Ten Fuji Lenses Everyone Should Have -- Maybe a Top-10 List

Hello, This was originally a post from DPReview by Greg Johnson (DPR username: Greggg) that I found really helpful when I was just starting out with Fuji. I just wanted to preserve this post before DPR is deleted. Hope that's okay. :) Admittedly, this list is now a bit dated... but maybe I'll try to post my own update of it.
Original post link is here: www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4125523

Fuji Lenses:

I’m posting this again because I last did a similar version of it 6 months ago (or was it 8?) and I have had months of travel and at least ten thousand more images that I have shot with these lenses. Plus, I have purchased more Fuji glass since my last post on this old topic. That post had a lot of Faves but simultaneously made about 7 people so mad that they hold it against me to this day.

This list is not in priority order this time because everyone’s needs are a bit different, but the must-haves and best lenses are more towards the top. Well sort of. OK – ignore the order. Except for Number 1 and 3. I own all of these lenses (and more) and except for the 90, have shot with all of them extensively. I bought the 90 a year ago but for some reason I still have not shot with it that much. It’s a fantastic lens though. All Fuji glass is great. But when I’m hiking or traveling I tend to have the 55-200 with me and that covers 90 pretty well. The 90 is special though.

Here is the bottom line, many new posts on the Fuji board are in some way related to what lenses some new Fuji shooter should buy. My answer is always “as many as you can.” This I know: There is no one-lens solution. Operating with only one lens is not why you bought an ILC mirrorless camera – especially a Fuji. Fuji is cracking into the psyche and business model of Canon / Nikon and their big DSLR mantra, and they are doing it with great size/weight, one-of-a-kind ergo, awesome IQ and utterly fantastic glass.

So the simple answer is always the same. Buy more glass. Equipment matters. Having more and better glass will not impinge upon or hinder the purity of your “art”.

Here is the Fuji glass you should dream about and own if you can.

Note: I am not putting the 16-55 brick on this list, so let’s get that out of the way right now. The brick is a great lens and is a sort of bag of big primes. OK. I get it. Maybe I am wrong in making this the only Fuji lens of significance that I have not purchased (although I have shot it a lot). And let’s not turn this into yet another brick fight. It’s simple. The brick needs OIS. If it had it and was still as good as it is now (even as big as it is), then I would have it as number 1 on the list. I mean it. Seriously. No joking here.

OK ... here goes.

1. The Great Travel Trilogy of zooms -- 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200. This trio is indispensable for travel, hiking or just walking around new cities and the great sites of the world. It is the closest thing to a pure professional camera small-bag solution as exists in the world today. I seriously don’t understand how anyone who travels, hikes or even walks around in their own town and shoots with a Fuji body does not have this amazing trio of quality Fuji zooms. If you don’t have them, get them. If you only get one, get the 18-55. That lens is the first lens all Fuji shooters should own and use. Period. I’m convinced of this with absolute certainty. And there are no absolutes in the world of camera gear – except for this one. Great job Fuji on that little 18-55 beauty. What a great little lens it is.

2. The Bazooka Duo -- the Fabulous 100-400 and 50-140. This is amazing and world-class glass. These two lenses are so good that I can’t even begin to properly describe them. They are big, almost like the DSLR Canon and Nikon pro high-end glass of similar FOV, but these two lenses are magically special. Save your money and when you get old like me (60) just buy them before you die. You won’t be sorry. Jerry, Salt Lake, Chris and others talked me into these lenses because I had the Canon versions. I never am looking back.... Awesome glass. Just simply spectacular. (I wish I had brought these lenses on my long Patagonia adventure that we just completed, but I decided not to for practical reasons. But I wanted them daily. I missed them. I needed them badly.)

3. The Mighty 16. This is the best single lens in the world, and the best lens that Fuji makes period. Everyone should own this lens. But it is somewhat of a specialty item and takes some skill and awareness of when and how to use it.

4. The Greatest Portrait Duo on Planet Earth – the Wonderful 56 and 90 Primes. Enough said. Spectacular lenses, and for more than just portraits.

5. The Prime Street-Shooting Duo – the Awesome Little-Bitty 23 and 35 F2s. These new little primes should be in every Fuji-shooters kit, especially if you are one of those prime aficionados or pro street shooters, or if you like to hike or shoot in bad weather. I just finished a 45-day trip to Patagonia and just drug my old body across some of the world’s best hikes. Fitz Roy, Cerro Cristal, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Torre, Towers in Torres del Paine, and several more where we climbed thousands of feet and trekked 10 or 15 miles on rough trails a day. I had five lenses with me at all times on every hike -- the zoom trio of number 1, the Mighty 16 and the little 23. I bought that little 23 right before going on the trip on a whim. I don’t really like the 35 equivalent FOV, but I wanted a small lens and one that is weather resistant for the hikes in case it was raining hard and I wanted to stay out of the pack on my back on lens changes. Guess what? That little 23 stayed on my XT-2 more than any other lens! I fell in love with that lens. They say it is soft on the corners at F2 but otherwise fantastic. I don’t care about F2 in that situation. I never shot it at F2 and if I needed that speed I would grab the 16, 18-55 or 10-24 with their apertures and/or OIS. So I had 23 covered on two other lenses I was carrying, yet the 23 stayed on my XT-2 more than any other lens. Go figure. I was amazed that it turned out that way. (I didn’t bring the nice little 35 F2, which is my least favorite FOV -- 50 equivalent).

There. That is the 10 lenses everyone should have if you can afford it. OK -- what the Hell .... Go ahead and get the brick.

By the way – I posted about 300 images on that Patagonia trip shot with the XT-2 and five Fuji lenses if anyone has a fast internet connection and wants to zoom through them. I posted them from the road with slow internet, so they are relatively small (about one-third sized) 2 MB JPEGs exported from RAW in LR.

-- hide signature --
Greg Johnson, San Antonio, Texas
www.flickr.com/photos/139148982@N02/albums

Hello, This was originally a post from DPReview by Greg Johnson (DPR username: Greggg) that I found really helpful when I was just starting out with Fuji. I just wanted to preserve this post before DPR is deleted. Hope that's okay. :) Admittedly, this list is now a bit dated... but maybe I'll try to post my own update of it.
Original post link is here: www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4125523

Fuji Lenses:

I’m posting this again because I last did a similar version of it 6 months ago (or was it 8?) and I have had months of travel and at least ten thousand more images that I have shot with these lenses. Plus, I have purchased more Fuji glass since my last post on this old topic. That post had a lot of Faves but simultaneously made about 7 people so mad that they hold it against me to this day.

This list is not in priority order this time because everyone’s needs are a bit different, but the must-haves and best lenses are more towards the top. Well sort of. OK – ignore the order. Except for Number 1 and 3. I own all of these lenses (and more) and except for the 90, have shot with all of them extensively. I bought the 90 a year ago but for some reason I still have not shot with it that much. It’s a fantastic lens though. All Fuji glass is great. But when I’m hiking or traveling I tend to have the 55-200 with me and that covers 90 pretty well. The 90 is special though.

Here is the bottom line, many new posts on the Fuji board are in some way related to what lenses some new Fuji shooter should buy. My answer is always “as many as you can.” This I know: There is no one-lens solution. Operating with only one lens is not why you bought an ILC mirrorless camera – especially a Fuji. Fuji is cracking into the psyche and business model of Canon / Nikon and their big DSLR mantra, and they are doing it with great size/weight, one-of-a-kind ergo, awesome IQ and utterly fantastic glass.

So the simple answer is always the same. Buy more glass. Equipment matters. Having more and better glass will not impinge upon or hinder the purity of your “art”.

Here is the Fuji glass you should dream about and own if you can.

Note: I am not putting the 16-55 brick on this list, so let’s get that out of the way right now. The brick is a great lens and is a sort of bag of big primes. OK. I get it. Maybe I am wrong in making this the only Fuji lens of significance that I have not purchased (although I have shot it a lot). And let’s not turn this into yet another brick fight. It’s simple. The brick needs OIS. If it had it and was still as good as it is now (even as big as it is), then I would have it as number 1 on the list. I mean it. Seriously. No joking here.

OK ... here goes.

1. The Great Travel Trilogy of zooms -- 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200. This trio is indispensable for travel, hiking or just walking around new cities and the great sites of the world. It is the closest thing to a pure professional camera small-bag solution as exists in the world today. I seriously don’t understand how anyone who travels, hikes or even walks around in their own town and shoots with a Fuji body does not have this amazing trio of quality Fuji zooms. If you don’t have them, get them. If you only get one, get the 18-55. That lens is the first lens all Fuji shooters should own and use. Period. I’m convinced of this with absolute certainty. And there are no absolutes in the world of camera gear – except for this one. Great job Fuji on that little 18-55 beauty. What a great little lens it is.

2. The Bazooka Duo -- the Fabulous 100-400 and 50-140. This is amazing and world-class glass. These two lenses are so good that I can’t even begin to properly describe them. They are big, almost like the DSLR Canon and Nikon pro high-end glass of similar FOV, but these two lenses are magically special. Save your money and when you get old like me (60) just buy them before you die. You won’t be sorry. Jerry, Salt Lake, Chris and others talked me into these lenses because I had the Canon versions. I never am looking back.... Awesome glass. Just simply spectacular. (I wish I had brought these lenses on my long Patagonia adventure that we just completed, but I decided not to for practical reasons. But I wanted them daily. I missed them. I needed them badly.)

3. The Mighty 16. This is the best single lens in the world, and the best lens that Fuji makes period. Everyone should own this lens. But it is somewhat of a specialty item and takes some skill and awareness of when and how to use it.

4. The Greatest Portrait Duo on Planet Earth – the Wonderful 56 and 90 Primes. Enough said. Spectacular lenses, and for more than just portraits.

5. The Prime Street-Shooting Duo – the Awesome Little-Bitty 23 and 35 F2s. These new little primes should be in every Fuji-shooters kit, especially if you are one of those prime aficionados or pro street shooters, or if you like to hike or shoot in bad weather. I just finished a 45-day trip to Patagonia and just drug my old body across some of the world’s best hikes. Fitz Roy, Cerro Cristal, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Torre, Towers in Torres del Paine, and several more where we climbed thousands of feet and trekked 10 or 15 miles on rough trails a day. I had five lenses with me at all times on every hike -- the zoom trio of number 1, the Mighty 16 and the little 23. I bought that little 23 right before going on the trip on a whim. I don’t really like the 35 equivalent FOV, but I wanted a small lens and one that is weather resistant for the hikes in case it was raining hard and I wanted to stay out of the pack on my back on lens changes. Guess what? That little 23 stayed on my XT-2 more than any other lens! I fell in love with that lens. They say it is soft on the corners at F2 but otherwise fantastic. I don’t care about F2 in that situation. I never shot it at F2 and if I needed that speed I would grab the 16, 18-55 or 10-24 with their apertures and/or OIS. So I had 23 covered on two other lenses I was carrying, yet the 23 stayed on my XT-2 more than any other lens. Go figure. I was amazed that it turned out that way. (I didn’t bring the nice little 35 F2, which is my least favorite FOV -- 50 equivalent).

There. That is the 10 lenses everyone should have if you can afford it. OK -- what the Hell .... Go ahead and get the brick.

By the way – I posted about 300 images on that Patagonia trip shot with the XT-2 and five Fuji lenses if anyone has a fast internet connection and wants to zoom through them. I posted them from the road with slow internet, so they are relatively small (about one-third sized) 2 MB JPEGs exported from RAW in LR.

-- hide signature --
Greg Johnson, San Antonio, Texas
www.flickr.com/photos/139148982@N02/albums

I have or have had all those. Terrific glass but Fuji has quite a few more lenses available now than when Greg first posted this some years ago. Also there's more 3rd party lenses available today as well. I'm a big fan of having the right glass for the right job and most of my glass is Fuji but I don't hesitate to acquire another lens if it fills the bill.

I am not sure, maybe the mods or others have an opinion.

There is an incredible wealth of useful information on DPReview. It would be a huge pain and a pity to see all this getting deleted in the near future. I understand it'll be read only for a certain period in time, but one day it'll all be gone.

Do we want to copy/paste posts we regard as useful from there to here?

With own posts I see less an issue (and I had a similar thought with some of my posts that I regard as "my keepers", i.e., useful for others, where I had put effort into writing it all up); but are we eligible to copy and paste others' posts if we cite them correctly?

Cheers,

Martin

Personally, my vote would be to preserve as much useful info as possible. But not sure what the mods think. TBH, I don't know who the mods are yet?

Nathanael

Since the OP doesn’t mention the 35mm f.14 I can only assume it’s been corrupted in the transfer and should probably be deleted anyway.

I don't really see the value of this? It's basically a list of Fuji's premium lenses, so pretty obvious for starters. Secondly, the best lens for someone could be dictated by focal length, or even size and weight. There are no 'bad' Fuji lenses in my experience ( maybe the occasional bad copy, but that's a given for any brand ). Opinions on lenses are so broad and varied, dependent on how and what you shoot, that there is no definitive one size fits all, and just listing a load of expensive and obvious choices serves no real purpose for me. A trip to Fuji's own website will tell you all you need to know about what the premium lenses are.

I agree!! I like Greg but his lens choice opinions aren’t the type of information I will be sad to lose.

Is there a way to post without the entire replied to thread being copied as well?

Yes.

I did this here by selecting the passage I deemed relevant (to my reply) in your comment, then hitting the Quote button that appeared.

One also has the option to select any, or all, text in a reply and delete it. I routinely cite only specific passages, or at least trim multiple quote streams down to just the most recent level — even when replying from my phone. I wish more would follow suit because long reply strings inhibit readability and bury new content.

Seconded. I think if Greg or anyone wants to come here and make the case for ten lenses that’s up to them, and we’ll discuss it, but I don’t think his or anyone else’s opinion needs to be copied over from DPR as if it’s a sacred text to be preserved.

And I was only half joking before, for anyone to come up with a list of ten best Fuji lenses and not once mention the 35 1.4 is remarkable.

See also How to : Quote

I think Fuji stands out for its small primes. My three key lenses for "small Fuji" are the 27mm f/2.8 WR, the 35mm f/1.4 and the 50mm f/2, representing a fairly complete set for walkaround, inside and out. Even on an X-Tx camera this lens set offers light weight and big performance, and on a smaller body they are even better.

That said, this discussion makes me even more curious about adding my first big Fuji lens, almost certainly the 90mm f/2.

I like Greg's selection even it it's a bit outdated (so are my preferences). I would personally drop the bazooka's and add the 35:1.4, and find space for the 18-135 somewhere :-)

Jeez, I cannot even think of 10 Fuji lenses I'd want to use... yet, these are "must haves"?

Sorry but I see no need to start copying DPReview content and posting it here.

Especially a recommendation to purchase all the premium Fujifulm lenses...how original is that?

And not very interesting to those of us who don't own a Fuji camera.

Don

Which is presumably why it’s posted in the Fuji X Camera sub-category.