Howdy again everyone and once again We're back in the land of Fuji's medium Format GF system to check out another Medium format lens their GF 23mm F4 r l MWR one of the earliest lenses on the System it was introduced as the first Available Ultra wide angle option and it Costs about $2,600 or about $2300 here in the UK it can sometimes be Found on offer for a little less than That but still a very expensive price For an F4 prime lens even if it is Medium format this is still one of the Widest of Fuji's official GF Mount Lenses only the GF 20 to 35 mm zoom lens Is wider while also having the same Maximum aperture and costing about the Same so in order to be really viable This 23 mm option had better be Spectacularly good 23 mm on Fuji GF is The full frame equivalent of 18 mm a Really really nice Ultra wide angle but Not one that's so wide that it becomes Too difficult to compose your image I Love the kind of pictures this field of View can get you it draws so much into Your picture and looks so subtly Dramatic the maximum apture of f4 is not Really very bright but it's just about Enough for shooting indoors just about And if you get close to your subject Then just a little background separation Is possible too I'd like to thank Fuji
UK very much for learning me this lens For a few weeks for testing although as Usual this is a totally independent Review first off build quality the first Thing you notice is that obviously the Lens is rather big and at 845 G or Approaching 2 lb it has a bit of weight To it for sure although the build Quality a mixture of plastic and metal Is fantastic feeling lovely and solid The lens is weather sealed in all the Relevant places as you would expect in This price range at the rear we get an Apture control room ring which turns With nice tactile clicks every third of An f- stop and can be locked in or out Of automatic mode with a button on the Side then comes the rubberized Focus Ring it turns lovely and smoothly but The lens's motor response is rather Jerky like many other Fuji lenses as you Can see in this footage which also Demonstrates the lens's moderate Focus Breathing however the main bill of good News is that the lens's autofocus motor Works very quickly quietly and Accurately as you can see here this lens Has a front filter size of 82 mm very Useful for landscape photography and it Comes with a plastic Hood that's deep Enough to make a difference the lens Does not feature image stabilization Although the newest Fuji gfx cameras Feature that built in overall the build
Quality is quite lovely here although The lens is hardly small and lightweight Well let's move on and look at image Quality I'll be testing the lens on a Gfx100 mark 2 two camera with its 102 Map sensor in camera Corrections are Turned on for this test in the middle of The image we see right away perfect Sharpness and very good contrast even at 102 megapixels nice that image quality Continues until you reach the very Corners where image quality at F4 is Noticeably low on contrast but a decent Amount of detail is certainly still Being captured however stop down to f5.6 And contrast and sharpness a big boost With those Corners now looking great at F8 and f11 things look about the same Stop down to F16 or darker and the image Starts getting softer due to the effects Of defraction still considering we're Shooting at 102 megapixels this is a Nice performance at F4 and it's Brilliantly sharp from f5.6 Mak it a Dreamland for landscape photographers All right let's bypass Fuji's automatic Corrections by shooting some images and And raw and processing them with third Party software to look at Distortion and Vignetting it's great news in terms of Distortion because barely any of it is Visible here but at F4 the image Corners Are rather dark stop down to f5.6 and Those Corners brighten up but even at
F11 or F-16 they don't brighten any Further the lens's minimum Focus Distance is a rather long 38 CM meaning It can't get you close to smaller Subject unfortunately but the good news Is that even at the closest Focus Distances image quality remains as sharp As ever at F4 and at f5.6 it picks up Just a little extra contrast let's see How well the lens works against Bright Lights it's not the best a fair bit of Flaring is visible here unfortunately It's no Disaster by any means but Fuji Lenses normally do a little better than This while we're working in the dark Let's take a look at coma levels at F4 Some coma smearing is visible on bright Points of light in the image Corners Although you should bear in mind that This 102 megapixel image is really Magnifying it this is about the same Performance as a good quality fullframe Lens really stop down to f5.6 and it's Gone let's zoom out and look for Sunstars now even stop down to F-16 They're struggling to make an appearance But stop down to F22 or F32 and out they Come finally next bcka given its Parameters it's not especially easy to Get out of focus background with this Lens but if you can get close to your Subject the nose backgrounds seem lovely And smooth to me that kind of thing is Just not what this lens is really
Designed for though anyway overall I'd Say the Fuji GF 23 mm F4 is an excellent Lens although not quite a perfect one Using it out in a real world is a huge Pleasure that Ultra wide angle the full Frame equivalent of 18 mm is simply Joyous and has great creative potential While not being so so wide that your Subject is just pushed away into Oblivion this is one of my favorite Fields of view oh and the lens is sharp It's very good at F4 and all you have to Do is top it down to f5.6 and you have An optic that's resolving almost 102 Megapixels of detail from corner to Corner which is amazing when you think About it to my mind the biggest question Mark attached to this lens is the Existence of another Fuji lens the GF 20 To 35 mm F4 costing about the same price Why would you go for this 23 mm prime Lens when you could have the zoom Perhaps the prime lens is sharper which Wouldn't surprise me and therefore more Desirable I'll have to test that 20 to 35 mm lens one day and find out in the Meantime this is a bit of a star lens in The Fuji GF system and loads of fun to Use so if you have particularly Deep Pockets then this thing definitely comes [Music] Recommended [Music] Okay thanks again for watching everyone
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