My experience with this 23mm (35mm) lens is that it is optimal for street work, it does it all, especially on the 40mp sensor where you can crop in. This focal length allows you to step back, when the street vibe is a little nervous about you taking photos, you can step across the road and still crop in with sharp detail later on if need be. Your monochrome photo at 5:11 "This guy" is brilliant and a good example of what this lens is capable of. If you want wider, well just step back if you are able to otherwise, I love the drama and look of the 16mm lens personally. In terms of alternatives, Sigma's Contemporary lens range is the best alternative to Fuji lenses.

Full frame lenses are way more expensive than this lens. Love your shots 🙌🏼

I own and use both the Fuji 23 LM WR and Viltrox 23mm. It’s true that the Fuji ultimately bests the Viltrox is every way, but the main differentiation IMO really happens more or less below f/2, where the Viltrox is a little less sharp and prone to some distortion in certain high contrast conditions (I’ve never actually tossed a photo because of them however). Purple fringing is easy to remove in post however, as is vignetting, and overall I love the majority of images I got with mine. Indoors or in genuine low light situations the distortion has rarely, if ever been a big issue. Plus the AF performance is smoking fast. I consider it similar to Fujis original 23mm but with better AF. The lower contrast/sharpness is sometimes desirable for portraits, so I haven’t parted with mine yet. Lightroom has profiles for it, captureone does not (no profile for the new Fuji lens either!). What caused me to upgrade was the closer focusing distance, which is great to have, and in camera corrections for JPEG generation. I do more edits in-camera than I used to, whereas with the Viltrox I do need the fringing slider and RAW tweaks sometimes for best results and I’m getting lazier. The Fuji is also razor sharp wide open with great bokeh and AF speed, making it a joy to shoot wide open. Otherwise I’m happy to say that the Fuji is pretty overpriced and the Viltrox a smashing deal in comparison. If Viltrox improves this lens and keeps the price down around $300-$400 with a future generation it would be epic.

After listening to your video, it makes me more sure in my being glad that I bought the 18 1.4 instead of the 23, 1.4.

Excellent review of this great little lens....although I do agree about the 3rd party lenses being a very tempting option at their price structure. Loved the POV shots by the way. Looks like a great place to shoot

Just a quick correction while I return to watch the rest of the video. This lens is actually constructed of 15 elements in 10 groups with 2 aspherical and 3 ED elements with 9 rounded aperture blades. It weighs 375g and closest focus distance is 19cm. I think you’ve quoted the older XF 23mm f1.4 R spec.

Oh wow, a Malaysian! Subscribed!

I’m looking to get into Fuji and looking to pick up a XT-5. Would you recommend this lens, the 33mm 1.4, or get the kit lens first?

I actually skipped the 23 mm and got both the 18 1.4 & 33 1.4. I saw no reason to fill the gap with the 23, as these did fine to cover both my wide and medium range focal length.

I wonder if anyone knows what is the latest firmware for this lens, just received this lens and it came with 1.0 but there is no info on Fuji website if this indeed is the latest one.

I thought the minimum focus distance was closer than 28cm?

What settings you have set in your xt 4?

This is about twice the price of the older 23mm f1.4 Do you think it’s worth the upgrade?

1:20 you don't like focus by wire? Then why are you using mirrorless cameras??

Where did you take all the shots? It seems quite an intriguing city for street...

I don't think 23mm from Viltrox is on par with this lens, It's much worse optically (CA, flare resistance, ghosting, etc). The only Viltrox that could compete with Fujinon so far is the 13mm. Viltrox lenses are great value tho I am not gonna argue with that, but generally not comparable optically speaking. Tamron and Sigma could compete with Fujinon optically, but the build quality is not in the same league, especially with a recent release like the 23mm here. Sigma trio prime, for example, was marketed as budget lenses with great IQ, not really competing with XF primes that were planned to be pro-lens from the start. The 23mm has fantastic build quality, and complete WR (unlike Sigma's splashproof), when you hold it, you know it could take a beating. So while XF lenses are typically pricier, they are not too expensive, because 3rd party manufacturers still don't make something that's in the same league, not just optically, but everything. So, if Sigma brings their ART line to the XF mount, then we could compare them.

what you show here is raw image or JPEG? thanks

Comparing with Viltrox is a joke

It is NOT focusing by wire. The LM means Linear Motor, which is the means of focusing.