Fujifilm has just announced a brand new pancake lens to go with its shiny new Fujifilm X-E5. The Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR lens has a super slim profile that perfectly complements the company's new pocketable rangefinder. The kicker – if you want to get your hands on the 23mm f/2.8 lens, you’re going to need to buy it with an X-E5, with the lens not being sold independently until late 2025.
Hugely popular for street and travel photographers, the 23mm focal length is equivalent to 35mm on a full-frame camera when you take into account the 1.5x crop factor of the X-Series' APS-C sensor. A 23mm focal length also perfectly matches the fixed lens on the Fujifilm X100VI, although the latter has a maximum f/2 aperture while this new 23mm lens tops out at f/2.8 (with an f/16 minimum aperture).
The lens is exceptionally light, at just 90g, and when combined with the Fujifilm X-E5, the total package weighs 534g including the battery and SD card – a negligible 14g heavier than the X100VI.
Despite the compact size of the lens, it is still weather-resistant – although it should be noted that the X-E5 is not! But you would get complete weather sealing using the 23mm lens on a weather-sealed body like the Fujifilm X-T5. The lens will also be one of the few remaining Fujifilm lenses to be produced in both black and silver.
Despite its super slim pancake profile, the 23mm lens still manages to squeeze in a manual aperture ring, with a lock button to hold the aperture in auto, as well as a manual focus ring and a grooved ring for gripping the lens while attaching and detaching it from the camera. It also has a filter ring, with a 39mm thread size; however, like the X-E4’s bundled 27mm lens, there is no hood in the box.
The 23mm f/2.8 lens is built with 8 elements in 2 groups, including 2 aspherical lenses to combat distortion, color fringing and other optical aberrations. The lens has an 11-blade aperture, which should make for nice rounded bokeh.
The XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR is due for general release outside of the X-E5 bundle in late-2025 for $499 / £399 (Australian pricing to be confirmed), or you can buy it bundled with the X-E5 for $1,899 / £1,549 if you can’t wait that long! When you deduct the price of the camera ($1,699 / £1,299 body only), it makes for a substantial saving.
You might also like...
You can check out more of the best Fujifilm lenses in our guide. Or you can find more of the best cameras for street photography or the best travel cameras.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
