Fuji 27mm f/2.8

XF (2014-2021; 41mm equiv.)

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations

Fuji 27mm f/2.8  XF

Fuji Fujinon XF 27mm f/2.8 in black for X-mount cameras, also comes in silver (39mm filter thread, 2.7 oz./77.3g, 1.1'/0.34m close focus, $399 new or about $225 used if you know How to Win at eBay). enlarge. I got mine at Adorama; this link to it at Amazon or to it at eBay are also a great places to get it.

This free website's biggest source of support is when you use that or these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take the chance of buying elsewhere. Never buy at retail, since Fuji doesn't seal its boxes so you can't tell if it's a used lens or missing accessories. Thanks for your support! Ken.

 

May 2021    Fuji Reviews   X-Mount Lenses   LEICA Reviews   All Reviews

Why fixed lenses take better pictures

 

Sample Image Files (more throughout the review)

Fujifilm X-S10 Sample Image File

Outdoor Patio Heaters, 8:20 PM, 22 May 2021. Fuji X-S10, XF 27mm f/2.8 at f/2.8 at ¼ of a second hand-held at Auto ISO 320 (LV 3⅓), "Velvia" film simulation, COLOR CHROME EFFECT STRONG, COLOR CHROME FX BLUE STRONG, AUTO White Balance with +1 Red and -1 Blue, 200% Dynamic Range, TONE CURVE: Highlights -1, Shadows -1, COLOR +4. SHARPNESS +4, HIGH ISO NR -5, CLARITY +5 (mostly Ritchie Roesche's "Ken Rockwell" setting), Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © JPG file.

The X-S10's in-camera stabilization makes it pretty easy getting perfectly sharp results like these hand-held at a ¼ of a second.

 

Fujifilm X-S10 Sample Image File

Old Town, 8:42 PM, 22 May 2021. Fuji X-S10, XF 27mm f/2.8 at f/2.8 at 1/8 of a second hand-held at Auto ISO 640, +0.7 stops exposure compensation, (LV 3⅓), "Velvia" film simulation, COLOR CHROME EFFECT STRONG, COLOR CHROME FX BLUE STRONG, AUTO White Balance with +1 Red and -1 Blue, 200% Dynamic Range, TONE CURVE: Highlights -1, Shadows -1, COLOR +4. SHARPNESS +4, HIGH ISO NR -5, CLARITY +5 (mostly Ritchie Roesche's "Ken Rockwell" setting), Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © JPG file.

 

Palm, 09 September 2014.

Palm, 09 September 2014. Fuji X-T1, f/5 at 1/150. camera-original © JPG file.

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Introduction       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations

Compatibility

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This Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8 is a tiny perfect-normal (41mm equivalent) lens that works on Fuji's X-mount cameras.

While 50mm equivalent lenses are often too long, and 35mm equivalent lenses often too short, "perfect normal" lenses — lenses equal to the diagonal of the image sensor — are the perfect normal focal length. At 41mm equivalent, this funny-sounding 27mm lens is actually the one normal lens you might need for everything.

It's super small and light. I have lens caps bigger than this entire 27mm lens.

The only gotchas with this Fuji lens is that there is no instant manual-focus override and no aperture ring. You have to move a switch on your camera to get to or from manual focus mode, and move a dial on the camera to change the aperture.

The Fuji X-Mount Lenses are all extraordinary. What most photographers don't realize is that Fuji has for many decades, just like Canon and Nikon, also made far more advanced optics, like binoculars for the military and for use in space, as well as lenses for motion pictures and television with six-figure price tags at discount. Unlike mud brands like Sigma and Tamron (or even LEICA), Fujinon has loads of experience actually supplying optics that cost more than some people's houses, and puts that same know-how into these lenses.

As expected, this lens is just about optically perfect, and it autofocuses amazingly fast.

I got my XF 27mm f/2.8 at Adorama. I'd also get it at Amazon or used eBay if you know How to Win at eBay

 

Compatibility       intro      top

This is a Fuji X-mount XF lens that works only on Fuji X-mount cameras.

 

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8.

 

Specifications        top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations

 

I got my XF 27mm f/2.8 at Adorama. I'd also get it at Amazon or used eBay if you know How to Win at eBay

 

Name

Fuji 27 4 front

Fuji 27/2.8.

Fuji calls this the Fujinon Aspherical Lens Super EBC XF 27mm f/2.8, or XF27mmF2.8.

Fujinon is Fuji's brand name for their lenses.

Aspherical means specially shaped lens elements for better sharpness.

Super EBC is Electron Beam Coating, also known as multicoating or HT-EBC coating.

XF is Fuji's line of lenses for their X-mount cameras.

39 means it takes 39mm filters.

 

Optics

Fuji 27mm f/2.8 internal diagram

Fuji 27/2.8 internal diagram. Aspherical.

7 elements in 5 groups.

1 aspherical element.

Unit focus.

 

Diaphragm

Fuji 27 4 front

Fuji 27/2.8 at f/2.8 (no diaphragm visible).

7 rounded blades.

Stops down to f/16 in 1/3-stop clicks using the front dial on the camera.

 

Focal length

27mm.

When used on the X-mount cameras with their 1.52x crop factor sensors, it sees the same angle of view as a 41mm lens sees when used on a 35mm camera.

When used on the X-mount cameras in their 1:1 square crop mode, it sees the same angle of view as a 95mm lens sees when used on a 6x6 cm (2¼"square) medium-format camera. This is about the same as a 50mm lens sees when used on a 35mm camera.

See also Crop Factor.

 

Angle of view

55.5º

 

Close Focus

1.1 feet (0.34 meters) in normal or in Macro modes.

Fuji specifies only to 2.5 feet (0.6 meters) in normal mode, but my X-T1 focuses as close in both modes.

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio

1:10 (0.10x).

 

Filters

39mm filter thread.

 

Hood

None.

 

Size

2.41" diameter x 0.91" extension from flange.

61.2 mm diameter x 23 mm extension from flange.

 

Weight

2.725 oz. (77.3g), measured, lens only.

Fuji specifies 2.75 oz. (78g).

 

Announced

25 June 2013.

 

Included

Lens.

Front and rear caps.

"Lens wrapping cloth."

Paperwork.

 

Packaging

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8

Box, Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8.

Inside the micro-corrugated cardboard box are black pulp-formed cardboard holders for the plastic-wrapped lens. A small folded tray of microcorrugated cardboard lies on top to hold the manual and lens wrapping cloth.

 

Price

May 2021

$399 new.

About $225 used if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Introduction - September 2014

$450.

 

Performance       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations

 

Overall   Auto and Manual Focus   Bokeh   Color

Distortion   Ergonomics   Falloff  Filters   Flare & Ghosts

Color Fringes   Macro   Mechanics     Sharpness

Spherochromatism   Stabilization   Sunstars

 

I got my XF 27mm f/2.8 at Adorama. I'd also get it at Amazon or used eBay if you know How to Win at eBay

 

Overall      performance      top

The Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8 ASPH is optically close to perfect, tiny and focuses super fast. It's a great little lens.

 

Auto and Manual Focus      performance      top

Autofocus is super-fast and always accurate.

You do have to move a switch on your camera to go between auto and manual focus.

Manual focus is by-wire, meaning the manual focus ring is merely an encoder that talks to a computer that moves the lens.

It's so fast its scary. I don't know of any lens-camera combination that's faster!

 

Bokeh      performance      top

Bokeh, the softness of out-of-focus areas, isn't significant with a wide, reasonably short lens like this.

Almost nothing is ever out of focus, and when it is, it's undistracting.

Ryan playing on Dad's 13" MacBook Pro

Ryan playing on Dad's 13" MacBook Pro, 10 September 2014. (Fuji X-T1, Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8, f/2.8 at 1/56 at Auto ISO 6,400, Perfectly Clear V2.) bigger.

 

Color Rendition      performance      top

Color rendition is neutral, matching the other Fuji lenses.

El Toreador, September 2014.

El Toreador, 10 September 2014. Fuji X-T1, f/8 at 1/125 at ISO 2,500. bigger.

Distortion      performance      top

Palm, 11 September 2014.

La Virgen de Guadalupe, 10 September 2014. Fuji X-T1, f/2.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 500. full-resolution.

Distortion is invisible as shot as JPGs on my Fuji X-T1, which for all I know is correcting it automatically.

What little barrel distortion there is can be corrected for more critical use by plugging these figures into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

 

3m (10')
+0.6

© 2014 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Ergonomics      performance      top

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8 for X-mount cameras.

This lens is about the size of a body cap.

There are no controls other than this one control ring.

This focus encoder ring is relatively useless; manual focus is done by tapping the camera's AF button to focus and lock. The encoder ring is slow and silly.

There is no aperture ring. You have to use a dial on the camera to set it, or to set it to Auto aperture control for A and P modes

 

Falloff (darkened corners)      performance      top

Light falloff is completely invisible even wide open at f/2.8, as shot on the X-T1 which is probably correcting it automatically.

 

Filters, Use with      performance      top

There's no problem with vignetting, even with many, many stacked filters!

The lens glass is tiny and it could use a much smaller filter than it does. 39mm is a much larger filter than needed, but as the standard size for LEICA, Fuji chose to emulate LEICA and use the same size filter.

The filter ring doesn't rotate, but it does move in and out with the lens as it focuses.

 

Flare and Ghosts     performance      top

Ghosts

Ghost, 11:43 AM, 27 August 2014. Fuji X-T1 at Auto ISO 400, 24mm at f/16 at 1/350. bigger.

There's no problem with ghosts.

Even under the most devious conditions I could devise, all I got was one dim purple blob as seen here.

No problems here.

 

Lateral Color Fringes      performance      top

There are no lateral color fringes as shot on the X-T1 as JPGs, which is probably correcting any if there were any.

 

Macro      performance      top

It doesn't get very close. This is as close as it gets:

macro

Omega Constellation at close-focus distance. f/9 at 1/420 on X-T1 at AUTO ISO 400.

 

macro

Crop from above 4 MP image at 100%. If this is 6" wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 25 x 17" (64 x 42 cm) at this same magnification.

 

Mechanics      performance      top

Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8

Rear, Fuji X-mount XF 27mm f/2.8 . bigger.

The Fuji 27 2.8 is mostly anodized aluminum, with a plastic filter thread.

 

Filter Threads

Plastic.

 

Identity Ring

Plastic front ring outside of filter threads with printed markings.

 

Focus Ring

Anodized aluminum.

 

Focus Scale

None.

 

Infinity Stop

None.

 

Depth-of-Field Scale

None.

 

Rear Barrel

Plastic.

 

Mount

Aluminum.

 

Barrel Markings

Painted.

 

Serial Number

Sticker on bottom.

 

Rain seal at mount

No.

 

Noises When Shaken

Mild clicking.

 

Made in

China.

 

Sharpness      performance      top

Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens.

Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't mean much to good photographers.

The Fuji XF 27/2.8 is super sharp.

It's always super sharp throughout almost all of the image at every aperture.

Only wide-open at f/2.8 are the farthest corners very slightly softer. They improve at f/4, and are as ridiculously sharp as the center at f/5.6. The only time this could ever be noticed is if you're shooting tests where the corners would actually be in perfect focus at f/2.8, which almost never happens, and even if it does, this lens is still sharp in the corners at f/2.8.

 

Rated MTF:

MTF at 15 cycles
MTF at 45 cycles
MTF at 15 cyc/mm
(10 cyc/mm equiv.)
MTF at 45 cyc/mm
(30 cyc/mm equiv.)

 

Spherochromatism       performance     top

I see no spherochromatism (called color bokeh by hobbyists). This means that out-of-focus highlights remain neutral and don't take on slight color fringes.

 

Image Stabilization       performance       top

While this lens has no Optical Image Stabilization, some cameras like the X-S10 have built-in sensor-shift Image Stabilization (IS, VR (Vibration Reduction) or Steady Shot), which works really well with this lens.

On the X-S10 I get a real-world improvement of five stops. I get 100% tripod-equivalent sharpness handheld 86% of the time at a quarter of a second!

"Percent Perfectly Sharp Shots" are the percentage of frames with 100% perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness I get when I'm shooting hand-held while free-standing with no support or bracing. This is a very strict test; in actual shooting at typical print sizes I get acceptable sharpness at much slower speeds, but for the purposes of seeing how much improvement an IS system gives, this is the most precise method.

Hand tremor is a random occurrence, so at marginal speeds some frames will be perfectly sharp while others will be in various stages of blur — all at the same shutter speed. This rates what percentage of shots are perfectly sharp, not how sharp are all the frames:

 

On the X-S10:

% Perfectly Sharp Shots
2s
1
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/15
1/30
1/60
1/125
1/250
Stabilization ON
0
8
8
86
86
100
100
100
100
100
Stabilization OFF
0
0
0
0
10
20
33
50
83
100

I see a 5 stop real-world improvement, which is impressive!

 

Sunstars      performance      top

Sunstar, 11:43 AM, 27 August 2014

Sunstar, 11:43 AM, 27 August 2014. Fuji X-T1 at Auto ISO 400, f/16 at 1/350. bigger.

The 7-blade rounded diaphragm makes soft sunstars, if any.

There aren't any sunstars at large and medium apertures to about f/8 or f/11.

To see sunstars you should be stopped down to f/14 or f/16.

 

Recommendations       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations

The Fuji XF 27mm f/2.8 ASPH is a fantastic little lens. It does everything I'd need it to do with superb optics and tiny size. I often prefer fixed lenses over zooms.

This 27/2.8 is a superb lens and I highly suggest you get one to throw in your bag with your Fuji X-mount camera.

However, if you want to get this lens to turn your Fuji X-mount camera into a tiny pocket camera, get an X100T (or old X100S or X100) instead of this lens. These X100 cameras have an even faster fixed lens in a package that's even smaller than an interchangeable-lens X-mount camera, and the X100 series has a much better combined optical/electronic finder superior to anything else from Fuji.

Get this lens to add-on to a Fuji X-mount camera, but if your plan is to get a tiny walk-around lens, get an X100T instead of this lens.

There are no better lenses to use on the Fuji system at any price. Forget slumming with LEICA or other off-brand lenses and adapters; you can't get anything sharper and any other lens won't autofocus or autoexpose or log data or be optimized by the camera's DSP, and no other lens will have a diaphragm that opens and closes automatically as needed for focus and shooting.

I got my XF 27mm f/2.8 at Adorama. I'd also get it at Amazon or used eBay if you know How to Win at eBay

If you've found my research here helpful, my support to run this free website comes from when you use these links to approved sources, especially this link to it at Adorama and and this link to it at Amazon, when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Please always use these links when getting any of your gear so I can continue to share what I know; it's what supports me. If you take the chance of buying elsewhere (or especially at retail), remember that Fuji doesn't seal its boxes. Unlike a bottle of milk which is sealed, buy your 27mm lens elsewhere or at retail and you'll not only cheat me out of the work I've done here to help you, you run the risk of getting a lens that's a customer return or been used for store demos.

Thanks!

Ken.

 

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22, 28 May 2021, 27 August 2014