The following chart presents a comparison between basic parameters of different standard f/1.4 lenses designed for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors.
As you can notice, the new lens is bigger and heavier than its predecessor. We are not surprised – it also features seven elements more and is completely weather-sealed. What's more, the Fujinon 1.4/33 is optically the most complex lens in this group and still it cannot be called the biggest and the heaviest – those two categories are dominated by the Leica.
In the photo below the Fujinon XF 33 mm f/1.4 R LM WR is positioned next to its predecessor, the Fujinon XF 35 mm f/1.4 R.
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The tested lens starts with a metal mount and contacts – the mount surrounds a rear element of the lens, about 22 mm in diameter. That element doesn't move, and it sticks out a bit over the mount, being placed in an additional inner tube which is black and nicely matted. All area around the mount and the rear element is nicely blacked and matted as well, without any slits so, from this side, everything looks as it should, and the lens remains completely weather-sealed.
The proper body of the lens is made of metal. It starts with a smooth, immobile ring with a red rectangle that makes an alignment with a camera easier. Apart from that on the ring you can find the serial number of the lens, information that it is weather-sealed was made in the Philipines.
Further on you can find an aperture ring, 13 mm wide, the majority of its surface covered by metal ribbing. It is a well-damped mechanism, allowing you to change the aperture every 1/3 EV step. Apart from aperture values there is also an A position on the ring that let the camera control the mechanism automatically. When the ring is set in that position it also becomes locked; in order to unlock it you have to press a button next to it.
Then you see a black, metal part of the barrel, 12 mm wide, that doesn't move. Behind it you find a manual focus ring, as wide as 24 mm, completely covered by fine ribs. It is a focus-by-wire construction that allows you very precise settings (still, these settings might be destroyed by idiotic software of the body that can change the focus on its own during the preview even if you work in the MF mode).
Unfortunately, there is no DOF scale available. The focus throw amounts to an angle of 80 degrees when you turn the ring faster and 90-100 degrees when you move it slower.
Behind the focus ring you see another metal fragment of the barrel that turns smoothly into a hood mount.
The front element of the lens doesn't move; it is slightly concave, 32 mm in diameter, surrounded by an inscription with the name and the parameters of the lens along with a non-rotating filter thread, 58 mm in diameter.
When it comes to optical construction you deal here with 15 elements positioned in 10 groups. Three elements among them are made of low dispersion ED glass and two other are aspherical. Inside you can also find a round aperture with nine diaphragm blades that can be closed down to a value of f/16 at the maximum.
Buyers get in the box with the lens: both caps, a hood, and a low quality soft pouch. The pouch is not able to provide any kind of protection, being made of a piece of material just a tad thicker than your ordinary cleaning cloth.
