**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 18-55 - F 6.4 - 1/160th - iso200**

So the past weekend I headed down to London for the annual SWPP convention, the convention goes on the whole week and has talks, classes and a trade show, its a good event to check out new products and see some great speakers.

I had a class booked with Kevin Mullins which was really great, it took a look into the business side of things and really gave me some perspective on how to streamline things for ultimate efficiency.

I had also booked myself onto a Fujifilm photo walk, this was a great chance to try out all of their current gear and have a play with the lenses I've yet to get my hands on.

They let me shoot with my own card so I've got the images here which is great for a little review and a few lens samples, all photos here are shot on the Fuji XE2 which I haven't tried before but have been temped by so I'll start the review with a bit about that, enjoy!

Note - All images have been processed with my own presets in Lightroom and are not SOOC, let me know if you are interested in seeing some originals and I'll get them up here.

Fuji XE2 - My thoughts

This was my first outing with the camera and to be fair it is very similar to the XE1, can't really see the upgrade being worth it in my opinion but then I was trying it out in nice bright light and only for an hour, things may be different in low light but nothing about it screams 'game-changer'.

Thinks I like are the back screen, its much nicer to review images on, but at the end of the day images never stay on the camera so its not a crucial upgrade.

The plus/minus 3 stops EV compensation is a nice feature but I don't know how much I'll really use this day to day.

Thats about it for things I like, not much I know, I'm not happy [the same as most] about the view mode button being gone, and a new layout of buttons is always annoying to me.

Having 2 buttons for AE-L & AF-L seems good but I only use AF-L on my XE1 and use the middle part of my thumb to press it, with the XE2 I ended up pressing either button so I didn't really like this, I do however like the fact it can be a switch as well as a hold button, but am hoping this is firmware updated on the XE1.

So thats my brief thoughts on this camera, its nice for sure but not for me, today fuji have shown us a photos of the rumoured XT-1 or what ever its called, it looks interesting and if there is a significant auto focus improvement then I may be swayed, but for now I'll be holding onto my twin XE1's and getting more glass.

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 23mm - F 1.4 - 1/4000th - iso200**

Fuji 23mm/1.4 samples & my thoughts

I don't like it.

Just thought I'd put that out there right away, now I only had a short time with it and so on so may not have seen its full potential but in the time I did have it I wasn't blown away, sure the quality is awesome and its sharp as hell but for me its a bit, meh.

It's the same focal length as the X100, it is faster for sure but I like my 35mm/1.4, its just too wide for me but not wide enough to be different, I won't be getting this lens if anything I'd rather upgrade my X100 to the X100s.

Thats just my thoughts, its still a great lens in terms of sharpness and quality but not for me, anyway here are some samples and a quick crop to give you an idea of the sharpness.

Feel free to share your opinion on this lens in the comments below!

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 23mm - F 1.4 - 1/4000th - iso800**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 23mm - F 1.4 - 1/750th - iso200**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 23mm - F 1.4 - 1/480th - iso200**

Fuji 55-200mm samples & my thoughts

I really like this lens, its not something I thought would grab my attention quite as much but it is really awesome, surprisingly so.

It's nice and sharp, covers a really nice telephoto range, gives you really good bokeh for a 'slow' lens, the image stabilisation is insane.

I'll be adding one to the bag of sure, not so much for weddings as I don't like to shoot this long but for landscapes and personal work this lens is just fun to use, it would also give me that tele option at a wedding if for instance I was a long way back and was unable to move forward. It isn't going to be great in low light but the IS will help out greatly, I'll be taking one to a dark church once I get it to do some low light, wedding condition reviews just to see what I can get out of it.

One last note on the IS, check out the exif data on this first image, thats hand held. Insane.

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 55-200mm - F 16 - 1/15th - iso800 [Hand held, at 200mm]**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 55-200mm - F4.8 - 1/900th - iso800**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 55-200mm - F3.8 - 1/4000th - iso800**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 55-200mm - F4.8 - 1/200th - iso800**

**London Fuji Photowalk | Fuji XE2 | 55-200mm - F4.8 - 1/450th - iso800**

Fuji 14mm/2.8 samples & my thoughts

Yes. I'll be getting one of these for sure, it will be awesome for landscape work and anything where you need a super wide, all that things you have read about this lens are true but you really need to get hold of one to know for yourself.

The distortion that you get with going wide isn't there, not even a little, its really sharp, nice and bright. It is also small and built really well, the pull back manual focus is really nice and is something I like in lens design, this also gives you the hyper-focal scale which is a nice touch.

In short I love it and its going to be in my bag before I head back to Iceland in March for sure, I think I'll be selling up my DSLR gear soon and go full Fuji, there really is no good reason not to.

There are some samples of this lens below, I hope you enjoyed / found helpful this review, feel free to share on social media or leave a comment below!

Cheers, Col-

Fuji Lens Tests | 14mm, 23mm & 55-200mm lens samples + review

© 2023 COLIN NICHOLLS

Hereford Wedding Photographer