Fujifilm has some exceptional lenses in its X series lineup. Models such as Fujifilm 23mm f2 R WR, Fujifilm 50mm f1 R WR, and Fujifilm 70-300mm f4-5.6 R LM WR OIS are great performers and well-built. However, first-party lenses can be expensive, and that often means you rely on third-party variants. If you’re an APS-C user, then you may have been facing a similar issue. So, to help those in need, here are some affordable offerings that can make your arsenal grow. Have a look.
Rokinon 8mm f2.8 II
The 8mm is perfect for Fujifilm users who want a fish-eye effect. The lens offers a 180° angle of view, 11 elements in 8 groups, and a close focusing distance of 30cm. It also has a UMC coating to suppress flare. You get a fast aperture, great color rendition, quite sharp, and a sturdy build. As we said in our review, “You could probably make creative portraits with this, but you wouldn’t use it for corporate headshots. If you’re a fan of GoPro cameras, then this lens’ll be an obvious choice, and it gives you more latitude than a GoPro does.”
Laowa 25mm f0.95 CF APO
Laowa 25mm f0.95 has a bright aperture. It was created with 14 elements in 9 groups, has 9 aperture blades, a minimum focusing distance of 34cm, and a maximum magnification of 0.15x. The lens has a great focus throw, beautiful optics, and gorgeous character. The zone focusing works well with street photography. As we said in our review, “The bokeh is creamy, flare-y, there’s character galore, the apochromatic lens element really makes the subject stand out. You can’t say anything bad about the bokeh.”
Samyang 50mm f1.2
The Samyang 50mm is ideal for portrait and event photographers. It is designed with 9 lenses in 7 groups, a close focusing distance of 0.5m, and 9 aperture blades. There is also a 62mm filter mount. The good things about the lens include very sharp image quality, beautiful bokeh, and a smooth focusing ring. However, it is a manual lens, which means you have to rely on focus peaking if you want to get the shot right.
Astrhori 85mm F2.8 Macro and Tilt lens
The 85mm is not just a tilt lens but also has macro capabilities. It offers +/-8° tilt and is designed with 11 elements in 8 groups. There is also a minimum focus distance of 0.25m, a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:1, and 12 aperture blades. Some of the things the Fujifilm users will enjoy are the magnification, sharpness at f2.8, and a great build. As we said in our review, ” At 85mm, it can be a pleasing focal length for portraits, even if it doesn’t have the jaw-dropping shallow depth of field as an f1.4 or f1.8 lens. But at this price, it’s even got a tilt feature which very few macro lenses do. I’d say that any crop sensor camera owner looking for a macro lens should strongly consider this lens.”
Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III
The Tamron 150-500mm is perfect for Fujifilm photographers who like wildlife and bird photography. The lens has 25 elements in 16 groups, a maximum ratio of 1:3.1, and an 82mm filter size. It has a 0.6m close focusing distance on the wide side and 1.8m on the telephoto side. There are also 7 aperture blades, and it weighs 1,725g. The lens is smaller than competing lenses, can be shot handheld, and offers great colors and background separation. The weather sealing is great, and it is quite fantastic for Fujifilm X cameras. As we said in our review, “I tested this out by using the Pre-Shot ES mode at the fastest frame rates they deliver without cropping the image. And in AF-C with scene detection on for birds, the autofocus didn’t always capture the birds’ eyes. Still, it worked.”