Fujifilm Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Review

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Performance

At 16mm, sharpness already reaches outstanding levels in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture and the clarity achieved towards the edges of the frame is excellent. Stopping down improves performance slightly towards the edges of the frame, with peak performance being achieved at f/4.

Zooming to 35mm results in similarly outstanding sharpness in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture, although performance towards the edges has fallen away a little, with very good levels of sharpness being achieved at f/2.8. Stopping down improves performance, reaching a peak between f/4 and f/5.6.

Finally, at 55mm, sharpness in the centre of the frame is still excellent at maximum aperture, and performance towards the edges of the frame is good. Peak performance is again achieved at f/4, with excellent sharpness in the centre and clarity being very good towards the edges of the frame.

MTF@16mm

MTF@35mm

MTF@55mm

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-T1 using Imatest.

 

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled, with fringing being strongest at 16mm. Even then fringing only just exceeds half a pixel width at maximum aperture, gradually increasing as the aperture is stopped down. This low level of CA shouldn't cause many issues, even in harsh crops from the edges of the frame, or in large reproductions.

CA@16mm

CA@35mm

CA@55mm

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-T1 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the edges of the frame is well controlled for a lens with an f/2.8 maximum aperture. At 16mm the corners are 1.38 stops darker than the image centre at f/2.8 and at 55mm the corners are 0.68 stops darker. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/5.6 or beyond throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is reasonably well controlled for a lens of this type. Imatest was able to detect 0.886% barrel distortion at 16mm and 0.39% barrel at 55mm. Automatic correction of distortion in camera is very good, and this information can be read by many popular raw image converters, which should mean that distortion is rarely noticeable in practice.

With, or without, the petal-shaped hood attached, this lens is extremely resistant to flare, thanks to a combination of Fujifilm's Super-EBC coatings, combined with their Nano-GI coating. As a result it also copes well with shooting into the light, retaining good contrast.

Value For Money

This 16-55mm lens from Fuji costs around £880, which is quite reasonable for a top of the range f/2.8 standard zoom. There are currently no comparable lenses available for Fuji X-series cameras as currently, Fujifilm have a monopoly on lenses for their own lens mount. 

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