The Best Fujifilm Prime Lenses For Every Genre of Photography

Fujifilm shooters are spoiled rotten when it comes to razor sharp, fast prime lenses–there are just so many good ones.

Prime lenses are simply the only way to go if you need super sharp, fast lenses. Their ability to shoot in low light situations, and the blistering speed at which they can acquire focus makes them ideal for just about any genre of photography. Fujifilm camera users sure have their fair share of prime lenses that can be used in any situation, and they’re all rock solid. From street photography to portraiture, and wildlife to documentary photography, you’re covered multiple times over. In this round up we’re going to take a look at the best prime lenses for every type of photographic work.

The line up of prime lenses from Fujifilm vary in price from incredibly affordable to ‘I think my bank manager may cry’. One thing is for sure though, you won’t be disappointed, nor will you suffer buyers remorse with any of these lenses. They are all absolute gems. Remember to add a crop factor of x1.5 to the lenses focal length. Here’s a look at the best Fujifilm Prime lenses for every genre of photography.

 

Landscape and Cityscape Photography – Fujifiilm 16mm F1.4 R WR

 

Pros

• Very sharp wide open
• Very sharp overall
• Excellent metal build quality
• Focusing ring allows for zone focusing
• Pretty decent bokeh for a lens of this type, despite having 9 aperture blades
• Fast focusing performance
• Weather sealed construction
• Keeps distortion down pretty well

Cons

• Depth of Field scale could have given us more focusing markers
• More purple fringing than a modern lens should have despite it easily being removed in post-production
• There are so many other things that you can do for just under $1,000.
• Autofocus is just a hair too slow for street photography.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($749): Amazon

 

Environmental Portraits – Fujifilm 23mm F2 R WR

 

Pros

• Good image quality
• Seriously and surprisingly fast focus. This lens is officially Fujifilm’s fastest.
• Fast focus on the X Pro 2, X-T2 and even the X Pro 1. The latter completely shocked me.
• Nice colors
• Compact size
• Weather sealing
• Turning the aperture ring feels nice and smooth until the clicks come in. It’s a tactile experience that’s just lovely.
• Sharp images
• Fairly nice bokeh
• Affordable price point

Cons

• Something about this lens just simply doesn’t have the magic that the 23mm f1.4 R does.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($449): Amazon

 

Documentary Photography – Fujifilm 23mm F1.4 R WR

 

Pros

• Superb image quality
• Beautiful bokeh
• Lots of great sharpness with even a bit of what seems like micro-contrast
• Well built
• Snap back focusing ring

Cons

• Expensive

Check out our full review

Buy now ($899): Amazon

 

Wedding Photography – The Fujifilm 35mm F1.4

 

Pros

• Exceptional image quality
• Jaw dropping sharpness
• Focusing speed has improved with further firmware updates, but still isn’t top notch
• Excellent metal build quality
• The finish will make it look like an old lens over time

Cons

• Still a bit too slow to focus in some situations, but when you have this kind of image quality, you really can’t complain all day.

Check out our full review

Buy now ($599): Amazon

 

Street Photography – Fujifilm 35mm F2 R WR

 

Pros

• It’s $449
• Weather sealing
• Fast autofocus performance on the newer cameras (sorry X Pro 1 users)
• Sharp optics and image quality
• Nice bokeh
• Only gets sharper when you use a flash
• Pretty compact
• Nice build quality

Cons

• Not much, honestly

Check out our full review

Buy now ($399): Amazon

 

Concert Photography – Fujifilm 56mm R F1.2

 

Pros

• Super sharp wide open. In fact, this is the sharpest lens for Mirrorless cameras that we’ve tested.
• Excellent resolution and sharpness when studio lighting is used with it
• Dreamy bokeh
• Great feel in the hand
• In good to fair lighting, its focusing abilities are about as fast as the company’s 35mm f1.4 offering
• Almost no reason to stop it down, and you’ll be encouraged to shoot wide open

Cons

• Even though it is an f1.2 lens, we wish that the aperture were faster
• Misfocusing happens a bit more than we’d like it to in low light situations
• Fairly expensive
• Color rendition from the 35mm f1.4 is a tad better

Check out our full review

Buy now ($749): Amazon

 

Macro Photography – 60mm F2.4

 

Pros

• Very sharp, though isn’t as sharp as the 35mm f1.4 despite what many folks say
• Great color
• Minimal distortion
• Amazing feel in the hands

Cons

• Slow to focus
• Don’t focus as closely as Zeiss’s 50mm f2.8 Touit option

Check out our full review

Buy now ($649): Amazon

 

Portrait Photography – The 90mm F2 R LM WR

 

Pros

• Superb image quality
• Weather sealing
• Great bokeh
• Very sharp image quality
• Makes great use of Fujifilm’s Classic Chrome and Astia film renderings
• Well balanced with both the X Pro 1 and the X-T1
• Lightweight lens
• The focusing ring feels really big and beefy.
• Surprisingly fast and accurate focusing
• Pretty much no distortion
• Perhaps the single best portrait lens that Fujifilm has made for the X series camera system–even better than the 56mm f1.2

Cons

• Fujifilm’s largest prime lens to date of publishing this review
• No image stabilization

Check out out full review

Buy now ($698.98): Amazon

 

Sports and Wildlife Photography – 200mm F2 R LM OIS WR

 

Pros

• Great image quality
• Crisp
• Weather Sealing
• Fast autofocus
• Image Stabilization means you can hand hold this lens with the X-T3
• Fairly compact
• Focus switches
• Amazingly lightweight and not at all difficult to carry around

Cons

• Quite pricey

Check out our full review

Buy now ($4,999): Amazon