Fuji 18mm 2.0 vs 18mm 2.8

[SelsX]

I had the zoom on the my XE1, and I ended up trading the kit in for a Xpro body. I kept the 35, and today I am thinking of picking up the 18mm. While I loved the stellar performance of the zoom, I did not like the feeling of such a lens on a body of this style. I do tend to always use a prime. For those that have both, how do you compare them at 18mm?

 

[Bernie Ess]

Hi,
I have both, the 18mm is a bit sharper in the center where it almost matches the 35mm, but it has the well- known sharpness issues towards the corners, along with CAs. Nothing dramatic once you stop down, but wide open and at f2,8 it is quite visible if you're sensitive to that kind of things. Comes from the fact that the 18mm is more or less optically uncorrected for distortion, and the correction is done afterwards in the converter (at least Adobe and Silkypix).
The Zoom on the other hand is not as sharp in the center at any aperture, but overall more even. Me too I am not sure if I keep the Zoom, I generally prefer fast fixed focal lenses, the zoom is also quite heavy whereas the 18mm is small and only 1/3 the weight. However the Zoom focusses silently, not so the 18mm.
The 18mm obviously is one stop brighter if you don't mind the sharpness issue mentioned above.

Cheers
Bernie