Fujifilm XF lens · announced September 4, 2013
Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R review
23 mm · f/1.4 · 300 g · 11 elements in 8 groups
Verdict
Discontinued, still hunted. The 35 mm-equivalent f/1.4 with the clutch focus ring and engraved distance scale, and the lens that does not go soft up close wide open — the flaw that sends XF 23mm F2 R WR owners looking for one.
Photographers who shoot 35 mm-equivalent at f/1.4 and close, and street photographers who zone focus and want a real distance scale.
In detail
The XF 23mm F1.4 R was Fujifilm's answer, announced September 4, 2013, to everyone who had bought an X100 and wanted the same 35 mm-equivalent view on an interchangeable-lens body without giving up a stop. It is discontinued now — Fujifilm lists it under discontinued lenses, having replaced it with the linear-motor XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR in 2021 — but it remains one of the most sought-after used lenses in the mount.
The design is eleven elements in eight groups with one aspherical element, a seven-blade rounded diaphragm, and a 62 mm filter thread. It is 63 mm long and 300g, which makes it substantially larger than the XF 23mm F2 R WR, and it focuses to 0.6 m normally or 0.28 m in macro mode for a 0.1x ratio.
The feature that defines the lens in use is the clutch focus ring. Pull it back and the ring uncouples from the electronic focus system, revealing an engraved distance scale and a depth-of-field scale, with a hard stop at infinity. Zone focusing on this lens is not an approximation of a manual lens — it is a manual lens, mechanically, until you push the ring forward again. For street work at f/5.6 pre-set to two metres, that is a genuinely different way of shooting.
Optically it is the reason people still hunt one down. Wide open it is sharp in the centre with a soft, unstructured falloff, and unlike the XF 23mm F2 R WR it does not go mushy at close range at maximum aperture. That single difference is the whole reason the F1.4 keeps its used value.
Pros and cons
What we like
- Sharp wide open at close range, where the XF 23mm F2 R WR is not.
- Clutch focus ring with engraved distance and depth-of-field scales, hard infinity stop.
- Eleven-element formula keeps colour fringing lower than the XF 35mm F1.4 R.
- 0.28 m macro mode on a 35 mm-equivalent prime.
It is sharp wide open at close distances, which is precisely where the cheaper XF 23mm F2 R WR falls apart. Environmental portraits at f/1.4 with the subject a metre away — the frame that sends people from the F2 to this lens — come out crisp on the eyelashes with a clean, quiet background. That is the lens's whole case and it makes it convincingly.
The clutch focus ring is the best manual focus implementation Fujifilm has ever shipped on an autofocus lens. A real distance scale, a real depth-of-field scale, a hard infinity stop, and instant switching between AF and MF without touching a menu or a switch. Anyone who zone focuses will find it hard to go back.
The rendering is warm and slightly soft-edged in the way the early XF primes are, without the colour fringing the XF 35mm F1.4 R shows on high-contrast edges. Eleven elements in eight groups was an expensive formula for an APS-C 35 mm-equivalent in 2013, and it shows.
Trade-offs
- 300g and 63 mm long — it dominates a small body.
- DC-motor autofocus is slow and audible, driving a lot of glass.
- No weather sealing.
- Discontinued, so it is a used-only purchase and prices have stayed high.
It is big. 300g and 63 mm long with a 62 mm filter thread means it dominates a small body — on an X-E4 it is unbalanced, and on an X-T3 it is the thing you notice about the camera. The XF 23mm F2 R WR does 80 percent of the job at 180g and half the length, and the XF 23mm F2.8 R WR does a narrower job at 90g.
Autofocus is a DC motor from 2013 driving a lot of glass, and it is slow and audible. Fujifilm's own replacement, the XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR, exists mainly because of this. If you shoot events, moving subjects, or video, the difference is not subtle.
There is no weather sealing, and the lens is discontinued, so buying one means buying used with whatever that implies about condition and stuck aperture blades. Prices have stayed high precisely because the optical qualities were never fully superseded, so the used market is not the bargain you might expect.
Who is this for
The XF 23mm F1.4 R is for photographers who shoot at f/1.4 and close, and who want the 35 mm-equivalent view without the close-range softness the XF 23mm F2 R WR is known for. Environmental portraits, low-light documentary, and anything where the subject needs to separate cleanly from a busy background.
It is also the lens to buy if you zone focus. The clutch ring and engraved scales make it usable as a mechanical lens in a way no other autofocusing X-mount prime manages, and street photographers who work that way tend to keep it long after they have replaced everything else.
Skip it if you want a small camera, if you shoot moving subjects, or if you need sealing. The XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR is the modern version of this lens with linear-motor focus and weather resistance, and if you can find one at a price you can live with, it is the better buy for almost everyone who is not specifically after the clutch ring.
Photos shot on the XF 23mm F1.4 R
We shot and published 6 frames on the XF 23mm F1.4 R, January 2022 to May 2022. Click any thumbnail for the full-size file and its settings on masnun.photos. Every frame is edited, so read them as a record of how the lens renders in use rather than as a resolution test.
Full specifications
| Focal length | 23 mm |
|---|---|
| 35mm equivalent | 35 mm |
| Maximum aperture | f/1.4 |
| Minimum aperture | f/16 |
| Optical construction | 11 elements in 8 groups |
| Special elements | 1 aspherical element |
| Min. focus distance | 0.28 m |
| Max. magnification | 0.1× |
| Aperture blades | 7 |
| Filter thread | 62 mm |
| Diameter × length | 72 × 63 mm |
| Weight | 300g |
| Weather sealing | No |
| Min. operating temp | — |
| Focus drive | DC motor |
| Optical stabilization | No |
| Announced | September 4, 2013 |
Rating breakdown
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Image quality | 9 / 10 |
| Autofocus | 5 / 10 |
| Handling | 8 / 10 |
| Value | 7 / 10 |
Where to buy
The link below runs an Amazon search for this lens rather than pointing at one listing, because stock and sellers move around. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you.
XF 23mm F1.4 RAmazon · search resultsCompare head-to-head
Sources and further reading
Specs come from the manufacturer. Measured optical behaviour and owner reports are attributed to the people who did the work:
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