What Fujifilm lens to buy as a beginner?
Hey, welcome back! So let’s get back to the beginning. I don’t know if some of you can remember how you started with photography. But on my behalf, it was a wild journey since then. I can still remember how little I knew about photography and what to look out for. Christmas is over and some of you may got a new Fujifilm with a kit lens. Now you’re probably wondering: Okay, but is this lens good? Do I need a better lens? And so on.
So I summarized some thoughts about this topic that you should know and how you can move on. I also added some sample pictures throughout.
First, congrats on getting started with Fujifilm. I’m working with this brand now for over 5 years since I got my first X-T10, and I’m still happy as I was on the first day. My X-T10 back then came with the 16–50 mm kit lens, but I was highly motivated and brought the lens to its limit soon. I missed the aperture ring and also a higher aperture. The build quality was ok, but nothing compared to the better lenses. So if you haven’t bought anything yet, I would recommend ditching the 16–50 mm and going for the 18–55 mm f2.8–4. The price increases, but you get better Image Quality, a higher aperture, an aperture ring, Optical Image Stabilization, and also better build quality. It’s worth it. All that is still in a very small package. I use this lens today for a lot of productions where I want as little weight as possible. This lens comes also in Kit-Packages and adds great value to your System. You’re flexible and can shoot a ton of things like landscape, portraits, documentaries… whatever you like. This is the zoom lens to start with.
If you already know what you prefer shooting, here are a few more Ideas that are pocket-friendly. So Fujifilm released a lot of lenses with an aperture of 2, they are small, lightweight, affordable, fast AF and have a nice IQ. For example, the 23 mm f2 for street photography & landscape, the 35 mm f2 for street photography and portraits, and last but not least the 50 mm f2 also for portraits. I used to own the 23 mm f2, which was my favorite go-to lens on my X-T10. You could use it for a variety of occasions. Now today I switched to Fuji X100 Series, for my daily carry-on camera.
In a conclusion, I would recommend the XF 18–55 mm f2.8–4 OSS lens, because that’s a lens you can own for the rest of your life. Sure, there are a lot more lenses, but If you have to watch your budget and just get started, this is the lens. You can try lots of different things and this can fuel your passion even more. When you know what you want to focus on more, there is a whole new universe to discover. So have fun and enjoy!
If you have any questions, send me a message or leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
