:

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the new Xf 27mm F2.8 WR which seemed to correct everything I complained about the previous version. So I sold my X100V to purchase an Xpro3 with the new 27mm.

The question was whether this kit could replace my X100V and go with me everywhere, as I planned to do. I will try here to provide you with answers that may guide your choice. The Xf 27MM F2.8 being the smallest lens in the Fujifilm range, it is appropriate to question its ability to replace this camera. It even turns out that an XE4 paired with this lens will be more compact than an X100V.

We gain versatility because it allows you to change the optics, which is excellent about the excellent Fujifilm optical park. But then, can this lens compete against the XF 23mm F2 from the x100V? What are the advantages? What disadvantages? Who is it really for? Here is my impression …

Specs

Manufacturing quality and ergonomics

One of the significant worrying points, when this new 27mm was announced, was its size and compactness compared to the previous version.

Indeed, one of the essential reasons to acquire this lens, beyond the focal length, which can be interesting (we will see it later), is its small size and weight. Mounted on any camera in the Fujifilm range, it allows you to have a lens right in the so-called “standard” focal range with unequalled portability.

Even on an XT4, for example, the camera completely changes style and becomes inconspicuous, almost a point-a-shoot that fits easily in a jacket pocket.

This has a significant advantage: you can take this lens and camera anywhere without hesitation. By the way, this lens will not attract attention when you want to be discreet in the street.

It doesn’t give the impression of being a professional lens (and yet ….). As said in the introduction, I was looking for a compact kit to store in my work bag and have by my side all the time. So I mounted it on my xpro3, and it’s perfect: it’s not at all thick, and there is no protuberance on the nose of the camera.

Even better, this lens comes with a tiny little lens hood that’s so thin it would be almost silly not to put it on! The rubber cap fits perfectly on this lens hood, making it ready to shoot quickly and guaranteeing street photography quality.

Fujifilm has therefore managed to keep the compactness of the first 27mm by adding a diaphragm aperture ring and the WR, for your greatest happiness. For this, this lens is now very close to what I could call “perfect” in terms of its design: compact, perfectly built to face all circumstances, with good ergonomics, and versatile focal length.

What more? This lens gives a qualitative impression. It is very well made, with the WR special attention given to its strength.

The diaphragm ring is neither too hard nor too soft. There is an “A” position that can be unlocked by pressing a small button. The focus ring is small (you can’t have everything!). On an XE4, the aesthetics are very similar to the X100V.

However, I wouldn’t say I liked the aperture ring on the X100V, found it too hard to grip and turn. Here is a corrected thing! There is no doubt this lens is a success!

Autofocus/Zone Focusing

This is where things get a bit dull … hard to update the autofocus on such a compact lens. They, therefore, left the exact mechanism as in the previous version. Is it noisy?

Yes and no. Is it slow? Yes and no. Let me explain: compared to current standards, yes, this lens is loud and relatively slow. Is it an absolute? NOT AT ALL, and quite the contrary. I never felt limited, neither by the speed of its autofocus nor by its noise.

Focus can be acquired very quickly on the latest cameras in the range (a little less in low light). The lens does not “pump”, which means that the noise of the barrel is very short and much lower than that of the xf18mm f2, for example, which was already not a problem (see my last review).

The barrel moves back and forth when focusing, so be careful not to press anything on the front of the lens when focusing. The advantage of aps-c is the possibility of manually using the focusing area more easily than on a full-frame (even if the fov is 40mm here, the calculation of the focusing area is done on a 27mm lens.

The smaller the focal length, the greater the focusing area will be with an equivalent aperture, which is an advantage in street photography, where we try to have the most excellent focal length with as much light as possible).

I use this method 50% of my time and when I want to be the fastest, in good light conditions. For that, I set the diaphragm at f5.6 and the focus at a distance of 5 meters.

This allows me to have a zone of sharpness between 2.9m and 18m (which is perfect for my use with this focal length). So, I’m sure to have sharp photos and don’t have to worry about focusing anymore. I can thus concentrate 100% on the composition.

Image Quality

Alright …. let’s get right to the point … this lens is sharp … I mean EXTREMELY SHARP. From the widest aperture, this lens competes in the most excellent class.

If we put the latest LM WR F1.4 lenses from the fuji range aside (they are in another range, not aimed at the same users), the 27mm F2.8 was already one of the sharpest fuji lenses. . It always remains so because the optical formula of the MkII remains identical and that is good news.

Some say it’s as sharp as the Xf90mm F2, which many say is the sharpest lens in the Fuji range. I confirm it here. The level of detail is incredible, especially for such a tiny lens. Who would have believed it? it is excellent, both in the centre and corners, from F4.

The sweet spot is at F5.6, where the level of sharpness peaks. For this reason, I use the zone focusing at this aperture in the manual.

Chromatic aberrations are really minor and easily corrected in post-processing. The flare had bothered me a little in certain situations on the first version, but it is no longer a problem with this little lens hood which is perfectly well-designed and quickly forgotten.

The bokeh is not the main asset of this lens. However, it is pretty smooth and “gets the job done” when the conditions are right (aperture at F2.8 and main subject quite close). The distortions are very low and well-controlled. Quite frankly, in terms of optical quality, there is not much to criticize this lens which approaches perfection …

Lens Personality

…but this level of perfection is something that can bother more than one. It may seem paradoxical, but it is the imperfections that make the character of a lens. For this reason, many are moving towards “vintage” lenses, full of imperfections and oddities, because they give a touch that some will call “magic” to your shots.

Sometimes that can sound like idleness because the character of specific lenses makes any photo interesting. Here … no-frills … this lens gives a level of surgical detail. The rendering is as you see it in front of your eyes; there is no distortion, no magic, apart from that which you will transmit through your framing, the choice of your subject, and the narration of your image. .etc.

This makes the photographic process much more “pure” because it leaves the field free for what the photographer wants to express. But this lens is much more demanding because it requires significant rigour to obtain good shots.

This is linked to the perfection of its image quality but also to its focal length. 40mm is very close to the viewing angle of the human eye.

So you have to be particularly creative to make this FOV exciting and striking. It is much easier to take compelling images with a wide-angle or a telephoto lens because it changes the perception of reality compared to what our eye allows us to see.

It is much more difficult to take interesting photos with “standard” focal lengths (between 40 and 50mm). Yet this is rewarding because the most beautiful street photography photos are taken in this focal range.

This focal length will therefore require a lot of work from you, which is very interesting to learn as a street photographer. Once you master this focal length, you will master everything.

However, I find that 40mm on an aps-c has a level of compression and separation with the background that approximates that of 35mm on a full-frame camera. It gives more depth to your photos; you need to take a step back to see more.

The 40mm adapts to everything, so it’s a focal length that goes everywhere. All the photographs presented in this test are straight out of the camera, with different film simulations.

For which use?

Best for:

The street, travel, documentary photographer who is looking for a versatile focal length that he can bring from anywhere, whatever the weather conditions. All the other photographers are looking for an alternative to the X100V to always have their camera with them, even in situations where they do not plan to shoot initially.

Final Words

As you can see, this lens is, in my opinion, a MUST-HAVE for all Fujifilm photographers as it is compact and versatile. It replaced my X100V, even if I lost a light stop, which is not a game-changer (F2.8 is sufficient for low lights with a good increase in iso).

At 450 euros, I find that the price is a bit high, especially since it is currently difficult to get hold of it because of the stockouts linked to the pandemic and that a 35mm F2 is around 400 euros, new. A fair price, in my opinion, even used, is around 350 euros.

At this price, everyone should own one. This eliminates the need to think twice before taking your device with you. You will no longer have any excuse not to photograph.

If you want to pay less, I advise you to take it as a kit with the xe4 (but you will have to buy the lens hood separately …). The image quality is breathtaking, which is a real advantage over such a versatile focal length that will allow you to do street and portrait photography, for example. You will not be disappointed with this little gem.

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