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Features

6 of Our Favorite Third Party Prime Lenses for Fujifilm X Mount Cameras

Brett Day
No Comments
05/12/2019
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss 12mm f2.8 product images (5 of 7)ISO 1001-200 sec at f - 5.6

Last Updated on 05/15/2019 by Mark Beckenbach

These third party, prime lenses for Fujifilm X Mount cameras are often overlooked, but deserve to be given a chance.

Fujifilm makes some gorgeous lenses for their X Mount series cameras. They are so good that Fujifilm believes keeping a closed system is what’s best for them and their cameras. The closed system hasn’t stopped some manufacturers from trying though, and there are quite a few third party prime lenses available on the Fujifilm platform that excel. It’s just a shame that they aren’t talked about nearly as often as Fujifilm’s own offerings. Fujifilm’s decision to not share the secrets of their autofocusing system has frustrated the likes of Sigma and Tamron to no end. This hasn’t stopped the likes of Zeiss, Rokinon, and Mitakon from making autofocus and manual focus prime lenses for the system that are more than capable of producing excellent images. Let’s take a quick look at six of the best third party, prime lenses available with Fujifilm’s X mount on board.

 

Rokinon 12mm F2

 

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Great colors
  • Small build
  • Lightweight
  • Nice aperture clicks
  • Sharp

Cons

  • There are lenses with better bokeh for sure

Buy now ($249): Amazon

 

Zeiss Touit 12mm F2.8

 

third party prime lenses

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Very good build quality for a Mirrorless camera lens
  • Sharp and contrasty
  • Distortion only really apparent around the corners
  • Compact size
  • Fairly fast autofocusing speed

Cons

  • Expensive
  • The lens hood is made from plastic and doesn’t feel very Zeiss-like at all

Buy now ($999): Amazon

 

Pro Tip: We often talk about keeping your gear clean simply because it is one of the most important things you can do. Lenses can represent a huge investment, so taking care of them is key if you want to continue using them years down the road. Apart from cleaning your lenses to keep them functioning, you need to clean them frequently so that dirt, dust, and water spots don’t show up in your final images. Keep a basic lens cleaning kit with you at all times so you can keep that glass nice and sparkly.

 

Lensbaby Trio

 

third party prime lenses

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Compact size
  • Nice feel, though the exterior is a bit plasticky
  • Good image quality
  • Fun to use with a camera that has focus peaking

Cons

  • No aperture changes

Buy now ($299.95): Amazon

 

Mitakon 35mm F0.95 II

 

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Ultrafast F0.95 aperture
  • Balances well with Fujifilm cameras
  • Adds a nice weight to Fuji cameras
  • Smooth accurate focusing ring

Cons

  • No Autofocus
  • Aperture ring is clickless, easy to move by accident
  • No electronic communication with the cameras

Buy now ($519): Amazon

 

Pro Tip: If you’re still not seeing third party, prime lenses here that tickle your fancy, perhaps a lens adapter will peak your interest. You can easily convert Canon EF and EF-S Mount lenses to work with Fujifilm X Mount cameras with the Fringer EF to X Mount adapter. This adapter is being updated all the time, and works with dozens of Canon, Tamron, and Sigma autofocus lenses. The best part is that it’s really affordable too!

 

 

Samyang 50mm F1.2

 

third party prime lenses

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Very, very sharp image delivery
  • Beautiful bokeh
  • Smooth focusing ring
  • Lightweight design
  • Affordable price point

Cons

  • We really think that it’s time for Rokinon and Samyang to give their lenses a metal body/exterior

Buy no ($399): Amazon

 

Zeiss 50mm F2.8 Touit

 

Here are the pros and cons from our full review:

Pros

  • Super sharp both wide open and stopped down, though we feel like we’ve seen sharper macro lenses
  • Beautiful color rendition: the way it performs with skin tones impressed us quite a bit
  • Fairly fast to focus
  • Great feel despite the fact that we’re not completely smitten over the rubber

Cons

  • Slow focusing when in the macro range
  • Lack of depth of field scale, which can make focusing at the macro range even tougher to do

Buy now ($999): Amazon

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