The Good, the Bad and the Ugly UPDATED

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FUJIFILM X100F (23mm, f/8, 1/2 sec, ISO200)
I know sometimes I use too many words in my blog post. But not this time!

In this article I will keep it short. I will describe the good, the bad and the ugly of the lenses from Fuji. The list only includes lenses I own or have owned. Lenses that I have used during my travels and business trips. Lenses that I know inside out.

Without further ado – here are the lenses. Primes first:

Fuji XF 14/2.8 R

  • the good: zero distortion, super sharp, small and light, AF-clutch
  • the bad: the lens hood
  • the ugly: the loose aperture ring

Fuji XF 16/1.4 R WR

  • the good: very sharp, nice Bokeh, WR, AF-clutch, close focus distance
  • the bad: big and heavy (in the APS-C mirrorless world)
  • the ugly: the lens hood (replacement is a must buy)

Fuji XF 18/2.0 R

  • the good: sharp, small and light, fast AF, nice lens hood
  • the bad: some distortion (though automatically corrected in LR)
  • the ugly: the loose aperture ring

Fuji XF 23/1.4 R

  • the good: beautiful rendering, nice Bokeh and very good subject isolation
  • the bad: rather big and heavy, partly blocks the OVF of the X-Pro cameras
  • the ugly: AF unreliable in poor light, ugly lens hood (replacement is a must buy)

Fuji XF 23/2.0 R WR

  • the good: very sharp, small and light, WR, perfect aperture ring
  • the bad: not sharp at close distances wide open
  • the ugly: –

Fuji XF 27/2.8

  • the good: surprisingly sharp for a pancake, nice Bokeh, super small and light
  • the bad: AF on slow side
  • the ugly: no aperture ring (compromises shooting experience!)

Fuji XF 35/1.4 R

  • the good: beautiful rendering, nice Bokeh, good subject isolation, nice lens hood
  • the bad: noisy AF that is also on the slower side
  • the ugly: the loose aperture ring (though not as extreme as on the 14/2.8)

Fuji XF 50/2.0 R WR

  • the good: sharp, Bokeh, silent AF, WR, small and light, perfect aperture ring
  • the bad: AF can struggle in poor light
  • the ugly: –

Fuji XF 56/1.2 R

  • the good: very sharp, very good subject isolation, Bokeh
  • the bad: big and heavy
  • the ugly: AF is slow especially in poor light

Fuji XF 90/2.0 R WR

  • the good: very sharp, very good subject isolation, beautiful Bokeh, fast AF
  • the bad: OIS would be nice, rather big and heavy
  • the ugly: –

 

and here are the zooms:

Fuji XF 10-24 R OIS

  • the good: very sharp, rather compact and light, OIS
  • the bad: rather loose and unmarked aperture ring for no apparent reason
  • the ugly:

Fuji XF 16-55/2.8 R LM WR

  • the good: very sharp even wide open, excellent micro contrast, fast, silent and reliable AF, WR
  • the bad: no OIS
  • the ugly: rather big and heavy for APS-C

Fuji XC 16-50 OIS

  • the good: small and light, OIS
  • the bad: lens mount made of plastic
  • the ugly: no aperture ring (compromises shooting experience)

Fuji XF 18-55 OIS

  • the good: rather small and light, very good built quality, OIS
  • the bad: image quality not really much above XC 16-50
  • the ugly: starts only at 18mm

Fuji XC 50-230 OIS

  • the good: super small and light, sharp, OIS
  • the bad: slow aperture and slow AF, lens mount made of plastic
  • the ugly: no aperture ring (compromises shooting experience)

Fuji XF 55-200 R OIS

  • the good: sharp, still rather small and light, OIS
  • the bad: image quality not much above XC 50-230
  • the ugly: –

Fuji XF 100-400 R LM WR OIS

  • the good: very sharp, very good contrast, AF fast and silent, OIS, WR
  • the bad: big and heavy, lens shade
  • the ugly: –

 

Conclusion:

primes first:

The older Fuji primes suffer from loose aperture rings and noisy, sometimes slower AF. The newer lenses are mechanically superior, offer the better and faster autofocus and they are weather resistant too. They seem to be the better choice but things are not that straight forward. The older Fuji lenses are optically corrected. That means they don’t rely on software correction. And (at least to my eyes) they render the images in a much nicer way.

Until Fuji updates their older lenses you need to decide in between convenience and that extra magic based on your priorities. My personal favourites are the XF 14/2.8 R, the XF 23/2 WR, the XF 35/1.4 R, the XF 90/2 R LM WR and the just recently added XF 50/2 R WR.

 

and here are the zooms:

Fuji’s zooms are divided into three groups: XC, XF and  XF red badge. XC are their entry level zoom lenses. They are slow in aperture and as a consequence AF is slow too. They have no aperture ring and their lens mount is made of plastic. On the other hand those lenses are super small and light and image quality is surprisingly good. That’s especially true for the 50-230 which is excellent value for the money

The XF zooms are faster than their XC counterparts, they are better built and they have aperture rings (though unmarked). They too have OIS but unlike the XC lenses there is a switch to turn OIS off on the lens barrel. But they are also slightly larger and heavier than the XC lenses and image quality is not much better. With one exception: the XF 10-24 is excellent especially in between 10 to 18mm.

Finally the red badge zooms: They are extremely well built, they all offer WR, very fast AF and fast apertures. The tele zoom lenses have OIS but unfortunately the 16-55 doesn’t. The three constant aperture zooms have marked aperture rings. Currently I own the 16-55 and the 100-400 but I consider to get the 50-140 too. The image quality of those lenses is excellent. Especially the 16-55 is outstanding. Of course there is also a price to pay and I’m not only talking about the money. The red badge zooms are rather big and heavy. If you combine the 16-55 with a heavy camera like the Fuji X-H1 you could as well get a full frame mirrorless camera with a 24-70/4 zoom.

Despite all the options I still think the decision is simple: if you want compact and light and don’t care about the missing aperture ring get the XC zooms. If you want aperture rings but don’t want to spend too much money get the XF zooms. If you don’t want to compromise on image quality get the red badge zooms.

My favourites are the XF 10-24 R OIS and the XF 16-55/2.8 R LM WR.

One remark regarding the new XF 16-80 R WR. Of course it looks tempting to get a constant aperture travel zoom that starts at 16mm and offers OIS. It’s also smaller and lighter that the 16-55. First reports suggest though that its image quality might be closer to the 18-55 which is not a good thing but that’s not a surprise at all. There are no excellent travel zooms that I’m aware of. They are always a compromise. I think that Fuji is well aware of that and that’s why the lens didn’t get the red badge.