This Lens Gives You An Unfair Advantage - Fujifilm 18mm 1.4

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The Fujifilm 18mm 1.4 is so good, it's the first time i've used a lens that feels like it gives you an unfair advantage in photography. This really is one of the best lenses available for Fujifilm!

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00:01: Introduction
01:54: Background
02:48: One Of The Best
03:32: Comparison with a Leica Q2
06:24: Why a 28mm is so good
08:15: What I don't like
09:40: Who is this lens for?

Gear I Use!

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[tulasnaps]

All my photos are shot on this. It truly is one of the best lenses if 28mm is your focal length. Clinical at 1.4.

[fvsch]

Watching in 4K on a 4K screen, I liked the B images more, and thought they would be the Q2 images for sure. Turns out they’re X-T5 images. (And I was motivated to find the X-T5 images good enough, since I own one and don’t have the money to own anything Leica ^^)

[CrnaInBela]

Damn, I did not expect the comparison to be this close. At first I was 100% sure B was Leica. I still prefer 18mm f1.4 shots.

[kalistratov_photos]

Yesterday I had a trip on islands in Thailand. I decided to choose this lens over 16-55 for it, and it literally saved my trip, because the islands were crowded with tourists and it was much more fun to make compositions with the 28 FOV.
In my opinion, this lens is optically more impressive than 33 1.4. It seems to have a better micro-contrast, it has almost macro capabilities, and the look of the images is more pleasing and creamy. That may be the reason it's more expensive than 33 1.4, even though it's just more difficult to produce a wide angle prime of such excellent performance.
The metal lenshood sucks, because it's too heavy and the x-t5 becomes unbalanced to the front end. Don't buy it! :D

[youarethechief]

Hey Matt, thanks for the informative video. I'd really love to try out that 18mm lens on my Fuji !

I did notice you mentioned for the crop sensor to multiply everything by 1.5. While this is true for the lens's field of view and the depth of field. Please correct me if i am wrong but this is not the case with the light gathering ability of the lens. So an 18mm lens f1.4 stays f1.4 in terms of light gathering capabilities. The depth of field or bokeh does however change, so it would be akin to a f2.1 on 35mm sensors.

[JeffreyHauser]

Hi Matthew. Interesting comparison between the Leica 28mm f1.7 & the Fuji 18mm f1.4. I have the Fuji 16mm f1.4 & although I believe the image quality of the Fuji 18mm f1.4 is slightly better, I have no immediate plans to purchase the latter lens. I did however, purchase the Fuji 33mm f1.4 lens & it is unquestionably one of Fuji’s best lenses to date.

[drchtct]

Got your blind test wrong. If you look at 4:35, A has way more noise than B.

[mignav]

Agreed! Good review. To me it's all size and weight to have to carry around for the day. So for that reason I pick the Q any day over any Fuji-combo with the 18/f1.4. That has already been the case ever since Fuji started making large and heavy (but optically fantastic) lenses like the 23/1.4 back in the day. That lens on my X-E2 was larger and heavier than my Summicron 35 on my M. To me that's a no-go.

[Streetphotog-dnzy]

it would be nice if fuji replaced the 18mm f2 with something so small waterproof and quick with autofocus. Whats the reason to cary such a huge apsc system ? If i want that size i can go to sony or nikon. Even canon has a small 28mm lens. I dont understand fuji even if i like some things on her. Why did she stop the x70 developing especialy when the ricoh goes so well on sales ? where is the xe5 and xpro4 ? where are the upadetes that she used to give ?

[SergeyProskurnya]

I'd love your quiz with A/B choices !! :))

[dewalt]

I actually preferred photos B over A during the comparison and was sure B was going to be the Leica.

[johnnyway]

Is it good for video as well? I think that Viltrox 27mm is the only other lens that is close to this quality but it might be too zoomed in for a versatile video lens.

[MediumSpoon]

what lens hood are you using for the 18mm 1.4?

[nicklennaerts]

Keep up the great work! Cheers from Japan.

[francisgarofalo]

I'll take the Fuji 18mm 1.4 and put the other $5500 into my retirement fund

[frankartale]

Love the shirt. Please tell me you are a fan. Megadeth rules... but seriously, the xt5 & 18 shots looked better than the Leica to me

[yashwinning]

I don't think it's the lens bro, I think it's you!

Also, would be mighty curious to know if you've ever used the 16MM 1.4, and your thoughts on them. The cons you've mentioned about the 18MM seems to be the general consensus from pretty much everyone else, and also a major reason why most are still staying on the 16MM 1.4 and don't see any point upgrading. I myself have recently managed to grab a 16MM 1.4 at a fairly insane price and I'm impatiently waiting for it to get to me! I'm a sucker for character/personality over clinical sharpness, and I personally feel like Fuji's slowly losing their magic with how they're optically and physically designing their lenses. Their new lenses look so boring, and a sad far cry from how gorgeous their old lenses looked, and they're so optically perfect they're basically Sigmas now.

Anyway, would really like to know your thoughts on the 16MM 1.4 if you've ever tried it!

[edwin_ac]

In the comparisson, I thought B was the Q2

[nicklasnilsson]

I use X-T5 with f1.4 33mm and love it! Maybe i should ruin my economy and buy the f.14 18 as well =)

[TungstenOvergaard]

In some of the nightclub photos you was using flash right?