The FUJINON XF18mmF1.4 R LM WR Hands-On Review

Fuji Absolutely Does It Again

Fantastic images always begin with a creative vision, but only Fujifilm’s FUJINON lenses like XF18mmF1.4 can bring those ideas to life in full the famous Fuji colorway. With a 35mm equivalent focal length of 27mm and a wide, versatile aperture of F1.4, photographers and filmmakers will be able to turn their vision into stunning images while getting the most from the lens’ remarkable resolving capabilities. Every capture will matter under the scope of the wide variation of Fuji’s F/1.4 capabilities Regardless of the destination, this bad boy is the obvious choice for anyone who cares about image quality as much as they do about telling stories.

It takes a lot to design and engineer a wide-angle lens that produces beautifully sharp images from corner to corner, with little-to-no distortion at the frame’s edges. I’m fantastically impressed with Fujifilm’s endless capabilities in accomplishing this difficult task by using 15 lens elements — as well as one ED and three aspherical elements — to minimize unwarranted optical aberrations. This produces an image that is not only incredibly detailed, but also perfectly complemented by the beautiful bokeh created at the 1.4 aperture with renowned, rounded aperture blades. Their intersection of engineering and design provides total control over an image and opens up a wide, new world of creativity that starts with the superb separation this lens creates between a subject and its background.

The auto focus is what sells me on capturing quick, but sharp details. The XF18mmF1.4 uses a linear autofocus (AF) motor to provide consistent autofocus results. This precise internal system drives all six focusing elements to deliver responsive, near-silent AF down to 7.9in (20cm) as fast as 0.04 seconds. For those situations that require a personal touch, the lens’ manual focusing ring provides smooth, even rotation from one end to the other. This makes pulling focus a breeze when recording video and selective focus simple when photographing through objects like prisms and loupes. Regardless of whether you’re manually focusing or using autofocus, XF18mmF1.4 will make sure you’re ready to frame that perfect moment, so the only luck you’ll need is being in the right place at the right time.

The lens is no doubt resistant to the Earth's elements. A total of eight weather — resistant seals are used to allow for continued operation in dusty, moist, and freezing conditions down to -10°C (14°F), which lets you keep going when others are forced to go home. The addition of an ‘A’ position lock on the aperture ring gives extra peace of mind for those times you really need to lose yourself in the art of creating your best images.

• Greater Resolving Power to Offer Best Possible Image Quality
• Less Chromatic/Comatic Aberration and Beautiful Bokeh
• Fast, Quiet, and Smooth Focus
• Compact Size F1.4 Lens
• Weather-Resistant Design With A Position Lock on Aperture Ring