Suggestion for a Lens to Pair with The Fujifilm X-T2

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  gomertose on 01/02/2023 - 20:23

  For budget you have set, just get a good condition second hand 18-55 kit lens. Reasonably cheap, lightweight and versatile zoom. I am now using a 18-135mm but really miss the lightness of the 18-55mm.

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 20:29

    Fair enough, though having a little trouble finding the 18-55 at around 300, from what I've seen the second hand ones are usually around 400 over

    • 

      sirmemealot on 01/02/2023 - 20:50

      You can get the 18-55mm from Digidirect for $399 with the 20% off eBay deal that's on currently. Not quite in your budget, but worth considering. Have mine arriving tomorrow.

      • 

        monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 21:24

        I'll definitely have a look, just asking but any other discounts that can be stacked for this like cashrewards, gift cards etc? And if something does go wrong, does digidirect provide some sort of warranty for buyers? Thanks!

• 

  Archi on 01/02/2023 - 20:29

  Fujifilm xf35 f1.4

  Fujifilm xf23 f2.0

  Fujifilm xf27 f2.8

  Tokina 56mm f1.4

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  MidnightCMDR on 01/02/2023 - 20:42

  If you're unsure what focal length prime you want to start with, I'd definitely recommend the 18-55. Normally the "kit lens" isn't anything special but this one absolutely is. Then you essentially have a bunch of prime's in one lens, and you can set it to 18mm, 23mm, 35mm or whatever, use only that length for a bit and see how you like it.

  The 2nd hand market for primes is pretty good though, so assume that eventually you'll end up with a couple :P

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 21:26

    Yeah this seems to be the consensus from most people, I'll definitely go for the 18-55 if I do decide to go the zoom lens route, cheers!

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  p1 ama on 01/02/2023 - 21:22

  Former professional photographer (who shoots with Fuji these days) here.

  It depends on what you want to shoot and how you want to shoot. The XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 is a good lens that others have (rightly) pointed out will be great for what you intend to use it for.

  On the wider end, 18mm is good for group shots, urban landscapes, and the like. On the long end, 55mm is fine for portraits, nature landscapes (yes, the best landscapes are telephoto, not wide-angle - but this is a discussion for another time), and is long enough for general use. You can always get a longer telephoto like the 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 when you need it.

  That being said, I personally prefer using prime lenses, particularly with Fuji and I would strongly recommend beginners to also pick up using primes. They force you to be more deliberate in your shooting and to really "know" a focal length. For example, for my most familiar focal lengths, I can "see" what an image will look like before I bring the camera to my eye. I can picture what a nice shot before seeing it on my camera.

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 21:29

    Yeah most people that suggest getting primes say similar things which I've considered, though any specific focal lengths that you recommend? From what I've seen and read it seems the 23, 27, 35 and 50mm are the most commonly recommended though I'm not too sure what I would go for - taking into consideration my use case and also very limited budget

    • 

      OpenHand on 01/02/2023 - 22:20

      I agree with basically everything above.

      Former pro who's used most camera systems back to the film days.

      Now I use an XT-3 with the XF 18-55mm and it's a super good quality lens, particularly for a kit option.

      That said, there's a real advantage to learning with a Prime.
      You'll work harder on framing since you can't just zoom around.
      You'll learn to 'zoom with your feet'
      The camera is lighter, lower profile, and less shit to fiddle with (zoom rings) so you're more likely to take it with you and shoot.

      I always thought I preferred wide angles (18mm~ equivalent on X-T3) but going back through my shots over the years, it turns out I do most of mine at 85mm (50mm~ equivalent on X-T3).

      Keep in mind that X-T2 has a crop factor of 1.5x
      So when people suggest a 'standard' 50mm lens, the equivalent on your Fuji will be a 35mm~
      Wide angle will be closer to 18mm
      Portrait will be 50mm or above

      • 

        monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 23:05

        Thanks for the advice, maybe the best course of action is to pick the 18-55mm up first then primes a long the way it seems.

        • 

          OpenHand on 02/02/2023 - 09:44

          @monkeyoutlet: Also very viable.

          Start with the 18-55 which is widely available and usually cheap-ish since it's a kit lens, figure out what you like, and keep an eye out in the future.

          The other thing I'd say is don't go crazy with gear. Shooting more and knowing your equipment will give you better results than just having a tonne of lenses you don't use so often!

• 

  MiniMad on 01/02/2023 - 21:24

  Definitely start with the 18-55, learn what kind of focal length you prefer or gravitate towards while using that. You can zoom it to any position and leave it there for a prime experience as well to test the waters.

  I would personally pair that with the original 35 1.4 which is a beautiful lens and should have come down a bit with the new MKII

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 01/02/2023 - 21:33

    Thanks, will consider buying the 35 1.4 too. What would you say is a reasonable price nowadays for a second hand unit then?

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  vice on 01/02/2023 - 23:48

  Given you requirements I’d be considering either the the Tokina 23mm 1.4 (that will give you equivalent of 35mm full frame equivalent focal length) or the sigma 30mm 1.4 (that will give 45mm focal length).

  If you aren’t sure what to get the 18-55 isn’t a bad choice but you’ll probably be upgrading down the track - the 1.4 aperture is valuable in low light and having creative control over depth of field.

  If it were my money I’d get the 23mm - this will be wide enough for landscape shots, and for portraits gives a sense of wider environment.

  Next to buy would be the sigma 56mm 1.4 for portraiture.

  • 

    p1 ama on 02/02/2023 - 00:17

    +1

    Tokina 23mm 1.4

    sigma 30mm 1.4

    sigma 56mm 1.4

    I personally wouldn't get any of these - the main reason to shoot with Fuji is to access their amazing lens line-up. I would much prefer the Fuji 23mm f/1.4 LM WR, Fuji 33mm f/1.4 LM WR, and Fuji 56mm f/1.2 WR.

    Fuji's optics are amazing, their lenses look great, are a joy to use, and are extremely well built with a mostly metal construction. New photographers don't get this, but lenses hold their value and depreciate very slowly, so never fear buying expensive lenses particularly if you're scoring a good bargain in the second hand market.

    Some examples - I bought the old Fuji 35mm f/1.4 R for ~$450 years ago on Gumtree, they're still going for just below $500 on eBay, similarly, my Fuji 90mm f/2 LM WR was around $700 on Gumtree, still going for $700-ish on eBay today. Even the 23mm f/1.4 R, which I paid $700 for in 2016 is now ~$500 despite there being a new 23mm f/1.4 LM WR.

    Unfortunately, Sigma and Tokina lenses just won't hold their value like that over time. As an example, I remember selling off all of my Canon DSLR (EF) lenses a few years back. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 was around $1,000 when I bought it, sold it years later, and is still $1,000 used today. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART was around $800-ish used back then, around $600-ish now.

• 

  AwesomeAndrew on 02/02/2023 - 00:26

  I have the Fujifilm X-S10 and have used it for around 6 months. Here is my experience with my 3 lenses.

  I do not recommend the XC 15-45mm lens as in some scenarios, there are excessive chromatic aberrations in the images (especially in out of focus and high contrast areas) which are noticeable even when viewing on a phone screen. I also notice some distortion in some images taken with this lens, which were not corrected properly by the software.

  I also have the XC 50-230mm and would recommend this lens, as I have not noticed any significant issues with this lens, and it is a great telephoto lens for the price. The only minor defect I have noticed with this lens is that there is very minor uncorrected vignetting and when combined with the OIS and IBIS in video where the camera is shaking a lot you can see the vignetting move around (due to the stabilizer using different parts of the lens), which is a little distracting.

  I recently bought a XF 50mm f/2 and would also recommend this lens. I have not experienced any issues whatsoever with this lens so far. This lens costs around $500 and may be outside your budget. I was able to buy an excellent condition used version of this lens for $300, so you can consider going used to save money.

  I have also used the XF 35mm F/1.4 lens from a rental. The downside with this lens is the loud autofocus motor, which is a bit annoying and also makes the lens unusable if you want to shoot video with audio. When shooting portraits, I personally prefer a 35mm focal length rather than 50mm, as when using 50mm I find that I have to stand too far away from the subject, and sometimes there isn't enough space. Unless you need the low light performance or the extra bokeh, you would be better off buying the XF or XC 35mm F/2 lens instead which doesn't suffer from the loud motor issue. From online reviews it seems the XF and XC versions use the same optics. You can also get the XF 33mm F/1.4, which uses the new quieter motor, but is way more expensive.

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 02/02/2023 - 14:34

    Thanks for the advice!

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  harshbdmmaster718 on 02/02/2023 - 16:33

  IMO 35mm would be the best for a newbie.

  Most "consumer" point and shoot camera's will turn on at 35mm equivalent by default. Good medium between wide angle and portrait, doesn't force you to take steps back, but still get you walking forwards to frame certain shots.
  But mostly point and shoot as the category suggests.

  Kit lens such as 18-55 can mess up some shots because the aperture changes as you zoom. Only really ok if you use Auto mode all the time and don't mind high noise levels in image.

  • 

    monkeyoutlet on 02/02/2023 - 17:08

    Hm I see, I wasn't aware of that issue with the kit lens. Couldn't you just adjust the aperture to compensate though?

    • 

      harshbdmmaster718 on 02/02/2023 - 17:14

      "Couldn't you just adjust the aperture to compensate though?"

      No it closes further as you zoom, you can't widen it back while it's zoomed.

      The XF 18-55 F2.8-4 looks better spec than Canon kit lenses though which start at like F5.6 and end up at like F8. And at least with the Canon kit lens I had, it's constantly affecting the aperture e.g. from the very moment you touch the zoom ring. So you can start at F8 and aperture closes further as you zoom.

      But still if you zoom it's going to gradually close F2.8 at 18mm to F4 zoomed at 55mm, and you can't open it anymore at any point. e.g. at 24mm it will be around F3.2 wide open.

      Problem is if you expose correctly at F2.8 and then decide to zoom for whatever impulsive reason while shooting you will under expose because of the narrowing aperture.
      You could also be zoomed without being aware of it, expose for F4 then zoom out for just one shot and get an over exposed image.

      Not sure about new lens technology though maybe XF zoom lenses can maintain aperture if you stop down and start at F4 18mm and end up with F4 55mm. This would at least help accidental exposure errors.

      • 

        monkeyoutlet on 02/02/2023 - 21:57

        Yeah I see, 35mm does sound good but it is a little pricey and over my budget at the moment from what I've seen it being advertised at

      • 

        AwesomeAndrew on 03/02/2023 - 00:27

        Just use auto iso with auto exposure and exposure compensation instead. Works much better and doesn't have any issues with changing aperture. Also much quicker to use and gives similar creative control compared to manual exposure.

        And fuji lenses are all electronic and will maintain the aperture set on the camera. If you set f/4 it will always stay at f/4. Unless the setting is beyond the capabilities of the lens, then it will reduce the aperture but it will be restored to the original setting when you zoom out again.