Fuji 33mm F1.4 Lens Review for Wedding Photography
The Fujifilm 33mm F1.4 Lens Review
TL:DR (Too Long - Didn’t Read ) This lens is a fantastic small, light, quick-to-focus lens with great image quality and a really nice depth of field when shot at F1.4 - If I had to photograph a full wedding day on only one lens then this would be it by a damn mile.
Time for a review of the Fuji 33mm F1.4 lens and how I use this lens for wedding photography in particular.
As with most of my reviews I won’t do photos of charts and lens sharpness tests. Whenever I’m looking for a new lens I like to see real world photos with it and more specifically how it will work in relation to wedding photography.
Build Quality
This is a really well-built lens! Gone are the days of Fuji lenses being a little odd with the size and shape, this is a much more standard lens design, nice and small and light.
It’s got an aperture dial which is something I use all the time and now don’t like lenses without it, it’s weather resistant, and all internal focusing (so the end of the lens stays in the same place)
It balances with my Fuji XH-1 body really well and is a very comfortable combo to use on a full wedding.
Pros + Cons
Ok let’s start with the pros of this lens:
Weather-Sealed - It’s fine in the rain and wet, pairs nicely with the weather-sealed XH-1
Small + Light + Quiet - Really nice weight on this lens, coming in at 360g - makes almost no noise when focusing
Great Image Quality - I mean, it’s a Fuji lens so it’s gonna look awesome
Great Depth of Field - Really nice mid-focal range, so gives nice out-of-focus backgrounds, from full-length shots of people, to close-ups of details.
Now, a couple of cons:
It Ain’t That Cheap - This lens is around £700 (July 2022) so there are much cheaper options for this range such as the 35mm F2, but if you want a slightly wider lens that is great in low light then give this a look.
That’s kind of it - I really like this lens and it’s very hard to find fault with it.
Wedding Photography
My normal setup for wedding photography is two Fuji XH-1’s with a 23mm 1.4 + 56mm 1.2 - giving me a nice range for the day and coving everything I need.
This lens fits in between the two and is on and off the camera throughout the day as I need it. If it’s a bigger wedding then the 56mm can be lost in a sea of people where I can’t stand back, so the 33mm works well.
At smaller weddings, the 23mm can make certain shots look sparse and this gives a tighter look which can work well.
It’s all really a toss-up of what the wedding is throwing at me, but it’s a great all-rounder lens to have on the camera, so if I’m in a fast-moving situaltion this lens can do it all!
Wedding videography
I’m going to do a longer, separate review for this lens and wedding videos, but for video this lens just dominates.
It looks fantastic, is a great focal length to use, and is super smooth, fast, and quiet. If I’m doing video at a wedding then this lens is my main camera lens for the full day, I’d be happy to shoot with nothing else.
Summary
Ok, so this is a banging lens, and I’m really glad I made the choice to add it to my bag.
It does something throw a curveball in as I’m unsure of which of the 23mm, 33mm, 56mm trinity of lenses to use for a certain moment, but as an all-rounder lens goes this single lens could be used to do 95% of my work.
So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below and if you are interested in getting this lens for yourself then you can use my Amazon Affiliate link here and I’ll make a little money when you do (It won’t cost you any extra!)
Cheers,
Col-