I’ve been really impressed by Fujifilm’s range of GF lenses and this one is currently the most wide-angle prime in the line-up. As a fully pro-grade optic, it’s designed to be one of the best Fujifilm GF lenses, aiming to make the most of what the best Fujifilm cameras have to offer, up to and including the mighty 102 megapixel GFX 100 II. For the uninitiated, or at least for those of us more used to shooting with full-frame camera systems, the GF 23mm gives a wider perspective than you might think, with a viewing angle of about 100 degrees. That equates to using an 18mm lens on a full-frame camera. Even so, it’s not quite as wide as the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR zoom lens, which has an equivalent range of 16-28mm in full-frame terms, giving a maximum viewing angle of 108 degrees with the same f/4 aperture rating.
The GF 23mm is ideal for landscapes, cityscapes, architectural interiors and simply any time you need to squeeze a lot into the image frame. It’s equally adept at exaggerating the perspective between close foreground and background areas, for creative effect, where its short 38cm minimum focus distance comes in useful. The lens is less ideal for astrophotography, for which the f/4 aperture is a bit on the slow side.
