Update: I’ve added more gear to this article.
I’ve been using Fujifilm X cameras for the last 5 years, and it’s time to sum up the best gear I’ve used. This is a list of all the cameras, lenses and accessories I’ve tried, based on my own unscientific experience, so don’t shoot me if you disagree. It comes down a lot to personal preference (smaller is better vs. bigger with better specs, etc.). A lot of this gear is old now, but hopefully it can still help people buying second-hand. I’ve marked my top favorites with a black star ★ and other recommended gear with a white star ☆.
Cameras:
- ★ Fujifilm X100S / X100T / X100F – I used these cameras for many years and took some of the best photos I’ve ever shot with them. The 35mm-equivalent lens is, in my opinion, the best all-round focal length. The camera is small, which helps a lot when you’re starting out as a photographer and worry about people’s reactions. The downside is that you can’t change lenses, so you’ll eventually need another camera too, but it’s a great camera to start with.
If you decide to buy one: there’s not much difference between the X100S and X100T. Both are great cameras with the lovely colors of the older sensors. The X100F has faster autofocus, if that’s what you need.
Fujifilm X70 – A smaller version of the X100 series, but without a viewfinder and with a wider 18mm lens. The lens and camera have a certain magic to them; the photos look really good. It’s also the best X-Trans II camera you can get, with faster autofocus and better video than the X-T1, because it was the last X-Trans II camera released. Sadly I’m not an 18mm guy; it’s too wide for me. But if you like street photography and wide angles, this camera is an absolute must.
★ Fujifilm X-T10 – My number one recommendation if you’re on a tight budget. Pair it with some of Fujifilm’s f2 lenses. The autofocus is slow by today’s standards and it feels cheaper than the X-T series cameras, but it’s a great place to start. And there’s something about the colors of the old sensor (check out this blog post I wrote comparing X-Trans sensor colors) – dare I say they’re better than the newer sensors’ colors? The only thing it lacks is good video features. If you’re on a budget and need video, get the X-T2.
Fujifilm X-T1 – It was a great camera, the first professional Fujifilm X camera, but I don’t recommend getting one in 2019. It was the first of its kind, and after a few years of use, problems start to pop up: the rubber port door expands and won’t stay closed, and the fake leather starts peeling off. The X-T2 has big advantages over the X-T20 (faster max shutter speed, better video specs, a better shutter), but the X-T1 has no important advantage over the X-T10, so I’d go for the smaller and cheaper X-T10.
Fujifilm X-E2 / X-E2S – The same as the X-T10, but without the flip screen and with a rangefinder-style viewfinder. The viewfinder is a plus, but the missing flip screen is a big minus. Get the X-T10 instead. The X-E2S is a newer version with an updated button layout and newer firmware, but they’re basically the same camera.
Fujifilm X-T20 – An upgraded X-T10, somewhere between the X-T10 and the X-T2. Continuous autofocus now sort of works, but it’s still not at a professional level. It’s great value. The biggest problems for me are the slower max shutter speed (1/4000 vs. 1/8000 on the pro cameras) and the cheap feel and handling. If you’re looking for an affordable beginner camera, it’s great – get this or the X-T10.
☆ Fujifilm X-T2 – This is the camera that made Fujifilm popular among pro photographers too. It has the great image quality we know from Fuji, but with better autofocus, more megapixels, better high-ISO performance and great 4K F-Log video. It’s the camera I always recommend to friends who want to get into photography and do some video as well, but still want to save some money compared to the newer cameras.
★ Fujifilm X-H1 – A great camera, and a good second body to go with your X-T2/X-T3. The IBIS is very useful for things like video, for using longer primes at slower shutter speeds (like the 90mm) or for long exposures without a tripod (IBIS plus a stabilized lens lets you shoot at very slow shutter speeds). IBIS plus the X-Trans III sensor (maybe the best sensor?) is a great combo. The only thing I dislike is the design: it’s big and not as beautiful as other Fuji cameras, and the exposure compensation dial has been replaced by a pretty useless top screen.
Fujifilm X-S10 – I had hoped this could replace my X-H1 as a smaller Fujifilm camera with IBIS. But the selfie screen is almost unusable for photography, and the mode dial (familiar from DSLRs) is also a poor design choice. I like the big grip with the battery inside, the overall small size and the shutter sound, but that’s it. I’m still waiting for a camera designed like the X-T3 or X-T30, but with IBIS. (Update: the Fujifilm X-T5 from 2022 finally combines that design with IBIS.)
☆ Fujifilm X-T3 – My favorite camera for “action” and street photography because of its fast, responsive autofocus (note that the autofocus improved a lot with firmware updates, and remember to set AF MODE to WIDE/TRACKING). I love the design and the flip screen (a tilting screen, not a flip-out screen like on the X-T4); it’s basically a perfect camera. It doesn’t have IBIS like the X-T4, but since I don’t like the X-T4’s design, I have an X-H1 for that.
Also, remember to use Capture One for the raw files. The new 26-megapixel sensor seems to be harder for Adobe Lightroom to deal with.Fujifilm X-T4 – I only used it briefly, but for me the flip-out screen is a deal-breaker. I use the tilting screen a lot for stealthy shooting, and this design ruins that for me because it swings out to the side. On this one, Fujifilm listened too much to YouTube celebrities like Tony Northrup and not enough to their own users. I also don’t like that it’s bigger than the X-T3. Yes, the bigger battery is nice, but battery life was never an issue for me.
Lenses:
- Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS – I’m not much of a wide-angle guy, but this is a great all-round wide-angle lens.
- Fujifilm XF 14mm f2.8 R – As I said, I’m not a wide-angle guy, so I don’t have much to say about this one. The rendering is a bit different from other Fujifilm lenses; the colors seem more red/blue. It’s hard to explain, but it has a certain look I’m not a big fan of.
- Fujifilm XF 18mm f2 R – This lens doesn’t get good reviews: it’s not the sharpest, it flares, and it has a strange rendering. On the other hand, it’s a small f2 pancake lens, so some sacrifices had to be made. Maybe not for professional work, but fine as a walk-around lens.
- ★ Fujifilm XF 23mm f2 WR – A great little lens. 23mm is a good all-round focal length. It’s a good lens to keep on your camera and carry in your bag every day. For some reason I like the photos from this lens better than from the f1.4 version.
- Fujifilm XF 23mm f1.4 – A good lens for events and documentary photography. I mostly use it together with the XF 56mm f1.2 for shooting events (a classic setup many photographers use). The extra stop of light is very useful for shooting moving subjects in low light.
On the other hand, this lens lacks some of that magic; it’s a workhorse, nothing more. My favorite 23mm in the Fujifilm system is the one in the X100 series. It gives the images more “pop”, probably because of its low element count. - Fujifilm XF 27mm f2.8 / Fujifilm XF 27mm f2.8 R WR – The smallest Fujifilm lens. 27mm is a slightly odd focal length to me (not wide, but not long either), and the rendering is a little boring and sterile. Version 1 (the non-WR version) has no aperture ring and feels very plasticky. The WR version is a big step up in build quality, and the aperture ring makes the lens more enjoyable to use (image quality is the same on both versions).
- Fujifilm XF 35mm f1.4 R – A great little street lens. The autofocus isn’t that fast and it’s a little noisy, but it’s tiny, it’s f1.4 and the images look very good.
- Fujifilm XF 35mm f2 R WR – The smallest lens after the 27mm f2.8 and the 18mm f2, but I’m not a big fan of its image quality (flat rendering, and a lot of distortion correction applied in post-processing). I use it for city street photos at night because of its small size, weather sealing and pretty sharp images, but I wouldn’t use it for people or portraits.
- Fujifilm XF 50mm f2 WR – A great little lens: cheap and very stealthy. Compared to the XF 56mm, the rendering has a slightly clinical, generic look, so I sold it and kept the XF 56mm f1.2. Still, it’s not a bad lens.
- ★ Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2 R – My favorite lens. Sure, it’s big and heavy compared to the XF 50mm, but it’s worth it. The rendering of this lens is just so great. It has this soft but still sharp look, the colors are great, and every Fujifilm shooter should own it! Check out the comparison I wrote of the 56mm vs. the 50mm here.
Update: This lens performs very poorly with subject-detection autofocus on newer Fujifilm cameras. Fujifilm has since released an updated version, the XF 56mm f1.2 R WR (2022).
- ☆ Fujifilm XF 90mm f2.0 R LM WR – A great lens, very sharp and clean-looking. It competes with the 56mm for the title of best lens: the 56mm has more character, this one is sharper. It’s not as versatile (because of the focal length), and most people won’t use it much. I use it for action photography, shooting cyclists in Copenhagen.
- ☆ Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f2.8-4 R LM OIS – I’m not much of a zoom lens person, but this is a good, small all-round lens, and very good for run-and-gun video work. Together with the X-H1, the IBIS and the lens’s own stabilization (with the latest firmware) can give you silky-smooth video footage, or handheld photos down to 1 sec. without a tripod. A great combo. After becoming a dad, I’ve really started to appreciate this lens: it’s small and light, still sharp enough for great photos, and with f2.8 at the wide end and good stabilization, you can even use it in low light.
- Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR – A good lens to pair with the X-H1 for shooting events, since the lens has no stabilization but the X-H1 has IBIS. It’s not something I’d ever use for personal work. Yes, the images are sharp, but to me the lens has a clinical look and the images look very flat (probably because of the very high element count).
- Fujifilm XF 18-135mm f3.5–5.6 R LM OIS WR – I’ve never liked superzoom lenses, and this one disappointed me too. The image quality just isn’t that good.
- ☆ Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS – This might seem like an average telezoom, but it has some magic. It’s not the sharpest lens you can get, but it has a nice rendering, and the bokeh is a bit like the swirly, soap-bubble bokeh of some vintage lenses. It’s tempting to get a big, fast telezoom, but in my experience those lenses end up sitting on a shelf at home. This lens has good reach but is still pretty small and light for a telezoom – a good compromise.
- Fujifilm XF100-400mm f4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR – It’s probably a great lens, but it’s very hard to find a use for it. It’s big, heavy and expensive, and only really useful for a few things like bird photography. The images lack that pop and look a bit flat (probably normal for a zoom like this). I bought it, never used it and sold it again, and I know several other people who ended up doing exactly the same.
- Samyang 12mm f2.0 NCS CS – A third-party manual focus lens with a fast f2 aperture. It’s the only manual focus lens I’ve tried that performs as well as a native Fujifilm lens. It’s sharp and small, and the colors are almost the same as Fujifilm lenses (just with a slight magenta tint).
- Samyang AF 12mm f2.0 – I still need to test it more, but so far it seems great: the same as the amazing manual focus version, but with autofocus.
- TTArtisan AF 27mm f2.8 – A cheap alternative to the Fujifilm 27mm f2.8. It’s one of the first third-party lenses with autofocus and a lot cheaper than the Fuji version. It’s slightly bigger (but still a pancake lens), less sharp, and has heavy vignetting wide open. The colors are nice with a slightly pastel feel, and the images have a low-contrast look I actually like (a bit of a vintage lens look, but sharper and with focus always spot on). A fun little lens.
- ☆ Zeiss Touit 32mm f1.8 – Another third-party lens for the Fujifilm X mount, and this one has autofocus. It’s a hidden gem, one of the few autofocus lenses out there with a lot of character. The rendering is great, with interesting bokeh and some of that Zeiss 3D pop. The autofocus isn’t as good as on native Fujifilm lenses, but with the latest Zeiss firmware update it’s not that bad. If it had a slightly longer focal length (35–40mm) and f1.4 or f1.2, it would have been a lot more useful to me; the bokeh is interesting, but you have to get close to your subject to get it. Still, it’s a fun lens to try if you’re a hardcore Fujifilm X photographer. Check out my full blog post about the Zeiss Touit 32mm f1.8 here.
Accessories:
- Fujifilm Tele Conversion Lens TCL-X100 Black – A teleconverter that turns the 23mm lens on the X100-series cameras into a 35mm. On the older X100S/X100T, the camera struggles to focus with it unless you’re shooting in daylight. You have to enable and disable it in the menus every time, and it makes the camera very bulky. I wouldn’t recommend it.
- Fujifilm MCEX-11 + MCEX-16 Macro Extension Tube – Pretty expensive for an extension tube, and I’m not sure it’s worth it for most people. On the other hand, it’s the cheapest way to get autofocus for macro photography on your Fujifilm camera. The MCEX-11 is the more useful one; the MCEX-16 focuses too close to be practical.
On eBay you can buy cheap copies of these tubes (also with autofocus), but they feel very cheap, and mine broke after using them only a few times.
My favorite lens to use with the MCEX-11 is the XF 18-55mm f2.8-f4. It already focuses pretty close, and the zoom and stabilization make it easy to use. - Fujifilm VPB-XT2 Grip for the X-T2 + Fujifilm VPB-XH1 Grip for the X-H1: Booster grips for the two cameras. I only used them for the longer video recording limits and the extra audio inputs. Don’t get one unless you really miss big cameras or need the extra video features.
- Fringer Smart Adapter for Canon EF lenses – An autofocus adapter for using Canon lenses on the Fujifilm X mount. Check out my review here. It’s not that great; stick to native Fujifilm lenses.
- Fotodiox Rhinocam – A medium format lens adapter that lets you shoot high-megapixel panoramas with your Fujifilm X camera. Check out my review here. If you’re a Fujifilm fan who has tried every lens and accessory, this is a fun adapter to play with.
- Fotodiox Pro Pronto for Fujifilm X – This adapter lets you use old manual focus lenses with autofocus. It works by moving the whole lens back and forth, which works as long as the lens is set to infinity. It all sounds good, and reviews of the same adapter for Sony cameras are pretty positive. But the Fujifilm version doesn’t work very well: it often misses focus, it’s slow (OK, that’s expected), and the lens has to stay set to infinity, which is easy to knock out of place by accident. I ended up preferring to focus manually, even though I think the idea is really cool and I love that Fotodiox keeps putting out creative products like this. The Fujifilm version sold very poorly, and Fotodiox probably didn’t want to put more money into improving the firmware.