I will be honest and say that the only reason I picked this lens up is because the Fujifilm 27mm f2.8 pancake is sold out everywhere and is back ordered till next decade. I’ve heard mixed things about it but considering it was only £160 I decided to give it a go. The idea was to marry this lens to the XT5 and have it as my X100v on steroids. After using it for a couple months though, I wasn’t sure and decided to let it go. In this blog I will share my thoughts after 2 months of use.

Build Quality

The build quality is rather cheap which can be expected for the price. The body is made from plastic however the lens mount is metal which is a very welcome surprise. The metal lens mount simply means it will be more durable and won’t wear out after years of taking it on & off. The aperture ring however leaves a lot to be desired. It feels very plasticky and has a fair amount of resistance. When moving it, it does feel like you’re grinding plastic on plastic. It’s still 100% usable, just something I noticed straight away. The lens is not weather sealed however at this price level I doubt any lens is. Other than that it seems pretty good.

Ergonomics

The lens really is tiny. When mounted to something like an XT5, it makes the entire package pocketable (if you have a big coat). This lens will feel at home on any body from an XE-4 to an XH2, although on the bigger camera it might look a little silly. The rear lens cap also doubles as a firmware update dock. There is a USB C port in the cap and once on, you can update the lens. This is actually a very neat and clever idea. The aperture ring works fine although I wish the markings were a little more visible like on the Fuji lenses. Also the grip to turn the aperture dial can sometimes be hard to find if you’re wearing gloves.

Image Quality

This is where this lens falls apart a little. At f2.8 this lens is all over the place and I don’t just mean sharpness. When shooting wide open, light sources get this weird halo effect, a bit like using a mist filter. Not sure if this is done on purpose, but I can’t imagine that’s an actual feature. You need to stop the lens down to around f5.6 to get rid of the halo effect. The lens isn’t the sharpest by any stretch but it’s also not the softest I’ve used however if you’re into pixel peeping, I might avoid it. Finally the colour rendering just seems a bit off. I can’t quite explain it and I had the same issue with another TT Artisan lens, the colours just seem strange. They are less rich, less accurate and there is weird contrast thing going on. Either way the photos from this lens needed more editing than usual.

Autofocus

The AF system is actually pretty good. I never had any major issues with focusing or hunting. It locked on quick and didn’t really cause many problems either in single or continuous mode. For what 99.9% of people will use this lens for, it’s more than enough.

Summary

This is a weird one I must say. For the price it’s not bad at all, however if you can deal with a tighter frame then the Fuji XC 35 f2 is a much better option. I can’t comment on how this stacks up to the Fuji 27mm as I never used it however the Fuji is expensive. There aren’t many other 27mm pancake options on the market so for many people this might be the only choice. If you’re planning to shoot only in good light at f5.6 and above, then it will be ok but if you plan to stop down to f4 and below, be prepared to deal with funky halos. Personally this lens isn’t for me so I sold mine on.

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