Zeiss Touit X 32mm F/1.8 For Fuji

The Zeiss Touit X 32mm f/1.8 is a high-quality normal-range lens designed for Fuji X-mount cameras. Key features include:

• Great for low-light shooting

• Total compatibility with Fuji X-mount camera features

• Planar optical design for high-quality images

• Durable metal construction

Normal-Range X-Mount Lens. With a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 88mm, the Touit 32mm is an ideal lens for just about any shooting style. The fast f/1.8 aperture makes it great for low-light shooting and subject/background separation. It features full electronic compatibility with Fuji X-mount camera features, including autofocus, exposure control, and EXIF data.

Optical Design. The Touit 32mm is based on the classic Planar formula, which is designed to correct for most aberrations and distortion while retaining high image sharpness and clarity. Each element has Carl Zeiss T* anti-reflective coatings to help minimize reflections and boost image clarity and microcontrast. A nine-blade, nearly circular aperture renders out-of-focus highlights.

Durable Build. The Touit line of lenses is constructed with durable metal barrels that feature rubberized control rings for improved manual-focus performance over most available X-mount lenses. Its all-metal bayonet mount ensures a solid camera/lens connection.

The 32mm Touit has rapidly become one of my favorite. It’s sharp wide open, but stopped down just a bit, to f/2.2 it becomes spectacularly sharp. Autofocus is accurate and while manual focus is “fl…

The 32mm Touit has rapidly become one of my favorite. It’s sharp wide open, but stopped down just a bit, to f/2.2 it becomes spectacularly sharp. Autofocus is accurate and while manual focus is “fly-by-wire”, using the electric motor rather than mechanical gears, it’s very nicely implemented and easy to use. It’s pricey, but worth it.

The focusing motor is DC, not USM, so it makes a bit of noise. Nothing that bothers a photographer, even in a quiet area, but enough to be heard on audio tracks if the microphone is mounted near the camera. Since there is no mechanical focus, the motor is working even when you focus manually.

The real question everyone asks, though, is whether it is better than the Fuji f/1.4 lens. At f/2.2 and up I believe it is. Wider than f/1.8 the Fuji obviously wins. At f/1.8 it’s pretty arguable, although the Touit probably has nice out-of-focus highlights.

June 2013