6 Best Fujifilm Lens for Street Photography: (2024 Guide & Reviews)

Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Sharon Advik

Street photography is all about traveling, and I want to walk the streets with a big bag of lenses.

So today, I’ll show you how to use my lenses.

And I’ll give you my top tip for lens choice and constraints.

As with most considerations about the lens, the choice is very personal.

I’ve been doing this for a long time, and what works for me?

Let’s drive in:

Which lens is the best Fujifilm lens for street photography?

Here are my recommended top 6 best Fujifilm lens for street photography:-

Fujifilm 23mm F2: (Best Fuji Affordable lens for street photography)

I’ll tell you why this is a great little travel lens.

So I’ve owned the 23-millimeter F2 lens for about a year now, and I’ve taken it with me to Jamaica and throughout Europe, and I must say it is one of my favorites.

It’s lightweight and compact; it’s affordable.

It is an excellent weather-sealed and dust-resistant, quick and silent autofocus wide field of view that makes it great for travel photography.

It’s also great for videos.

It is not optimal when shooting close-ups; there is no image stabilization.

The Fuji 23-millimeter F2 lens is smaller and lighter than other lenses, making it a more comfortable option for smaller cameras without unnecessary parts and pieces.

The lens is sturdy and feels like it’s made of quality material.

The lens hood and cap are made from plastic or metal lens hoods that can be purchased as extra and replace the plastic ones.

As mentioned, one of the biggest pros is its convenient size; it’s small and compact, making it an ideal javelin that attaches easily to your camera without adding any unnecessary extra ball; the lens weighs 180 grams.

It’s also lightweight, which makes carrying it with you while on busy city streets all day a breeze.

Now, on to the good stuff: how well does this lens take the images?

That’s the most important thing.

I’ll be breaking this down into smaller sections.

One is the lens autofocus and the lens sharpness, and I’ll go more in-depth into these sections now.

The 23-millimeter lens autofocus, so the autofocus on the 23-millimeter lens is one of its best features; it is exceptionally quick so that you can snap moments in a heartbeat.

And it’s silent, a big plus for street photographers’ sharpness.

The lens has fantastic central shorteners but gradually fades in the corners.

This isn’t often a significant issue for street and travel photographers; sometimes, it isn’t even that noticeable.

If you play around with the stops, you’ll usually find the ideal shortlist for your subject.

The 23-millimeter lens is incredibly affordable; it’s much cheaper than other Fujifilm lenses.

The lower price makes it an excellent beginner traveler since you’re not investing much money while deciding if photography is a hobby or a career for you.

This is small and affordable and is compatible with all Fujifilm X series; interchangeable camera systems are perfect for beginner photographers, ideal for Vloggers, and are a must-first street photographer.

It will have you itching to get outside and snap photos of people’s buildings and opportune moments.

The free build is also perfect for throwing into a backpack and taking on adventures.

Fujifilm 16mm F2.8: (Best Fuji X lens for street photography)

So when the Fuji 16-millimeter F2.8 was announced, I was excited to get my hands on it and see what it was all about.

The 16-millimeter comes in an F 2.8 to keep the size under control, but for all intents and purposes, this little guy is part of the same family, so I’m going to call it a Fuji cried, even if it is F 2.8, and you can’t stop me.

Regarding specs, the 16-millimeter f 2.8 is an APS-C lens with an equivalent field of view of 24 millimeters on a full-frame body.

The design weatherproof lens comprises 10 elements and 8 groups, including spherical elements.

I use this Fuji Super EBC coating for outstanding optical performance.

It’s got a maximum aperture of F 2.8 for low-light shooting.

This lens is on par with any other Fuji X lens regarding build quality.

It’s got a metal barrel and lens mount, but it still manages to come in at about 155 grams, like all my favorite Fuji lenses.

It has a dedicated aperture ring with one-third stop increments around it.

Alright, let’s talk about autofocus speed.

The lens uses an internal focus system with an ultra-quiet stepping motor.

I haven’t hooked this up to any high-tech measuring equipment or anything, but I can say this little lens is blazing fast, as it ranks among the quickest I’ve used on any Fuji lens to date.

So yeah, the AF is fast on this lens, but I’m a street photographer, and any amount of time for ATF to acquire its focus is too long.

Now, this is where it gets interesting with a 16-millimeter lens. I usually shoot it at f8, and with a 16-millimeter lens on an APS-C body at f8, the hyperfocal distance is between 5 and 6 feet.

Yes, I wish this lens was perfect in every situation, but the reality is practical to use; softness will never be an issue for me as a street photographer.

This lens stands out because it is a 16-millimeter lens, a 24-millimeter full frame field of view lens.

And it’s only this big; the fact that he was able to make this lens like this is nothing short of astounding, and having access to the 24-millimeter field of view as a street photographer opens up many creative possibilities.

A 16-millimeter lens on a PSA translates into a 24-millimeter field of view approximately on a full-frame camera.

And that’s an ultra-wide-angle lens.

But is it too wide for street photography? Well, yes and no.

First, this lens allows me to shoot in tight spaces, like when I shoot Halloween or different events where there are many people.

And I’m shooting inside the crowd, and creating compositions in tight spaces unleashes a new shooting level.

That wouldn’t be available if I didn’t have a lens like this in my bag, so all in all.

This is an excellent, versatile lens for street photography.

So, don’t hesitate if you want this focal length; this is a great choice and for the money.

There’s nothing else in the market compared to this, so it should be obvious from how I’m going on that I’m a big fan of this lens.

Fujifilm 56mm F1.2: (Best Fuji lens for Night street photography)

I’ve been using Fuji film for roughly four years now, and 56 F1.2 is a lens that keeps getting recommended to me.

I’ve always been interested in trying it out, but I’ve never gotten around to it, yet it’s given me a major headache on whether to buy this lens.

I like using longer focal lengths like 50, 56, and 90 millimeters for street photography.

I know lenses like this are generally used for portrait stuff in studio work.

But when taking street photos, I find it can be a bit more creative when using longer focal lengths rather than wide focal lengths.

I will share my thoughts on using this lens for roughly three weeks.

So, I rigged it in this unit from Fujifilm as I’m still deciding whether to buy this lens; I will discuss that in more detail.

So, let’s kick things off by talking about some of the things I like about the Fujifilm 56 F1.2, and the main reason I’ll take up a lens like this is to shoot at F1.2.

So, that means you can get a much shallower depth fulfilled with this lens, allowing you to be more creative.

When you’re taking photos at night, the images are much cleaner and sharper.

There is a big difference that should have 1.2 at night, which brings me to my second point: image quality.

Even at 1.2, the photos taken with this lens are crisp.

So, the 56 F1.2 probably renders the best backgrounds I’ve seen from all the Fujifilm lenses.

The focus areas are creamy, and the bokeh is nice and round, especially at F1.2.

For a lens that is F 1.2 and has so much gloss, it’s so fast and pretty light.

It was nice in hand, especially when taking photos, making the metal look nice and smooth.

So they’re the main things I like about this 56 F1.2, and now I’m going to talk about some of the things I dislike about this lens.

And the first point, and it’s the main point, and the main reason holding me back from flying this lens is that this 56 F1.2 isn’t water-resistant.

Yeah, I wish this 56 1.2 at Weber ceiling because that would have made it the perfect street photography lens.

Next up, and it’s not a significant point, but it’s the closest focus in the distance for this lens.

So, the minimum focusing distance for the 56 1.2 is 70 centimeters.

There’s no massive problem when taking photos on the street because it’s a 56-millimeter lens.

You don’t have to brighten people’s faces, so that’s not a big issue.

So there is that; it is slower, so you must watch out for it.

This may not be your lens if you photograph falsely moving subjects.

But I will say that this lens made me want to go out and take photos, which I can’t say for many other lenses I’ve ever used.

And I liked the photos which came out of it. I highly recommend this lens.

When I first bought this lens, I put it on the camera straightaway when I walked out of the shop, which is my first photo.

It made me think this is a street photography lens.

56-millimeter F 1.2 is an 85-millimeter equivalent, giving you that excellent telephoto portrait field of view, which I find perfect for street photography.

It’s well known to be a slow lens because it’s pretty bulky and big.

It allows me to keep that low profile of being on the street.

And having that telephoto range allows me to get nice shots that are not in anyone’s face, not in anyone’s way.

But we are still focusing on that moment and framing what’s happening in that urban environment.

Sharing that urban story, which, in my subjective opinion, is what street photography is about.

It doesn’t have to be on the street, but share the story of the environment in the city or wherever you live to share that with the world and let them know what it feels like to be there.

I also love this lens for videography.

F1.2, with a 56 millimeter, gives you a nice dynamic visual that makes you feel like you’re there.

It feels close, brings it all together, and ties in everything nicely, and, for portraits, this length kills it.

Let’s be honest; I bought this lens with my money for 1.2 low light. It just makes everything come together.

Every lens has its pros and cons.

I find that bringing something new to the table brings that low light capability, brings in that stealth lift where you can; you don’t have to be so close and focus on something, getting a new look very unique.

Fujinon 50mm F2: (Best Fuji Travel lens for street photography)

This is one of my favorite lenses; I use it in forestry, travel photography, and commercial work.

So, I will first say that 50-millimeter lenses are typically used for street photography.

So you must remember, this is 50 millimeters on a Fujifilm camera, which uses APS-C sensors, on full-frame.

This 50-millimeter lens is 75 millimeters.

Now, a 75-millimeter lens or 50-film case is very rarely used in street photography.

If you look at the most famous street photographers, those guys will use 23 millimeters, 35 millimeters, or 50 on a full frame.

I like its range when you are inside the city’s pulse.

You don’t want to get up in people’s faces, nor do you want to sometimes disturb people from their day-to-day lives by getting in their faces with a wide-angle lens.

So, instead, a lens like this allows you to get close to your subject without physically getting close to them.

Also, it allows you to get more separation between your subject and the background, which, in my opinion, is mixed with better photos.

So, let’s talk about some of the things I like about this lens; the first main reason I picked this up in the first place is just how small and lightweight it is.

So whenever I hit the city, I can spend between seven hours just walking around taking photos.

So yeah, the size of this makes it excellent for street photography.

Next up is water resistance.

I love taking photos in the rain; it was one of the main reasons I picked up a Fujifilm camera in the first place.

It makes them fully water-resistant, which I’ve tested in some crazy conditions.

So, I’ve been in the mountains where there’s been trying rain and thunderstorms or just walking around London nonstop in the shower, and I’ve never had a single issue.

So yeah, the water resistance works on Fujifilm.

I have no complaints about the image quality, especially at this spin’s size and weight.

I use it for commercial work for portraits through photography travel, and I never really had an issue with the quality.

For autofocus, I almost always use autofocus for street photography, and I can’t remember ever missing a subject or missing a moment to slow autofocus.

So, there are no complaints in that department to donate negative I can finger regarding this lens, and it’s the same with the F2 lenses, which is the manual focus.

So, if you primarily manually focus, this lens may not be for you, and that’s because all the focus is done electronically.

Fujifilm 27mm F2.8: (Best Fuji video lens for street photography)

The Fuji film 27-millimeter pancake lens.

What I like about this lens, first and foremost, is its size; I got this lens for the compact size and punched that it packs with small but significant features.

This lens gets down to 2.8, which is incredible for a lens that small and for that little glass.

There’s just something about grabbing your camera, getting on the road, going out, and choosing some great photography, and that’s what I love about Fuji’s fantastic color with a simple setup.

This lens with video captures some great colors and even some good depth of field for such a small lens.

So, as I said, shoot some great street photography to get out on the road.

This lens cannot be wrong and packs a punch-in, small package.

Fujifilm 23mm F1.4: (Best Fuji Prime lens for street photography)

I repurchased it in 2015.

It weighs 10 and a half ounces, takes 62-millimeter filters, and equals a 35-millimeter focal length framework.

But F23mm 1.4 is still one of the best Fujifilm Primes for me.

I’ll tell you why I think that’s the case.

Let’s start with the build quality.

The body is made of metal, which guarantees resistance to most forms of abuse, and high copies prove that.

You won’t find any cheap plastic on it; all materials are top-notch.

It’s lighter than any other fast aperture lens; the aperture ring is quite a bit too smooth for my liking.

Pulling the focusing ring towards you, the lens goes into manual focus.

This is a clever feature, and I believe only two other Fujinon lenses offer this option.

Some people might find this annoying, but for me, switching this way between AF and MF mode.

Another feature available only on these three lenses is engraved depth field marking, which is extremely helpful for manual focusing operations.

The lens produces rich, smooth bokeh out-of-focus area apertures between 1.4 and 2.8, delivering excellent results.

The subject separation is well-controlled, and there are no signs of background business, even in high-contrast areas.

In conclusion, I must say that a 35-millimeter focal length or field of view, if you like, is by far my favorite.

This is an excellent 23 1.4 that fits a wide range of styles, from street portraiture to environmental landscape, or can be used as a general-purpose lens.

F23 1.4 has a sharp contrast, and it renders colors beautifully.

And on top of that performance, an extra stop of light is super important, especially when shooting in low light conditions and build quality. It’s exceptional.

And this might be the main reason why I picked this one.

I think its potential is later in the build construction, and the quality ergonomics of this lens are bar none, just really, really excellent.

I like this lens because it has 16 millimeters and is the clutch system for going from auto to manual.

I liked that clutch override, like when you click it.

You’re automatic, and you can go to manual by just pulling that down on the lens.

And you don’t even have to touch the switch on the side of the camera; the focusing ring is super smooth.

The image quality of this lens is excellent.

I found a tiny bit of blurriness on the edges, and when I’m way down at F-16, I can get a little bit of diffraction, not a lot, but it is there.

Personally, in my case, it’s just negligible, especially for the reasons I have this lens, and that is frustrating because what this lens does that’s fantastic is its capacity to show the contrast between different colors.

The color contrast is unbelievably incredible; you say to yourself, well, color contrast doesn’t matter because I’m going to be shooting in black and white from street photography.

Also, bokeh is super lovely, and when I do go out and shoot a bit of street, I like to open up and get a bit of blur in the background.

So overall, this lens is that it’s perfect.

I would suggest that to anybody doing street photography.

To me, the 23-millimeter focal length total Frame is 35-millimeter equivalent.

There’s nothing better in terms of focal length.

You can’t ask for a better focal length to go out and do some great Street.

CONCLUSION:

Alright, guys, that concludes all the lenses we will discuss today in this article.

Do you guys have any experience with these lenses? What are your thoughts on them?

Which is your best Fujifilm lens for street photography?

Is there a lens I didn’t mention in this article that you love using for street photography?

Would you please leave your thoughts and comments below?

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