Purists might rail over this one – professionals might feel constrained to stick with primes -0 but for most people it’s not really worth worrying too much about.

You can learn a lot about a lens by looking at its used price and availability. Great lenses hold a lot of value, and can be scarce. I waited months before a lens I wanted used showed up. Even new, it could be out of stock.

When it comes to modern lenses it goes beyond the optics. There’s motors and “chips”, too. I want to say “electronics” but that’s too simple. Lenses are communicating with camera bodies, sending correction data, too. They’re programmable.

One thing not touched on: plastic. There’s the misconception that plastic bodied lenses are not “durable”. Not in my experience. Plastic may cut the cost of making the lens body, but it has some advantages beyond cost and light weight. With all the electronics in a lens, plastic is not conductive. Some plastics are also self lubricating. It’s all about the glass anyway.

Same as here, previously was a canon 5D shooter, now sold all my canon gears and exclusively using Fujifilm XT-2 with XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS, XF 35mm f/2 R WR, XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR

The kit lens is awesome and versatile for using in program party etc. 35mm is my favorite focal length for portrait and 16mm is for landscape. I had 24-70 lens for my canon, but I noticed most of the time either I used to shoot 24mm or 50mm, so 35mm and 16mm fills my need. I will not buy any more lens because I no need. In fact you can only use 16mm for environmental portrait also without distorting. XT-2 is awesome.

If the two lenses are designed for FF cameras you’ll need to consider the crop factor. For Nikon it’s 1.5x. In this case, the 35mm on your APS-C will be roughly equivalent to the 50mm on a FF. As for the lens specific features, etc. Being a Canon user, I’m not too vested in Nikon lenses and can’t help you there, mate.

Then take something to protect it a rain cover.

It’s awkward to juggle an umbrella with a camera and I don’t actually own a raincoat, but a waterproof cover would probably be the best idea, although I’m mostly wondering if it would be possible for the X-T1 to survive such a situation.

It sounds like what you need is a camera bag with a waterproof cover. Or you can wear a good raincoat and hide your camera underneath it if it rains. Or use an umbrella…there are lots of options.

At the botanical garden near where I live, most of it is open terrain with only a few little trees here and there. If it’s even just a bit windy, the rain will get underneath any tree. This said, it won’t take me an hour, I guess, I did exaggerate it a little, but it could take a while and, at that point, I may not have anything to dry my camera with.