At 6.4 by 40cm of 116 grams of aluminum, the XF 18mm f/2 R, is a tiny X-Mount lens, made
to be taken everywhere.
Featuring a pancake design, it practically disappears when mounted on larger X-cams,
being robust for everyday abuse.
On the camera it doesn't extends much, again, feeling tough.
It's a genuine always with you lens, and the main reason to have it on your kit: you
only purchase it to make frequent use of it.
In your hands there's practically no user experience, as the XF 18mm f/2R is so small.
The controls are limited to only two rings, one for aperture and other for manual focus,
with the rest being controlled by the camera's menu.
The frontal manual focusing ring has a slippery grip, besides being rubberized, and unfortunately
it's a fly-by-wire design: when turning the ring, it electronically sends a signal
to the internal focusing motor, lacking precision.
At the rear, the manual aperture ring has laser engraved markings, with embossed grooves.
But it is poorly damped, feeling dry and in contact with the internal metal barrel, without
the smooth tactile feedback I found on the XF 35mm f/2 R WR.
Also the auto position is contrary to the f/2 value, making it impossible to quickly
fully open, which can be cumbersome.
Inside the auto focusing motor feels like a micro-DC, given its noise; also extending
when at the minimum focusing distance.
It's also not the fastest, especially when in low light or backlit.
At least it's very precise, with no front/back focus issues, as two different techs work
together to achieve focus.
It's fast for a Fuji XF lens, but don't expect DSLR-class speed.
At the front the 52mm filters don't rotate during AF, great to use with polarizers.
Around the front sits the lens hood thread, allowing for both filter and hood usage at
the same time.
Finally at the rear, the metal mount completes the robust XF 18mm f/2 R built.
But there's no rubber gasket between the camera, making it unsuitable for dramatic weather.
With an optical formula using 8 elements in 7 groups, 2 aspherical and some low dispersion,
together with the EBC treatment to avoid flaring, the Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 R, is yet another
failed attempt in building a pancake wide angle mirrorless lens, given the short flange
distance of such systems.
As the lens sits so close to the image sensor, it's harder to squeeze a wide angle view
in such short space.
And Fujifilm couldn't deliver: while the 18mm is capable of generating great images,
the optics lack that pixel level sharpness we're used to on prime lenses.
The main issue is the overall lack of sharpness, in about 60% of the frame.
Files come out blurry, due to the the wavy image plane, with different distances from
side to side.
It might not be an issue for street photographers, that usually shoot compositions tolerating
tridimensional lines, subjects and blur.
But it's completely unsuitable for landscape, architecture and product photography, where
everything must look sharp, making us question the APS-C mirrorless format, as a viable alternative
to larger cameras.
If the resolution wasn't worrying enough, Fujifilm includes a mandatory lens correction
profile, in order to digitally erase chromatic aberrations and various distortions.
During the software compensation, the pixels are interpolated, killing even more details.
On a good note, the optical achievements are its rendering of faraway, out of focus objects,
uncommon for wide angle lenses; and the vibrant colors, typical from Fuji's EBC treated lenses.
With a short minimum focusing distance of 18cm, some creative effects can be shot mixing
the large aperture, short depth of field and wide angle of view, for creamy bokeh surrounding
your subject.
Even when backlit, the overall frame contrast holds up very well, better than low cost optics
and poor glass coatings, making the last pledge for the 18mm f/2 R: a specialized tool for
wide angle, short depth of field images, generating impressive results.
The laws of physics don't forgive mirrorless cameras, and the manufacturers make it worst
by miniaturizing the lenses.
So, who's the XF 18mm for?
It's an alternative for costlier 14mm f/2.8 and 16mm f/1.4; and has a larger aperture
than both 10-24mm f/4, and 16-55mm f/2.8 zooms.
But it doesn't compare to any of these lenses, and I blame the pancake design.
For serious, precision, high resolution work, like landscape, architecture and product photography,
do yourself a favor and consider a better lens.
Nice shooting!
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