Fujifilm's X camera system launched in early 2012, and the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 35mm F1.4 R ($599) was one of the first three lenses available for photographers who were captivated by the appealing X-Pro1 ($399.00 at Amazon) . It covers a standard-angle field of view, and when shot at a wide aperture allows you to capture images with a shallow depth of field, which makes it an ideal first lens for the system. It's a good performer, although it doesn't focus as quickly as more recent Fuji lenses and sharpness drops off as you near the edges of the frame. Our Editors' Choice is a newer offering, the Fujinon XF 35mm F2 R WR ($399.00 at Amazon) —it's a stop slower, but is quicker to focus, smaller, sharper, weather-resistant, and less expensive.

Design
The XF 35mm F1.4 ($599.00 at Amazon)  measures 2.2 by 2.6 inches (HD), weighs 6.6 ounces, and supports 52mm front filters. It's no by means a large lens—it balances quite well even on a smaller body like the Fujifilm X-T10 ($269.99 at Amazon) . But it is larger than the XF 35mm F2 (1.8 by 2.4 inches, 6 ounces) and lacks its weather-resistant design.

A lens hood is included. It's metal, and attaches with bayonet action. It's not reversible; if you leave it attached, the height of the lens will extend by about an inch, taking up a bit more room in your bag. If you frequently use a neutral density or polarizing filter, be aware that you'll want to remove the hood to install or remove the filter, but the bayonet design makes that an easier proposition than the screw-in filter that ships with the XF 35mm F2.

There's a physical ring on the lens to adjust aperture, from f/1.4 through f/16 with third-stop precision and a knurled metal finish. You can also set it to the A position for automatic aperture control. The manual focus ring sits ahead of the aperture ring, also finished in knurled metal with ridges that are closer together than those of the aperture ring.

Manual focus is performed electronically—turning the ring activates the focus motor to move lens elements rather than turning them physically, as you get with a lens with mechanical manual focus control. It's not a manual focus experience I particularly enjoy, but is par for the course with most mirrorless cameras. When paired with the X-T10, autofocus speed is little slow—it requires about 0.2-second to lock focus and fire, compared with 0.1-second when paired with the Fujinon XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS ($659.00 at Amazon) .

The 35mm focuses as close as 11 inches, which is pretty typical for a lens of this type. It's by no means a macro—at the closest focus distance it projects images on to the image sensor at 1:5.9 life-size. But it does provide a good working distance for everyday photography. If you want a macro for your X camera, consider the Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M ($700.00 at Amazon) or the Fujinon XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro ($649.00 at Amazon) .

Image Quality
I used Imatest to see how the 35mm performs when paired with the 16-megapixel X-T10. At f/1.4 it captures images that are sharp throughout most of the frame, but noticeably blurry at the outer third. This translates into a center-weighted resolution of 2,305 lines per picture height, which is in excess of the 1,800 lines we want to see in an image. But the outer third of the frame, 1,167 lines, is the problem area.

Image quality holds steady at f/2, but there is an improvement at f/2.8—the average score improves to 2,525 lines and the edges are a more respectable 1,500 lines. At f/4 the center-weighted score holds steady, but we finally see crisp results to the edge of the frame, with the periphery notching 1,760 lines.

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Peak performance is at f/5.6. The overall score is an excellent 2,669 lines, and the edges don't lag that far behind at 2,212 lines. Resolution starts to drop at f/8, but the lens still nets 2,580 lines there and 2,671 lines at f/11. Diffraction is more of an issue at f/16, but the lens still manages 2,357 lines at its smallest f-stop. The XF 35mm F2 is a stronger performer—it scores 2,757 lines at f/2, better than the XF 35mm F1.4 can do when stopped down.

Distortion is a nonissue—that's a big plus for a fast standard-angle lens, a design that often shows some barrel curvature. Illumination is also quite even. At f/1.4 the corners are just a little dim, -1EV when compared with the center of the frame. At narrower apertures the difference is less than a stop at the corners and less than a half-stop at the edges.

Conclusions
An f/1.4 lens is always appealing for photographers who like to capture images in dim light or with a very shallow depth of field. The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 35mm F1.4 R hits those notes, and it delivers images that are crisp through most of the frame, free of distortion, and evenly illuminated. Yes, there's some muddiness at the edges at wide apertures, but a shallow depth of field will do a good job hiding those, as long as you aren't framing your subject at the periphery of the frame. But photographers using the Fujifilm mirrorless system have another option that delivers crisper images from edge to edge. Our Editors' Choice, the Fujinon XF 35mm F2 R WR, only captures half the light at its widest f-stop, but images show more detail. It's also smaller, weather-sealed, and less expensive. If you really crave the look of an f/1.4 lens, the XF 35mm F1.4 R is a solid choice, but its smaller f/2 sibling offers better performance and value.

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