Fujifilm 16mm f2.8 Lens – Austin, Texas

I recently bought a Fujifilm 16mm f2.8 lens. Actually, I’ve bought a few new Fuji lenses over the last half year, including the Fujifilm 50mm f1.0 that I’ve talked about lately. There’s a third lens too, which I’ll reveal in my next major travel series.

“Conservation of camera bag space” is an odd photographic mantra I follow these days. I have a fixed travel camera bag and must fit all my gear into it. Sounds easy enough unless you want to bring multiple cameras, one of which is a chunky beast.

For my February Las Vegas trip, I brought my Fujifilm GFX 50S II with the 35-70mm lens, and I wanted everything to fit in a compact sling bag. In addition, I was dedicating the GFX to Las Vegas urban landscapes and a planned natural landscape opportunity. Yet, I wanted a compact camera to document my friends and travel observations — the Fuji X-S10 was a natural as my secondary camera, but with which lens?

I fixated on a prime lens, small enough to fit inside the sling bag next to the Fuji GFX. My first choice was the almost-pancake Fuji 18mm f2 (27mm full-frame equivalent). However, it has a mediocre reputation, and with a price that seemed too high for such an old design — I went wider. On the other hand, the 16mm f2.8 (24mm equivalent) is a highly regarded recent addition to Fuji’s lineup. It was also delightfully inexpensive. I bought it just before my Vegas trip.

Coming up, you’re going to see a lot of posts with the 16mm. It worked surprisingly well during my trip and is currently my favorite. It pairs exceptionally well with the Fuji X-S10 for a compact setup. While the 24mm equivalent might sound like an odd focal length for general photography, it does have modern precedents. Most high-end smartphones, including the iPhone 14 Pro, feature the 24mm equivalent focal length for their primary camera. It’s like I’m doing smartphone photography with a dedicated camera.

Incidentally, I shot the recent mini-series of six Lunar New Year images from Las Vegas with the Fujifilm 16mm f2.8.

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