Jeremy H. Greenberg
- Jul 12, 2019
- 3 min read

Blog #161 Fujifilm’s Pancake 40mm f/2.8

Blog #161Fujifilm’s Pancake 40mm f/2.8

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📷 📷 Hobbyist

Lenses are (usually) an important part of making photographs. I use the word usually here because those of you familiar with pinhole cameras are well aware that lenses are optional for making photographs. Fujifilm is my go-to brand for commercial and personal digital work. Arguable, they have dominated the mirrorless category of digital cameras since around 2012 when the mirrorless revolution kicked off.

I have a large assortment of the Fujifilm Fujinon XF series lenses. I do occasionally add one to my collection and they never cease to amaze me. My most recent purchase was a real oldie but goodie. The Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 is allegedly one of the sharpest if not the sharpest of the XF lineup.

The size and weight of this lens is unbeatable. It turns my X-E3 into a point and shoot X100F and virtually fits in my pocket. I love the 40mm (35mm equivalent) focal length as it’s about the most like our human vision compared to all of the other focal lengths.

I can tell you that’s is asymmetrical which means that the edges do not differ from the centre of the lens, but I can’t be bothered to look up how many elements it has in which type of arrangement. I’m not going to get into technical information here about lines per millimetre or show you images of brick walls. We’re leaving the physics in the classroom on this one.

Instead, I want to share a brief review of using the lens itself and show you some sample images of what it can do. It’s really a great little lens! As I wrote above, it’s small, sharp, compact, light, easy to use, looks good, and focus is fast enough for street or other similar types of photography. Best of all it makes great images and it’s inexpensive. Additionally, the focal length is very usable and has a very “normal” field of view.

I would not use this lens much for low light situations without a flash or for sports or other situations with fast moving subjects. The focus as I said is fast enough but not fast, per se. One down side it that the lens is so small that it cannot accommodate an operator ring. Aperture can be controlled using the front dial on the X-E3. This takes a bit of getting used to.

Check out the images here all make with this camera/lens combo.

The light is always right.

JHG

*Images: © Limelight Limited

Where: Tai Kwun Contemporary, Soho, Hong Kong

Subject: Street Photography

Gear: Fujifilm X-E3 + Fujfinon XF 27mm f/2.8 Pancake