Introduction

If there was one area of lens design Fujifilm was still seriously lacking in a few years into X series, it was weather sealing. Once they got there, it was initially with larger lenses like their Red Badge zoom, and the chunky (but exquisite) XF 16mm F1.4 WR (Review). The XF 35mm F2 WR heralded a series of ultra compact f/2 (mostly) lenses, bringing weather and dust resistance to the essence of what X series is all about.

This is my review of what is still my favourite lens to have mounted on my camera, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I think it will be yours.

Handling

Build Quality

Fuji has called the XF 35mm F2 WR a reference point in build quality for Fuji lenses going forward. XF lenses have always been excellent save for a loose or rough-feeling aperture rings here, and an inconsistent focus ring there, but the XF 35mm F2 WR tightened all that up and just feels “right” in use.

These minor quibbles really shouldn’t matter when it comes time to take a photograph, but for me, and I’m sure many others, it can be a distraction at best, and lead to missing the image I want to capture—if an aperture ring has migrated on its own accord—at worst.

Size and Weight

Fuji’s first 50mm equivalent was already nice and small, but the XF 35mm F2 WR is wonderfully compact, even with the accessory hood attached.

Optical Viewfinder

Without any hood, none of the frame is blocked. This lens was tailor-made for the X-Pro’s OVF. Even with the vented accessory hood, a mere sliver of the frame is occluded.

Aperture Ring

No loose rings here. This aperture ring is solid.

Autofocus

The XF 35mm F2 WR features a stepping motor for smooth autofocus transitions suitable for video. Autofocus is nice and fast thanks to the lens’s small size.

Manual Focus

I rarely focus manually with this lens, but the focus ring—narrowest of the F2WR lenses, but wider than the XF 16mm F2.8 WR, incredibly—is excellent.

Hood

This is the one beef I have with the XF 35mm F2 WR. The tiny ring of plastic they call a hood seems laughably cheap, and it’s finish just seems out of place because it’s such a small ring. I couldn’t even bring myself to use it. For the more budget-conscious, it will certainly add protection to the front of the lens, and block at least some unwanted flare.

Accessory Hood

The LH-XF35-2→ on the other hand, is excellent, and I keep one on my XF 35mm F2 WR all the time. It’s a bit pricey, but given the low MSRP of the lens, it’s not as tough to swallow as it is on the XF 16mm F1.4 WR.

Third-party Hood

As with the other accessory hoods Fujifilm has made available, the folks at Vello have undercut them by no small margin. Their LHF-XF35 Dedicated Hood is available in both Black B→ and Silver S→.

Lens Cap

I absolutely love Fuji’s new lens cap style. It’s my new favourite unlike the previous style that shipped with the XF 35mm F1.4 that I felt the need to replace with a Nikon cap.

Image Quality

Fuji set the bar pretty high with their first pass at the nifty fifty. The new entry doesn’t quite match up, but it’s damn close. So close in fact that unless you are locked down tight on a tripod shooting a landscape or a studio session, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

Sharpness

I’ve got nothing to complain about. This lens meets my sharpness needs, no problem.

Bokeh

Bokeh balls aren’t perfectly round across the entire frame, but otherwise the quality is quite good, particularly in the background. The foreground can get a little bit messier.

Distortion

Without correction, distortion should be considered on the high end for a fixed focal length lens. In real world use, it hasn’t been an issue for me. Capture One, Lightroom, and Iridient Developer both do a great job correcting distortion.

Vignetting

Fairly heavy at the wider apertures when shooting RAFs. Negligible if you shoot JPEG, or use software to correct it.

Flare

It’s just ok for me, but it depends what you are after. This is not a lens I would mount if I wanted to smear some ghosting across the frame, but if I needed to shoot towards the sun without ghosting, it’s an excellent choice.

Aberrations

Inconsequential with in-camera correction or profiles applied in software. Even without correction they aren’t terrible, mostly turning up at wider apertures and towards the corners.

Conclusion and Rating

Despite this lens having slightly inferior optics to the XF 35mm F1.4 when software correction is off the table, there’s something about it that makes me love having it on my camera. It’s the prime I would recommend any newcomer to X series start with. Small, light, fast, weather sealed and affordable.

Strongly recommended.

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