Introduction

Ease of Use

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens attached to the Fujifilm X-Pro1 camera

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens alonsgide the Fujifilm X-Pro1 camera

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R is a relatively compact prime lens, at least when compared to its DSLR equivalents, but it's still quite a bit bigger than a comparable Micro Four Thirds lens, weighing 187g and measuring 55mm in length. As you can see in the pictures above, it complements the top-of-the-range Fujifilm X-Pro1 very well, not feeling at all front-heavy and more than matching the body in terms of its build quality.

Front of the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens

Front of the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens boasts a metal mount, high-grade metal barrel and non-rotating 52mm filter thread. The focus ring is generously wide, smooth in action without being loose, and has a ridged, rubberised grip band. There are “hard stops” at either end of the 28cm-infinity focus range.

Rear of the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens has a traditional aperture ring on the lens barrel, which allows you to set the aperture in 1/3 steps, complete with full aperture markings on the lens barrel. The aperture is also shown in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. The rather thin aperture ring is nicely damped and makes a distinctive click as you change the setting, although it's too easily moved when stored in a pocket or bag. The aperture ring toggles between auto aperture control (the ring is set to A) or manual aperture control (the switch is set to one of the aperture values).

Side of the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens

Side of the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens

In terms of accessories, the lens ships with a premium plastic square-shaped lens hood and a soft lens bag.

Focal Range

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens has a wide angle of view of 44.2 degrees.

Distortion

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R doesn't exhibit any barrel distortion, as you can see in the photo below, and vignetting is very well-controlled too at f/1.4.

Focusing

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens has an internal focusing (IF) system. In practice, we found the auto-focus to be pretty quick, although not quite up there with the best mirrorless cameras in this regard. Note that this lens does have quite an audible auto-focusing noise, something that has been addressed on newer XF lenses. The front of the lens does not rotate on focus, which is good news for anyone looking to use the lens in conjunction with a polariser or graduated neutral density filter.

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are exhibited by the Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R lens only in very high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Macro

The Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 R is not a macro lens, with the close-focus point at 28cm from the sensor plane and a maximum magnification of 0.17x. The following example illustrates how close you can get to the subject, in this case a CompactFlash card.

Close-up Performance

Bokeh

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. Fujifilm have paid attention to this aspect of lens use, employing a 7-segment diaphragm with rounded blades for pleasing bokeh. In our view, their efforts have been largely successful for a standard prime lens - see the examples below.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.