Lenses

An Exciting Macro! Fujifilm 30mm F2.8 R WR First Impressions

Chris Gampat
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11/02/2022
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 product photos preproduction 1.41-950s800

Last Updated on 11/02/2022 by Mark Beckenbach

“No way,” is what I said to our Fujifilm reps when they said the new Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro lens could focus extremely close on my watch dial. What followed next was an exuberant, gaping smile on my face. Indeed, the Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro is capable of focusing incredibly close. And we think, for its $599 price point, lots of photographers are will be overjoyed at what it can do, and with the photos they create.

We tested a pre-production Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro lens along with a bunch of other journalists. These images aren’t final, but they’re a good estimation of how awesome they can possibly be.

Tech Specs

  • 1:1
  • Silent AF
  • Weather resistant 
  • 10cm focusing MOD
  • 1.2cm working distance 
  • $599.95 price point

Ergonomics

Here’s a closer look at the new Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro. As you can tell, it’s got a body style like the smaller f2 primes from Fujifilm: thinner up top and more shapely around the lower regions. The two control rings are for aperture control and manual focusing.

The aperture ring of course can be set to A mode to allow the camera to function in Program auto mode, shutter priority, or just give the body control of the rings.

Here’s the front element. Of course, this is a very small lens overall as you can tell.

Build Quality

All Fujifilm lenses are well built, and the Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro doesn’t give a reason to think otherwise. If you’ve seen a lot of Fuji’s smaller f2 lenses, know this has a similar design with a bigger area around the mount and a smaller, thinner area up top. Plus, this is weather resistant. We expect you’ll be able to take macro photos with it in the rain easily.

In the hand, this is a bit of an odd lens. On the X Pro 3, it feels alright but slightly like a lens not made for that camera. It feels better on the XT5, and I imagine this feeling best on the XH2 and XH2s. But overall, the Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro works well with all of the above.

Ease of Use

Of course, there’s an aperture ring on this lens, so keep that in mind when shooting. But truthfully, this lens is very simple to use. In my short time using the Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro, I set the camera to focus on a specific area of the scene using a small focusing point. After that, it was smooth sailing; the autofocus took care of the rest. The focusing performance on my older X Pro 3 held up without a problem.

Focusing

If you want to simply shoot around with this lens, you don’t need to worry about focusing speed. This lens is very quick. But if you want to do macro work, I recommend manually focusing or selecting a focusing point. Even when choosing the latter method, it works out easily. You’ll like it! We sure did!

Image Quality

The Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro lens we tested was a pre-production variant.

First Impressions

The Fujifilm 30mm f2.8 R WR Macro is shaping up to be an incredible lens so far. Not only is it affordable but it also does full 1:1 macro at its insanely good price. On top of that, it also has weather resistance and fast autofocus. How do you beat that? We’ll see what happens later when our full review unit comes in. Stay tuned!

autofocusing build quality ergonomics focus fujifilm fujifilm 30mm fujifilm 30mm f2.8 fujifilm 30mm f2.8 r wr image qualtiy lens macro speed
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.