Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 X

This short telephoto prime is a lovely affordable portrait lens for Fujifilm X users

-  Andy Westlake

Coming hot on the heels of the AF 12mm F2 X wideangle prime, the AF 75mm F1.8 X is Samyang’s second autofocus optic for Fujifilm X-system cameras. But this one takes a slightly different tack, as rather than adapting an older manual-focus design to AF, it starts with an existing E-mount full-frame offering and reworks it for APS-C. The result is a compact, large- aperture, short telephoto prime, whose 112mm equivalent angle of view should make it particularly well-suited to portraiture.

With a launch price of £474, the X-mount lens is notably more expensive than its E-mount sibling, which can be found for as little as £319. This is despite the fact that it uses an identical optical design. However, the housing has been completely redesigned.

With this lens, Samyang has targeted an obvious gap among current X-mount offerings, for an affordable portrait lens with a slightly longer focal length than the ubiquitous 85mm equivalent. In this respect, it sits neatly between Fujifilm’s XF 56mm F1.2 R WR and XF 90mm F2 R LM WR, both of which also cost almost twice as much. Its closest third-party competitors are all 56mm designs, most notably the excellent Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN | C (£379). But does it perform well enough to make it a compelling alternative?

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